TUESDAY, 12:14pm: Lewis cleared waivers and was outrighted to Triple-A Columbus, reports Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
MONDAY, 9:13am: The Indians placed reliever Jensen Lewis on waivers, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports. Non-roster invitee Jack Hannahan is expected to make the team, so the Indians will need to open up at least one 40-man roster spot.
Lewis, 27 in May, posted a 2.97 ERA, 7.2 K/9, 4.7 BB/9, 0.2 HR/9, and 30.4% groundball rate in 36 1/3 big league innings last year. He has stronger peripherals in Triple-A, where he posted a 2.67 ERA in 30 1/3 frames. Arbitration eligible as a Super Two player after the 2010 season, Lewis signed for $650K. Typically such contracts are not guaranteed, but Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote yesterday that Lewis' is.
St-Lou?
They need a solid right hander in the pen to replace McClellan who should be sloted #5 in the rotation… and he’s not really that expensive…
I would think the Indians figure his poor spring will allow them to get him through waivers so he can be assigned. I don’t think they’d give up on him based on a half dozen Arizona innings.
Young, under control for 4 years, and has had some big league success. This guy is not getting through waivers. I would like the Cardinals to claim him.
Twins?
With an open spot on the 40-man, I thought the same thing until I saw that 4.7BB/9.
I doubt Lewis goes unclaimed.
the Rays should be interested
I agree , I think Lewis would be a nice fit for the Rays , but so would Oliver Perez . And it would make the bullpen competition better in the final days of Spring Training .
Something must be up this is an odd move for several reasons.
Not really… Lewis has not been consistent and his velocity has taken a dip. His spring has been simply execrable. The Indians are loaded with bullpen options now and perhaps they are just allowing Lewis to get a fresh start if he is claimed.
I agree with this. Cleveland is known for this kind of move-they really try to be gentle while discarding players-especially if they’ve been good Indian citizens. Lewis, by all accounts has been that.
I hope he gets another chance and straightens himself out.
The velocity on his fast ball according to several sources topped out at 85 MPH this spring. This is the main reason that Lewis was cut loose.
i wish i could make 161k by getting fired from my job…
I also wish I could throw a baseball 90+ MPH.
I updated the post with a link from Paul Hoynes…it looks like Lewis’ contract is actually guaranteed.
I could see the Diamondbacks claiming him and releasing Galaragga since Heilman is likely to make the rotation
Indians have many viable bullpen alternatives–especially in the upper levels of their minors. However, its always nice to have homegrown talent on the team, and Lewis was just that. He also had a HUGE ALCS inning in 07 if I’m remembering correctly, shutting down the heart of the Sox order late, at a tied game at Fenway.
I think you’re thinking of Tom Mastny.
You’re right, I wasn’t remembering correctly.
Might be worth a look for the Jays. The Cabral issue and FF might be seriously hurt, not too pricey of a decision to take a chance on Lewis this year.
Thank you Kenny Ken Ken for that random piece of information that we now find out is not true.
Hopefully Jensen didn’t read the article
I remember hearing once that Scott Harriston found out he was traded when he read about it on MLBTR. Talk about a huge surprise.
Its actually really common in hockey because the commissioners office approves the trade before the players know, so the media ends up finding out before the GM has time to tell the player personally.
For a long time the commissioners office would not recognize the Detroit as Hockey Town. I’m not a big fan of the commissioner.
he’s from the nba, what do you expect.
wait what
how did he not get claimed
Because he’s a right handed reliever who’s been throwing 85 mph and everyones roster is pretty much full
i just looked around and velocity doesn’t appear to be the issue, just a poor spring performance. very surprised a team like tampa didn’t claim him
Velocity has been an issue since 2008. Only difference between then and now is he is now out of options.
how come you’re lying, tho?
fb velocity:
2008: 88.8
2009: 89.5
2010: 89.9
2007 was the only season where he was consistently effective. You have a lot of love for a mediocre reliever.
i know next to nothing about him beyond his stat page. i wondered why he wasn’t claimed; you said he threw 85 and that velocity has been an issue since 2008. wrong on both counts
He was throwing in the 90s in ’07, when he was most effective. His fastball is flat, and at those speeds, not effective. He has bounced back between AAA and the Indians for years because of his inability to be consistent. His K/BB ratio is more indicative of his performance than his ERA. This, and the fact that most rosters are full, is why he wasn’t claimed. How many successful right handed pitchers can’t break 90mph? He has been throwing in the mid 80s all spring, indicating that he has not made any progress in regards to resuming his role as a successful reliever.
his average FB velocity in 2007 was 90.1; in 201 it was 89.9. that’s a difference of .2, sooo
and in general your criticisms of the recent [in]effectiveness of his fastball don’t make sense, since his fastball was 6.5 runs above average last year – the highest mark of his career with that pitch
i see the increasing walk rate, but i don’t see a concerning trend in his zone %; he’s throwing the same number of strikes
obviously the fact that he wasn’t claimed suggests that you are right about something being off with him. but he is still 26 and relievers are still super-volatile. so it still surprises me that teams like tampa and stl wouldn’t grab him for the upside and just throw him back on waivers if he couldn’t perform
it’s amazing how much stock people put into spring training performance, the smallest and least reliable of the small & unreliable samples
I’ve been watching him pitch since 2007, when he could hit 94 with his fastball. That’s what I’m basing this on, not his spring training performance. I’m an Indians fan, I wish to God that he was a good reliever, but he’s not. That being said, he probably would been claimed later on in the season.
something must be wrong
The Indians timed the move correctly. That’s why he wasn’t claimed. Anyone claiming him would need to open up a roster spot to do it. You don’t do that for a guy who might not make your team.
So in the past 24 hours he has been put on waivers, then it turned out he was never on waivers, now he has somehow cleared the waivers that it turned out he was never put on…. say what?