After being dropped from the Indians’ 40-man roster in advance of the non-tender deadline, righty James Hoyt has landed back with the Cleveland organization. Full terms aren’t known, but the contract does come with a MLB roster spot.
The 33-year-old Hoyt hasn’t yet proven he can deliver results in the majors, but has had no trouble getting swings and misses from big-league hitters. He has averaged a 16.8% swinging-strike rate at the game’s highest level, allowing him to carry an excellent 104:26 K/BB ratio over eighty frames. Hoyt has also allowed 14 long balls in that span.
It’ll be interesting to see whether the Indians can coax some quality MLB frames out of the slider-heavy hurler. He spent the 2019 season shifting from a four-seam to a two-seam heater — at least, as identified by pitch-tracking software — which may have helped him to limit International League hitters to three home runs in 42 Triple-A frames. But Hoyt did go on to surrender a pair of dingers in his 8 1/3 September innings in the majors.
2020 WS bound
One enters, one must exit?
He takes Plawecki’s spot on the 40 man roster.
Upgrade!
Yeah but Plawecki pitched better than Hoyt last season. Who will be our position pitcher for mop-up duty? Will it be Michel Martinez again?
Please don’t give them any ideas.
Can he throw a curveball?
Smart, anything to help a half-broken bullpen, he has no promise for being 33, but maybe he can turn it around. Nice backup.
Another vet for AAA pitching staff.
He was good in Houston for one year. Now he might be decent in Columbus and maybe acceptable in September when he’s called up to Cleveland.
Indians have an open spot on their 40 man roster
Allstar addition Big Spending Dolans!!!
Allstar addition!!! Go Dolans!
Yes because with a solid bullpen they should spend millions on a depth player for Columbus.
From above….
“Full terms aren’t known, but the contract does come with a MLB roster spot.”
Not Columbus.
Not so fast…
“He signed a split contract that will pay him $608,500 in the big leagues.
The Indians brought him to the big leagues on Sept. 1 when the rosters expanded. In eight appearances, he struck out 10 and walked two in 8 1/3 innings. The opposition hit .200 against Hoyt, who pitched in parts of three seasons for the Astros.
The signing of Hoyt gives the Indians a full 40-man roster as their executives prepare to go to the winter meetings next week in San Diego. It’s unclear what kind of chance Hoyt has on making the 25-man roster out of spring training, but the Indians do need to remake the bullpen.”
Yeah, I just saw that.
Grant Brisbee was hot for this guy to join the Giants bullpen. Could be a sleeper.
Of course you’re right, and finding diamonds in the rough is the key to building an effective bullpen. But not according to the dummies above who use this as an indictment of the owners. I guess they’d rather the Tribe spend $108 million on wildly ineffective relievers like the Rockies did a couple of winters ago? Only bad organizations spend big on pens. Heck, only bad organizations spend big, period.