{"id":2212,"date":"2016-12-22T21:07:52","date_gmt":"2016-12-23T02:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/?p=2212"},"modified":"2016-12-22T22:54:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-23T03:54:52","slug":"edwin-encarnacion-signs-ceveland-indians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2016\/12\/22\/edwin-encarnacion-signs-ceveland-indians\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwin Encarnacion Signs With the Cleveland Indians"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <strong>MLB <\/strong>off-season is in full swing and top free agents are beginning to decide where they will play next season. <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/cespeyo01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yoenis Cespedes<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>recently <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonbaseball.com\/2016\/11\/29\/yoenis-cespedes-re-signs-new-york-mets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">re-signed with the <strong>New York Mets<\/strong><\/a> for four years. The hot stove is also going strong with the <strong>Seattle Mariners<\/strong>, <strong>Atlanta Braves<\/strong>, and <strong>Arizona Diamondbacks <\/strong>involved in trades. Now,\u00a0another top-tier free agent is also off the market.<\/p>\n<h2><strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/encared01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Edwin Encarnacion<\/a><\/strong> Signs With the Cleveland Indians<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Indians win Encarnacion. 3 plus an option.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonHeyman\/status\/812112493824868352\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Deal is thought to be worth 20M\/yr or thereabout.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/JonHeyman\/status\/812112603585585153\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 23, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/encared01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Edwin Encarnacion<\/a><\/strong> has signed a three year deal worth $20 million with the Cleveland Indians. The first baseman and designated hitter was definitely one of the premier power hitters available this off-season. Encarnacion will provide an immediate impact for the Indians. He has logged at least 34 home runs and 98 RBI each of the past five seasons. Encarnacion finished the 2016 season tied for first in RBI with <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/ortizda01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">David Ortiz<\/a><\/strong> <\/strong>at 127. His 42 home runs were also tied for third in all of baseball behind <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/trumbma01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mark Trumbo<\/a><\/strong><\/strong> and <strong><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?results=cruzne02,cruzne01&amp;search=Nelson+Cruz&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nelson Cruz<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Reliable Power<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Cespedes may be the bigger signing this off-season, but Encarnacion may prove to be the most reliable. He\u00a0will be entering his age-34 season, but the recent success of Ortiz through age 40 may help Encarnacion\u2019s case. His numbers through 12 seasons speak for themselves. He has posted a triple-slash line of .266\/.352\/.498 to go with an OPS of .850. Encarnacion has also posted 162 game averages of 33 home runs, 101 RBI, 33 doubles, and 289 total bases. More importantly, his recent performance shows little sign of slowing down.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Outlook<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The acquisition of Encarnacion puts the Indians in position to contend next season. He brings a reliable power bat to a roster that already features <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lindofr01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Francisco Lindor<\/a><\/strong>, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/k\/kipnija01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jason Kipnis<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?results=santaca01,santan004car&amp;search=Carlos+Santana&amp;utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-lastwordonbaseball.com\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlos Santana<\/a><\/strong>. Remaining in the <strong>American League<\/strong> also ensures that Encarnacion can serve as a\u00a0regular designated hitter, allowing him to compete late into his 30\u2019s, like Ortiz. Yes, Encarnacion still has to go out and perform, but he should be a solid signee over the course of this contract.<\/p>\n<p>Main Photo<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/615469826\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 66.666667% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/615469826?et=uwgYvLJPSTJdFBaZWXJvXA&amp;viewMoreLink=on&amp;sig=kJ7FXAqK-7-r5WKda0NhOcTN9ScjHOgrYbsajofqwxc=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MLB off-season is in full swing and top free agents are beginning to decide where they will play next season. Yoenis Cespedes recently re-signed with the New York Mets for four years. The hot stove is also going strong with the Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves, and Arizona Diamondbacks involved in trades. Now,\u00a0another top-tier free [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1230,"featured_media":2282,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[35,9,2],"tags":[68,352,371,69],"class_list":["post-2212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-guardians","category-featured","tag-baseball","tag-cleveland-indians","tag-edwin-encarnacion","tag-mlb"],"modified_by":"Josh Greenberg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}