Cleveland Indians: 3 free agents who could boost Tribe’s outfield

Cleveland Indians Free Agent Option #1: Yasiel Puig

It’s been almost two years since Yasiel Puig took the field in a major league game, but he still might be the best outfield option on the current free agent market. Since his last action came in 2019, Puig’s last team was in fact the Cleveland Indians.

Puig got a look from the Atlanta Braves before last season, but the club backed out of the deal after a positive COVID test for the outfielder. Fast forward to now and he still has yet to sign with a MLB team.

During his last season in 2019 Puig played in 149 games. The first 100 were with Cincinnati with the last 49 coming with Cleveland. While playing for the Tribe over those 49 games, Puig was able to put together a slash line of .297/.377/.423 with 15 doubles and 23 RBI along with two home runs.

Those numbers are a bit higher than his career marks with a line of .277/.348/.475, however, even that would be a big upgrade over the options the Tribe are considering in Naylor’s absence.

Of the three options here, Puig is the best defensively. Over 861 career games he’s been the DH just twice playing the rest of his 859 games in the field while maintaining a career .981 fielding percentage.

There might be some off the field concerns with Puig that the team would have to do some digging on, but if everything comes back clear he could be the best option out there for the Tribe.