The Indians have ruled out committing to a multiple-year contract for Orlando Hudson because of injury concerns. Which in effect says that they aren't going to sign him, for someone else is going to give him a multiple-year contract. For a team that saw their two biggest investments (Jake Westbrook and Travis Hafner) come down with major injuries last year, perhaps this is understandable. Hudson broke his wrist in August, and players with wrist injuries tend to take a while to get back to their former hitting prowess.

The problem with removing Hudson from consideration is that there isn't really a second all-around free agent second option at second base.  Mark Grudzielanek and Ray Durham would probably be OK on one-year deals, but both are old by the position standards. And is signing either of those two worth taking the trouble to move Jhonny Peralta to third for?

Baseball's free agency has in past years been a hierarchical process, with money frozen up until the premium players sign. Thus we wait for CC Sabathia to choose the Yankees or a West Coast team; that decision will trigger concrete offers for the next tier of top free agents, as the principals in the Sabathia sweepstakes obviously can't spend on Mark Teixeira or Francisco Rodriguez and hope to sign Sabathia at the same time. Well, except for the Yankees.  

As far as the Indians are concerned, their first major action is probably in the closer market, which in a welcome change from offseasons' past seems to have more closers than serious suitors. That's a good thing, for the Indians need to improve several other areas on their club, particularly the infield. The Indians should get a pretty good closer, and they should be able to get one through free agency, not normally an avenue the Indians have used to get their major contributors.

So who's available? There are four free-agent closers that I consider good bets to be effective next season (in no particular order):

Rodriguez and Fuentes are probably the best long-term bets, but the Indians have no chance at Rodriguez (asking for a 5/$75M contract), and signing Fuentes at his asking price of 3/$30M would fill a large portion of their offseason budget. That leaves Wood and Hoffman as the two options left that would allow the Indians to also make major improvements elsewhere on their roster. Signing Hoffman to a one-year contract, for instance, wouldn't affect their ability to sign Orlando Hudson.

The trade market is also out there (Street, Valverde, Putz, etc), but again, if you can sign Wood or Hoffman to a decent short-term deal, why bother trading your prospects for at best marginal improvement? In this instance, the trade route should only be a backup plan.

Signed IF Andy Cannizaro and C Damaso Espino to minor-league contracts and Invited them to Spring Training

The first free agent signings of the offseason!

Cannizaro finished the 2008 season with the Bisons after being acquired by the Indians from Tampa Bay. The 30-year-old has played mostly shortstop during his professional career, though he's become more of a utility guy as his prospect status wore off. He hit .321/.374/.476 during his short time in Buffalo, but that was in just 84 at-bats: his career minor-league line is .274/.343/.354.

Espino is another re-sign for the Indians; he ended the 2008 season with the Aeros after being acquired from the Kansas City organization in June. He'll be 26 next May, but has shown zero power in the high minors.

Purchased the Contracts of C Carlos Santana, C Chris Giminez, OF Trevor Crowe, RHP Jeff Stevens, and RHP Hector Rondon

As always, the question is who you left off the roster, not who you added. Among the eligibles for next month's Rule 5 Draft are Jordan Brown, Randy Newsom, and Chuck Lofgren.

Brown is probably the best Indians prospect left unprotected, and I think he'll be selected in the Rule 5 Draft despite playing first base the past two seasons and not having the upside potential most clubs look for in Rule 5 picks. I just think some teams with serious offensive needs (the Pirates, for instance) will see him as (almost) free talent that could realistically help their club next season.

The Giants have signed Jeremy Affeldt to a two-year deal worth $8M. The left-hander isn't really a matchup guy, and that's a good thing; he's been a versatile and durable reliever, making 74 and 75 appearances, respectively, since moving to the bullpen on a full-time basis in 2007. Last season with the Reds he was used as a multi-inning setup man, and he averaged more than a strikeout an inning. With the Rockies in 2007, he threw only 59.0 innings, which was really a misuse of his strengths. Almost every bullpen could use a guy like him, and the price looks reasonable.

From the PD:

Former Cleveland Indians pitcher and broadcaster Herb Score's died this morning at age 75 in his room at home in Rocky River, the Indians confirmed today.

He was a brilliant Indians pitcher whose baseball career was virtually ended at age 23 when he was hit in the right eye by a line drive off the bat of Gil McDougald of the New York Yankees on May 7, 1957.

Then he became a Cleveland sportscasting institution, calling Indians games on radio and television for 34 years, longer than anybody else in the city's baseball history.

I obviously knew Score only as a broadcaster, or as many other people saw him, a long-distance friend. I've missed him since he signed off for the final time in 1997, and to this day I regret that the man who was the enthusiastic voice for so many awful teams couldn't end his career calling a World Series winner.

So far, it's been quiet for Cleveland this offseason, though I think we all expect this winter to be eventful. We know that the Indians will acquire an infielder, a significant reliever, and possibly a another starter. With only one arbitration case on the roster and no significant free agents to try to retain, the Indians should be aggressive in both free agency and the trade market.

Anthony Castrovince previews the Indians' offseason with the type of story we've seen for the past six years:

The Indians have the needs.

But as tends to be the case for small- and mid-market teams in the high-priced and high-risk world of free agency, they don't have the dollars.

Free agency is a very inefficient way to get decent talent if you don't have a lot of payroll to work with. And even if you are a GM with a large payroll, building your team from the bottom up with free agents isn't a great idea. It's much better to go just for the stars and fill in around them with your farm system. And if you can't make a play for the Sabathias or the Teixeiras of the market, you're left with the second-tier free agents, who are even more expensive if you consider the value you're getting.

Therefore, Shapiro and his staff will prioritize their needs, which include an infielder at third base, second base or shortstop, back-end relief help (preferably in the closer's role) and a third starter.

 Three seasons ago, the Indians signed Paul Byrd to replace Kevin Millwood in the rotation. And as free agent pickups go, Byrd was a pretty good deal, starting over 80 unspectacular but effective games for the Indians. He cost the Indians roughly $21M; for Cleveland to get a starting pitcher with a similar profile is probably going to cost them at least $2-3M more a season. The rub is this: the Indians are already paying Jake Westbrook quasi-market value, and he won't pitch until mid-season. And this offseason is the time to get an extension done with Cliff Lee. So between the rising cost of the current rotation and other priorities, I don't see the Indians spending a lot of dollars or talent to land a starter.

So how about the infielder? Second base would be the choice if you want to improve your defense, but Mark Ellis just re-signed with Oakland, leaving just Orlando Hudson as a good fit (in other words, better than Jamey Carroll). The legitimate third base options consist of creaky Joe Crede and Casey Blake, part deux. I think Hudson makes a lot of sense considering the current roster and lineup; if the Indians are going to spend on anyone this winter, it should be him. Brian Roberts would be an option if Baltimore lowers their demands significantly.

Though the Indians won't have a chance of landing Francisco Rodriguez (sigh of relief) or even Brian Fuentes, I think they'll get someone. The Padres aren't bringing Trevor Hoffman back, so he's an option, especially since he came close to signing with the Indians the last time he was a free agent. I think a trade would make more sense here, especially Huston Street (if he's not in the Holliday deal).

RHP Brendan Donnelly, RHP Juan Rincon, and RHP Scott Elarton filed for Free Agency

Not exactly cornerstone contributors, but let's talk about them.

Brendan Donnelly is the most interesting of the three. The Indians signed him knowing that he'd be rehabbing most of the season, and have only a slight chance of getting anything out of him before the end of the season; even after a pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery is physically able to throw competitively, it usually takes at least a couple months to get back to his former prowess. And while Donnelly doesn't enough service time to file for free agency, the contract he signed stipulated that the Indians would have to essentially release him so that he'd be a free agent along with all the other players with 6+ years of service time.

Whichever team signs him will be getting Donnelly at full health; whether that translates into getting a good reliever is unknown, but I think it would have been a very easy decision to keep Donnelly around had the clause not been in his contract. But with him out on the open market, there's really no reason for the Indians to favor him over any of the other relievers available. Maybe Donnelly would favor the Indians if he had a good experience with the staff, but given that this is his first (and likely last) chance as a viable reliever on the open market, those distinctions probably won't come into play.

I'm a lot less interested in Juan Rincon, who although healthy, has been a train wreck for the past two seasons. Like Donnelly, this is Rincon's first shot at free agency, but while Donnelly can point to his elbow surgery for a reason why he struggled in Boston last season, Rincon can only point to his past success. Juan wants to come back to Cleveland, but I don't see the Indians wanting Rincon back, at least on a major-league deal.

Scott Elarton missed the final three months of the season due to a "non-baseball medical condition," so I don't even want to comment on his baseball future, other than to hope that some time in the future he's ready to play again.

Exercised the 2009 Option of Jamey Carroll ($2.5M)

One of two major-league moves made last off-season by Mark Shapiro, Jamey Carroll turned out to be a very important addition, as for a significant stretch he was the team's second baseman due to injuries and ineffectiveness. And he didn't just play defense and soak up at-bats; he was a key part of the offense, hitting second regularly.

Carroll's 2008 success should give him more playing time than an Eric Wedge utility infielder usually gets, but he won't be starting or even platooning. One of the Indians' major offseason goals is to add an "infielder," probably either a second or third baseman, and moving the existing players around  if necessary to make the best defensive fit. Which should relegate Carroll to again being a backup to both second and third. Replacing Andy Marte with a more productive player should further reduce his playing time. But he's a nice insurance policy to have, providing more flexibility as a utility infielder than Josh Barfield would; with Barfield, the "utility" would be provided by moving the starters around to other positions.