Cleveland Indians decide to pick up Michael Brantley’s option

The Cleveland Indians decided to trust in Michael Brantley and pick up his $12 million option for the 2018 season on Friday.

The MLB offseason has just begun, but the Cleveland Indians have already made two moves that have fans talking.

The first was to pick up Josh Tomlin‘s $3 million option, which wasn’t too controversial. In fact, it is a steal.

The other move is the one that has fans talking.

Michael Brantley will be back in 2018 after the team picked up his $12 option, causing some fans to fear that this deal will take away money from the pursuit of Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce, or even both.

That could be true, but I don’t see the Indians picking up Brantley’s option if it definitively meant they could not go after Santana and/or Bruce. Also, both of those players are true free agents, while Brantley was under team control. There is no guarantee either will return, so waiting and letting a player like Brantley walk could have backfired.

One argument that makes sense was declining Brantley’s option and bringing him back for less money, but it is possible he could have made the same amount or more elsewhere.

While the Indians are a small market team, fans shouldn’t jump to the conclusion that the $12 million spent on Brantley will make or break the roster in 2018. The Indians are committed to spending, and a major extension for Francisco Lindor could be coming in the near future, or so we all hope.

With players like Jose Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Andrew Miller and others on team-friendly contracts, this deal for Brantley is nothing to panic about.

The problem would be if the Indians made this deal then openly came out and said they didn’t have money to go after Santana and/or Bruce. But I don’t see that being the case.

Santana will likely get a qualifying offer from the team, and even if he turns it down the two sides could still figure something out.

The decision to chase a World Series title has seen the payroll increase as of late, and that should continue in 2018. Fans must realize that the days of being extra frugal are in the past, and that the Indians are going to spend like a big market team, at least for a few years.

Next: Indians have easy QO decisions ahead

Certain deals may be looked at in the future as bad ideas, but if the team can win a World Series none of that will matter.