SATURDAY, 6:17pm: Napoli has passed his physical, according to Paul Hoynes of The Plain Dealer. His deal should be officially announced sometime this week.
WEDNESDAY, 12:35pm: The Indians and first baseman Mike Napoli are in agreement on a one-year contract, pending a physical, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Napoli will earn $7MM in 2016 and has an additional $3MM worth of incentives built into his contract.
The 34-year-old Napoli will serve as Cleveland’s everyday first baseman in 2016, tweets Rosenthal, indicating that Carlos Santana will shift to the DH slot (though I’d imagine Santana will still see some action at first). That should provide the Indians with a defensive upgrade at first base, though it remains to be seen if Napoli can remain productive in an everyday role having developed such a notable platoon split late in his career.
Napoli batted .224/.324/.410 overall between the Red Sox and Rangers last season, improving greatly upon being traded to Texas (where he was deployed primarily against lefties). Napoli’s 12 percent walk rate and .187 isolated power mark made him a decent overall offensive contributor, but he batted just .191/.283/.320 in 290 plate appearances against right-handed pitching. That’s a stark contrast to his brilliant .278/.391/.563 line against lefties, and the Indians will likely be hoping for more balance in 2016 if he’s to remain in an everyday role. Napoli did show good patience against righties (10.3 percent walk rate) and actually struck out less often versus them than he did versus lefties. A .239 BABIP when facing same-handed pitching dragged down his overall production, so the Indians will hope for a correction in that regard and better overall output from the still-powerful Napoli.
Pedro Alvarez market just got smaller
As did the Dan Vogelbach mkt 🙂
How does something get smaller than non-existent?
That kid can hit somebody will want him from the Cubs system
Lots of kids can hit. But kids who can ONLY hit without any defensive or baserunning value have to hit a LOT to be useful. And while Vogelbach has above average raw power, it’s far from elite and he’s not yet really turned it into even an above-average in-game skill yet.
So did the Hanley Ramirez trade market.
Since that didn’t exist to begin with, getting smaller isn’t really an issue.
Not many teams can sign a player with a .750 OPS for 1B, and try to pass it off as an improvement.
Nothing wrong with a .750 OPS. Might not be great for a 1st basebmen but its not terrible.
Here I was hoping for Morneau. He would have been the better player imo. Plus on a one year deal? That just means even if, that’s a big if, Napoli is our solution then next year he’s out of our price range.
He did have some success in Texas but a 34 year old?
Not exactly a great solution.
Wonder why they won’t sign Pedro Álvarez.
I have one good reason… Scott Boras overvaluing his player.
So are you saying Pedro Alvarez is the answer? Because after watching Pedro Alvarez for the last 5 seasons he’s not exactly a “solution” either… Actually he’s a terrible solution.
Well he’s not great either but he has a better chance of giving back value IMO.
Cleveland finally gets rid of a bad bodied 1B in Swisher and replaces him with…..
Yeah. Poor move there Cleveland. And change your damn team name too, its embarrassing for American culture and was selected via a newspaper poll so it doesn’t even have a good reason to still exist in 2016.
This is a baseball forum, not Politico.
lol I thought I could get away with it seeing as so few people are posting in this thread.
I’d edit it but that function doesnt exist anymore.
Well, you done goofed now.
I know plenty of Indians (who prefer that name to “Native Americans,” though it varies by tribe) and not a single one cares about the names of sports teams. If you actually care about doing something of substance for Indians, there are plenty of good charitable causes you can donate to.
Hmmm, yeah, please keep your twisted perceptions of what offends “American culture” to salon.com thanks.
And, to contribute, I was hoping that the Rangers would re-sign him. Good luck to Napoli in Cleveland. At least he’ll be with Francona.
For some reason, I think Cleveland will br okay. Theyre getting Kyrie back
Well, that’s underwhelming; Swisher v2
There is still upside to Napoli am thinking. His bat was the same I believe, it’s pitch calling that changed to me. He still goes after the same pitches he always did and still lets the same ones go by, those low pitches he does not like were getting called strikes is the difference.
Does he strike out a lot? Yes, he always did, swinging and missing, he’s got a big swing, but he always had a great eye at the plate for balls that were low in the zone as well as high. Last year think everyone can agree the way pitches were called changed. Napoli didn’t care for it and got into several heated arguments at the plate.
Can he adjust? It “seemed” like he may have later on with Texas, maybe, maybe not. We’ll see after a full season with the Indians. I believe he’s the same hitter he always was after being shocked that his pre 2015 judgement on pitches had changed.
I think that is a very good examination, and it makes perfect sense with regards to Napoli and Choo as well. Both very well known for having a good eye, both spent the first two months of 2015 shaking their head at the plate. The adjustment made to the growing/lowering strike zone seemed to pay off for both of them(and the Rangers) toward the end of season.
Too many people just look at numbers and I mean any numbers/stats and think it’s the final say in a player. That is wrong.
Watching a player and his habits has always been my way and yes.. Choo is/was another very patient/stubborn hitter, very correct who seemed to adjust later on during the season.
Others (Bogaerts) became more aggressive, which is what the league was after. I am not in favor of that, it ruins the game to me, just to speed it up.
Yeah, the irony of wanting a faster AND higher scoring game. Can’t really have both: big zone=lower score=shorter game and vice versa. Pitch clock wasn’t as terrible as I anticipated though.
I’ll mis Nap. Might not be the best player anymore but there is no better guy to have in your clubhouse. He’s a winner and his teammates love him.
Ok the saber nerds can attack me now I’m ready for it.
No one’s doubting his human skills.
Just doesn’t seem like the impact player the Indians need that’s all.
I fully believe in sabermetrics but I also believe there’s non-numerical data to factor into a player. And as you say, Nap is a leader and he’ll make a decent coach one day. For the Indians sake though, they better hope his bat surpasses his ability to lead.
Napoli picked a bad year to struggle at his age, if he had had a .250/.333/.400+ slash line with 20 bombs+ he would have got a nice little contract to end his career. This year will be his last year to show he can still produce at his age. If he has a good year, he might be able to land a nice 2-3 year deal next year.
He’l never get a multiyear contract, no matter how well he plays. He still has the degenerative hip; they can monitor it and to some extent, treat it, but it’s still a huge risk even for a year.
It is a risk but its worth it if he hits like he did in 2011