The Indians have announced a series of transactions, including the signing of righty Jhoulys Chacin to a minor league deal. Fellow right-hander Shaun Marcum was designated for assignment, while backstop Brett Hayes will take his roster spot.
Chacin, 27, was cut loose by the Rockies this spring in something of a surprise move. He struggled with shoulder issues last year, and injuries are the main concern given his effectiveness when healthy. Overall, Chacin owns a 3.78 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 3.8 BB/9 to go with a 48.2% groundball rate. He joins Ryan Webb as a recently-added veteran depth piece in the Cleveland system.
Of course, much of the same could have been said of Marcum, 33, who was quite a productive starter in his heyday but who has battled injuries in recent campaigns. He made one appearance for the Indians, allowing just one earned run in five innings of relief, but will presumably be left to look for a new opportunity.
As for Hayes, he is needed to fill in for the injured Yan Gomes. The veteran backup has never done much damage on offense but will provide a steady presence in reserve while Gomes is down. It remains to be seen how long his services will be needed at the big league level, as Cleveland is said to be weighing the possibility of making an addition to its catching corps.
And this is why I didn’t want the Indians to purchase Marcum. Chances of him making it back to AAA Columbus aren’t strong.
Well, I hope the Orioles take a gander.
Marcum was pretty good at one time.
The Tiger Bullpen is a mess, and I wouldn’t waste a claim on him. I don’t think the Indians have to worry.
Tough rotation to crack. I assume they see Chacin as a replacement for the depth Marcum gave them, without having to use a roster spot.
Agreed, Chacin represents a decent depth option with some level of upside to boot. Good minor league signing by the Tribe.
Is Chacin healthy? He had no fastball when he got cut.
I have no idea actually, I would assume he’s got to be at least passably healthy to get a deal done of any sort. It’s a minor league deal so its obviously low risk
If the Rockies thought that he would get his Fastball back this soon, I don’t believe they would have cut him. Of course, they could be wrong.
Even if they didn’t think it’d come back quickly, it’s still pretty surprising they gave up on him to begin with, it’s hard enough for them to get pitching there, let alone someone who has had any success in Coors at any point. I doubt he’s back to his former self already, but he doesn’t need to be considering he’s starting off in the minors.
I’m a little surprised that it took Chacin this long to find a minor-league deal, unless he was taking his time to find the right situation. And he did a pretty good job of that: the Indians are going to need some SP alternatives in the bigs at some point, maybe soon.
Well, he’s had some big time struggles of late, so it’s not awe inspiring it took as long as it did, but I would imagine he considered his options to a degree. He’s just got to stay healthy, because as styme above indicated, his fastball was majorly,majorly lacking when he was cut by Colorado(though I am surprised they gave up on him,but that’s another story). He’s going to have to get work in and show anything close to where he was a few years ago in order to be useful, but he’s still 27 and it wasn’t too long ago he was pretty decent. I just hope he isn’t rushed to a big league rotation spot, but rather shows he’s earned it.
While I like this move, the Tribe need serious help on offense. They still lack that solid right handed bat for a few years now. I would love to see them go after someone like Trumbo and keep him at DH and a fill in at 1st when they want to give Carlos some time off. I like how this young pitching staff is developing right now but I’m not sure they can depend on them on a regular basis.
Everytime I see this it kills me. Trumbo K’s like crazy and doesn’t walk much. Progressive is murder on RH power, and we added a guy who was tied for 18th in MLB in HR last year to an offense, that by just about any metric you would like to use was in the top half of the league last year while dealing with an injured Kipnis, Swisher, and Bourn. That’s to say nothing of the improved defense that the team has without Cabrera at SS and Santana moving to 1B full time.
Losing Gomes hurts, it hurts a lot. But this offense has more than enough bounceback potential to be worried about it.
I understand what you’re saying, but Moss severely dipped during the 2nd half of the season last year. A guy like Trumbo might not be the perfect fit, but I mention him because he will be available and for cheap. Progressive may not be better for right handed bats, but I was at Progressive this weekend and the right handed bats for the Tigers had no problem with the field (and yes, I know they have an amazing lineup). You need some balance in your lineup, and the Tribe don’t have it right now. I do agree with you that they need the players on the current roster to step up or stay healthy. Ideally, I would like to see a guy like Lonnie take a platoon role and add a solid right handed bat at 3rd.
He dipped because of a hip injury, which he should be fully recovered from by now. I would love to see Urshela get a shot this year, and while Lindor is unlikely to bring the lumber this year (or really be a power hitter any year) he’ll add another switch hitting bat to the lineup and could hit low double digit HR’s and steal 30+ bases with plus AVG and OBP.
Adding the wrong RH power bat is probably even worse than adding another decent LH bat at this point.
Tell that to the teams that are calling up LH pitchers from AAA the day before a series against the Indians starts. But that’s only been going on for 3-4 years now. It takes time to recognize a pattern and make adjustments.
I doubt Trumbo would be cheap. I don’t see Arizona giving their players away.
Arizona just purchased the rights to that Cuban player for something like $16 million. He is sitting in AAA right now getting experience. They didn’t spend all that money on him to keep him there. He is a Trumbo clone in the fact that he can really only DH and play 1st base. Trumbo is all but gone from AZ. They may ask for a lot at first but nobody will likely pay it. Trumbo’s days in AZ are numbered.
Yeah, but he’s so raw and lacks the skills needed to play 3B where the originally wanted him that he needs to stay in AAA for a while. Drawing comps to Dayan Viciedo isn’t a good thing
The new regime seems to want its “own” players, so I won’t be surprise if Trumbo is traded. Power hitting is in short supply, so I would expect there to be a decent cost in acquiring him, flaws and all.
The whole “RH power is neutralized at Progressive Field” thing is a myth. There have been way more LH at bats lately, thus there are more HRs left handed. It’s that simple. Volume is not the same as percentage. The difference in HRs, and all hit %, really is negligible between RH and LH batters.
You should probably learn about park factors. First, they eliminate home team bias by eliminating the home team from the numbers. Second, these numbers are weighted so that 100 is league average, and lower means it’s worse for the hitter, while higher means it’s better.
2010:
1B as L 101 1B as R: 101 2B as L: 102 2B as R: 101 3B as L: 83 3B as R: 85 HR as L: 103 HR as R: 88
2011:
1B as L: 100 1B as R: 100 2B as L: 102 2B as R: 101 3B as L: 81 3B as R: 86 HR as L: 105 HR as R: 89
2012:
1B as L: 101 1B as R: 98 2B as L: 101 2B as R: 102 3B as L: 82 3B as R: 85 HR as L: 109 HR as R: 93
2013:
1B as L: 101 1B as R: 97 2B as L: 101 2B as R: 102 3B as L: 82 3B as R: 85 HR as L: 109 HR as R: 93
2014:
1B as L: 101 1B as R: 97 2B as L: 101 2B as R: 102 3B as L: 82 3B as R: 85 HR as L: 109 HR as R: 93
See the pattern? Also, sorry for the editing problems, it looked good before it posted.
I saw the RH Tiger batters hit at Progressive Field as well this weekend. But perhaps because I was watching on TV I missed something.
Because the Tigers don’t have some of the best RH and S hitters in baseball. Obviously one game can determine how a park plays with perfect clarity.
I thought it was a 3 game series 🙂
up-voting this because you got me. This is what happens when I’m trying to post a comment and I’m late for a meeting.
I’m sure the numbers are great for LH bats for what was posted but the point remains. If you throw up left bat after left bat as the Indians continue to do, there will be problems. I get the porch in RF and Right Center is deep at Progressive but the lineup needs a solid right handed bat. Overall, they just need a solid, consistent power hitter in the middle of that lineup to take them to the next level.
Chacin will be up soon, give McAlister, House 2-3 more starts each and Jhoulys will get a chance along with Salazar.
Marcum is only 33 and has huge bounce-back potential with virtually zero risk. I believe it was short-sighted of Cleveland to throw him away like this. It’s easy to pay little attention to a guy who has had trouble staying healthy, but when he played, he contributed solid production. From ’07-’12 (with ’09 missed), he had a WAR of 13. That’s 3rd or 4th starter good on a competitive team.
what would that make him on the Indians then? 🙂
Philadelphia should place a claim on Shaun Marcum.
They need the pitching.
I really think that some of you are overestimating the possibility that Marcum gets claimed on waivers. He’s 33 and has battled shoulder issues for the last 3 years. I don’t think it’s at all out of the realm of possibility that he makes it through waivers and back to the Tribe. Now, whether Marcum would accept an outright to the minors or not, that’s another matter.
As for Hayes, I have to think that the Tribe could find a better, or at least another possible, experienced depth catching option out there… maybe even in exchange for Marcum.