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Indians getting bang for their buck with Napoli
- Updated: July 20, 2016
KANSAS CITY — There are dreams. And there is reality. Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti understands the difference.
So in an offseason where the likes of David Price was signing a seven-year, $217 million deal in Boston and Zack Greinke agreed to a six-year, $206 million deal with the D-backs and Jason Heyward picked up an eight-year, $184 million guarantee with the Cubs, Antonetti never even pretended to be a player in that market.
Nope. He had his budget. He had his holes. And with his guidance, the Indians, more than any other team, turned their offseason bargain hunting into as big a bonanza as any team could want.
Check out the standings. With a 7-3 victory against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday night, the Indians have an American League-best record of 55-38, a 6 1/2-game lead over the second-place Tigers, and an eight-game lead on the defending World Series champion Royals.
They do have a sterling starting rotation, which leads the AL with a 42-23 record and 3.61 ERA and is second in the league with 573 2/3 innings pitched, helping ease the demands on a bullpen they would like to improve before the Aug. 1 non-waiver Trade Deadline.
Do not, however, overlook the impact of offensive free agents Mike Napoli, Rajai Davis and Juan Uribe, who signed one-year deals for a combined investment of $16.24 million. That’s less than half the annual average value of $34.4 million that Greinke is earning, a bit over half of the $31 million Price will average in his time with the Red Sox, and well below the $23 million AAV the Cubs owe Heyward.
The three Indians, …
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