A Quartet of Possibly Available Center Fielders

While much of the focus of the Indians this season has been on replacing the exiting Mike Napoli, there is a much more pressing need in center field. The general expectation currently is that Michael Brantley will be healthy enough to play most every game in left field, Brandon Guyer and Lonnie Chisenhall will platoon in right and Tyler Naquin and Abraham Almonte in center.

This makes two possibly untenable assumptions: first, that Brantley will be able to play defense at all and second, that Naquin will improve his defense and his ability to hit a ball thrown faster than 92 MPH. If the Indians decide to forgo the DH/1B hunt, they could make a simpler assumption, that Brantley will be healthy enough to DH regularly and that Naquin and Almonte could play more often in left field, where Naquin’s defensive lapses wouldn’t be as devastating.

With that in mind, here are a few options that the Indians could look at, should they feel similarly:

Ben Revere – Free Agent

After pretty fantastic seasons from 2011 through 2015 where he stole 176 bases in 217 attempts with a .296/.329/.350 line, Revere had the great misfortune of a .234 BABIP in his walk year, batting .217/.260/.300 for the Nationals. Prior to 2015, Revere regularly had a BABIP above .330, a function of his speed and slap style hitting, so there is little reason to believe his 2015 season was anything but an aberration and the Indians shouldn’t be fooled.

Revere doesn’t strike out much, is constantly moving on the bases and is a true centerfielder. While he’s no gold glover out there, even if he can continue at his league average defensive pace, he would be a gigantic upgrade over Naquin and a slight one over Almonte. While Revere is left handed, thus potentially making him a bad match with Chisenhall, Brantley and Almonte (who is essentially a lefty because of his splits), he has actually hit left handed pitchers slightly better than right handers over his career.

Unlike most free agents, Revere is under 30 and would be in his final year of arbitration had the Nationals not let him go. He was expected to make $6.3M had he gone through the process, so it’s possible the Indians could get him on a 1-2 year deal for about that yearly value and use him to fill the gap as Bradley Zimmer finishes his development. At the moment, there haven’t been any serious rumors surrounding Revere although the Tigers and Blue Jays have discussed him.

Jarrod Dyson – Kansas City (Last year of Arbitration)

This may be a long shot as it would entail a trade within the division, but it’s definitely feasible and something the Indians should pursue. The Royals have Lorenzo Cain in center already, Alex Gordon guaranteed money to play left and recently acquired Jorge Soler from Chicago to play right. With Paolo Orlando and others to fill in from behind, this leaves Dyson, who played 107 games in 2016 thanks to an injury to Cain, without a regular spot and with just one year left of team control.

Like Revere, Dyson is a base thief, taking 176 bases in 206 attempts since his debut in 2010, despite never playing in more than 120 games in a season. Because of the small amount of money involved, he wouldn’t need to be a starter, but could platoon in center with Almonte, who struggles against left handed pitching. Lefties, on the other hand, are Dyson’s specialty, and he has crushed them to the tune of a .379/.438/.552 in his career. Unlike Revere, Dyson is a spectacular outfielder worth an average of 20.4 more runs saved per year than the average center fielder. Because of this aspect, the Indians could actually be better off simply starting Dyson over any current option without bothering with a platoon. In general, it would be a much more sound strategy to try to get a younger player like Dyson (32) or Revere to try to repeat what Rajai Davis did last year than re-sign him and hope he can do it again at 36.

It would be a short term fix, but the Indians should only need a short term fix with Zimmer, then Greg Allen expected to debut within the next two seasons. Money isn’t an issue as he’s only expected to earn about $2.5M next year (according to MLBTradeRumors Arbitration Projections) and the Royals should be happy to receive a prospect with moderate expectations for a reserve outfielder with just one year left. This, however, may be more likely to happen with a team outside of the AL Central.

Colby Rasmus – Free Agent

Going in a slightly different direction, Rasmus would be a replacement more in line with Napoli than Davis as he is a high strike out player (to the extreme), but does provide some power. What he does have like the others, however, is a great glove in center. Over the past two seasons, he has had a UZR/150 above 15 in center (in limited innings) and last year he had a UZR/150 of 31.8 in left, where he played more often. Much of this came from his arm, which plays better in a corner, but he also had great range.

Like Revere, he had a tough BABIP season last year, having less than 26% of his balls in play fall safely. Although his style of hitting doesn’t lend itself to as high of a mark generally,  his career average is .285 and in his three seasons before 2016, that mark was well above .300, making him appear ripe to greatly improve on his .206 average from this season. Of course, an improvement could mean simply returning to his career line of .241/.311/.434.

Another left handed hitter, Rasmus does have severe traditional splits, so to take real advantage of his bat, he would have to be platooned with someone like Guyer. This could leave the Indians with a situation with Chisenhall starting every game in right, Guyer playing left and Almonte playing center against left handers and Rasmus in center with Almonte in left against right handers. This isn’t ideal, because it doesn’t solve the issue of Almonte not being able to hit lefties, but the defense would be improved and it would take even part time starting status away from Naquin.

Jake Marisnick – Houston (First Year of Arbitration, Super 2)

While Dyson is almost certain to be traded this off-season, Marisnick is not as likely, but still has a chance of being moved. The Astros have been very active this off-season, adding offensive piece after offensive piece and now find themselves in the position of having Carlos Beltran, Evan Gattis, Yulieski Gurriel and Josh Reddick to cover 1B, DH and the corner outfield spots. With George Springer in center, this gives them a two win defensive outfielder player who will be riding the bench.

Now, Beltran is only signed for one year and Gattis only two more while Marisnick is under team control through 2021, so they could simply just use him as a reserve until a spot opens (or Beltran inevitably gets injured), but the Astros are far from a complete team. Their rotation is Dallas Keuchel and the question marks and with literal internal need for another outfielder, the Indians could offer one of their many near MLB ready pitchers to make something happen. Not to say it would be a good deal for either team, that these players would be involved or that it would be a one for one deal, the Indians have Cody Anderson, Josh Tomlin, Ryan Merritt, Shawn Morimando and Adam Plutko who they could safely deal while still having back-up after back-up should the injuries of 2016 recur and could be used as the centerpiece of a deal to Houston or anyone else with something the Indians currently need.

Marisnick is projected to make just $1.1M in his first of four arbitration eligible seasons and is a young (26), well rounded player who provides great defense at all three outfield positions, some speed (34 steals in 48 attempts during the last two years), a little power (33 doubles and 14 home runs over that same span) without quite the cumbersome K-rate that the vast majority of Houston hitters have.

While the primary focus of any new center fielder should be winning a World Series in 2017 and providing insurance should anything go wrong (Brantley not being able to play due to injury, Almonte not being able to play to to suspension, Chisenhall turning back into old Chisenhall to name a few possibilities), trading for a player like Marisnick would go beyond that. Chisenhall is a free agent after 2017 and will likely be let go. Brantley is a free agent after 2018 and if he isn’t play for whatever reason in 2017, the Indians could conceivably not use his option for 2018 making him a free agent a year early. Guyer is also likely to be gone after 2018 and, while not entirely applicable, Carlos Santana is also a free agent after 2017.

This is a lot of offensive players leaving for the Indians over the next two years and having Marisnick, or signing Revere to a multi-year deal, could off-set that loss and help keep players like Zimmer and Allen now and others after them from being forced into a starting role the way Naquin was in 2016. Yes, 2017 is the focus right now, but if you can make things easier after that with a deal right now, it may be worth the extra money or a slightly better prospect than you may normally be willing to give up.