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Indians Could Be Interested In 1B Casey Kotchman

The Cleveland Indians still don't have a first baseman for the 2012 MLB season. On Thursday, there was reported interest in Carlos Pena, and now there's some more potential interest, courtesy of MLB Blogs, who suggest that the team might also be interested in acquiring the services of another first baseman, Casey Kotchman.

They're two very different players. Despite them both having about the same value in the free agent market right now, they each do different things. Pena, for instance, is a power slugger with a propensity to strike out to go along with his propensity to hit home runs. Kotchman doesn't hit nearly as many home runs, but he has a much improved strikeout number, Kotchman struck out about 100 times less than Pena did in 2011.

Pena hit .225 in 2011, while Kotchman hit .306. Based on the Indians situation, Kotchman might actually be a better fit, on top of the fact that he should come cheaper, something that certainly means a lot for the Indians in their current financial situation.

For more on the Cleveland Indians, check out Let's Go Tribe. You can also head over to SB Nation's main MLB hub at Baseball Nation.

Photographs by spatulated, Triple Tri, and chrischappelear used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.