The Cleveland Indians are looking to add an arm in their bullpen and are showing interest in Baltimore Orioles reliever Mychal Givens.
Mychal Givens is receiving interest from several teams. Cleveland is just one of five teams who are interested in his services. The other teams being the Phillies, Nationals, Braves and Dodgers.
While on the surface Mychal Givens has not had the best of season (4.23 ERA, 4.63 FIP) it is important to note the strikeouts per nine. In 38.1 innings Givens is averaging 12.2 strikeouts per nine. Brad Hand is the only reliever on the Indians with a higher strikeout rate (14.5). Mike Clevinger is the only pitcher besides Hand who strikes out more per nine than Givens. (13.8). All other pitchers on the Cleveland pitching staff average fewer than 11.4 strikeouts per nine.
In previous years Cleveland had players such as Bryan Shaw, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen who could be depended on for an entire inning. Now that those players are gone the only pitcher who fits that bill is Brad Hand. This means that the rest of the bullpen is put together on a game-by-game basis. There are some pitchers who get called on more often than others, but none are the quality that Shaw, Miller and Allen were. This means adding another pitcher to help the collective group will only help the Indians cause.
With so many teams showing interest in Mychal Givens it may be a bit difficult for the Tribe to acquire him. The Indians need to weigh their options when it comes to Givens. There will be plenty of arms available over the next week or so. It is important to not overpay for a reliever who is not a shut down guy. Mychal Givens is not 2016 Andrew Miller and should not cost that much. If that is what the asking price it may be best to move in another direction.
