Terry Pluto says back in December, 2012, he liked the deal to acquire free agents Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn. “I think if you talk to most fans at the end of their first season, 2013, they still would have thought it was a good idea,” he says.

Mammoth contracts and one playoff run
The Indians signed Swisher, now 34, to a $56 million, four-year contract, the biggest in team history. Then, they signed outfielder Bourn, now 32, for $48 million over four years.

Swisher and Bourn helped the team reach the American League Wild Card Game in 2013.

“[The Indians] went from losing 94 games to winning 92 games. It was one of the most dramatic turnarounds in baseball that year. Nick Swisher had a pretty good year, not a great year. Same with Michael Bourn… but they seemed to spark this team. A team that had lost at least 93 games, three times between 2009 and 2012 and that was a really dark period of Indians history.”

The deal to unload Swisher and Bourn
“The Indians were able to put this package together and the Dolans threw in more than $10 million to ship these guys to the Atlanta Braves,” Pluto says.

According to Crain’s, Swisher was owed about $20 million on his contract, including $5 million for the rest of 2015, and Bourn about $18.5 million. If the Tribe pays the Braves another $15 million, the Indians are on the hook for about $34.5 million for Swisher, Bourn and Johnson — a $4 million savings.

The Braves and Indians essentially swapped bad contracts, sending Swisher and Bourn to Atlanta in exchange for third baseman Chris Johnson. Johnson’s contract calls for him to earn $19.5 million through the end of the 2017 season, so the roughly $10 million included by the Indians will balance out the money on the two contracts.

Signing players over age 30
Pluto says you run a risk of signing  players who over the age of 30, because you're likely acquiring them based on what they've DONE rather than what they CAN DO. And injuries start to become a concern.

Pluto says the two players had very little injuries throughout their careers before they arrived in Cleveland. "The Indians thought they might run into trouble with Swisher and Bourn next year, in the fourth year of their contract."

But, that's not how it went. Swisher had arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees last August. Bourn underwent surgery on his left hamstring last year and had been sidelined by a strain in that same hamstring this season.

What does it mean going forward?
“It doesn’t clear a ton of money on their salary structure. But what it does is it allows them to start looking at younger outfielders,” Pluto says. He says it’s a sign that the front office is ready to prepare for next year.

Will they invest this big again any time soon?
Terry Pluto simply says, “No.” Mostly because this isn’t the first time a big contract has gone awry.

“If you make a list of the biggest contracts they’ve given over the last say, 10 years, every one has exploded in their face. A couple years ago they gave a guy named Kerry Wood $20 million for two years to be the closer. He was horrible. They gave Travis Hafner this $50-some million contract as an extension, where upon he immediately blew out his shoulder.”

Pluto says what fans will see instead is the team investing in more up-and-coming younger players, like they have with Corey Kluber, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Carrasco and Michael Brantley. 

Back to square one
Pluto says fans can expect a bit of a rebuilding period.

“Sports Illustrated lost their minds in picking them to win the World Series. But, a majority of baseball experts at ESPN picked them to win the Central Division. Nobody picked them to be well below .500 and running a fire sale at mid-season. So, that’s a disappointment no matter what."

And Pluto says rebuilding will be a big challenge.

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