The Indians are rumored to be one of the teams taking a look at free agent Kendry Morales, who split the 2014 season between Minnesota and Seattle.

I’m going to get right to the point on this one: this is the most horrific idea the Indians front office has ever floated out there and I pray that it is merely the concoction of some clueless buffoon of a beat writer trying to stir up a non-existent storyline.

A few reasons why Morales should never even be considered as an option for the Tribe…

1. He’s a 31-year-old injury-prone DH
I suppose if the Indians are strictly looking for a right-handed replacement for Jason Giambi, Morales could be a viable option. But Morales won’t settle for that job.

He’s only played over 125 games three times in his career, and missed the entire 2011 season, which essentially derailed his once-promising career. Since returning from the injury he’s played just over 700 innings in the field over the three year span (with a -5 DRS).

He would be a downgrade over Swisher or Santana anytime he played in the field, and probably isn’t healthy enough to play there anyway.

2. He can’t hit lefties

Kendrys Morales vs LHP
AVG SLUG OBP OPS HR/FB
1. 2014 .239 .381 .281 .661 11.8%
2. 2013 .282 .440 .353 .794 12.2%
3. 2012 .229 .471 .289 .761 29.4%

The idea of adding a right-handed bat with some power is intriguing, but Morales doesn’t fair significantly better against lefties than their current options. Since 2012, he has a .746 OPS against left-handed pitching (.661 OPS in 2014.

3. There’s no room in the lineup
As I said earlier, he would fine as Giambi’s replacement, but at 31 years of age he isn’t going to settle for that role. The only way he plays an everyday role would be to shift Santana back to third, plug Swisher in as the everyday first baseman and let Morales DH. But that knocks Chisenhall from the lineup.

I know many fans (myself included) are ready to move on from Chisenhall, but I’d give him another shot over Morales in a heartbeat.

Now that I’ve ranted about he reasons why he doesn’t fit… it’s perfectly reasonable to be “taking a look” as the report indicates. The Indians may simply be doing some homework on him in the event that he signs a one-year deal somewhere (a very likely scenario), which would make him a trade target should anything happen to Swisher again this season.

But until the Indians lose someone from the current lineup, there’s no reason to take Morales serious as a candidate to join the club.

3 Comments

  • LittleChicago42 says:

    Another rumor on the Interwebs is that the Indians are talking to Oakland about Brandon Moss.

    • ryanmccrystal says:

      Hadn’t seen that one yet.. but I could definitely support that if it’s a reasonable asking price. He’s a lefty, but its much needed power and he isn’t horrific in the field.

  • DRun says:

    hopefully one day the Indians brass will realize that constantly signing 31+ yr old position players doesn’t pans out.

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