The Indians claimed infielder Anderson Hernandez off waivers from the Mets, tweets Brian Costa of the Newark Star-Ledger. Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer tweets that the Tribe designated Brian Bixler for assignment to make room for Hernandez.
Hernandez, 27, hit .251/.312/.339 in 404 plate appearances for the Nationals and Mets last year while playing second base and shortstop. Regarding his defense, Baseball America had this to say before the '07 season: "He has soft hands, plus range, and an above-average arm but sometimes gets lazy and doesn't charge balls aggressively enough."
Bixler, 27, was acquired by the Indians from the Pirates on January 18th. Heading into 2009 Baseball America labeled him an "average defensive shortstop," noting his ability to play second base and predicting a utility future.
So are ST waivers different from regular season? Did the Mets have the opprotunity to pull him back or request something in trade. I never liked “Ahern” anyway and know you would not get 10 scuffed baseballs for him. Just curious about the rules.
I honestly don’t see the sense in this.
.251/.312/.339 and above average defense at SS? Sounds like Anderson Hernandez would have been an upgrade over Yuniesky Betancourt.
Wow. Interesting claim for the Indians
Means the Mets will probably roster Tejada until Reyes gets back.
Completely agree. Hopefully Tejada will be the Opening Day Shortstop.
Manny loves AHern… Nice to seem them back together.
Manny is from the same area in the DR as Hernandez… I’m sure they go way back.
So, Manny has Austin Kearns and Andeson Hernandez. Perhaps he would like Elijah Dukes next?
And hopefully Logan Kensing…
I’ll assume Manny Acta is familiar with this player and that he has a good idea of what he can and cannot do. I like Hernandez better than Bixler for the utility role. Why not? A low cost move that if it doesn’t work out, eh, just move along.
“predicting a utility future……….(for Brian Bixler.)”
Geez, I totally did not see that awesomely bold prediction coming. I thought surely Bixler was the next Roberto Alomar or something??
If he is the same Bixler that played in the Mexican Winter League in 2009-2010 then i have to say he is a terrific defender, played an excelent position at SS making pretty good plays.