The Indians are calling up right-hander James Karinchak, ESPN.com’s Jeff Passan reports (Twitter link). Cleveland has a full 40-man roster, so a move will have to be made to accommodate Karinchak prior to tomorrow’s game.
A ninth-round pick for the Tribe in the 2017 draft, Karinchak made his Triple-A debut in 2019 and posted a 4.67 ERA over 17 1/3 relief innings. Beyond that fairly unimpressive mark, however, stands an eyebrow-raising strikeout total — Karinchak struck out 42 batters in his brief time at Triple-A Columbus, continuing an incredible season of missing bats for the 23-year-old. Over 30 1/3 total minor league innings in a year shortened by hamstring injuries, Karinchak has 74 strikeouts.
MLB.com ranks Karinchak as the 21st-best prospect in Cleveland’s farm system, giving high grades on the 20-80 scouting scale to his 95-98mph fastball (a 70 grade) and a “12-to-6 curveball that he can get them to chase out of the bottom of the zone” (60 grade). Between a high arm slot and a tendency to overthrow, however, Karinchak has also had problems limiting free passes. He has a 5.5 BB/9 over his 102 1/3 career minor league innings, and a 6.8 BB/9 at Columbus this season.
The Tribe will hope that Karinchak’s live arm can help reinforce a bullpen that has fallen on hard times recently. Closer Brad Hand’s recent struggles are the largest concern, though Cleveland relievers as a whole have a cumulative 5.20 ERA over the last 30 days, the fifth-highest mark of any team’s relief corps over that span. While Indians relievers have been pretty good as a whole all season, they rank near the middle of the pack in K/9, so Karinchak promises a particular boost in that department.
I didn’t know Cleveland cloned Bauer and renamed it.
You’d think this site could find a picture of this guy, being a professional website and all.
Does this mean an IL stint is coming for Hand?
I doubt it. I think they are most likely to put him on the 10 day IL and he needs to be on the 60 day IL to affect the 40 man.
Could always designate Otero for Assignment
huh, this dude looks a lot like Trevor Bauer
Flaherty, Hentges or Velazquez may be in danger of losing their 40 man roster spots..
Velazquez gone is no brainer, right?
No, Salazar is still on the 40 Man. Might as well make it official and DFA him, as there is a negative 10,000,000% chance they’ll tender him this offseason.
Salazar is already on the 60-day IL so he doesn’t count towards the 40-man. I’d imagine Velazquez is the one to go then.
Tito loves versatile guys so I’d imagine Flaherty is safe for the rest of the month, and Hentges had a brutal year but I think that basically confirms that he’ll be a bullpen guy long term and they’ll probably want to give him a shot there instead of giving up on him before they need to.
Always a chance the clock as run out Jose Ramirez returning. (moves from 10 day IL to 60 day)
JD smith and James Hoyt are the first to go, Velazquez is safe.
No way Hentges is off the 40. Flaherty, Maton, J.D. Smith, Hoyt, or Jose to 60 day DL before they remove him from the 40. even otero, wood would get the axe before Hentges
What does the Tribe have to lose by calling him up….other than any last chance at a postseason berth, plus a whole lot of sleep as the nightmares of repeated calls of “BALL FOUR!” resound throughout the night?
Is he postseason eligible? Or did he need to be up by 9/1?
He was in the Indians organization on August 31. Therefore, he is eligible for the Tribe’s entire postseason.
Wrong, he wasn’t on the 40 man roster or 60 day IL by the deadline.
“Per Major League Baseball’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, players must meet certain criteria in order to be eligible for postseason play. Any player who is on the 40-man roster or 60-day injured list as of 11:59 p.m. ET on Aug. 31 is eligible for the postseason.”
You should have kept reading:
The one exception is for replacing players on the injured list. Since the 2014 season, an injured player eligible for postseason play may be replaced by any player within his club’s organization, including players assigned to the club’s minor league affiliates who are not on the major league 40-man roster.
So yes, he can replace a injured eligible player, and the Indians would have several of those.
Replaced Josh Smith who wasn’t hurt and DFAd.
Nevertheless, let me respectfully point out that Pork Chop Pough is correct in clarifying the point that I originally made — Karinchak IS eligible for postseason play with the Tribe should the Indians qualify. He could replace any other Indian on the Injured list at the time postseason begins.
To clarify further: Yes at this time, Karinchak replaced Smith on the 40 man roster. And you’re right, Smith isn’t injured. At this point of the season, Karinchak couldn’t replace anyone already on the 60 man Injured List because they already didn’t count against the 40 man roster. I speak of people like Kluber, Arroyo, Olson. The Tribe could have (but didn’t) moved Ramirez to the 60 day IL to open a spot for Karinchak but that would have made Ramirez ineligible for the EARLIEST part of postseason play. By DFAing Smith, a spot on the 40 man roster opened so that Karinchak can participate in regular season games this month.
Now, something else applies when the regular season ends and postseason rosters must be chosen. It is AT THAT TIME that Karinchak can be eligible for postseason play by replacing someone on the IL. He was in the Indians organization on August 31, even if not on the 40 man roster at that time. He can replace anyone the Tribe says it “would have” placed on the 25 man postseason roster but cannot use due to injury. Let’s say they “would have” used Kluber, Arroyo, Anderson, Olson, or any other injured player but those guys are physically incapable when postseason begins. The Indians simply say they will use Karinchak instead.
Complicated? Yes. But this explains how the Tribe put Karinchak on the 40 man roster to enable him to play during regular season games, and how they could decide to use him in the postseason because he is eligible.