Cleveland Indians: Why Shane Victorino Makes Sense

Why Victorino Makes Sense for the Cleveland Indians

There hasn’t been a lot of chatter with the Cleveland Indians and free agents. However, one name that has come up a couple times now is free agent outfielder Shane Victorino. News first broke a couple weeks ago and with the Winter Meetings starting in Nashville, reports of Tribe interest have once again surfaced:

So far the general reaction I’ve seen from most Tribe fans has been “why?”  Why on earth would the Indians be interested in Shane Victorino given how he’s looked recently and at his age?  I admit, at first I had a somewhat similar reaction, but after thinking about it for a bit I started to realize why Victorino actually makes a lot of sense for the Cleveland Indians.

Now I realize I probably just lost a few readers with that statement. How could a guy who hit just .230 with a .601 OPS in 2015 and .268 with a .685 OPS in 2014 make sense for the Indians? Well, for starters he likely isn’t being looked at to be a starter.  At this point in Victorino’s career, he should be viewed as a part-time outfielder/platoon bat only. He actually stopped switch hitting and now solely hits from the right-side. This is where Victorino first starts to fit with the Indians.

With Michael Brantley shelved for what will probably be at least the first month of the 2016 season, the Indians currently look to deploy both Lonnie Chisenhall and Abraham Almonte in the outfield. Chisenhall with his solid second half has rightfield locked down for now and Almonte is likely to be in centerfield or possibly leftfield replacing Brantley.  Either way that’s two outfielders that have both struggled versus left-handed pitching in their careers:

For all the talk of Chisenhall needing to be platooned, Almonte, despite being a switch-hitter, has an even greater divide in his splits.  The Cleveland Indians did add Collin Cowgill recently who could platoon with one of them as he’s a career .271 hitter versus left-handed pitching (.733 OPS).  However, that still leaves a big hole at the other platoon position and Victorinio could fill in well as seen by his career splits:

Even as he’s aged Victorino has managed to hit lefties well as seen by his splits over the last four years:

Now, while those numbers all look good there is one caveat to all this: he struggled in 2015.  Last year Victorino only hit .243 with a .670 OPS. Clearly not what the Tribe needs in a platoon. This is where the Indians need to decide if 2015 was an aberration or a sign of an aging player finally reaching his limit as a useful player in any capacity. But given his history, it’s not a stretch to think he could bounce back to be a useful platoon option in 2016 (similar to Ryan Raburn this past year after his horrible 2014)…

Defense Matters

Currently Jerry Sands is still somehow on the Cleveland Indians 40-man roster. As things stand, he’d be on the opening day roster in a bench role and could platoon with Almonte or Chisenhall.  While Sands actually does have some solid career numbers versus left-handed pitching he also struggles defensively both in leftfield and rightfield.  Chris Antonetti commented recently to improve a club one doesn’t always have to score more runs, they can prevent more runs just the same.  This can be done but improving the pitching and/or improving the defense. 

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This is where Victorino can also help the club, especially over a guy like Sands.  While Victorino is no longer a Gold Glove centerfielder, he has proven to be very solid since moving to rightfield where he won the Gold Glove in 2013.  Even playing hurt the last two years, Victorino has posted a +5 DRS (defensive runs saved) in just 64 games.  Combine that with Lonnie Chisenhall, who posted a +11 DRS in 51 games in rightfield this past year and the Indians could have one of, if not the, best defensive rightfield in baseball.

Of course, outfielder Joey Butler was also added to the mix yesterday after being claimed off waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s also a corner outfielder who bats right-handed and like Victorino is pretty solid defensively. Where Butler differs from Victorino is that he struggles with strikeouts, and more importantly, he has a shown a reverse platoon split in his short big league career. Butler will also be 30 years old on opening day and has yet to play more than 88 games in any big league season.  While Butler is a nice depth add, he probably shouldn’t be counted on in a truly meaningful role, thus brining us back to Victorino… 

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Ultimately Victorino isn’t a guy that many will get excited about. He is well past his prime and he doesn’t offer much in the way of power.  He’s at best a part-time platoon player.  However, he does fit what the Indians are trying to do by improving the defense and if used properly, can be effective offensively. Victorinio would essentially be replacing Ryan Raburn and while offensively he isn’t on par versus lefties (though then again, very few were), he’s a dramatic improvement on defense. If the Indians can get Victorinio for either a minor league deal (the preferred method) or a deal with a guarantee of $2 million or less, then it actually could be very beneficial and actually makes a lot of sense for the Tribe.