The Indians announced today that they have outrighted catcher Chris Gimenez off the 40-man roster and re-signed right-hander Tyler Cloyd to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training.
Gimenez, 32 in December, batted .241/.313/.328 in 116 plate appearances for the Rangers and Indians this season. The journeyman backstop has seen Major League action with Texas, Cleveland, Tampa and Seattle in parts of six seasons at the big league level, totaling a .210/.297/.302 batting line. He’ll have the option to hit the open market and should draw interest from teams in need of catching depth, especially given this year’s thin crop of free agent catchers.
Cloyd, 27, spent the year in the rotation at Triple-A Columbus after being claimed off waivers from the Phillies around this time last year. He pitched to a 3.89 ERA with 6.4 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 166 2/3 innings in his first year with the Cleveland organization.
Does anyone else immediately think of the Moon Men Gidney and Cloyd from Rocky and Bullwinkle whenever they see Tyler Cloyd’s name?