May 21, 2013

Indians Roster Notes: Lopez Released, Tomlin to Have Arm Evaluated

August 12, 2012 by 7 Comments

For the fourth time this month, the Indians announced today they have released a veteran player DFA’d 10 days earlier. This time, it was utility infielder Jose Lopez, following in the footsteps of, chronologically, Johnny Damon, Jeremy Accardo and Derek Lowe.

Indians beat writers, who had a nice Twitter fling with Lopez throughout the season, were saddened by the announcement:

In other notable Indians roster notes, recently-converted reliever Josh Tomlin will have his right arm examined in Cleveland this week. He was originally rumored to see well-known specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum while the team is in Southern California this week, but supposedly the doctor is unavailable.

According to various Twitter reports, Tomlin has fought elbow soreness dating back to last season, possibly resulting in his poor performance to date this year: 5-8 with a 5.82 ERA in 20 games (16 starts).

It’s very possible that Tomlin will be moved to the DL this week to make room for Roberto Hernandez, who is scheduled to start Wednesday. It is also possible that lefty Chris Seddon or righty Corey Kluber also could go back to Columbus, while outfielders Matt LaPorta or Russ Canzler could be activated from the Clippers roster (h/t @MLBastian).

[Related: Contention Windows and Depth Charts: Analyzing the Cleveland Indians’ Future]

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  • http://twitter.com/GreatestHurley Jason Hurley

    Why. Why. Why do these folks pitch with elbow problems for over a year? Why the the organization allow this?

  • Natedawg86

    Esp with the results he was producing! Come on man

  • mgbode

    how many pitchers in MLB do you think are not dealing with elbow soreness daily?

  • http://twitter.com/GreatestHurley Jason Hurley

    It’s got to be a ton. This isn’t to single out the Indians – it’s more of a macro question.

  • mgbode

    it’s got to be a tough line to walk. i’d think most pitchers have some sort of shoulder/elbow soreness almost all the time. but, how much soreness is too much and how much is normal? and that might be different pitcher to pitcher.

  • woofersus

    Very true. I recall Charles Nagy being asked in 2001 as he was trying to come back from an elbow surgery when the last time was that he pitched pain-free. He replied “1993.”

    That said, you would hope that a pitching coach (and team medical staff) would have an ongoing dialog with the pitching staff about how they feel and what aches and pains they are dealing with. It’s a constant thing for pitchers, and if one is performing poorly all year and then says he’s having pain in August, it probably should have been evaluated months ago.

  • Dave

    Go Reds cause the indians are gone!