If you could bring three Eric Wedge Era players to the 2021 Indians, who would it be?
The Indians could use some help right now. The minor leagues have some great talent but none that are really ready to make an immediate impact. The free agency market is dead and the trade market hasn’t really picked up yet. So what would you do if you could do anything to improve the team?
Why not borrow from the past?
Thinking about it the other day, the Eric Wedge Era of Indians had some players that fit in perfectly with Terry Francona’s 2021 squad. During that stretch of 2003 to 2009, Wedge’s Indians weren’t world-beaters, mostly due to bad draft picks and bad trades, but the talent they had were top-notch and had some of their bigger names lived up to their contracts and not gotten hurt, who knows what the subsequent years would’ve looked like.
So in this exercise, we’re going to pick three players from that Eric Wedge Era and bring them to the 2021 Indians squad. There’s a catch though. Instead of just cherry-picking the best players possible we’re going to look at the current crop of players. The rule is though that if you call up a player at a position, from the mid-2000s, then that position player in 2021 is removed from the team.
So if you call up Casey Blake, you lose Jose Ramirez. This will be applied to the pitchers as well, with the ace of the team, the second starter, the third starter, etc being applied based on performance and talent. Same thing with the bullpen.
Honorable Mentions:
Rafael Betancourt, Shin-Soo Choo, and Victor Martinez were all considered as well. The bullpen is fine as it is, so since we only had three spots we thought bigger picture. Choo would develop into a good player but wouldn’t put it together until Manny Acta took over the team. Martinez was in strong consideration but the 2021 Indians are a pitching-first team, and Martinez was never that great of a defensive catcher.
CF Grady Sizemore
The Indians could use some help in the outfield, and if Grady Sizemore played in this era and not the Eric Wedge Era, the Tribe would have a great multi-faceted outfielder. Sizemore had speed, power, a great defender, could hit for average and was the pinnacle of what you’d want in an athlete. Yes, as his career went on the injuries mounted, but if we’re talking prime-players, Sizemore was someone that could easily slide into the center field spot of the defense and done gangbuster.
He’d be replacing Jordan Luplow (IR) and Bradley Zimmer as the starting centerfielder and while Luplow’s been fine, especially with the power, Sizemore averaged 26 home runs from 2005 to 2008, while hitting .281 at the same time. That type of power and average in today’s game is a lost art. More players are defaulting to a “home run or bust” mentality and it’s hurting their careers and their teams.
Sizemore did struggle with strikeouts but it wasn’t to such a degree as it’s becoming now. While he led the team in strikeouts more than once, he was also near the top in working counts for walks as well, usually finishing near the top of the heap, even leading the team on an occasion.
Since this is the “swap” game, more or less, it’d be hard to find anyone who wouldn’t swap Sizemore with Luplow or Zimmer at this point. Even if you know you’re only getting four good-great years with Sizemore, that’s more than either man has provided for the Tribe so far in their careers, so it’s an easy call.
DH/1B Travis Hafner
Now if Franmil Reyes is healthy, Travis Hafner does get the nod, as Reyes is having a solid season. Since he’s injured, however, the Indians don’t have a de facto designated hitter anymore and have had guys like Josh Naylor, Cesar Hernandez Owen Miller, and Jose Ramirez (among others) fill in at DH. So this isn’t an issue in swapping players, as the Indians don’t have anyone to swap out at the moment.
So you’re getting Hafner as is.
Hafner during his time with the Indians during the Eric Wedge Era was one of the most dominant hitters over a short span. From 2004 to 2007 he was a power-hitting machine when healthy. He averaged 31 home runs, 34 doubles, 108 RBI’s, all while hitting .298 and averaging 69 bases on balls (walks) against 115 strikeouts. Twice he had a 1.000+ OPS while finishing in the top eight and the top five of MVP voting respectively.
Hafner’s tenure during that Eric Wedge Era was cut short much like Sizemore’s by injuries. Neither man was ever the same again and the loss of both men sent the team into a tailspin but if you’re looking for a guy who can fit into this team and not take the spot of someone valuable, Hafner’s the guy to think about.
Jake Westbrook
The top two Tribe pitchers so far in 2021 (as of press time) are Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale. Since the rules of this exercise is that we can only swap players at positions and not just take whomever, that means we can’t just tab C.C. Sabathia or Cliff Lee, who were the one and two starters for the Eric Wedge Era.
So who would be the third pitcher from that era? Jake Westbrook. Sure, you make a cause for Fausto Carmona/Roberto Hernandez, Paul Byrd, or even Kevin Millwood but there are issues with each of those names. Firstly, Carmona/Hernandez is well, a liar. So, no thank you. Byrd wasn’t bad but he had no zip and gave up too many gopher balls. Millwood had a great 2005 with Cleveland but didn’t pitch long enough to warrant real consideration to be one of the Eric Wedge Era players.
Westbrook was an All-Star (2004) and was the best right-handed pitcher on the Tribe’s staff for a while. The number three starter in 2021 seems to be Zach Plesac but he’s struggled all year and has been injury lately, so Westbrook would probably be a better option. Westbrook was a work-horse pitcher, going 200+ innings a lot over 2003-2006 while throwing 11 complete games.
That type of endurance helps save bullpens from being burnt out. Not only that, but in 200+ innings, he never gave up more than 19 home runs, while in 100 innings in 2019, Plesac gave up 19 home runs. In just half the time.
Westbrook would be an automatic upgrade over Plesac just in a pure talent for talent swap. Mostly due to Westbrook’s control. Granted, some people will misconstrue the rules of the exercise and demand Lee or Sabathia instead but no one should be wanting to give up Biber or Civale.
Now Plesac is out-injured, so like with the Hafner/Reyes situation, technically you can still retain Plesac, and just swap out a pitcher for Westbrook, like you were making a call-up from the minors to fill an empty roster space.