Mike Clevinger agrees to deal avoiding arbitration

The Cleveland Indians have come to an agreement with starting pitcher Mike Clevinger on a one-year deal avoiding arbitration.

Mike Clevinger was the last arbitration eligible player left for the Cleveland Indians. With agreeing to a deal with Clevinger, Cleveland has signed all five arbitration eligible players.

The deal for Clevinger is for $4.1 million.

Mike Clevinger has two more arbitration eligible years after 2020.

Clevinger missed a large portion of the 2019 season due to injury. Appearing in 21 games, Cleivnger posted a 2.71 ERA and 1.056 WHIP with 12.1 strikeouts per nine innings. These were all career bests for Clevinger.

Cleveland previously agreed to deals with Francisco Lindor, Tyler Naquin, Nick Wittgren, and Delino DeShields before today’s deadline. Cleveland literally went down to the wire when it came to making these deals.

With all of their arbitration eligible players under contract, Cleveland can now focus on players outside the organization. Maybe the Indians look to find a free agent outfielder, (Yasiel Puig is still available). There is also the possibility they add to the bullpen. Exploring the trade market is also an option. There are too many outfielders and not enough positions, that could be any area they deal from. Bobby Bradley appears to be blocked and stuck in AAA for the time being. It is possible that Cleveland could look to move Bradley in order to upgrade the roster elsewhere.