Should Fans Be Concerned Over the Lack of Moves?

Indians Have Had Very Few Rumors

As the hot stove season continues to bubble with news and rumors, one thing is becoming clear. While other teams are making big moves and going hard after free agents, the Indians are taking what appears to be a much slower and laid back approach.

The question is should fans be concerned about the lack of noise coming from the Indians camp this offseason? After all, the Indians appear to be in desperate need of pitching. With Ubaldo Jimenez and Scott Kazmir likely gone, Joe Smith leaving for Anaheim, and Chris Perez officially released, they have more than their fair share of holes to fill both in the rotation and in the bullpen. Those holes just aren’t going to fill themselves.

Sep 24, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez (30) delivers in the first inning against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Meanwhile, the only two moves the Indians have made were the recent signing of David Murphy and the trade for Colt Hynes. With the exception of a brief rumor concerning Tim Hudson, a passing interest in Brian Wilson, and some alleged interest in Edward Mujica, we haven’t heard much in terms of the Indians expressing interest in anyone on the free agent market. All the while teams within their on division are making moves to get better and grabbing all the decent pitching in the process.

Over the past two weeks we have seen the Royals commit to Jason Vargas (say what you want about the four-year commitment, but Vargas could still prove to be a valuable asset), the Twins signed Phil Hughes, and the Tigers were rumored to be close to signing the aforementioned Wilson to fill their vacant closer role. Again, it’s one thing to lose out on free agents, but it doesn’t appear as if the Indians have expressed even the least bit of interest in anyone up until this point.

There is the chance, though, that the Indians are waiting for the market to settle a bit more before making their move. To a point this makes sense. None of the large dominoes have even come close to toppling at this point. Could the Indians be biding their time and waiting to see how the market will value the front line starters? It’s possible and given their recent history it’s not unlikely.

We saw last offseason that the Indians will be more than willing to sit and wait for the right free agents to begin making their decisions. We were virtually in the dark in regards to Mark Reynolds, Nick Swisher didn’t agree to sign until the end of December, and the Michael Bourn signing struck everyone by surprise. This isn’t a front office that appears content to simply spend money for the sake of spending money. Every dollar spent has a purpose behind it and in order to accomplish that feat they must take a very exact and deliberate approach.

So while it might seem easy to overreact to the lack of news and rumors surrounding the Indians right now, there is no reason to panic, at least not yet. We need to give things time to develop further. Once the big names available in the free agent market begin to come off the board, then it will be time to worry. There is also the possibility that the Indians could be negotiating a major trade that we would not be privy to until it actually goes down. Until either happens, we will just have to wait with bated breath.