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Is this Grady Sizemore’s last chance?

By now we’ve all heard the story of Grady Sizemore’s rise and fall, so there’s no need to go into it except to say that the dude was good. Realgood. And then he got injured a bunch of times. Earlier in the off season, Cleveland declined Sizemore’s $9 million option and paid his $500,000 buyout in what I can only assume was many brief cases filled with $1 bills. Then word came that the Indians were interested in bringing him back, and today they signed him to a team-friendly, one-year deal worth $4 million in guaranteed salary. Sizemore can earn up to $5 million in incentives.

This is a win-win for both sides. Cleveland brings back a fan-favorite who can give them some power (Sizemore hit 10 home runs in 295 plate appeaances during last year’s injury-shortened season), and Sizemore makes millions of dollars to play baseball and potentially make millions in incentives and a future contract depending on his performance.

As tends to happen with me and these situations in baseball, I love the narrative here. The Indians surprised a lot of fans with their winning form early in the season, and there were a couple of times where I said, “Hey, maybe we’ll see the resurgences of Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore,” which is a good example of how getting wrapped up in the narrative can…impede…one’s ability to really think through a situation. That won’t stop waxing just a tad bit poetic on Cleveland’s changes this year. Up-and-comers Lonnie Chisenhall and Jason Kipnis look primed to start at third and second respectively. Shin-Soo Choo should be fully recovered from the injuries and mental lapses that affected his play last year. And let’s not forget about Asdrubal Cabrera’s .275/.332/.460, 25 homer, 92 RBI showing either.

But what I’m really interested in is the fact that this could very well be the last year where anyone can buy into the Sizemore comeback story. After all, he hasn’t played in more than 106 games since 2008 and will turn 30 this coming August. Another injury might end his baseball career, or at least relegate him to the status of that guy who bounces around on minor league deals.

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