The Indians have designated catcher Eric Haase for assignment, the club announced. His roster spot was needed for César Hernández, whose one-year signing is now official.
Haase, who just turned 27, has only tallied 34 plate appearances at the game’s highest level. He spent nearly all of 2018-19 with the club’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, where he’s tallied nearly 900 plate appearances with a cumulative .232/.302/.479 slash with 49 home runs.
He’s carried that same high-strikeout, big power profile throughout his minor-league career. Coupled with a solid defensive reputation, that was enough to make him a decent prospect, as he twice finished among the back half of Cleveland’s top 31 farmhands at Baseball America.
Haase comes with all six seasons of team control and another option year, so it’s plausible some other club will give him a look. Numerous clubs could be in the market for catching help. Speculatively speaking, teams like the Tigers and Pirates could be in position to give playing time to a talented but unproven option in hopes of striking gold.
Now the salary dump is just getting petty.
Huh? They have two catchers for the major league roster, needed a spot on the 40-man, and used the guy most expendable for the move.
Most likely he’ll end up traded. Relax.
It was a joke, and I forgot they needed a spot on the 40.
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that DFA’ing Haase ends the Indians’ chances at the playoffs, but I can’t help but wonder why wouldn’t they remove one of the 50 bazillion OF’ers or IF’ers instead of the 3rd C. It’s not worth arguing or being upset over, but it does make one wonder why.
Sign of a big move coming?
Yes, the official signing of Cesar Hernandez
Keibert Ruiz in C_bus?
There ya go!
What teams are still in search of catching help?
Pirates would be one, though I think a trio of Stallings, Meile, and Haase would be underwhelming at best.
The Mets need a backup AAA catcher
I don’t know getting Haase comes w/ 7 years of control that could offer the depth the Pirates need to develop their next franchise catcher from this years draft or trade acquisition.
True. Sign him and then a veteran to a one year deal. Might make sense.
I would rather them go after Varsho from the D-Backs (who are interested in Marte, Frazier & Kela) via trade instead of a veteran after getting Haase and then draft a catcher in the 2020 draft. Stallings/Haase/Maile can hold down the position a year or two until Varsho is ready. Maile would be the veteran presence at that spot and only has 3 years left of control and the only one w/ an Milb option left which lines up w/ the timeline of being replace by Varsho. Stallings has 5 more years control and Haase seven which means whoever is drafted in the 2020 draft would be replacing Stallings w/ Haase still as depth.
I agree but also wonder about Kelly the other catcher? Larger deal may net him and some good young pitchers. Need hard throwing left hander or two,
Well presented plan, Johnny. Varsho would be a good fit and is obtainable as long as Starling Marte is available.
Red Sox are very thin at catcher depth wise.
Hernandez looks like a solid player. I would rather have him than profar
I’m a little surprised for a few reasons here:
The Indians have 8 outfielders and 8 infielders on their roster as is (counting Bauers as a 1B). Haase was their 3rd C, guy who you’d assume would be first up for an injury. I’m not sure why they wouldnt just have Hernandez replace one of the infielders (Chang, Velazquez or Arroyo).
Leon walks after this season, so they’ll need another catcher. Haase they’ve always raved about his defense and whatnot. He looked to be a good fit there. Especially since the Indians don’t have any other good candidates above AA, all either have poor defense (Li-Jen Chu) or cannot hit or stay healthy (Logan Ice, Mike Rivera). If Haase clears waivers they’ll still be able to put him there at season’s end if they want to. Or Beau Taylor (minor league free agent signing) I guess.
probably hoping they can pass him through.
I expected Velazquez to be DFA’d, especially since the Indians now have Hernandez for 2B. I wonder if they already have a trade partner for Haase.. Hopefully this ends up being a good opportunity for him to get some MLB service time with another club.
No, no, no it’s for Mookie Betts, Chis Sale and JBJ, as long as they take David Price as a kicker.
no jokes, he would be a good fit for the red sox, we have no backup catcher, 1 starter in Christian, and leon was traded, oddly enough, to the indians. Seems like a safe move, since boston all of a sudden wants to spend 3.00$ on every player.
The Bucko’s need to jump on this ship like STAT!
It would make perfect sense for the Pirates to get Haase. The 26 man roster would allow them to carry another catcher and Haase will not cost anything near what it would to sign a FA and he comes w/ 6 years of control. Even if Haase is a defensive only catcher w/ power, he will be a solid depth acquisition at an area the Pirates need to address. I wonder what it would take to trade for Haase, probably not much maybe cash considerations instead of a low level prospect.
Angels just found their defensive catcher they’ve been looking for.
Haase has been jettisoned in order to free up a roster spot for one of the many players coming from the Dodgers in the Lindor/Clevinger trade to be announced next week
They DFA’d Haase to get Hernandez on the roster – so this doesn’t open a spot.
Don’t read what others have written. I know!
No relation to reality, regardless of the platform.
As an Ex Assistant GM you do understand this move did not clear a spot on the 40-Man, right?
Go Cubs Go
Incredibly this post is 26 comments deep without one single Braves fan bemoaning the fact that ATL hasn’t signed anyone today.
Perfect pirate pick up
Makes the most sense to send him to Boston.
Haase make sense in San Diego given the uncertainty behind Mejia/Hedges. Torrens is the closest guy but hasn’t played a full year above AA since being hidden on the 16’ roster as a rule V guy. Trading Austin Allen thinned the ML ready depth.
If Milwaukee has a spot left on their 40 man might be worth a shot. If not, I wouldn’t mind too much if they dumped Nothingham to make room.
Milwaukee has had a sneaky good offseason in the midst of all the shakeup. A guy like Andrew Cashner is someone else I can see them having interest in for the back of their rotation. Or in the pen.
Arroyo would have been the logical choice since he plays the same position as Hernandez and is out of options and Mike Freeman accepted his assignment to Columbus so depth is not an issue.
Beau Taylor and his left handed bat made Haase superfluous in Columbus but he still had an option left so it is a puzzling move.
Arroyo is likely the backup INF this year so that would not of been the logical choice
I can tell you one thing here Terry Francona and Cleveland Indians organization never gave Eric Hasse chance to play at a Major league level
for a full season. They always brought him up at the end of season. He needs a chance to play with team that willing to allow him to play regularly on big league team. I know that he works hard because he grew up few houses over from my parents in Michigan. His father built him a special batting cage building in their backyard. I could here him practicing every day and night when I was home visiting my parents. Just give him a chance to play regularly with big league players. He will show what he made of.