Cleveland Sports Forum

Cleveland Indians make it official, sign Melky Cabrera to minor-league deal
Updated 5:58 PM; Posted 5:30 PM

By Joe Noga, cleveland.com jnoga@cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona announced Wednesday that the team has officially signed free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera to a minor-league deal.

Francona said Cabrera, 33, will report to extended spring training at the Indians' facility in Goodyear, Ariz. for a period of 7-10 days before he is assigned to Class AAA Columbus. He had been previously working out with other unsigned major-league free agents at a camp in Florida.

"From all accounts he's been working pretty hard," Francona said. "I just think, especially with a veteran guy, let's let him get his legs under him. You send him right to Triple-A and then you're asking for a sore arm or, so rather than rush, we want to do it right and give him a chance to get in really good playing shape."

Francona was asked whether he spoke to outfielder Tyler Naquin, who most likely stands to lose a spot on the roster if Cabrera is called up. He said said Indians president Chris Antonetti "talked to a couple guys before we signed (Cabrera)," and that he appreciates when the front office gets ahead of a situation like that.

On what Cabrera could add to the roster, Francona remarked about the switch-hitting outfielder's consistency.


"Sometimes you see him in April and he kind of has some Aprils like some guys can and then you look up and he's got 85-90 RBI," Francona said. "He's been a good hitter for a long time."

Last year he hit .285 (177-for-620) with 17 homers and 85 RBI with the White Sox and Royals. Among active switch-hitters, he currently ranks second in RBI (768) and third in hits (1786), runs (824) and doubles (344). He is a veteran of 22 career postseason games and was the Most Valuable Player of the 2012 All-Star Game.

Francona has been searching for a switch-hitter to balance out the bottom of the Tribe lineup since losing Carlos Santana in free agency during the offseason. Adding Cabrera to the mix from spots 7-9 in the lineup would allow him to separate left-handed bats instead of hitting Naquin and Bradley Zimmer back-to-back.

Cabrera, who registered minus-20 defensive runs saved in the outfield last season according to FanGraphs.com, would likely slot in right field with Zimmer in center and Michael Brantley in left.

"Some of that could be need, but we'll certainly play him in both corners," Francona said.

Vie

Translation - Melky is a good option in LF on days they choose to rest Brantley. But starts in RF.

Potentially a really good pickup. Switch hitter who hits the same from both sides - making him a right handed bat they need vs lefties

I guess it wasn't posted here, or maybe in Articles? Melky's defensive rating last year was very much subpar. Tito puts a high premium on defense, but he should have no problem getting value from Cabrera. Does he cost Davis a job, or Naquin?

Miller to 10 day DL with strained hammy

civ - the guy with options usually loses. And Rajai is right handed.

I don't trust the defensive metrics that much and if Schwarber can play a corner outfield spot....

Just make the routine play - he is a high quality bat from both sides.

If Miller to DL, I would do the following:

replace him with a Lefty: Jeff Belliveau.
Belliveau is not on the 40-man roster but can transfer Jason Merryweather to the 60-day DL and open a spot.
And while they're add it, they should DFA Matt Belisle and replace him in the bullpen with one Evan Marshall, Ben Taylor or Neil Ramirez

For some reason they seem to like keeping an injured player on the standard 10-day DL even though he's out for the year [see Dylan Baker in 2016 and 2017. But currently the only pitchers in AAA who are on the 40-man roster and not the DL are starters Morimando [who's having a horrible start] and Adam Plutko [who's been not half bad]. But I'd rather have an actual reliever and all of those named above are doing well statistically.

Hard to believe that Meritt is still injured.

name the starter -- both are slated to start tonight


Season Team G GS W L SV BS HLD CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

2018 BOS 5 5 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 29.0 22 6 6 2 6 41 1.86 0.97 .206


Season Team G GS W L SV BS HLD CG SHO IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP BAA

2018 CLE 4 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 25.2 19 5 5 1 8 17 1.75 1.05 .209

Tito’s pregame minutiae: April 30
Highlights from Indians manager Terry Francona’s Q&A with reporters prior to Monday’s game against the Rangers.

On Brandon Guyer’s recent production against lefties:

TF: “We need him — I’ve said it a number of times. Not to put pressure on him. We’re pretty left-handed dominant and, when he plays… When we got him two years ago, the numbers he put up, I thought it went under the radar a lot. He can be a force against left-handers. So, when he starts to swing aggressively like we’ve seen the last couple of games, yeah, that’s big for us.”

On Andrew Miller’s progress from the left hamstring injury:

TF: “He’s able to throw — not bullpens yet. But, he can keep his arm moving, which is really good. And he doesn’t feel anything. Now, he’s not using his legs a ton either, because he’s just throwing. But at some point, before we activate him, he’ll throw a bullpen, because we want to make sure that when he gets up on the mound, he doesn’t feel it. But, that’s not yet.”

On whether team is still optimistic Miller will only need the 10 days on the DL:

TF: “Boy, I sure hope so. I think so, but again, we’ll do the right thing. If he feels it, we’re not going to rush that. That would be really silly. But, I do think he’s doing OK.”

On letting Zach McAllister get back in Sunday’s game after a rough appearance on Saturday:

TF: “My concern is, when you have a long inning, it’s not just the number of pitches — I think it was 28 — but when things aren’t going exactly the way you want, that’s a lot of work. It’s not just like you’re staying in your delivery and things are going boom, boom, boom. That’s a 28-pitch [inning]. It’s taking a lot out of you. But, he did want to get back out there. He’s really resilient anyway with his arm. I think he feels like the more he pitches, the quicker he’s going to figure it out. I agree with him. We don’t want to pitch him too much where all of a sudden his velocity is down or his arm hurts. So, there’s kind of a happy medium you’ve got to walk.”

On whether Carlos Carrasco (back) will start as planned during Thursday’s doubleheader against Toronto:

TF: “Yes. He’s on course to start most likely Game 1.”

On if he could announce who will come up from the Minors to start the other game on Thursday:

TF: “Yeah, we can do that. We just wanted to make sure guys come through their start and then also give [Columbus manager Chris Tremie] and those guys not only [time] to talk to the guys pitching, but maybe the guys that aren’t pitching. So, [Adam] Plutko’s going to start. It’s probably Game 2. I want to walk through that with [pitching coach Carl Willis] a little bit more just to make sure of that. By all accounts, Adam’s been really throwing the ball well. He had 7 2/3 of no-hit ball the other day and they took him out just because they knew he was going to potentially start this game. Seems like with his hip — he had that labrum [surgery] on his hip — getting that fixed, it looks like he’s getting a little bit stronger and he’s commanding the heck out of the ball. So, that’s really good. You wonder now, looking back, how much his hip bothered him last year and he pitched with it the whole year.”

On whether Willis and Josh Tomlin were able to find something that has been going wrong in the pitcher’s mechanics:

TF: “Early on, his arm slot had kind of wandered away from his head a little bit. So, that was something they really were working on all last week. When I say his arm … his arm slot’s the same, but getting his hand closer to his head. I know in his side day he really felt good about it. It’s never just one thing. Like yesterday, he gave up the two, we missed the cut-off man and it turned into five. After that, I thought he got into a pretty good rhythm. Then, he gave up the solo [homer], which he’ll do, because he’s around the plate and he doesn’t necessarily have the velocity that the other guys do. So, you hope that he takes the three innings that were good and builds off of that.”

On if this is similar to the release point issues Tomlin dealt with a year ago:

TF: “Yeah, because last year by design he had gone a little lower, but now — and again, that’s why you’ve got to keep on it and look at video and stuff and the guys do a good job — his hand had just wandered away from his head a little bit.”

On how something small can have a big impact on a player:

TF: “It’s not just hitters. We talk about it with hitters all the time, but yeah, that’s why we talk about guys like [Michael] Brantley. He can repeat his swing. It’s the same with pitchers. The guys that can repeat it over and over consistently, they’re able to command better.”

On whether it’s comforting to have at least identified something that might be causing Tomlin’s struggles:

TF: “Yeah, sure. I think for J.T. himself, too. It gives him something to go work on, as opposed to just being frustrated. You guys have seen him long enough. He’s not going to short-change you on that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I do think that helps.”

I don't think I would wait till trade deadline. We need to be working phones now and see if we can sure up our pen.

We have guys on DL that we don't have room for and are going to lose soon anyway. Put a nice package together and get a reliable set up man from right side.

I hope the fans that complained about Shaw realize what he was worth now.

Agreed. Erik Gonzalez should be worth someone capable. Unfortunately F. Mejia is not showing he's ready for the majors so Perez or Gomes is probably not yet expendable.

I doubt Tito and the team agree with me but personally I would trade Perez any time. Especially if a team we're talking with wants him. He's had some really ugly at bats this year. I know he's really good defensively but we have Gomes, and not just Mejia in minors but Eric Haase as well.

Haase slash line in Columbus so far ... .304 .389 .405 ... this after a year where he showed really good power in Akron.

Come to think of it, he might make good trade bait as well.

Perez/Haase, Gonzalez, Yandy, Urshela ... Plutko has looked great since his offseason hip surgery ... Merritt ... we can put together a very nice package without touching any of our top guys.

Speaking of which, just saw this ...

Indians Prospective @indiansPro
2 hours ago

Columbus Clippers 3B Giovanny Urshela left after the team's game last night headed to Cleveland. Still trying to find reason.

Possible:

- Joining team
- Designated for Assignment
- traded

@Indians @CLBClippers #Urshela

The lack of any roster moves to replenish the overworked and ineffective bullpen reflects the lack of any good options on the 40 man roster. There are some decent relievers in Columbus [Evan Marshall and Ben Taylor] but to add either one someone would have to be DFAd or the much easier and logical step would be to move Merryweather to the 60 day DL which for some reason has been resisted.

You guys heard about Bauer's comments about pine tar and the Astros staff?

Then there is this ...

.


Jordan Bastian @MLBastian
3 minutes ago

Bauer's 4-seamer had a spin rate of 2,597 RPM in 1st inning of last start, compared to a 2,294 season average. Had "no comment" on whether he used a substance on the ball, but noted that his research shows a 200-300 RPM jump on higher-velocity pitches when a substance is used.