The Indians front office, as usual, was relatively dormant in the offseason. By now, everyone has heard the joke: “were the Indians even AT the Winter Meetings?”.
Still, with the ever-looming budget restrictions in mind, first-year GM Chris Antonetti made a series of smaller moves designed to support the team’s core of young players.
With so many of the Indians’ offseason signings being minor league contracts for players who may not even make the Opening Day roster, it is difficult to grade Antonetti’s performance before a single pitch has been thrown.
Thus it is with a great deal of uncertainty that I present the following grades for each significant move Antonetti and the Tribe front office made this offseason.
Please feel free to share your thoughts on the matter in the comments below, and we’ll reassess the grades for these moves at the close of the 2011 season to see if the Antonetti’s offseason actions wind up looking better or worse after 162 games than they did on paper before Spring Training.