WEDNESDAY: Cleveland sent $150K to the Rockies in exchange for Rogers, reports Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus (on Twitter).
TUESDAY: The Indians acquired Esmil Rogers from the Rockies for cash considerations, the team announced. The Indians designated Luke Carlin for assignment in a related move.
The Rockies designated the 26-year-old Rogers for assignment three days ago after he posted an 8.06 ERA with 10.2 K/9 and 6.3 BB/9 in 25 2/3 innings of relief this year. He can't be optioned to the minors without being exposed to waivers.
Carlin, 31, has appeared in four games with the Indians this year. He has spent most of the season at Triple-A Columbus, where he posted a .230/.345/.311 line in 88 plate appearances. Carlin has a .706 OPS in 11 minor league seasons.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Hmm, I was thinking that maybe getting away from Coors field might be good for him, but upon looking at his splits I’m not so sure.
However getting him for only cash, coupled with his nice K/9 rate, this could be a nice pick-up.
Carlin’s defense was atrocious. I know it’s not easy to hit the bigs with a staff of sinkerballers, but even so….way too many pitches bobbled or passed at the plate.
As for Rogers…I doubt he sticks, looking at his BB/9 numbers. But he throws a 96 MPH fastball, and I suppose it can’t hurt to see if he’s fixable.
Damn lucky!!! I wanted Rogers in Oakland! Rogers and Ubaldo Jimenez teammates once again
Another act of spending when the time is right? Where do I sign up for World Series tickets. Gee, I hope someone DAs a nifty .180 hitter pretty soon to go with Johnny Damon.
Decent move. He’s been miles better than his ERA suggests, with a SIERA of 3.85 – haven’t seen him play, so it’s hard to tell precisely what it was out in Colorado, but the hitter friendly environment and poor defense are probables the major offenders. Carlin was effectively useless barring freak injury to both Santana and Marson, the bullpen needs something and it won’t kill them to take a flyer on a guy with some potential, especially if it only takes cash. While I think Barnes is the answer to our possible replacement for Sipp (who is fixable; mostly he’s giving up a freakish number of home runs, which is really hurting him unfairly) Rodgers has some potential. He wasn’t getting hurt by Coors Field too much – his HR/FB is more or less league average. He has a K/9 over ten, which is really nice – it’s the BB/9 over 6 that kills him. If Cleveland’s pitching staff can get him some control, they might have stolen one here. I like the move.
I certainly believe in looking beyond ERA to assess a pitcher’s value, but having watched Esmil Rogers pitch, it’s not a surprise to me that his BAABIP is .425 — and from the games I’ve watched, I don’t think it’s the defense letting him down. When he gets hit, he gits hit hard. Walks are certainly a problem too. The story Esmil Rogers’s numbers tell me is one about a pitcher with good stuff who makes a ton of mistake pitches. Maybe good coaching is all he needs, but Cleveland’s body of work isn’t very impressive. I look forward to watching him pitch in Columbus.
All extremely fair points. Did you catch him in tonight’s game against Cincinnati? I was surprised to see him in so quickly, but he acquitted himself well.