Cleveland Indians: The strange decision to DFA Nick Goody

In a puzzling turn of events, the Cleveland Indians designated Nick Goody for assignment to make room for Rule-5-eligible players on the 40-man roster.

There were spurts in 2019 during which Nick Goody looked like the best reliever in the Cleveland Indians bullpen. Naturally, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that he was designated for assignment in advance of the Rule 5 Draft.

Triston McKenzie, Scott Moss, and Daniel Johnson were added to the 40-man roster, and the Indians needed to part with one player to make room. Goody was the casualty.

At surface level, it’s an odd decision to say the least. Tyler Clippard, the guy who was probably the Tribe’s actual best reliever in 2019, is a free agent. He obviously can’t be factored into any future bullpen equations at the moment. Brad Hand struggled mightily for just about the entire second half of the season, placing a question mark where there wasn’t one at this time last year. He’s also likely to be sought after in trade talks, though not nearly to the extent that he could’ve been without the late-summer collapse.

Adding further peculiarity to this decision is that it could be argued Hand was worked too heavily in the early stages of the season to maintain his dominance for the full duration. And now the Indians are down not one, but two pitchers who could have helped lighten the burden on the Indians’ ninth-inning guy.

Goody was out of minor league options and eligible for arbitration, but he wasn’t exactly poised for a substantial raise. Even the business side of this roster move isn’t cut-and-dry.

Surviving the one-man roster purge was Mike Freeman, a 32-year-old utility infielder who had never logged more than 66 plate appearances in a season prior to 2019. He served admirably in his role for the Indians, but he hardly seems a more important part of the Tribe’s 2020 plans than a late-game reliever.

Perhaps Cleveland’s front office has something up its sleeve that the rest of the world isn’t privy to at the moment. Otherwise, it looks like the team just gave up on a relief pitcher who had shown promise in a role in which the Indians don’t have an abundance of guys to turn to.