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Well hi again everybody, and welcome to another edition of Dollar Blog Night! This is a passion project of mine, one that I intend to be a clear, concise, and entertaining fan perspective on Cleveland Indians baseball. Everyone loves Dollar Dog Night at Progressive field, so why wouldn’t you want to remind yourself of it by reading thought provoking Tribe articles?! I would like to get out about one article a week depending on the Tribe’s activity. These stories are intended to be topical, although at times I’ll get nostalgic about years gone by. If you enjoy what you read here, tell a friend so they can enjoy as well! So again, welcome, and enjoy my two sense.

Let me start you off with a what if this time. One year ago this week, the Miami Marlins, as part of their fire sale, dealt promising young outfielder Christian Yelich to the Milwaukee Brewers for top outfield prospect Lewis Brinson, and three other lesser named prospects in OF Monte Harrison, INF Isan Diaz, and RHP Jordan Yamamoto. But what if Derek Jeter instead answered the phone when a 216 number rang into Marlins HQ, and Yeli was headed to the land. Well, things would be a lot different right now in Tribe town.

This guy could be our Right Fielder…

Photo Courtesy of sbnation.com

By no means am I arguing that Christian Yelich would have carried the Tribe on his back to a deep postseason run in 2018. That’s a completely unfair expectation on one player in a team-oriented sport such as baseball. But his bat sure couldn’t have hurt in a top-heavy Tribe lineup. Last year, en route to winning the Senior Circuit’s MVP, Yelich hit 36 dingers, batted .326, drove in 110 runs, and had a real shot at winning the triple crown in the Brew Crew’s game 163. By all measures, his 7.6 WAR season was incredible. However, with how cold the other key bats in the Tribe’s lineup seemed to go once the calendar turned to October, the 2018 squad didn’t stand much chance against the defending World Champs. This year and beyond is what I’d like to focus on.

As we all know, the Indians outfield is not pretty to look at right now: featuring such boppers as Leonys Martin (who nearly died last August) and a potpourri of young guys including Greg Allen, Tyler Naquin, and Jordan Luplow. But what if you threw Yelich’s left handed stick in right field? I would sure be feeling better about the state of our Tribe. A lineup like this isn’t incredible, but it would be better than what we have now. (speculative of course)

SS Lindor 2B Kipnis 3B Ramirez RF Yelich 1B Bauers DH Santana LF Luplow/Naquin/Allen Catcher CF Martin

Even more importantly though, Yelich’s was owed $43.25 million over 4 seasons starting at the beginning of 2018 with an option for 2022. At such a reasonable price, the front office could have gone out and supplemented the bullpen and added another outfield or infield piece with the money they’ve saved in trades this offseason. Combine this with a dynamite starting rotation and add a few more bullpen arms and you can stand with the big boys of the AL. The prospect of such a deal hurts even more when you look at what the Marlins took for Yelich in the deal that was made. Let’s break it down.

Brinson, in 406 MLB plate appearances last year hit .199, with 42 RBI’S and 11 homers. This -0.2 WAR season out of the former 1st round pick and top prospect was hardly encouraging. Monte Harrison, a former 2nd rounder and top 100 prospect hasn’t cracked AA yet and hit .240 in a full campaign. Isan Diaz has reached AAA but had an OPS of .739 for the year. Jordan Yamamoto only pitched in 13 games during the 2018 season.

This has hardly been an impressive haul for the fins, and one that I believe the Tribe could have matched. Could a package including some combination of Francisco Mejia, Nolan Jones, Yu Chang, or even Danny Salazar have done the trick? I can’t answer that. But boy would things be different if it had.

The Tribe have caught a great deal of flack for their inactivity this offseason, and for all my previous defenses of the front office, even I see where this is coming from. It’s frustrating when your team has two glaring holes and seems to be doing nothing to fix them. However, the more I look at the way things stand, the more I begin to realize that some of these holes could have been avoided with a little more activity during the 2017-18 offseason.

Photo Courtesy of the Athletic

Would it have been worth it to jettison some promising assets for Yelich or another young outfielder? Should there have been some more moves made for bullpen help in the offseason rather than at the trade deadline? I can’t answer these questions either. But the more I think about the Tribe’s current quandary, the more I wonder what would have happened had Chris Antonetti not aimed to be the most boring man at last off-season’s winter meetings. Oftentimes once serious problems arise in a situation, it becomes too late to fix them. The Tribe will be favored in the central this year: with some big moves (that don’t appear to be coming) and some luck, they could still possibly contend for a title that is 71 years overdue. But maybe the Indians should have got ahead of their roster problems a year early rather than a year too late. Here I sit though, with a foot of snow on the ground in Northeast Ohio, one month from pitchers and catchers reporting, wondering: What If.

Remember Cleveland, Always Believe,

-Frank Sobnosky. @polishthunder31 on twitter.

Stats Courtesy of the great folks at Baseball Reference.

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