The Cleveland Indians signing of Edwin Encarnacion was unprecedented for the defending American League champions. A year after making a run to the World Series, the penny-pinching Indians saw a surprising deal in Encarnacion, who just turned 34 in January. His three-year, $60 million deal was the largest given out in club history, even if it was nowhere near what Edwin wanted heading into free agency.
As you may expect, the Indians have not had many truly great hitters as old as Encarnacion. Even without getting into big free agents, the Indians’ need to work within a small-market budget means they have also not kept their biggest stars into their mid- to -late-30s, either.