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Indians sign Kearns, Duncan


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To minor league deals.

 

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has signed OF AUSTIN KEARNS to a free agent minor league contract. The contract includes a non-roster invitation to Major League spring training camp.

 

Kearns, 29, owns a Major League career batting average of .256 (737-2879) with 155 doubles, 105 home runs, 422 RBI, 385 walks and a career on-base % of .353 in 542 games with the Cincinnati Reds and Washington Nationals since 2002. The Lexington, KY native was the 7th overall pick of the Reds in 1998. His 2009 season with Washington was cut short due to a right thumb injury in August, appearing in 80 games for the Nationals prior to the injury (.195, 34-174, 3HR, 17RBI, 32BB, .336 on-base %). His best season came in 2006 between the Reds and Nationals where he hit a combined .254 (142-537) with 33 2B, 24HR & 86RBI in 150 games (.363OB %).

 

The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has signed INF/OF SHELLEY DUNCAN to a free agent minor league contract. The contract includes a non-roster invitation to Major League spring training camp.

 

Duncan, 30, earned International League MVP honors in 2009, batting .277 (125-for-452) with 85 runs, 30 doubles, 1 triple, an IL-record 30 home runs and 99 RBI in 123 games with the Triple-A Scranton Yankees. He led the IL in runs, homers, RBI and extra-base hits (61), ranking second in slugging percentage (.546), T10th in doubles and 3rd in OPS (.916). After the season he was named a Topps Triple-A All-Star, Topps IL Player of the Year and was a mid-season and post-season IL All-Star selection. He appeared in 79 games in right field and 5 games at first base. He also appeared in 11 games for the New York Yankees in September (.200, 3-15, 1RBI).

 

He owns a minor league career average of .258 (854-3314) with 201 2B, 170HR & 599RBI in 905 games and a big league career mark of .219 (32-146, 8HR, 24RBI) in 68 games with the Yankees from 2007-09. He was New Yorkè…¦s second round pick in the 2001 draft out of the University of Arizona.

 

I can't stand Duncan....just a goofy looking guy I hated when I saw him with the Yankees.

 

But Kearns is a pretty good low-risk move. Could be versatile as a OF/DH/maybe 1B with a right handed bat, waiting for the inevitable injuries to fill in. He made $8 million last year, could be the positional player version of Carl Pavano.

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Yeah, he was always a guy who stood out to me for whatever reason. I seem to remember him pounding the ball against us with the Reds a couple years back.

 

I like him better than Ben Francisco, anyway. And considering we trotted Garko and Gimenez out to the outfield last year...we could obviously use the depth. I'm not sure if it helps or hurts Brantley's chances to start the season in Cleveland...hopefully Left Field is Mike's job to lose with Kearns as the 4th OF/protection against lefties.

 

Anyway, here's Castro with some more insight

 

CLEVELAND -- Still quiet on the Major League free agent front, the Indians continue to add potential options to their Spring Training mix through Minor League deals.

 

complete hot stove coverage

 

On Tuesday, those deals went to a pair of position players, infielder/outfielder Shelley Duncan and outfielder Austin Kearns. Both were given invites to big league camp.

 

Duncan, 30, is coming off International League MVP honors in 2009, while a member of the Yankees' organization. He batted .277 with 85 runs, 30 doubles, a league-record 30 homers and 99 RBIs in 123 games for Triple-A Scranton. He ranked second in the league in slugging percentage (.546), tied for 10th in doubles and was third in OPS (.916). He also appeared in 11 games for the Yankees in September, going 3-for-15 at the plate.

 

With Matt LaPorta working his way back from offseason hip and toe surgeries, the Indians hope to have some insurance in the corner outfield and at first base. Duncan could potentially provide it. Andy Marte and Jordan Brown will also be in the mix to try to win a job.

 

"We see [Duncan] as a guy that has a good track record of hitting left-handed pitching and being productive," general manager Mark Shapiro said. "He has defensive versatility that fits well within our needs. He's certainly a guy that could come in and compete for that job."

 

In 905 career Minor League games, Duncan owns a .258 average with 201 doubles, 170 homers and 599 RBIs. He played 68 games for the Yankees from 2007-09, batting .219 (32-for-146) with eight homers and 24 RBIs.

 

Duncan was a second-round pick out of Arizona in the 2001 First-Year Player Draft. He is the son of Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan and the brother of free-agent outfielder Chris Duncan.

 

Kearns, 29, could compete to be the Tribe's fourth outfielder. Or if the club determines rookie Michael Brantley could use a bit more Triple-A seasoning, Kearns could be in the mix to compete for a more prominent role as a regular in left.

 

New Tribe manager Manny Acta knows Kearns well, having worked with him the past three years in Washington.

 

Kearns has played in 542 Major League games with the Reds and Nationals since 2002. His 2009 season with the Nationals was cut short in August because of a right thumb injury. He appeared in 80 games for Washington before the injury, batting .195 with three homers and 17 RBIs.

 

"[Kearns is] a plus defender in the outfield," Shapiro said. "He's a guy who has had some recent struggles, but Manny was very familiar with him. Due to his age and athleticism, the upside and the potential still exists for him to be a productive Major League player. As a right-handed-hitting outfielder, he complements our existing outfielders well on the corners. I'd expect him to be a guy that competes for a spot on the Major League team."

 

The seventh overall pick in the 1998 Draft, Kearns owns a career Major League average of .256 with 155 doubles, 105 homers and 422 RBIs.

 

The Indians have now invited eight players to Spring Training camp, including pitchers Jason Grilli, Saul Rivera, Mike Gosling and Anthony Reyes and infielders Luis Rodriguez and Brian Buscher.

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Yeah, he was always a guy who stood out to me for whatever reason. I seem to remember him pounding the ball against us with the Reds a couple years back.

 

I like him better than Ben Francisco, anyway. And considering we trotted Garko and Gimenez out to the outfield last year...we could obviously use the depth. I'm not sure if it helps or hurts Brantley's chances to start the season in Cleveland...hopefully Left Field is Mike's job to lose with Kearns as the 4th OF/protection against lefties.

 

Anyway, here's Castro with some more insight

 

Yea me too, that's weird. I think he has stood out to me because he has a stroke like Thome. And yea he always played well against the Tribe.

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I seem to remember him pounding the ball against us with the Reds a couple years back.

 

I'm liking this signing a lot. A year or four too late, but well worth the risk. It's funny, the one thing I remember about Kearns (a guy I've had a serious case of man-love for far too long) is just how poorly he played against the Tribe. So poorly that I remember looking up at the suites and hoping Shapiro wasn't paying attention.

 

His career line against the good guys is 220/278/360 for a sparkling OPS of 638. Sadly enough, he never pounded the ball against us, especially as a Red.

 

Still liking the signing and here's some stuff from fangraphs:

 

by Matt Klaassen - January 6, 2010 - Share this Article

 

There is something serendipitous about Austin Kearns being signed to a a minor-league deal by Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro. Both have long been admired for their potential, but both are widely perceived (at least in certain circles) as disappointments. Despite that perception (which is surely at least somewhat grounded in reality), both have had their moments — Cleveland’s 2007 ALCS run, Kearns’ 2002, 2006, and 2007 seasons. By signing Kearns and Shelley Duncan to virtually no-risk, minor-league contracts, is Shapiro showing he’s still capable of smart moves? Let’s see what Kearns and Duncan have to offer.

 

Austin Kearns is now 30 and and the apparent potential of the early 00s and the “rebound” of 2006-07 are a long way away. But the public emergence of superior defensive metrics shows that he was even more valuable in his good years than originally thought, and not totally worthless even in some of his bad years. Offensively, Kearns isn’t much. CHONE projects Kearns for a context-neutral .237/.338/.375, or 6 runs below average per 150 games. ZiPS is similar, projecting .237/.341/.377, which I translate to about -6/150. My own projection is right there: .247/.346/.376, -4/150.

 

That’s not good, but it’s also enough to justify a minor-league deal — even with CHONE’s average defensive projection for the corner outfield, that adds up to 0.7 WAR in only 452 PA. But UZR likes Kearns is much more than that, and Jeff Zimmerman projects Kearns’ RF UZR/150 for +10 in 2010. Putting it all together, per 150 games Kearns probably around a 1.5 WAR player once we account for position. That’s excellent for a minor-league deal.

 

Shelley Duncan is an ex-Yankee International League superstar who is a pretty bad outfielder — CHONE’s TotalZone has him at -6 (there’s too little major league sample size to use UZR), and is probably more of a 1B/LF/DH type. One might dismiss his CHONE projection — .244/.329/.462, +12/150 — as overly optimistic given its reliance on MLEs, but ZiPS is also impressed with Duncan, projecting him for .252/.328/.460, about +8/150. Even if you don’t but him as an above-average player as does CHONE, again, he’s a very valuable piece to have on a minor league deal.

 

Mark Shapiro’s team had a disastrous 2009 after a disappointing 2008. The team has revenue problems, as well. On the field, two spots in the outfield are set, with CF Grady Sizemore likely to be one of the better players in the league again after a inujry-plagued down year in 2009, and Shin-Soo Choo is a likely 3.5-4 WAR impact hitter in right field. But there are other holes that need to be filled and not much money with which to do so. Matt LaPorta is a good young hitter, but he might be needed to fill the hole in 1B (unless Andy Marte works out there). Left field was slated for the likes of Michael Brantley and Trevor Crowe — bench fodder at best. Perhaps they’d work out, but for next to nothing, players like Kearns and Duncan provide likely improvement as well much-needed right-handed bats (Sizemore, Choo, and Travis Hafner are all left-handed hitters) while adding practically nothing to the payroll. Moreover, Duncan can fill in at DH or 1B “just in case” Hafner gets hurt.

 

This isn’t to say that adding 30-year old minor league outfielders like Kearns and Duncan make Cleveland a contender (although it doesn’t take much in a weak AL Central), especially given the pitching situation by the lake. But smart, no-risk moves like this show that Mark Shapiro is paying attention and that he has something left in the tank.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/index.php/k...n-in-cleveland/

 

Beanpot

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Eh, shows what I know. I'm glad to have him all the same, maybe I'll even like him more knowing he blew against us.

 

Here's Castro with the unfortunate news that Duncan might be a bigger part of the team than Mike Brantley come Spring...

 

So where do these guys fit into the Spring Training picture?

 

Well, with Matt LaPorta working his way back from hip and toe surgeries, the Indians are trying to protect themselves at first base and in the outfield. Duncan can bounce between the corner outfield spots and first base, and he has a strong track record against left-handed pitching.

 

Even if LaPorta is good to go (and he's said to be progressing well in rehab), the Tribe might carry an extra right-handed bat for first base and/or the outfield. Duncan, Jordan Brown and Andy Marte are all in that mix.

 

As for Kearns, he'll compete to be the fourth outfielder, and it's also not out of the realm of possibility that he'll compete to be the regular in left. While a healthy LaPorta seems to be guaranteed a spot on the Opening Day roster, I'm not sure the same guarantee is there for Michael Brantley.

 

Kearns was once a breakout player in the making in Cincinnati, but his career never really took off, and he's coming off two abysmal seasons in Washington. Manny Acta, obviously, is familiar with Kearns and recommended the Indians take a look at him.

 

Again, though, these are shots in the dark on the part of the Tribe. But at least it breaks up the monotony a little bit.

http://castrovince.mlblogs.com/archives/20..._to_minors.html
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Eh, shows what I know.

 

Memory is a funny thing. I've been wrong more than I'd care to admit about players and how I "remembered" them playing in certain situations. Don't get me started on why Lofton deserves to be in the HOF - every freaking metric in the world would disagree with me, people would break out retrosheet to tell me how wrong I was about a certain memory - and I'd tell them all to go to hell.

 

As for the Castro link, I'm not sure I'd put much weight into the idea that Duncan "has a strong track record against left-handed pitching". I mean, he's hit LHP better than RHP, sure. It's not all that hard to hit better than 169/239/354. But his career line against LHP is 259/330/457 for a tOPS+ line of 125. That's strong, no doubt, but his entire body of work involves ~90 plate appearances. Just saying that sort of split line, for a 30 year old player, shouldn't be raised above the head and paraded around. I hope to God the organization doesn't put much stock into that sort of thing.

 

Beanpot

 

 

 

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