Indians sign Russell Branyan to one-year deal

Posted on February 19, 2010

Russell Branyan of the Seattle Mariners gets ready in the dugout before the game against the Oakland Athletics at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, California on Saturday, April 11, 2009. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

The Cleveland Indians have agreed to sign free-agent lefty slugger Russell Branyan to a one year contract worth $2 million according to ESPN.com’s Buster Olney. The 34-year-old Branyan had a very odd breakthrough season with the Mariners last year belting 31 homers and slugging .520. The Mariners offered to bring Branyan back for 2010 but he and his agent thought his big year would bring in a gigantic contract in the $20 – $30 million range. WRONG!

Branyan’s 2009 numbers look super fishy when you compare them to his career numbers, which spell out J-O-U-R-N-E-Y-M-A-N. Before last year’s aberration in Seattle Branyan’s best year was 2002 when he hit a combined 24 homers with 56 RBIs with the Indians and Reds. He spent the rest of the decade bouncing around from Milwaukee to Tampa Bay to San Diego to Philadelphia to St. Louis and back to Milwaukee before he landed in Seattle last year as a free agent with no expectations.

Branyan will report to Indians spring training in Goodyear, AZ in a few days and will have much to prove in camp to people that last year was not an HGH-fueled fluke. I can’t be the only person suspicious of his numbers last year. Baseball is a funny game, but not many mediocre ballplayers have break out seasons at age 33 while hitting in a park like Safeco Field where long fly balls go to die. I am sure I will be shooting Branyan in a few weeks when the Cactus League season opens down in Arizona. I am just glad the Giants didn’t fall for his smoke and mirrors season last year.