Cleveland Sports Forum

Jon Heyman of FanCred Sports writes that Billy Hamilton is a potential fit for the Indians.

Heyman adds that the Indians have asked about him in the past. Hamilton is a .245/.299/.331 hitter in the majors, but he's an excellent defender in center field and brings game-changing speed to the table. He'd make sense for multiple contenders. Hamilton is under team control for one more year before hitting free agency.

(I get this one only because we are so desperate at CF and he is a stud defensively. Bat him 9th. But only if it's a lower level prospect.)

How much more valuable is Hamilton than Greg Allen?

Plenty more relievers been dealt the last couple days; Apparently they like what they have now or will have when Miller returns. Now that Neil Ramirez seems to be returning to form, I'm not so confident. We could have a nice trio of lefties with Miller, Hand and Perez. But other than Allen, who we can be more confident about than Ramirez, and I apparently Cimber, what other right handers would you want to use in a close game? I'd be happy to upgrade Otero and McAllister. Oh wait I forgot, Josh Tomlin will be back in a few weeks.

Craig Mish of Sirius XM reports that the Indians are interested in several Marlins players.

The list includes the likes of infielder/outfielder Derek Dietrich and relievers Kyle Barraclough and Brad Ziegler. Among them, Ziegler seems the most likely to be moved by Tuesday's deadline, though not necessarily to the Indians.

Overpay???

Robert Murray
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#Indians acquire Leonys Martin from the #Tigers in exchange for Willi Castro, sources tell The Athletic.

Zack Meisel
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Martin is a decent defender in CF, owns a .730 OPS this season. Castro projects as a strong defender at SS, but, obviously, has no path to the majors other than a utility guy before 2022.

No, I don't think we overpaid. As I've said a hundred times, we are deep at SS and could easily trade Gonzalez, Chang, or Castro. Just no spot for them in the anywhere near future. And as I mentioned last week, Martin is a good stop gap option. So I think we did fine.

Looked at his splits - he bats .275 vs right handed pitching. Obviously not idea as he tanks vs lefties.

The guy does cover some ground and we have a gaping hole in CF. Nothing too exciting there.

Hillbilly wrote:No, I don't think we overpaid. As I've said a hundred times, we are deep at SS and could easily trade Gonzalez, Chang, or Castro. Just no spot for them in the anywhere near future. And as I mentioned last week, Martin is a good stop gap option. So I think we did fine.

Agree all the way there HB.

This was my post 6 days ago and what I think of Martin.

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Hillbilly wrote:Even though my wife thinks Curtis Granderson will be our target for CF to continue our collection of former Tiger CF'ers -- and honestly, with Granderson in Toronto now where Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins now run the show and know our farm system as well as anybody -- I think we should consider this Tiger CF'er instead.

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Adam Jones may be the biggest name out there, but any contender in need of a center fielder should consider Leonys Martin first.

He's long been known for his defense, and everything is A-OK in that department. Whether it's defensive runs saved, ultimate zone rating or outs above average, the metrics approve of Martin's glove work.

Meanwhile, Martin has found his hitting stroke to the tune of a .746 OPS. He's tightened up his plate discipline and upped his launch angle. The chief result is more power than he's had in years.

The Detroit Tigers are paying Martin just $1.8 million, and he must go through arbitration one more time before entering free agency after 2019. As such, he wouldn't just be a temporary solution.

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Martin had a couple solid years in Texas where he hit 260 - 270 with 30 steals. And as it says above, good defender. Might be a solid stop gap measure to do us until Zimmer or Allen get their act together.

T.J. Zuppe
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At 98 wRC+ this year. Always been rated as good defender in CF. Credited with 3 DRS this season. Also under control through next year.

So we will have Martin next year too, which will give Zimmer and Allen another year to learn and improve. And Zimmer will need it since his season ended abruptly.

Yep


Mark
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Martin is still a platoon piece which means Rajai's bat is still in the lineup vs. LHP. Martin is better defensively than Naquin and hits righties better than Allen, so it helps.

Cleveland Indians
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We’ve acquired OF Leonys Martín and minor league RHP Kyle Dowdy from DET for INF Willi Castro.

Some notes on Martín:

+ Sports a 2.1 fWAR with 9 HRs
+ His 9 OF assists this year is tops in the AL
+ Since 2013, his 59 OF assists are tied for 2nd-most in MLB

Mike Petriello (stats guru) just posted this:


Mike Petriello
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5 Dec 2017
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New @tigers OF Leonys Martin was tied for the best in baseball for most Catch Percentage Added in 2017, min 50 opps.

(That means: An avg OF would be expected to catch 84% of specific balls hit to Martin. He actually caught 90%. So, +6%!)
That is very good company.