Cleveland Indians Sign Tommy Hunter to One-Year Deal

Cleveland Indians Sign Hunter to One-Year Deal

The Cleveland Indians have signed right-handed reliever Tommy Hunter to a one-year major league deal.  To make room for him on the 40-man roster they have designated minor league catcher Tony Wolters for assignment.

Hunter has spent the last three years as a reliever after originally coming up as a starter with the Texas Rangers and the Baltimore Orioles.  He enjoyed a lot of success out of the pen throwing at least 60 innings and making at least 58 appearances each of the last three seasons.  He’s not much of a strikeout guy though only striking out about seven per nine innings even out of the bullpen, but he makes up for that with good control and solid 45% groundball rate as a reliever.  Hunter only got $2 million, which in this market is pretty remarkable given how much relievers get.  He’ll look to bounce back after a disastrous second half after going to the Chicago Cubs midseason. He will join fellow righties Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, Zach McAllister and likely Jeff Manship in the Tribe’s bullpen this season.

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Tony Wolters was the roster casualty to make room for Hunter.  Wolters, a former middle infielder, had made the switch to catcher and actually took to the position quite well defensively. However, his bat and health have been an issue for him the last couple years.  He failed to reach 100 games in any of the last three minor league seasons and owns a career minor league batting line of .258/.335/.349.  He hasn’t been a terrible hitter for a catcher; however, he struggled to a mere .209 average and .570 OPS with the Double-A Akron Rubberducks last year where he was slated to start the year at Akron yet again.  There’s still a very strong possibility he could clear waivers and remain with the Cleveland Indians organization. He simply hadn’t shown enough to continue warranting a 40-man roster spot though. This is a move that has seemed inevitable for the last few months and something I hinted at back in November.

Cleveland Indians Add Catching Depth

The Cleveland Indians also signed free agent catcher Guillermo Quiroz to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

Quiroz will compete with Anthony Recker and Adam Moore, two other non-roster invitee catchers, for spots in Columbus and possibly a spot at Akron, if Wolters is claimed on waivers.  Quiroz spent all of 2015 in the San Francisco Giants’ organization playing for their Triple-A squad. He did make a brief appearance in the big leagues for them in 2014 and played in 43 games in 2013.

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He sports a career batting average under .200 and -1.4 fWAR in 148 big league games. The 34-year old catcher is merely an extra catcher for the Indians to have around in case of (multiple) injuries and catch some innings in spring training. Not a guy anyone should expect to see in Cleveland though I suppose crazier things have happened…