Free agency not Tribe’s best avenue

Fans who believe that all the Indians have to do to make the playoffs is spend big in free agency should take a closer look at the teams still playing baseball.

According to Spotrac.com, the Los Angeles Dodgers, winners of the National League West, had the highest payroll in the major leagues in 2015 at $314,168,414. They are the only team among those with the six highest payrolls still in the playoffs.

The New York Yankees, an American League wild-card qualifier, second at $219,256,867, were eliminated in a one-game wild-card playoff by the team ranked 25th in payroll — the Houston Astros.

The next four teams in order of payroll were the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox, Washington Nationals and Detroit Tigers. No team from that group made the playoffs. Not only that — the Indians, ranked 27th in payroll at $77,404,413, finished ahead of the Red Sox and Tigers with a record of 81-80.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (24th at $99,385,606) and the Astros (25th at $81,375,945) made the playoffs as wild-card teams. The Pirates have been eliminated. The Astros are still playing.

Indians President Chris Antonetti isn’t trying to deceive. He said the Tribe will explore free agency, but as a third alternative after promoting from within the farm system and making trades.

“We’ve got a group of guys that are either in their primes or are entering the primes of their careers, so a lot of our success, no matter what happens this offseason, is going to be dictated by how that group does moving forward,” Antonetti said in a season wrap-up news conference. “We’ve got another group of players within our minor-league system that we feel will contribute next year in a meaningful way.

“We’ll continue to be exhaustive in looking at external alternatives to help us improve. Whether that’s through trades or free-agent signings, we’ll look at those avenues as well.”

The Indians finished with a better record than 12 teams with higher payrolls. Those teams are, aside from the Red Sox and Tigers, the White Sox, Orioles, Mariners, A’s, Braves, Phillies, Brewers, Reds, Padres and Rockies.

The point isn’t to say the Indians should not be look for right-handed power in free agency. It is to say money doesn’t guarantee happiness or success.

“Improving our run scoring will continue to be a priority,” Antonetti said. “How we do that — what attributes that player has — will be dependent upon what our alternatives are.

“We’d love to get a guy that gets on base and hits for power that can also run and play defense. Inevitably, we’re going to be looking at tradeoffs among those attributes when we need to figure out what would be best to help us be the best and most productive team.”

The Indians finished 18th with 669 runs scored in 2015 — two more than the Dodgers and their bloated payroll.

The Tribe was 22nd with 141 home runs.

Good for Gilber t

Justin Gilbert at last has a job the Browns trust him to do well. He is the kick returner until further notice and, though that wouldn’t normally be the calling card for the eighth pick in any draft, it beats taking up a roster spot only to be made inactive every week.

Gilbert returned three kicks for 110 yards last week against San Diego. His 38-yard return to the Browns’ 33 after the Chargers took a 27-19 lead set the table for the drive resulting in the game-tying touchdown pass to Gary Barnidge and subsequent two-point conversion to Taylor Gabriel.

“It’s something I’ve been waiting on since I got here, and I finally got the chance to do it,” the 2014 first-round draft pick said after practice on Oct. 9. “It felt good being out there. I feel like I’ve worked hard for it and I’ve stayed with it, knowing my chance would come at some point during the season. Now that it’s here, I have to take full advantage of it.”

Gilbert played offense, primarily at quarterback but also running back and wide receiver until Oklahoma State decided to make him a cornerback in his freshman year.

The Browns have used him occasionally as a wide receiver in practice. He said he hopes the Browns are serious about letting him play offense if they think it will help the team.

At least now Gilbert is smiling. Who knows? Maybe a confidence boost from returning kicks will make him a more confident cornerback. That project could still be a year away, though. For now he seems stuck behind Joe Haden, Tramon Williams, K’Waun Williams, Pierre Desir and Johnson Bademosi.

• Robert Turbin will most likely be on the inactive list when the Browns play the Ravens on Oct. 11. The run-

ning back has been practicing, but he is still not fully recovered from an ankle injury. He should be ready next week when the Browns host the Denver Broncos.

Turbin could be a good fantasy league pickup. The plan is to use him in short yardage and goal line plays. He won’t pile up many yards, but he could be a touchdown maker.

Don’t celebrate yet

Jalen Rose, NBA analyst for ESPN, is advising Cavaliers fans to put the brakes on any plans for championship celebrations, at least for now.

Rose, speaking recently on “Mike and Mike in the Morning,” says the Cavs are not the best team in the NBA. They won the Eastern Conference last year and lost to the Golden State Warriors in six games in the NBA Finals.

“The product this year that you see is going to be as good as it’s been since the (Michael) Jordan era,” Rose said. “The Cleveland Cavaliers, while they are the best team in the Eastern Conference, they are probably the fifth- or sixth-best team in the entire league.”

The San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, the Warriors and the Los Angeles Clippers are better than the Cavs, according to Rose.

Of course the Cavaliers would have to beat only one of those teams in the playoffs to win the championship.

JSchudel @News-Herald.com

@JSProInsider

Jeff Schudel