"The Indians have their first baseman and the bat they've been seeking all winter. Sort of.

Casey Kotchman batted a career-high .306 with 24 doubles, 10 home runs and 48 RBI last year for the Tampa Bay Rays, making his free-agent-to-be season his best ever.

That was reason enough for the Tribe to sign him Thursday at a reported salary of $3 million plus incentives. However, Kotchman is not exactly what the club was looking for.

For one thing, he bats from the left side, and the last thing the left-leaning Indians need is another lefty at the plate. For another, Kotchman is not the run producer the team was hoping to find, the run producer that used to fit the description of right-handed hitting Matt LaPorta.

But in more than two full seasons at first, LaPorta has not lived up to the reputation he built as the Milwaukee Brewers' top hitting prospect in 2008, when he was acquired by the Tribe in the CC Sabathia deal."