Cleveland Sports Forum

Clippers won 6-2

Karinchak to join the Indians today. Bradley, too, I suppose. Zimmer? Velazquez? Josh Smith? Logan Allen? They're all on the 40 man roster.
Johnson? Tom? They're not.

Karinchak and Zimmer got the call up for today’s game. Haven’t heard about Bradley or anybody else.

CLEVELAND -- Indians manager Terry Francona has been hesitant to call on his prospects in Triple-A, who are in the middle of making a postseason run. But a recent MRI for Brad Hand may have been the deciding factor for the team to turn to prospect James Karinchak.

The Indians announced prior to Friday’s series opener against the Twins that the club selected Karinchak’s contract and recalled outfielder Bradley Zimmer from Triple-A. The Tribe has yet to announce a move to clear a spot for Karinchak on the 40-man roster.

The right-handed reliever got off to a hot start on the year, owning a 0.00 ERA through his first 13 Minor League appearances (10 with Double-A, three with Triple-A). He racked up 32 strikeouts in 13 innings during that span before a hamstring injury sidelined him until the end of July. When he returned to Columbus, he struggled at first, allowing three earned runs in his first game back without recording an out.

After working out the kinks through his first four appearances off the injured list, Karinchak posted a 1.76 ERA since the beginning of August, allowing three earned runs in 15 1/3 innings, including 3 1/3 scoreless frames in the Triple-A postseason. In 30 1/3 Minor League innings this year, he’s struck out 74 batters.

For an Indians bullpen that seems to be running out of gas in the final weeks of the season, Karinchak could be a much-needed boost to help the team secure a spot in the postseason. Entering play on Thursday, the Tribe sat four games out of the American League Central standings and were a half-game back of the second AL Wild Card spot. Hand, the team’s closer, was sent home from its series in Los Angeles a day early to get an MRI on his fatigued throwing arm, though the results came back clear.

According to MLB Pipeline, Karinchak is the Indians’ No. 21-ranked prospect after beginning the year rated No. 30 overall. Here’s how the Pipeline experts break down the right-hander’s stuff:

“Karinchak misses bats with two pitches that play well off of each other. He has a 95-98 mph fastball with riding life that he can throw by hitters at their letters, and a 12-to-6 curveball that he can get them to chase out of the bottom of the zone. He also threw a changeup/splitter as a starter but doesn't use it much while coming out of the bullpen.”

The 6-foot-3 reliever was selected by the Indians in the ninth round of the 2017 MLB Draft. He began his professional career as a starter, but made the transition to the bullpen last season.

Zimmer will be back on the big league roster for the first time since June of last season. He underwent season-ending shoulder surgery last July and suffered a setback with his oblique days before Opening Day. The 26-year-old was sent on a rehab assignment on Aug. 20 and has hit .309 with a .966 OPS in 22 Minor League games – split between rookie ball, Double-A and Triple-A – including seven postseason games for the Columbus Clippers.

No Bradley? or Johnson or Tom, apparently

Indians Prospective @indiansPro

To make room for Karinchak on the 40-man the #Indians have designated LHP Josh Smith for assignment.

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Zack Meisel @ZackMeisel

Tyler Naquin had his knee surgery yesterday. He's expected to be sidelined 7-9 months before returning to major-league action.

Jose Ramirez is now playing catch as well, with no wrap on his wrist. The key for him will be eventually swinging a bat if he can return in October at some point.

Corey Kluber is playing catch with a trainer in the outfield right now. Still a pretty long way to go in his rehab.

In addition to James Karinchak, the Indians are also expected to promote Bradley Zimmer to the major-league roster.

Also, the Indians flew in all their draft picks and International signings from this year to Cleveland for the weekend series against the Twins. Very cool of them.

Isn't it annoying that Naquin JUST had that surgery??

I seem to remember they wait until the swelling/inflammation to go down before they do surgery. And evidently that takes a damn long time.

surprised they didn't add Bradley, would not have taken any roster clearance to add him to the team; unless they're out of lockers.

2 1/2 out in the wild card race. Much tougher schedule than the As and the Rays. I think we're near the end of an overachieving season with a good case of "might have beens" if some injuries [Ramirez for sure, how about Kluber too] hadn't sapped key strengths down the stretch.

Kipnis has a broken bone in his wrist and his season is over. Which means his Indians career is over.

Kind of a shame that his career here had to end in such a unceremonious way.

civ ollilavad wrote:2 1/2 out in the wild card race. Much tougher schedule than the As and the Rays. I think we're near the end of an overachieving season with a good case of "might have beens" if some injuries [Ramirez for sure, how about Kluber too] hadn't sapped key strengths down the stretch.

Update - as usual this team never quits. Tampa loses last night.

Our list of Free Agents this winter is really pretty short:

Kipnis Puig and Kluber
Clippard and Otero
Flaherty

That brings the roster down to 34.
But then we add back guys on the 60 day DL: Cole, Anderson, Christian Arroyo and Naquin. BAck to 38.

Then there are nontender candidates
"Definition
When a club "non-tenders" a player, it declines to give that player a contract for the upcoming season, thereby immediately making him a free agent. Players on the 40-man roster with fewer than six years of Major League service time must be tendered contracts each offseason by a set deadline -- typically a date in early December -- or non-tendered and released to the free-agent pool.
In many instances, a club will non-tender a player because it feels the raise he will receive in arbitration would be greater than his on-field value. In other cases, a club will non-tender a player simply to clear a spot on the 40-man roster -- even if that player isn't due much more than the league minimum the following season.

Salazar obviously will be nontendered. [he's not counted on the 40 man anyway, on the 800 day DL] Also could do the same with some of the relievers: Goody, Maton, Hoyt and Wood. Perhaps Cole and/or Anderson. But they're pretty low cost so doesn't matter much. It depends on how many minor leaguers they want to make room for on the 40 man roster and how many spots they would like to fill with free agents.

We have Kluber signed for 2 more years. Although we do have a buyout at the end of this year if we wish, 1 million.

But he is scheduled to make 17.5 and 18 mill next 2 seasons with us if don’t exercise the team option buyout.

that sounds right; my source of info is right on Kipnis and Puig anyway.