Recapping the Cleveland Indians Acquisitions on December 8th, 1997
December is a month that has long been known as being in the middle of the Hot Stove season. After all, it’s the month when the MLB Winter Meetings take place, and usually, a few free agents come off the board. Granted, this year everything is taken a much different approach since the meetings are being held virtually. However, even though that’s the case, all thirty teams still have the ability to make acquisitions including the Cleveland Indians.
While December 8th might seem like an ordinary day on the calendar, it was a very busy one for the Cleveland Indians back in 1997. That was the day that the organization made a total of four transactions – two free-agent signings and two trades. In fact, it might be one of the busiest days of Hot Stove season in Cleveland Indians franchise history!
So given that, it’s only worthy that an article is written recapping everything that happened that day. Without further due, let’s recap it all below.
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Kenny Lofton Inks a Free Agent Deal
The biggest transaction of the day was the signing of outfielder Kenny Lofton. Lofton agreed to terms on a three-year, $24 million dollar contract with the team. What makes it even more ironic is that he was with the Indians from 1992 until 1996. Then, he was traded to the Atlanta Braves due to being a pending free agent in 1997.
Over the span of the three-year deal, Lofton would earn two All-Star nods, hit 34 home runs, and record 176 RBI. The deal covered his age 31 through 33 seasons. In addition, it came on the heels of a pretty impactful 1997 regular season. During that season, Lofton would not only be named an All-Star but finished 26th overall in National League Most Valuable Player Award voting as well.
Lofton stayed in Cleveland for the 2001 season before signing a free-agent deal with the Chicago White Sox in February of 2002.
Dwight Gooden Joins the Cleveland Indians
After spending 11 seasons with the New York Mets and three years with the New York Yankees, free-agent starting pitcher Dwight Gooden signed a two-year deal with the Cleveland Indians. The deal paid the right-hander a little north of $5.6 million dollars over the two campaigns.
Over the span of both seasons, Gooden posted a 4.92 ERA over 49 games or 249 innings. Furthermore, he had a 1.526 WHIP and a 6.2 K/9 rate over that span. Gooden got the ball twice during the 1998 postseason but didn’t necessarily shine. During his first postseason start during the ALDS against the Boston Red Sox, Gooden only pitched a third of an inning. Meanwhile, his second start in the ALCS was against the New York Yankees. In that start, he pitched four and two-thirds innings.
Following the 1999 season, Gooden was granted free agency and went onto join the Houston Astros.
Recapping the Two Trades
After being crowned the 1997 ALCS MVP by the Cleveland Indians, outfielder Marquis Grissom was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers. An interesting fact is that the Brewers were actually the runner-up that offseason for the aforementioned Kenny Lofton. In total, Grissom spent a year with the Cleveland Indians and posted a .262/.317/.396 slash line over 622 plate appearances.
Along with Grissom, the Brewers also received pitcher Jeff Juden in the deal. In exchange, the Indians got pitchers Ben McDonald, Mike Fetters, and Ron Villone.
After acquiring Fetters, the Indians then swapped him to the Oakland Athletics in exchange for right-handed reliever Steve Karsay. Karsay spent three full seasons with the Indians (1998-2000) before being traded to the aforementioned Atlanta Braves halfway through the 2001 season.
Over that span, he pitched in a total of 164 games while posting a 3.23 ERA with a 1.251 WHIP and 191 strikeouts.
Final Thoughts on the Cleveland Indians Acquisitions
December 8th, 1997 was one action-packed day in Cleveland Indians history. Despite that though, their acquisitions provided a mixed bag of results. Those results didn’t necessarily bring to fruition what the team’s number one goal was at the time and that was to win a World Series Championship. The Indians did play against the then Florida Marlins in the 1997 World Series. However, the team didn’t return to the Fall Classic until 19 years later in 2016 against the Chicago Cubs.
While the Cleveland Indians fell short of their ultimate goal, you still have to give the organization credit for trying to maximize its window to win at the time that these four transactions happened. Regardless, December 8th, 1997 is likely to be a day that Indians fans will remember for a lifetime.
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