New Arrival: Brett Butler, of, Cleveland Indians

Brett Butler was only with the Indians from 1984-1987. During that run he was pretty great, hitting .288/.373/.369. He averaged 5 HR and 41 SB a year, all while playing a very solid center field. He was the kind of center fielder that any team in the league would fall over themselves for. 

Unfortunately, players like him were totally wasted on those mid-80’s Indians teams, and when the chance came to jump ship as a free agent he did not even return calls from the Tribe. You can’t blame him.

He would join the Giants in 1989 and go on to spend 10 more seasons in the big leagues. And they were quality campaigns. He would have six seasons where he would finish in the Top-25 of MVP voting, and he would be selected an All-Star in 1991. He would also lead the league in hits once, walks once and runs twice.

He would retire with a career line of .377/.376/.753 with 54 HR and 558 SB, good for an OPS+ of 110. He would amass 49.4 WAR.

Great player. And it’s a shame that he was not able to be part of the Indians during a more successful time in their history.