Cesar Hernandez

JAN. 29: The signing is official, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic. The club option is worth $6MM. There’s no buyout, according to Heyman.

JAN. 26, 1:21pm: Hernandez will earn $5MM, Heyman tweets.

9:12am: The two sides are in agreement on a deal, pending the completion of a physical, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

9:02am: The Indians are nearing a deal to re-sign free agent second baseman Cesar Hernandez, reports Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. If completed, it’d be a one-year deal with a club option for a second season in 2022. Hernandez, an Octagon client, has left his winter league team in Venezuela in order to finalize the new contract, according to Alvarez.

The 30-year-old Hernandez spent the 2020 season as Cleveland’s primary second baseman after signing a one-year, $6.25MM deal last winter. That contract paid off nicely for the club, as Hernandez turned in a characteristically solid .283/.355/.408 batting line with three homers and an AL-best 20 doubles while playing in 58 of the 60 games during last year’s shortened slate. He also went 3-for-8 with another double in his tiny sample of postseason work.

Beyond his strong showing at the plate, Hernandez enjoyed an excellent year in the field. The eight-year big league veteran took home his first Gold Glove in 2020 after posting strong marks in Defensive Runs Saved (6), Ultimate Zone Rating (3.8) and Outs Above Average (4).

The Hernandez reunion will be the first move made by Cleveland this winter that actually adds to the payroll. The Indians have been largely focused on shedding as much salary as possible, having declined a $10MM option on Brad Hand — he recently agreed to a $10.5MM deal with the Nats — and traded both Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets. Prior to the new agreement with Hernandez, the Indians were projected to carry a payroll of less than $40MM, which was far and away the lowest projected payroll in the game.

That said, an affordable deal for Hernandez could provide some indirect cost savings down the line. Cleveland picked up middle infielders Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez from the Mets in that Lindor/Carrasco blockbuster, and if Gimenez spends even a few weeks in the minor leagues this year, his path to free agency would be pushed back from the 2025-26 offseason to the 2026-27 offseason. That surely isn’t the sole reason Cleveland brought Hernandez back — he’s a solid player at a reasonable price who can now be retained through 2022  — but starting the year with Rosario at short and Hernandez at second undeniably has some added appeal for that reason.

Final judgment on the Indians’ chances in 2021 will be reserved until we see what further additions (and/or subtractions) the team makes between now and Opening Day. But it’s clear that after trading away not only Lindor and Carrasco but also Mike Clevinger, Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and buying out Hand’s option that the team is aiming for a radically lower payroll that will render it difficult to compete with an aggressive White Sox club and a Twins  roster that has won consecutive division titles.

The Indians have reached a one-year agreement with free-agent second baseman Cesar Hernandez, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets. The Octagon client will earn a $6.25MM salary for the 2020 season.

Hernandez, 30 in May, was non-tendered earlier this month after a run of five solid seasons as the Phillies’ primary second baseman. From 2015-19, Hernandez racked up 3026 plate appearances in Philadelphia and turned in a .278/.355/.388 batting line with 45 home runs, 106 doubles, 27 triples and 79 stolen bases. His home run totals ticked up in 2018-19 as well, when the switch-hitter logged a combined 29 round-trippers.

However, Hernandez was eligible for arbitration for the final time this winter and due a raise on last season’s $7.75MM salary. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected an $11.8MM salary for his final trip through that process. The Phillies — and, clearly, other teams — deemed Hernandez’s likely arbitration price to be too steep and opted to non-tender him, sending him out into the open market for the first time in his career.

Several factors surely contributed to the decision to cut Hernandez loose. The free-agent market is arguably deeper at second base than any other position, thus hampering the Indians’ ability to drum up trade interest in Hernandez even in spite of his steady rate of play over the past half decade. The Phillies also had a versatile pair of infielders in Jean Segura and particularly Scott Kingery, allowing them to target virtually any infield option they saw fit upon moving on from Hernandez. (Eventually, the club zeroed in on Didi Gregorius.)

With the Indians, Hernandez will now slot in as their primary second baseman, replacing mainstay Jason Kipnis, whose 2020 club  option was bought at the onset of the offseason. He’ll bring a generally solid defensive reputation to the table in Cleveland, though Hernandez isn’t likely to be bringing home any Gold Glove Awards in the near future. Metrics like Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved are a bit split on his total body of work, but Hernandez has only had one truly poor season per either of those measures. And, in 2019, he posted +6 DRS and a 0.7 UZR, suggesting he’s still more than capable of handling the position.

Installing Hernandez at second base means that two-time All-Star and two-time Silver Slugger Jose Ramirez will be locked in as Cleveland’s primary third baseman in 2020. Ramirez is capable of playing either second or third, which gave the Indians’ front office some flexibility when eyeing potential infield targets in free agency.

Of course, that flexibility only extends so far, as Cleveland ownership has rather clearly given the front office some notable payroll constraints. The Indians have already sent Corey Kluber to the Rangers in a trade that more closely resembled a salary dump than anything else. The fact that they nonetheless took what was widely regarded as a light return now — as opposed to keeping Kluber and hoping he built up some value early in the year — suggests that clearing the entirety of next year’s $17.5MM salary was a critical element of the swap.

Whether the Indians make any additional shakeups on the roster is currently one of the more interesting hot stove storylines in the game. Teams have been trying to pry superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor away from Cleveland to no avail, and burgeoning frontline starter Mike Clevinger is reported to be drawing interest as well. There’s no firm indication that the Indians plan to move either player, though, and even with Hernandez now on board, Cleveland’s payroll checks in at roughly $97MM, per Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez. That’s a drop of $38MM from 2018’s Opening Day mark and $22MM from 2019’s Opening Day total.