Every year, the Indians do their diligence in acquiring the low risk, low reward players known as Spring Training invitees. These are generally players signed to a minor league contract with an out clause if they don’t make the team within a month or so of the season starting. While these are often veterans looking for another chance despite no free agent interest or career AAAA minor leaguers who can’t seem to stay in the big leagues, every once in awhile, there is a gem in the group. This year, there is a small crop of just 12 players that the Indians will bring into camp from outside the system.
Catchers
In preparation for the glorious day when pitchers and catchers report, the Indians have added a few back-stops to return balls for all those pitchers in camp. First, Adam Moore was drafted by the Mariners in 2006 and has bounced between low A ball and the Majors throughout the years since. Most recently, the 30 year old catcher played 100 games between AAA El Paso and the San Diego Padres, although only nine of those were at the Major League level. In his career, he has a line of .200/.241/.309 and has played in more than ten MLB games in just a single season.
The other recent addition is Brett Hayes, formerly of the Marlins and Royals. He is also 30 and has one more year of experience above Moore. Unlike Moore, he has played a few more MLB games (175), but has a similar line of .209/.252/.353 and his 2014 performance was even worse at .135/.151/.212. Expect less from these catchers than the Indians got from George Kottaras in 2014. If does stay on in the minors, it would likely just be as a short term injury replacement for Yan Gomes or Roberto Perez.
Outfielders
The Indians are also bringing in two outfielders of varying talent. First, is Jerry Sands, formerly of the Dodgers, Pirates and Rays. Sands will be 27 during the 2015 season and has only played in 82 MLB games since being drafted in 2008 and making his debut in 2011. It would appear that Sands took a wrong turn at Albuquerque as his only incredible seasons came there in 2011 and 2012 when he hit 55 home runs. While this earned his promotion, he did little with it and batted just .190 in 12 games with the Rays last year.
A slightly more interesting addition is Destin Hood (pictured above) of the Washington Nationals. Although he is yet to break into the Majors, he has shown some potential after hitting .294/.344/.482 in AAA as a 24 year old in 2014. The former second round pick has 41 home runs in 662 career MiLB games with 337 RBI. While neither player has a real shot at the Indians this year, Hood could be a solid AAA option, allowing the Indians to trade from their position of outfield depth.
Pitchers
In general, pitcher invitees are bullpen depth options and this group is no different. Dustin Molleken will be 31 next year and has pitched eleven seasons in the minors for the Pirates, Rockies and Brewers along with two in Japan. With all this experience, he has never shown much promise, including in his 2014 season when he posted a 4.84 ERA in 74.1 innings for the AAA Nashville Sounds.
Although he has a little more MLB experience, Jeff Manship isn’t much more exciting. He just turned 30 and holds a 6.46 ERA through 139.1 innings, most recently with the Phillies in 2014. Even in AAA, he has posted an ERA above 4.62 in each of the past two seasons.
Michael Roth was originally drafted by the Indians in 2011, but didn’t sign and after two MLB seasons with the Angels, he has been released and come back home. Unfortunately, he holds a 7.79 ERA through 32.1 Major League innings, but going into his age 25 season, he still has time to turn things around and build on his 2.62 ERA as a starter in AAA last year.
Unlike every player listed above, Scott Downs not only has Major League experience, but Major League success. Along with Roth as the only left handers with invites, Downs has played 13 seasons in the Majors and in 619 games. Nearing 40, Downs is a left handed specific specialist (.219 AVG vs LHH compared to .272 vs RHH) and a good one at that, having success in every year since 2006 excluding his first half with the White Sox in 2014. The hardest part for Downs will be breaking through the extremely deep left handed half of the Indians bullpen that includes Marc Rzepczynski, Kyle Crockett and Nick Hagadone. Already Scott Barnes has been traded to clear things up, but it is hard to imagine Downs surpassing either Rzepczynski or Crockett in the depth chart.
In a similar situation, Anthony Swarzak, a pitcher very familiar with the Indians has also joined with a minor league contract and an invite. A flex pitcher, Swarzak has made 32 starts and 149 relief appearances all for the Twins between 2009 and 2014. After a poor showing last year, he was cut by Minnesota and at 29, it is hard to picture him breaking into the crowded Indians bullpen scene. One benefit of Swarzak is that he can pitch multiple innings, so if the Indians need to go deeper than Zach McAllister, Josh Tomlin and T.J. House, Swarzak could be a spot starter option.
Returning Free Agents/DFA
Those above are all the truly new additions and the minor leaguers already within the system with invites will not be listed at all, but there are four pitchers who were with the Indians during the 2014, were released or became free agents and are now coming back for another try.
Bryan Price made his MLB debut with the Indians and what a debut it was. In each of his three appearances he allowed two earned runs and overall, eight hits, a walk and just one strike out in 2.2 total innings. Despite this, his 2.73 ERA in AAA that same year and a solid K rate throughout his seven year minor league career makes him an interesting depth option for 2015, although it wouldn’t be a great idea to trust him with a lead early on.
Nick Maronde is in a similar situation as he was acquired during the regular season, DFA’s afterward, then brought back into the fold with an invite. He pitched just six innings for Columbus in 2014 with eight strike outs and just two hits allowed, but this is hardly enough to ignore his 7.13 MLB ERA. Another left hander, Maronde will likely sit in the depth chart even further below Downs and Hagadone, possibly pushing him all the way down to AA.
The final pitcher with an invite, Shaun Marcum was once a star for Toronto and Milwaukee, but after surgery for Thoracic Outlet Syndrome has had trouble making it back to the Majors. In 2014, he was also an invitee in Cleveland, but it took him almost the entire season to rehab and he ultimately pitched just 15.1 innings in AAA. If he can start the season in AAA this year instead of on the DL, Marcum looks to have the best upside for the 2015 season of every player being invited to Spring Training.
Finally, the well traveled younger brother of Royals infielder Pedro Ciriaco, Audy Ciriaco, will also be back for 2015. Audy is yet to make his MLB debut despite turning 28 next year and can play any infield or outfield position. With this, he is a valuable AAA utility man, but after a .255/.312/.458 line in Columbus last year, he doesn’t project well any higher than that.
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