Cleveland Indians: Who’s on Their Way Out?
By Matt Bretz
Could Hagadone have thrown his last pitch for the Cleveland Indians?
Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
Non-Tender Candidates
Several Cleveland Indians are eligible for arbitration this winter. Not counting Ryan Webb, there are six members of the Cleveland Indians that will be arbitration eligible: Cody Allen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Nick Hagadone, Zach McAllister, Bryan Shaw, and Josh Tomlin. Allen, Hagadone and McAllister will be eligible for the first time in their careers. It’ll be the second time for both Chisenhall and Shaw and will be the third time for Josh Tomlin. The only one that should command a good chunk of change is Cody Allen as closers tend to get paid quite well via arbitration. Even so, he’s in no danger of being non-tendered as he’s proven to be well worth the money.
In fact, only one of these seven that appears to be in any danger of being non-tendered is Nick Hagadone. While he shouldn’t command much money, he’s yet to establish himself at the big league level. At times he looks unhittable but far too often he loses command and becomes a liability. His 1.54 WHIP (Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched) was a step back for the left-hander who will turn 30 this winter.
He’s also recovering from an arm injury that caused him to miss all of the second half in 2015. The Indians may try and sneak him through waivers and maintain his rights. He’s out of minor league options as well so a trip to Triple-A to work on issues isn’t an option unless he clears waivers and isn’t on the 40-man roster. Whether or not he remains with the Indians could come down to how many players the Indians decide they need to add this winter. The Cleveland Indians been very patient with him to this point but one has to wonder just how much more they’re willing to put into Hagadone…
Others Could Be Let Go
The rest of the roster consists of players that are still under team control either due to lack of service time (Francisco Lindor, Danny Salazar, etc) or on long-term contracts (Michael Brantley, Carlos Santana, etc). There are a few of those players though that could find their position on the Tribe’s 40-man roster a bit uneasy. I already touched on two of them in Moore and Martinez, but there are definitely others who could also find themselves off the 40-man roster. Jerry Sands definitely comes to mind as someone who could (should?) be designated for assignment. However, that’s more a discussion for another article as we may not see any of them removed until November once the MLB playoffs have concluded.