By Jordan Long
The Cleveland Indians are taking a huge risk on two key free agents. They declined to give $17.2 million qualifying offers to first baseman Mike Napoli and center fielder Rajai Davis. They both can sign elsewhere. Indians President Chris Antonetti is hoping to re-sign them during free agency.
Both players will be in high demand for other teams. Napoli batted .239 but had 34 home runs and 101 RBI’s in his first year with the Indians. In the playoffs he batted .173 with 3 RBI’s and 1 home run, helping the Cleveland Indians go to the World Series for the first time since 1997. Napoli was an average first baseman. He started 98 games at first base and had an impressive fielding percentage of .985. The downside are the errors. He made 13 this season, which were the most in his career. The Indians are lucky those errors didn’t cost them in the playoffs.
Cleveland would like to keep Napoli because of what he can do at the plate. He drives in runs and hits the long ball, which might help the Indians go back to the playoffs and possibly the World Series. According to EPSN, Indians’ President Chris Antonetti said, “Mike did a phenomenal job for us. He made a huge impact for us on the field and in the clubhouse, and I think that’s the lens through which we’ll view it.”
Rajai Davis didn’t have a great year at the plate hitting .249 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI’s. In the postseason his batting average was .147 but hit a two run home run to tie game seven of the World Series.
Davis is valuable to the Indians because he can play all the positions in the outfield. Davis has a strong arm to throw players out on the bases with a total of 9 outfield assists. The Indians must find away to re-sign him because other teams want a fielder with his strong arm.
Cleveland will have the first shot at making a deal with both Napoli and Davis. These athletes have the desire to stay in Cleveland because they know they can contribute to a winning baseball team. If they decide to go elsewhere, that will be Cleveland’s loss. Hopefully the Indians will find away to keep both.
What do you think the chances are of Mike Napoli and Rajai Davis staying in Cleveland?
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