NFL News: Browns sign CB Kevin Barnes
March 25, 2013While We’re Waiting… Fielding a competitive team
March 26, 2013More roster news was announced later last night from Goodyear: The Cleveland Indians have decided to part ways with LHP David Huff and OF Ezequiel Carrera. Multiple outlets reported that Huff was told he will be traded shortly, while Carrera was designated for assignment.
The news comes on the heel of roster decisions earlier Monday afternoon that trimmed down the 25- and 40-man rosters. With other competitors lining up for the precious few remaining spots, these two both became as expendable as ever.
Huff, 28, was the Indians sandwich-round (39th overall) draft pick in 2006 out of UCLA. He had ample major league opportunities, highlighted by 23 starts in 2009, but never delivered on his early potential. He has a career MLB record of 18-26 with a 5.30 ERA in 55 games (52 starts). He pitched 26.2 innings for Cleveland in 2012, while only posting a 4.97 ERA in 134.0 IP in Columbus. After it was clear he wasn’t a contender for the No. 5 rotation spot, he hoped to shoot for a bullpen role, but obviously things didn’t work out.
With this departure, it now means that the Indians only hold the rights to three of their first-round draft picks from the last decade: Lonnie Chisenhall (2008), Francisco Lindor (2011) and Tyler Naquin (2012).
Huff tweeted out a shoutout to Cleveland last night after the news was made official.
https://twitter.com/theREALdavehuff/status/316325799156387841
https://twitter.com/theREALdavehuff/status/316325814507565056
Carrera, 25, was acquired by the Indians from the Seattle Mariners1 in June 2010, in a deal that sent him and SS Juan Diaz to Cleveland for Russell Branyan2. Never quite viewed as that high of a prospect, he was a fourth- or fifth-outfielder for the Tribe in the past two years. In 116 career MLB games, he batted .255/.306/.347 with 18 stolen bases. The Venezuela native hit at least .285 in all three of his stints with the Clippers. He was leading all of the big leagues with 11 steals this spring.
More likely than not, because of his hot play, age and defensive versatility, Carrera should easily find a home elsewhere in the big leagues in just a few short days. Since the Indians designated him for assignment, fans will likely receive word soon of a possible trade for monetary — or other, if lucky — compensation in return. If not, I’m sure the Tribe would love him back in AAA.
Despite those positive attributes and relatively low floor as a player long-term, Carrera just didn’t have a roster spot with the 2013 Indians. Because of the additions of 1B/OF Nick Swisher and CF Michael Bourn, the team was suddenly loaded in the outfield and no longer needed the redundant depth. Expect OF Tim Fedroff to finally get an opportunity should injury arise or at least by September.
In a classy move, set-up man RHP Vinnie Pestano gave a shoutout to both Huff and Carrera on Twitter last night:
https://twitter.com/VinnieP52/status/316342683633319936
[Related: Four Stat-Lines to Watch on the 2013 Indians]
9 Comments
Trade zeek to Yankees. They need help in OF.
Ben Francisco would hate us if we did that.
See Vernon Wells
at this point, I’d take Zeke over Wells even if they were paid the same
Zeek will always have that great MLB debut:
http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=15010067
But not if you already have 3 LH OFs in the starting lineup, and don’t necessarily need a bench OF who can play CF.
Good luck David Huff. We’ll always have that time when you tweeted out that you were getting called up, and annoyed the Tribe brass who decided then to call up someone else instead.
Rumor has it that Atlanta is looking for a LH OF that can play all 3 spots. They might agree to a trade with a low-level prospect to add Zeek because he also brings speed.
Game winning bunt single against the Reds if I’m not mistaken.