How Much Better Does Edwin Encarnacion Make The Indians?

In 2016 the Cleveland Indians came seemingly out of nowhere to advance all the way to the seventh game of the World Series. While their season ended in heartbreaking fashion Cleveland fans have a lot to look forward to for the first time in a while. Although the franchise typically shies away from big free agent acquisitions they were able to land arguably the top bat on the open market. However, while the signing of Edwin Encarnacion improves the Indians championship odds, it's actually the healthy return of some key players that will help get them over the hump in 2017.

Encarnacion is no joke. Although he signed for "just" three years and $60 million guaranteed Edwin is one of the most dangerous right handed batters in all of baseball. Since 2012 he has averaged 36 home runs and 110 RBI. Make no mistake the Indians are better with him that without but there's a case to be made that he doesn't dramatically improve the lineup from last year's version. That's because he's replacing Mike Napoli, who surprisingly had an extremely productive year for Cleveland. Encarnacion rated better than Napoli in virtually every offensive category last season but it's not as if he's replacing some huge hole in the lineup. 

That huge hole in the lineup will be filled by Michael Brantley after he appeared in all of 11 games for the Tribe in 2016. This is a player who in 2014 finished third in the AL MVP voting and among American League leaders that year he ranked fifth in WAR, third in batting average, fourth in on base percentage, seventh in OPS, second in hits, and third in runs created. He followed it up with a productive, but not as spectacular, 2015 season where he finished fourth in the AL in batting and third in OBP. In this two year stretch Brantley was one of the best and most underrated players in the game. He has undergone three surgeries on his shoulder in the last twelve months but is expected to be close to 100 percent for Spring Training. His healthy return to the lineup, combined with the upgrade of Edwin over Napoli, gives Cleveland one of the better lineups in baseball.

While Encarnacion and Brantley will help drive the Tribe to a potential second straight AL Central crown it'll be the return of healthy starting pitching that will win them a championship. It's already easy to forget but Cleveland was down both Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco for the majority of the 2016 playoffs. Plus Trevor Bauer was pitching with an injured thumb. Despite this they still managed to build a 3 game to 1 lead in the World Series. You have to figure they're able to close it out if all those guys are healthy. As we inch closer and closer to Spring Training the Tribe can also count on a full season of Andrew Miller and continued development from franchise player Francisco Lindor. These factors, more so than the signing of Encarnacion, make the Indians the team to beat in the American League heading into 2017.