Tag Archives: Alex Wilson

Indians trim veterans off roster

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The Cleveland Indians informed veterans Matt Joyce, Justin Grimm, Alex Wilson and Ryan Flaherty that they will not make the big league club.

These moves hardly come as a surprise. Matt Joyce, Justin Grimm, Alex Wilson and Ryan Flaherty are not making the Major League roster. Matt Joyce is already with a new team. After his realease Joyce subsequently signed a contract with the San Francisco Giants. Grimm, Wilson and Flaherty were informed Wednesday of their status.

If Cleveland could somehow manage to keep them in the system that would be beneficial to all involved. It is incredibly likely that they could all see time with the Indians this season due to an injury or a personal reason. It happens every season and it would be better if the team is prepared with quality veterans rather than inexperienced minor leaguers.

Alex Wilson and Justin Grimm have both pitched well this spring. Considering that Tyler Clippard suffered an injury and is signing a minor league deal, their absence is a bit surprising. Cleveland’s bullpen is a work in progress and will continue to see changes this season. It is entirely possible that one, if not both see time with the Tribe this season.

Ryan Flaherty had a shot to be a utility man for the Indians. Flaherty had an alright spring, slashing .243/.333/.459/.793 in 17 games. There are much worse slash lines from players who will be on the big league roster this season. Although an injury to second baseman Jason Kipnis could re-open a door for Flaherty if the injury requires extended rest.

The report is only for precautionary reasons, but as Indians fans have seen before a calf injury can linger on for a long time.

The Indians roster is not exactly final as of yet, but with Opening Day fast approaching, a much clearer picture should present itself in the coming days.

Indians bullpen arms in Arizona

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The Cleveland Indians bullpen had many questions surrounding it in Spring Training, now as time has gone on the situation has become more clear.

The departures of Andrew Miller and Cody Allen left the Cleveland Indians bullpen in a bit of disarray. After multiple moves were made to try and alleviate the issue, the Indians bullpen as a whole appears to be better off than many thought it would be at this point in Spring Training.

Tyler Clippard

Tyler Clippard came aboard this offseason and has performed well this Spring Training. In 2.2 innings Clippard has allowed one hit, one walk and struck out three batters. This is the smallest of sample sizes, but the early returns are encouraging. While Clippard did have to leave a game due to a pectoral strain, the prospects of him making the roster appear to be quite good.

Dan Otero

In five innings in Arizona Dan Otero has only allowed one run. To the surprise of most it did not come via a home run. Otero has become more and more homer prone over the last three seasons. The fact of the matter is that Otero is going to give up home runs, if those can be limited to the solo variety and become less frequent, Otero should be fine in 2019.

Adam Cimber

Adam Cimber is a bit of a wild card. This is directly related to his role as a right-handed specialist. His awkward submarine delivery provides problems for right-handed batters and induces a lot of ground balls. Cimber has allowed one run in 5.1 innings of work so far. Cimber expects to be used quite heavily by the Indians this season as long as the situation calls for it.

Brad Hand

The Cleveland Indians closer for 2019 has done exactly what has been expected of him in Arizona. Brad Hand has pitched four innings, allowing two hits, walking one and striking out seven. When Cleveland acquired Hand last season this is exactly what they signed up for. High strikeout rate mixed with low hits and walks surrendered. This type of performance will continue into the regular season.

Alex Wilson

Alex Wilson is another pitcher brought in to compete for a bullpen spot. Wilson is performing quite well in Arizona. In 6.1 innings Wilson has allowed two runs on five hits while walking two. Wilson has also struck out five batters this spring. As long as Wilson can continue this type of production Wilson could make an impact this regular season for the Tribe.

Nick Goody

Nick Goody has a sparking 0.00 ERA this spring, but that is where things end. Batters currently have a .308 batting average against Goody in three innings. Again this is a case of small sample size, but the results have not been good. Goody should make the Major League roster, but his leash should be quite short if performances like this continue into the regular season.

Justin Grimm

Justin Grimm has seen 5.1 innings of work this spring and has pitched fairly well. Grimm has allowed one run on five hits while striking seven. Grimm could very be integral to the Indians as a bullpen arm this season. That is as long as he makes the roster and continues to pitch this well.

Indians sign Alex Wilson to minor league deal

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The Cleveland Indians continued their run of signing veteran players to minor league contracts Friday as the team came to terms with Alex Wilson.

Reliever Alex Wilson has signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians. The contract includes an invite to Spring Training with a chance to make the big league club. ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the news Friday evening.

Alex Wilson took to his Twitter account Saturday morning to announce the move.

Perhaps Wilson was taking a page out of Matt Joyce’s book who had a similar Tweet Friday. Joyce also signed with the Indians and announced the transaction on Twitter.

Alex Wilson is the latest of a series of bullpen acquisitions

This is not the first move that the Indians made to supplement their bullpen. Cleveland brought back Oliver Perez earlier this offseason. Earlier this week the Tribe acquired Nick Wittgren from Miami. Rather than rely on in-house options, Cleveland is wisely signing players to team friendly deals.

Alex Wilson has been a fairly productive relief pitcher in his career. Wilson has a career 3.23 ERA in 320.2 innings pitched. The majority of Wilson’s 290 appearances came while wearing a Tigers uniform. In his first two seasons with Detroit Wilson’s ERA was 2.19 and 2.96 respectively. However a bit of regression occurred as his ERA spiked to 4.50 in 2017 before settling down to a more respectable 3.36 in 2019.

Wilson certainly has a good chance to make the Indians roster out of Spring Training. The bullpen has some openings and Wilson is more than capable of taking on a middle reliever role for Cleveland.

If Alex Wilson can make that the team and become a reliable bullpen arm it will go a long way. Coming into the offseason Cleveland’s weakness was the bullpen. While it may not be a strength, it does not appear it will be as big of a liability as it was once thought to be.