The Indians have their first baseman and the bat they’ve been seeking all winter. Sort of.
Casey Kotchman batted a career-high .306 with 24 doubles, 10 home runs and 48 RBI last year for the Tampa Bay Rays, making his free-agent-to-be season his best ever.
That was reason enough for the Tribe to sign him Thursday at a reported salary of $3 million plus incentives. However, Kotchman is not exactly what the club was looking for.
For one thing, he bats from the left side, and the last thing the left-leaning Indians need is another lefty at the plate. For another, Kotchman is not the run producer the team was hoping to find, the run producer that used to fit the description of right-handed hitting Matt LaPorta.
But in more than two full seasons at first, LaPorta has not lived up to the reputation he built as the Milwaukee Brewers’ top hitting prospect in 2008, when he was acquired by the Tribe in the CC Sabathia deal.
In 107 games last season, LaPorta batted .247 with 11 homers and 53 RBI in 352 at-bats. Consequently, General Manager Chris Antonetti went looking for a replacement.
If the Tribe had to sign another left-handed batter, they could have done lots worse than Kotchman. In his career, he is batting .263 against left-handed pitchers and .269 against righties. Last year, he hit .313 in 351 at-bats against right-handers and a solid .289 in 149 at-bats against lefties.
Run production is not his game, but in 2011 Kotchman posted an excellent .378 on-base percentage and struck out only 66 times in 500 at-bats, a ratio of one strikeout every 7.6 at-bats. On a team with too many strikeout-prone batters, his ability to make contact is a significant asset.
Kotchman, who will be 29 in three weeks, had only one bad month last year. He batted no lower than .299 in each of the first five months of the season but fell to .244 in September. Before the All-Star Game, he batted .336; after the break he hit .277.
Will Kotchman be the Tribe’s first baseman on a daily basis? It probably depends on whether manager Manny Acta feels comfortable using him against most left-handed pitchers.
If he chooses, Acta can move switch-hitting Carlos Santana from catcher to first and install right-handed-hitting Lou Marson at catcher when the club faces a lefty.
Moreover, Shelley Duncan, who bats from the right side, might occasionally play first against left-handed starters, and depending on how he performs in spring training, Russ Canzler is another right-handed option at first. But he has to make the team.
Kotchman is considered an excellent defensive first baseman, having made only two errors in 135 starts last season.
Rafael Perez also signs
The Indians began the offseason with seven arbitration-eligible players. Now, they are down to one after Rafael Perez agreed to a one-year, $2.005 million contract Thursday.
Perez was one of two Indians players — Asdrubal Cabrera is the other — to carry the arbitration process past the filing stage. Perez submitted a salary figure of $2.4 million; the club countered with an offer of $1.6 million. Last year, Perez made $1.33 million, posting a 5-2 record and 3.00 ERA in 71 appearances (63 innings).
Cabrera remains on track to have to his salary determined by an arbitrator, though like Perez, he can still agree to terms before a hearing. He has submitted a figure of $5.25 million. The Tribe offered $3.75 million.
No Indians player has gone to an arbitration hearing since 1991. Chris Perez, Justin Masterson, Shin-Soo Choo, Jack Hannahan and Joe Smith preceded Rafael Perez in bypassing an arbitration hearing. Together, these six arbitration-eligible players will make $18,115.000 this season. In 2011, these players earned $9,741,000.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Indians blog at http://www.ohio.com/tribematters. Follow the Indians on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ABJ_Indians.
