Indians interested in Matt Adams

The Cleveland Indians are one of the teams that are interested in first baseman Matt Adams, per ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick. As Crasnick notes in his tweet about the rumor, the Tribe’s interest in Adams is likely a backup plan if they cannot sign Carlos Santana to a deal.

Last season in time split between the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, Adams slugged 20 home runs — tying a career high — and finished with a .247/.319/.522 slash, good for a wRC+ of 112. His defense is roughly the equivalent of Edwin Encarnacion, so if he does wind up in Cleveland he’ll likely split time at first base and DH, depending on which bad defensive option Terry Francona wants to slap at first every night.

At 29 years old and with a couple solid seasons under his belt (granted, two of the good years came in his first three years in the majors), Adams isn’t the worst option the Indians could be looking at for a Santana replacement. But this is the Winter Meetings, after all. This won’t be the last we hear of the Indians and a first baseman, I suspect.