A Deeper Look Into the Indians Corner Infield & DH

With most of the Indians starting positions firmly established, this group of hitters is one of the most interesting going into the 2015 season. Every significant member of the team who played either third base, first base or DH in 2014 is returning for the 2015 (Jason Giambi and Chris Gimenez are the only insignificant players to leave) and added into that mix is the free agent Brandon Moss and the next crop of minor leaguers.

To begin 2014, the starting third baseman was Carlos Santana, first base was Nick Swisher and DH was a rotation position to give days off. As Santana proved he couldn’t play defense at third, Swisher proved he couldn’t play defense at first and Lonnie Chisenhall showed he could hit, things slowly changed into the final season result of Chisenhall at third, Santana at first and Swisher at DH. The complete breakdown of games played by position for players still with the team is shown to the right.

Going into the upcoming season, Terry Francona would have to have been pretty happy keeping things just the way they were. After starting the year with the worst defense in baseball, things drastically improved with Santana at first and while Chisenhall isn’t the best defender, he was very solid on plays he didn’t have to run in on and provided much better offense than any other option at the position.

Of course, even with one of the best hitters in baseball in Santana and the $48 million dollar man in Swisher, the Indians were looking to improve the corners this off-season and they appear to have done so. With the signing of Moss, who will most likely be the starting right fielder, the Indians have added another All-Star caliber player to the mix. By adding from the top, rather than the bottom as they usually do, at bats will likely be taken away from players like Swisher. For Moss in particular, although he can play a solid first base, he will likely be used mostly in right field. While that in itself won’t affect the corner infield positions, David Murphy could. Murphy played 120 games in right field last year and just two at DH. With Moss in right, Murphy will likely play closer to 40 games in right, but will still be on the 25 man roster. Since he will need regular playing time, this will have to come as the designated hitter as he is not capable of playing any other positions. With Chisenhall, Swisher, Santana, Murphy and Moss looking to receive a starters amount of playing time despite having just four positions to play between them, Francona will have to do a lot of shuffling to keep everyone sharp.

Of course, this ignores players generally designated as reserve players and regular starters looking for a half day off at DH. Mike Aviles at third, Ryan Raburn and Zach Walters at DH and Jesus Aguilar at first are all players who either will (Aviles) or could (Raburn, Walters and Aguilar) make the roster as bench players. Other than at third, where Chisenhall will probably play 140 games or less in 2015, there doesn’t seem to see much room for replacement level players. This, however, is not to say the Indians wouldn’t be better off.

Looking at the DH role exclusively, there is the obvious choice of Swisher, who will make $15M in 2015 whether he plays or not, Murphy, who will make $6M, and Walters, who will make between $500 and $600 thousand. All three players are defensive liabilities, so DH is the perfect place to stash them while still taking advantage of their offensive production. There is the question, however, of how much offensive production could be expected from any of them. Since they all played very different amounts in 2014, the chart below averages their final numbers across 150 games.

To start, these numbers need to be taken in context as both Swisher’s and Walters are a relatively small amount of games extended over a much longer period. That being said, it is a difficult argument to make that the player slated to receive the majority of the bats at DH is the most deserving. Looking at runs above replacement, Walters was worth one less run than the average AAAA replacement player, Murphy was worth five less and Swisher -9. The Indians are in an unenviable position here as $21M worth of salary is already owed to two players sharing a single position who combined are less effective offensively than a .181 hitting, 24 year old outfielder. What makes this even worse is that Walters may not even make the team because another player, Ryan Raburn, is already under contract for $2.5M despite being worth -13 RAR last year with a -0.7 dWAR. As good as Chris Antonetti has been in the trade market, he has been the opposite in free agency and these three contracts in particular are likely to severely diminish the Indians output at DH this season.

The New Class

While the biggest minor league impacts will be in the outfield, short stop or in the pitching staff, there are a couple players who could make an impact at the corners for the Indians in 2015. The player most intriguing to fans is Giovanny Urshela, a top defensive prospect who just finished his first season in AAA. In Columbus, Urshela surprised many with a .276/.331/.473 line and improved upon that in the Venezuelan Winter League when he crushed a .398/.424/.556. The primary interest in Urshela is actually in his glove, as it looks to be an immediate improvement over Chisenhall at third. The legitimacy of his recent success is yet to be tested and he will start the year in Columbus again, but if Lonnie is more like his second half than his first half, there will be many clamoring for him very quickly.