As usual, January has been a very slow month for baseball signings, continues on with the doldrums that started right after the Winter Meetings ended. For the Indians, the only moves were two minor league deals given to relief pitchers and the rest of the division wasn’t much busier. In fact, the biggest move around was likely an addition by subtraction as Max Scherzer finally ended the drama by signing a seven year contract with the Washington Nationals, making them quick favorites to win the NL East. While this didn’t happen within the Central, it will likely still have ramifications all around the division.
Internally, many arbitration eligible players signed contracts during the week of January 11th including all six of the Indians up for arbitration. Since these players are staying with their club, they will not be mentioned individually for each team.
Cleveland Indians
The Indians only additions were two more Spring Training invites given to Michael Roth, formerly of the Angels and Anthony Swarzak, formerly of the Twins. Roth has an unimpressive 7.79 ERA through 32.1 MLB innings, but will be just 25 in 2015. On the other side, Swarzak has had a few nice seasons as both a starter and a reliever and has pitched a total of 439.2 innings, all with Minnesota. Neither pitcher is likely to make the Indians 25 man roster out of camp this year, although they could be depth options later on. In fact, the Indians are rumored to be in the market for another back-end reliever, despite already having one of the most dominant bullpens in baseball.
Exiting the Tribe will be Tyler Cloyd, who was granted his outright release so he can pursue a career in South Korea.
Detroit Tigers
The biggest news for Detroit is that Scherzer will not be resigning, but according to the Tigers themselves, that was never a realistic option. They did sign 32 year old reliever Tom Gorzelanny. Gorzelanny missed most of 2014, but posted a 0.86 ERA in the 21 innings he did pitch for the Brewers. With no other significant signings to report, the Tigers did add former Ranger infielder Josh Wilson to a minor league contract. Wilson is 34 and hit just .234 last year in 24 games. He is capable of playing second, third and short stop and is a plus defender at any position.
Now that the bidding for Scherzer has ended, the chase for James Shields has intensified and this one, the Tigers are legitimately involved in. With David Price a free agent at the end of the season and Justin Verlander aging, Detroit is taking a serious look at shoring up their rotation from the outside. Losing Drew Smyly during 2014 significantly hurt their depth as well and unless they can add one or two more pitchers, they could be a very disappointing squad in 2015.
Chicago White Sox
After a flurry of moves in December, the White Sox kept things simple in January, adding well traveled utility man Emilio Bonifacio. Bonifacio most recently played for the Braves and has played more than 100 games at second, short, third and center field. Bonifacio was added to the Major League roster with a $3M deal, costing the White Sox outfielder Jordan Danks as well, who was DFA’d and claimed by the Phillies. Two years older, Bonifacio looks to be a considerable improvement over Danks both offensively and in consideration of versatility on defense.
After being sold to the Angels during the 2014 season, Gordon Beckham has returned to the White Sox as a free agent, signing a $2M, one year deal. In order to make room on the Major League 40 man roster, heavy slugger Dayan Viciedo was designated for assignment. Viciedo has 60 home runs and 192 RBI over his three full seasons, but with the Sox newly improved offense, Chicago has opted for a more defensive friendly player. Viciedo will likely get a lot of interest around the league now that he is available.
On a minor league level, former Cubs catcher, 2008 NL Rookie of the Year winner Geovany Soto has joined the South Siders on a minor league deal. While Tyler Flowers will remain the starting catcher, Soto will compete with Adrien Nieto and 2014 Indian George Kottaras for the back-up job. Since 2011, Soto hasn’t played in more than 52 games thanks to injuries and poor performance, but he can add experience and be a solid reserve if he can stay healthy in 2015.
In more roster filling news, the Sox pulled relievers J.D. Martin and Jairo Asencio out of Korea on minor league deals. Both right handers have MLB experience, but didn’t pitch in 2014 with Martin last pitching in 2010.
Minnesota Twins
The only addition for Minnesota this month was the relief pitcher Blaine Boyer, who was given a $750K minor league deal with a Spring Training invite. Boyer spent from 2012 through 2013 away from the Majors, but was called up by the Padres for 32 games in 2014, posting a respectable 3.57 ERA.
Largely considered to be the dogs of the Central Division, the Twins have already made some questionable additions for a rebuilding club and they are rumored to be interested in another. Johan Santana hasn’t pitched in the past two years and missed 2011 as well due to various injuries, but he is looking to come back and the team that originally drafted him and turned him into a two time Cy Young winner and three time All-Star could be interested. The Twins rotation is seemingly full already, so Santana’s prospective role with the team is unknown. Most likely it would be a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite as a depth option.
Kansas City Royals
By far the busiest team in the Central this month was Kansas City. To start, manager Ned Yost was given a two year extension through 2016, solidifying the team’s bunting based chemistry for the near future.
Minor League deals by the Royals in January include Ryan Madson (34 year old relief pitcher who hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2011 with Philadelphia), Roman Colon (35 years old, hasn’t pitched in the Majors since 2012 with Kansas City), Brandon Jacobs (24 year old outfielder who has never played above AA) and Alex Liddi, a 26 year old utility man who most recently batted .059 in eight games with the Mariners in 2013.
Of course, the biggest move made by the Royals was the signing of a top of the line starter in Edinson Volquez. Volquez pitched well for the Pirates in 2014, posting a 3.04 ERA through 31 starts and 192.2 innings. With no hope of bringing back their ace, Shields, Volquez is expected to fill that void at two years, $20M. To give hope to the other teams in the Central, Volquez pitched well above the level his 4.15 FIP says he should have, indicating a significant amount of luck. Considering that and his age of 31, this signing already shows signs of being a huge bust for the usually thrifty Royals.
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