Tribe Targets: Chad Billingsley

Continuing on in an effort to guess which bottom of the barrel starting pitchers the Indians may be interested in this off-season, we come to Chad Billingsley. Billingsley was drafted by the Dodgers in 2003 and made his debut in 2006, remaining in Los Angeles ever since. This has now changed as the Dodgers declined his $14M option for 2015, choosing to pay the $3M buyout instead. He had initially signed a three year $35M deal with the option for 2015 and despite a great first season in 2012, that contract had to have been a disappointment as he missed all of 2014 (just 3 IP in advanced A Rancho Cucamonga) and almost all of 2013 as well (16 IP between Rancho and Los Angeles).

This is Billinglsey’s first shot at free agency and unfortunately for him, it came a couple years too late. Due to various injuries, he is a huge risk to any team that would sign him, meaning he is likely to warrant a one year, minor league deal or a simple invite to Spring Training. This places him right into the Indians wheel house. It seems every off-season, the Indians will bring at least two starting pitchers of this quality into camp (Shaun Marcum has already been resigned for the 2015 season) and if Billingsley signs with a team at all, the Indians could be a high probability option.

Heading into the 2014 season, the Indians brought one of those injury problem pitchers into camp in Aaron Harang. Harang was one of the top pitchers during Spring, but in order to protect Carlos Carrasco (a move that eventually worked out well), Harang was released, signing with Atlanta and his best season since 2007, keeping a career best 3.51 ERA in 204.1 innings. For the Indians, he would have been a better fit in the rotation than Justin Masterson, although that was unknown at the time. Had he been maintained throughout the season, Harang would have been a great fit in the rotation by May.

Billingsley is in a similar situation although he is more talented than Harang. In 1,175.1 career innings, Billingsley still holds a 3.65 ERA, better than all but three individual seasons in Harang’s 13 year career. Chad’s last three full seasons are shown above, showing the great potential possible by this still young star. Billingsley will be just 30 years old in the upcoming season and it isn’t hard to believe that he could get back to those previous season’s numbers, although it could take some time.

If Chris Antonetti is looking for some rotation depth this year, beyond what he already has with Josh Tomlin and Zach McAllister, Billingsley would be a good dark horse option. Since there is still a large risk he will never play again, he could possibly be brought in with a simple Spring Training invite on a minor league deal. If this did happen, it would take some time to get back up to speed, but by the end of April, if he stays healthy, Billingsley could return to form. This is the perfect time for back up as almost every year a starting pitcher is injured or severely under performs and a healthy Billinglsey would be a better option than either Tomlin or McAllister. Unlike in the offense, where the Indians would like to add another starter, the Indians have a full pitching staff already, so they are simply in need of minor league depth, something Billinglsey should be capable of providing.