Johnny Manziel may not start on Monday night; Pettine “disappointed”
November 24, 2015A note from Dave Roberts’ biggest fan
November 24, 2015The main objective of the Cleveland Indians offseason will likely be to add a significant bat (or two) to the starting lineup for next season. That task becomes even more imperative with the early-season injury to Michael Brantley. We’ve covered the outfield free agents, outfield trade possibilities, and infield trade possibilities so far. But as WFNY friend Ed Carroll likes to say: There’s no such thing as too much pitching.
On Monday, ComcastSportsNet’s Rich Dubroff mentioned the Indians as one of several teams interested in right-handed free agent reliever Tommy Hunter. The Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres were also mentioned in the article. The 29-year-old struggled down the stretch of the 2015 season after being traded to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline. He fell out of favor with manager Joe Maddon due to a 5.74 ERA in 19 games. He was not active on any postseason rosters.
But the 6-foot-3 pitcher was far more effective in his previous 2.5 years with the Baltimore Orioles in full-time relief. In that time, he was 11-9 with a 3.05 ERA in 167 outings, striking out 145 against 37 walks in 192 innings pitched. He was a starter earlier in his career, winning a career-best 13 games with a 3.73 ERA in 2010 with the Texas Rangers.
Hunter earned $4.65 million last season. Ranked as the No. 56 free agent by FanGraphs, their readers expected him to earn a contract of about two years and $9 million total. Most estimates have the Indians with about $10-15 million of available spending budget this offseason, although that obviously could change at any minute.
Over the last three seasons, manager Terry Francona has been known to rely heavily on a select group of relievers. Bryan Shaw (224) and Cody Allen (223) rank No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in MLB relief appearances since 2013. They could be in danger of fatigue injury heading into the future. Zach McAllister is then seemingly the third 100-percent-confirmed reliever.
Ryan Webb, who made 40 relief appearances last season, is one of the team’s three free agents, along with Mike Aviles and Gavin Floyd. Jeff Manship was a great surprise in 2015 with his 0.92 ERA in 32 games. Austin Adams, Kyle Crockett, Shawn Armstrong, and Giovanni Soto all also could be looking to nail down long-term roles after trials last year.
But bullpen injuries can strike at any moment. Francona, who is also known to prefer an eight-man bullpen, often tinkers around with all of his various options at different times. That can be frustrating as a fan, but it then could rationalize a reliever purchase on the free agent market. If the Indians had one other reliable veteran, then they could withstand potential fatigue issues and only use the youngsters when absolutely necessary.
Hunter isn’t a perfect pitcher. That much is clear from his numbers with the Cubs. Yet he appears to be in moderate demand, with a number of teams reportedly vying for his services. That’s how free agency can work for any veteran pitcher. Keep an eye on him, or others in his tier — although such a move might need to wait until the Indians make a more significant decision on a long-term offensive piece.
7 Comments
Just wait until the Indians trade for Yasiel Puig!
I have no idea if he’s as much of an immature problem-causer as I’ve heard rumblings of in the media, but man what a talent. I doubt the asking price would drop enough due to his history to make the Indians contenders, or even whether I think it would be a good idea or not, but it would certainly be exciting.
He’s Johnny Manziel 2.0 all over don’t go anywhere near him!
It makes sense to look at this sort of thing with the limited funds we have available. He’s a little better than just taking a flyer on a guy, but not somebody who commands the premium of coming off a great year or postseason. I have to wonder, though, if the interest in relievers suggests Cody Allen may be on the block.
Traded Scrabble, CC Lee in Japan, losing Webb, Hagadone coming off injury. Think it is just normal rebuilding the bullpen stuff.
Except he’s proven to be in the top 10% or so of talent at the highest level when healthy.
And those headaches sure cost the Dodgers a lot of playoff appearances.