Should the Cleveland Indians Sign Edwin Encarnacion?

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Nov 2, 2016; Cleveland, OH, USA; Fans of the Cleveland Indians hold up signs before game seven of the 2016 World Series against the Chicago Cubs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Improve Ticket Sales

Most casual Cleveland Indians fans have now become aware that they have a really good team to root for. An unexpected World Series run stirred up fan interest in a way that the team hasn’t seen in years. With that being said, the Indians were still in the bottom five in attendance in the MLB last season.

The Indians have been struggling with attendance ever since the trade of C.C. Sabathia during the 2008 season. Despite successful results with Terry Francona at the helm, attendance has not seen a significant increase. One of the fan base’s gripes with the Indians’ front office over the past several years has been that they are unwilling to spend money on major free agents. Signing Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher before the 2013 season still did not help attendance.

Edwin Encarnacion is in a different tier, however, than Swisher and Bourn. Encarnacion is the top 1B and offensive player on the open market right now. Signing a big name like Encarnacion would signal to the fan base that the Indians are serious about contending and will spend a bit of money to do so.

Signing Edwin Encarnacion would effectively silence the crowd that believes the Dolans are cheap, likely generating additional ticket sales.

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