Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team Studs and Duds: Outfield and DH

In our second part of our Cleveland Indians All-Decade Team, we take a look at the Studs and Duds at each outfield position as well as the designated hitter.

Today we take a look at our second part of our All-Decade Team for the Cleveland Indians, looking at the studs and duds in the outfield as well as the designated hitter.

Unlike on the infield, this one has some tougher calls though still a few obviously choices in the “stud” category.

Left Field

The stud of the decade in left field goes to fan-favorite Michael Brantley, and I don’t think many would be surprised by this. However, this one wasn’t a complete slam dunk like it may seem since he did start out playing a lot of center field before moving to the corner.

That said, he was the only outfielder to have an MVP caliber season for the Tribe and that season alone puts him atop the left field standings. Brantley hit .294/.351/.432 for the Tribe with a 114 wRC+. Not superstar numbers but a 20.2 fWAR overall (with most of that coming in left field) puts him near the top of best players to play for the Tribe this decade, at any position.

The number of duds the Indians had in the outfield this decade could fill a phone book. The Tribe never seemed to be able to find a full outfield and the turnover was constant. Players like Aaron Cunningham, Greg Allen, and JB Shuck have had “dud” like stints with the Tribe this past decade. But the one that stood out to me was Johnny Damon. He seemed like a decent low cost add for the Indians back in 2012 but after waiting until the season started to sign he was anything but.

Damon hit a putrid .222/.281/.329 in 64 games while posting a -0.3 fWAR. He had a mere 12 extra-base hits, four home runs, and four stolen bases in over 200 plate appearances. This a year after hitting 16 home runs and stealing 19 bases for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The Indians had hoped to contend in 2012 but things didn’t turn out that way and Damon’s failure was a big reason for it. The good news was the Tribe moved on from Manny Acta and hired some guy named Terry Francona and the franchise has turned things around with a winning season every year since.

Stud: Michael Brantley
Dud: Johnny Damon 

Right Field

Right field was probably the weirdest position for the Indians this past decade though there was a relatively clear winner for the award of stud. Shin-Soo Choo takes the crown having amassed a 10.6 fWAR at the position while hitting .284/.378/.446 with an eye-popping 131 wRC+.

He was one of the best (and probably most underrated) Tribe hitters of the decade. Defensively things weren’t always so cozy in the outfield but he handled himself well enough before being traded away when he was set to be a free agent.

Coming in second here was Lonnie Chisenhall who after failing at the hot corner found a home in right field for the Tribe. He posted a 4.7 fWAR in right and had an OPS over .800 at the position. Unfortunately for him, the move to the outfield happened a year or two too late and injuries slowed him down to the point he just couldn’t stay on the field enough to wrestle the top spot from Choo.

From 2009 to 2012, Choo was the Indians starting right fielder. Since then, the Tribe has started seven different players in seven years at the position. In fact, 42 different players ran out to the position at least once, giving plenty of options for dud of the decade.

David Murphy is one of a couple of guys tied for the “lead” in fWAR at -0.3; however, he at least hit well enough overall to be league average (101 wRC+) so he skirts by without the honor. Carlos Gonzalez was horrible in his short stint with the Tribe this past season and has a case for the award as does Kosuke Fukudome. However, for me, the winner is Brandon Moss.

Moss posted the worst fWAR in right for the Tribe this decade at -0.3 and hit an ugly .217/.288/.407 with just an 86 wRC+. This after being acquired from the Athletics for prospect Joey Wendle who would go on to eventually catch on with the Rays and make a run at Rookie of the Year.

Moss was supposed to finally stabilize the outfield and provide a ton of power to a lineup that needed it. While he did hit 15 home runs, that’s essentially all he did and he was eventually shipped off to the Cardinals.

Stud: Shin-Soo Choo
Dud: Brandon Moss 

Designated Hitter

Folks, we have a battle! The designated hitter position is one that in recent years has evolved into a position that teams use to rotate players in and out of a lot, not always having a set player at the position.

However, the Indians have had a couple of guys that were almost strictly DHs in their time with the Indians this decade: Travis Hafner and Edwin Encarnacion. Ironically these two are also a pair of the largest deals ever handed out by the Cleveland Indians (over $100 million for the pair combined).

Recency bias would lead one to believe the choice is Edwin, and he does have a compelling case. In his two seasons with the Tribe, he hit a whopping 70 home runs while batting .252/.358/.490. He had 214 runs batted in and 170 runs scored while posting a 123 wRC+ and 3.3 fWAR. All very good numbers for just two years.

However…Travis Hafner posted some intriguing numbers of his own this decade. He did not put up the counting numbers Edwin did, hitting just 38 home runs with 140 runs batted in and 110 runs scored. However, he hit an impressive .267/.363/.447 with a 124 wRC+ and 3.7 fWAR. This in 150 fewer plate appearances than Encarnacion this decade.

Some may say that’s still an easy call. Edwin had more HR and RBI so he’s the pick, right? Well…Hafner did post a 4.35 WPA (win probability added) while Encarnacion only posted a 1.81 WPA. Hafner also had a 1.35 clutch rating while Edwin had a -2.26 rating (negative is below average, positive above). Some could argue that’s meaningless (and they wouldn’t be completely wrong at all), but it goes to show just how good Hafner was even at the end of his Tribe career.

So in our first shocker, the stud of the decade DH goes to Travis Hafner.

The dud of the decade isn’t quite so obvious either. Jason Giambi actually had one of the worst fWAR of any position player for the Indians this decade. He posted a -1.4 fWAR while batting .171/.276/.346 including a 72 wRC+. How bad is that? If you recall, Lou Marson posted a 70 wRC+ and was the dud of the decade at catcher. At least he could defend.

However, for as bad as Giambi was, he did have one of the biggest hits of the decade with the walk-off home run against the White Sox in 2013 that helped win the Indians the Wild Card that year. That alone saves him from the honor which then falls to Matt LaPorta, the “prize” of the CC Sabathia.

Where Napoli had a few moments, LaPorta just never could find his swing at all at the big league level, posting a -1.3 fWAR in 291 big league games. He hit 31 home runs….in over 1000 plate appearances. Not exactly what the Tribe expected for the top prospect. He bounced between the outfield, first base and even designated hitter, never finding a home anywhere.

Stud: Travis Hafner
Dud: Matt LaPorta

So what did you think of the choices in part two? Do you agree with the studs and duds in the outfield? What about the DH? Be sure to let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for the third and final installment looking the best and worst Cleveland Indians pitchers of the decade.