The Cleveland Indians have signed outfielder Matt Joyce. This is just the latest in late offseason signings for the Tribe.
Veteran outfielder Matt Joyce has signed with the Cleveland Indians. It is a minor league contract with an invite to Spring Training. Joyce made the announcement via his own Twitter account Friday morning.
The signing of Joyce is just the latest veteran signing from the Indians. Cleveland signed veterans Ryan Flaherty and Dioner Navarro Thursday. In true Indians fashion the team waited until later in the offseason before signing players. Rather than throw money around, the team is using their more risk averse approach by signing Joyce.
Matt Joyce figures to be in the discussion for an outfield spot. Joyce played in the outfield 57 of the 83 games he appeared in last season. The previous year it was 133 of 141 games. Cleveland signing an outfielder who can consistently play in the outfield was an absolute need for the club. At worst Joyce is considered an average defensive outfielder, but has received above average grades in both right and left field. The current outfield group was relatively unsettled and offensively left a bit to be desired.
Matt Joyce at the plate
As mentioned above, Matt Joyce is a bit more productive when it comes to his offense. Joyce’s career slash line is .240/.339/.431 with an OPS of .770. Joyce is one year removed from putting numbers similar to that. Unfortunately Joyce struggled a bit in 2018 and was not necessarily a threat at the plate. Baseball Reference does project Joyce to have a bit of a bounce-back season in 2019. Granted this projection was before Joyce signed with Cleveland.
.231/.333/.421/.754, 14 home runs, 17 doubles, one triple, 41 RBI, 50 runs
Matt Joyce’s projection falls in line more with his career averages rather than his disappointing 2018 campaign. It is also worth noting this projection is based off of 377 plate appearances, Joyce had 544 appearances at the plate just two seasons ago with Oakland. While he may not reach that amount in Cleveland, somewhere in between 377 and 544 is more than reasonable to expect.
Now there is the possibility that Matt Joyce does not work out with the club during Spring Training. If that were the case the team would obviously move on and find help elsewhere. Considering their current outfield situation the Indians may decide to keep Joyce on the roster beyond Spring Training.
