Cleveland Indians sign Mike Napoli to minors deal with spring invite
The Cleveland Indians have agreed to a minor league deal with former Indian Mike Napoli. The deal is not guaranteed and includes a spring invite.
The Cleveland Indians made a shocking signing this morning signing Mike Napoli to a minor league contract. Napoli was with Texas last season after his 2016 run with the Indians only lasted one year.
Mike Napoli had his worst professional season in 2016. His batting average stayed below the Mendoza Line at .193 and he struck out 38.4 percent of his ABs, a 4.4 percent increase from his 2016 rate in Cleveland.
What does this signing mean?
Napoli’s signing 100 percent signals depth to me. The Indians have Edwin Encarnacion and Yonder Alonso at first base and DH so Napoli doesn’t have a spot there.
Napoli played catcher six years ago but he has not been behind the dish since then so catcher is also out. He played in the outfield eleven times in his career so again, that is out.
For those of you taking score that is a big fat zero out of three possible spots he could play. So then this begs the question, why bring him in at all?
This deal is based in respect and depth and insurance through spring. Him being unsigned gives him limited ability to showcase anything he has left for teams.
This thought is backed up by the following tweet from MLB reporter Jordan Bastian:
Mike Napoli was one of the leaders of the team during the magical 2016 run. He is a great veteran presence to bring in to get the team chemistry flowing in a positive direction heading into 2018.
I do believe if he doesn’t garner any interest from other MLB clubs, he could play in Columbus. Playing in Triple-A makes sense if he has no interest from others and provides insurance for Cleveland in case of injury.
Napoli had a tough year in 2017 partly due to battling injuries. He had offseason surgery for a torn ligament in his hand along with battling a bad back and leg injury.
Because Napoli remained unsigned, the team felt they could show their respect to him by giving him a platform to show he has something left to give.
Napoli is 36 years old and will have to display some semblance of his former self. Although he cracked 29 home runs in 2017, his average dropped and strikeouts rose. This is possibly due to his injuries or his age but teams need something to go from to decide the answer to that for themselves and the Indians are giving him that shot.
Next: Goal remains the same in 2018
The Party at Napoli’s won’t last long so Cleveland Indians fans better catch him in action this spring when they can. The likelihood of him being elsewhere after Spring Training is very high.