3:30pm: Napoli’s contract comes with a $1.75MM salary in the Majors plus another $3.25MM available to him via incentives, tweets FanRag’s Jon Heyman.
9:08am: The Indians have a minor-league deal in place with veteran slugger Mike Napoli, according to MLB.com’s Jordan Bastian (Twitter link). If he passes a physical, Napoli will join the organization’s major-league camp. He’s represented by Paragon Sports.
This move reunites the first baseman/DH with the organization he helped lead to a World Series berth in 2016. With Edwin Encarnacion ensconced in the designated hitter role, it seems likely that Napoli — if he earns a roster spot — would most likely serve as a platoon mate for first baseman Yonder Alonso.
Between Napoli’s quality season in Cleveland and his deal to re-join the organization today, the 36-year-old limped to a .193/.285/.428 slash in 485 plate appearances with the Rangers. While he still managed to launch 29 long balls, and was likely unfortunate to carry a .225 BABIP, Napoli’s walk (10.1%) and strikeout (33.6%) rates suffered in comparison to his levels in prior campaigns. He also dealt with a torn ligament in his right hand.
Needless to say, it’s possible to put a positive or negative spin on the undeniably less-than-ideal results from 2017. In a limited role, though, there’s good reason to think that Napoli can still produce at the plate — especially against lefties, against whom he owns a lifetime .892 OPS. And while he’s a poor baserunner who is limited in the field, he has graded out as an average performer at first base over the past three seasons.
Welcome back, big guy!
Getting the band back together I see.
And just like an old rockstar old and slow and out of tune.
The Rangers and Indians will always have a place for Nap
Time for another Party at Napoli’s
YES SIR
Lol
Guess he’s just going to pinch hit and fill in at 1st when Alonso needs a day off.
Barring injuries and assuming he makes the final roster, he platoons against lefties.
I’m all for Parties at Napoli’s, but I can’t say I’d be happy with seeing CLEFO waste a spot on the 25-man for him.
Everyone overreacts to one bad season. Their always like”OMG he had a negative war and a high BABIP he is terrible and he should only get minor league contracts for the rest of his career”
There are plenty of positives:
Great clubhouse presence
Fan favorite
Could rebound from an injury season last year
He had a negative WAR last season. You don’t see that very often.
And… Not one season with a negative WAR before that. (+26.7 WAR his whole career)
He had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his right hand, which he played with all season. Something else you don’t see very often. twitter.com/bradfo/status/936688087052234753
Other positives? You’d think a guy like Napoli would have negative 1B Defense.. but: +1.1 UZR and +1 DRS in 2017. (782 Innings)
Yes he was bad but it’s only a minor league deal..
fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=3057&posit…
Watching him play was rough last year. You could tell something wasn’t right. But the fans still loved him.
My favourite Toronto blue jay
Don’t see much room for both him and Rajai Davis on the roster. They need a backup catcher and infielder and they have Guyer already. That leaves 1 spot for Napoli or Rajai Davis unless they go with 13 pitchers.
They don’t need a backup catcher or infielder. Gomes and Perez are two of the best defensively, and even though they aren’t great hitters they still combined for something like the sixth most RBIs from the catcher position.
As for the IF, Diaz and either Gonzalez or Urshela are defensively capable utility guys.
Oh yeah I know, I meant with spots going to Gomes, and infielder like Gonzalez, not much room to have both Davis or Napoli or even either. Right now, Roster Resource has em both staying in AAA.
All teams need a backup catcher. No catcher plays more than about 120 games a year
Ugh…13 pitchers. That means a three-man bench in the AL (13 pitchers, 9 regulars, three bench guys) and obviously, they need a backup catchr and then a backup infielder and backup outfielder. And that’s it. I hate 8-man bullpens and 25-man rosters, and I really would love to see a team try a different approach at some point.
Can he play the outfield?
No
I’m really excited that he and Rajai are back. He’d be great in a platoon role with Yonder, but there are also only so many roster spots to go around, and they could save a spot and have Guyer or someone else hit against lefties for him. Either way though, it’s great to have him back.
Guyer is still having issues with his had and most likely will start the season on the DL
*hand
any chance he catches a game or two this season ?
Zero.
His knees are shot he said a couple years ago that he could probably only catch a couple innings of game action
The Indians are doing Napoli a solid. Can’t see him making his team but perhaps another.
I don’t think they did themselves or Napali a favor in this case. The pressure is on to roll the clock back from two years ago and it’s just not gonna happen.
How is giving away at bats in Spring Training to a washed up player like Napoli helping the Tribe.
If he’s not making the team, and this is a foregone conclusion, then he’s robbing the chances to a younger player that needs to impress the coaching staff by playing.
Bingo!
Mucho de lo mismo!
Party at Napoli’s!!!
YES
Not in Cleveland
Davis, now Napoli. GO TRIBE!
Rangers will miss him.
Really…..he’s a rally killer.
Someone pointed out above that Cleveland might be carrying 13 pitchers, which allows for only three bench spots (Backup catcher, backup infielder and backup outfielder) so that seems to preclude Napoli from making the roster. He was once a good platoon bat but guys like him are increasingly left out with 12- and 13-man pitching staffs.
Francona said that they were basically bringing him in as a favor to him and let him work out with the team and audition for someone else. Odds aren’t good he makes the team unless there’s an injury at 1b or DH
do you have a source?
See the next article. Francona says as much. I’m sure you just missed it, or it wasn’t up yet.
Yes, I heard it come out of Francona’s mouth…..and now the above article