Indians fans don’t have much to get excited about during this week’s Winter Meetings. Unless the front office has been saying the team won’t make a big splash this winter to detract attention and negotiations up to this point have been truly secret (after Jayson Werth signed with the Nationals yesterday, I suppose it’s not impossible).

But while the boys at ESPN won’t give it a second thought, there’s a real possibility that Cleveland fans could be hearing some good news from Orlando within the next couple days: This weekend, Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported that the Indians had “mutual interest” with free agent third baseman Nick Punto.

Whether or not the Indians would be wise to bring in a third baseman is the subject of another day. But given that GM Chris Antonetti has made it clear that he doesn’t want to use Jared Goedert or Lonnie Chisenhall at the hot corner on Opening Day, Punto is a fantastic match for Cleveland.

Now, Punto isn’t a very exciting player—in fact, if you were to judge him solely on his offense, you’d wonder why anyone would give him a job in the big leagues. Over his 10-year MLB career, he has a .247/.321/.322 slashline with 13 homers and 198 RBI in 824 games. Last year he was even worse than usual, hitting .238/.313/.302. Yikes.

Luckily, hitting isn’t everything, and Punto has quietly established himself as one of the best fielders in the game. Last year, at age 32, he was worth 11.0 UZR in just 88 games while playing second, short, and third for the Minnesota Twins. His glove has been worth 59.6 runs since 2006—the equivalent of six whole wins.

Defense is especially important for the Indians for two reasons. First, and foremost, the Tribe was terrible in the field last year, with a team UZR of -59.8, the worst in the league (that figure also helps put Punto’s worth into perspective). Signing Punto wouldn’t help the statues in the outfield, but it he would make the infield look less like Swiss cheese.

Perhaps more importantly, defense is especially relevant for the Indians because Cleveland pitchers don’t strike anyone out. The Tribe’s 6.1 team K/9 rate this year was the worst in baseball. That means the Indians allow more contact than any other team, and therefore defense is—or, at least, ought to be—more important to Cleveland than it is to anyone else.

Consider also that Indians pitchers had the highest groundball rate (48%) in the league last year, and it’s clear that a solid glove in the infield would do the team wonders. Punto has a career 18.9 UZR/150 at third base, but behind Cleveland’s staff, he could be even more valuable.

The best part? Because of his poor offense, he can be had for a bargain price—I’d guess $ 3 million at the most, probably less.

Signing Punto wouldn’t be a big splash, and he’s not likely to put the Tribe over the top in 2011. But it’s a move that makes a lot of sense for the team.

Wahoo Blues

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