Indians Chatted Monday with Free Agent 1B Mike Napoli About a Return

The Indians have been busy so far in Maryland at the 2016 MLB Winter Meetings, with rumors about the team having heavy interest in free agent infielder slugger Edwin Encarnacion, and now there’s word they also chatted with a guy they know very well – free agent Mike Napoli.

MLB.com’s Jordan Basitan reported that the Indians and Napoli chatted about trying to get the slugger back on a one-year deal. It’s been reported by outlets that Napoli is more interested in trying to get a three-year deal with a team.

Last season Napoli hit 34 homers, drove in 101 runs, and hit .239, but struggled a lot in the month of September and even more so in the postseason as the Indians reached game seven of the World Series.

Another name that’s being linked to the Indians is first basemen Mitch Moreland, who last season with Texas hit .233 with 22 homers and 60 runs batted in.

Many MLB pundits are saying the money is going to be too much for Encarnacion, and while the Indians have opened the pocketbooks for players as of late, inking Encarnacion is going to take the teams’ payroll to another level.

The Indians/Encarnacion conversation just polite. He'd be way too expensive for that market, in all likelihood.

— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) December 5, 2016