Martin sits with hamstring tightness
Indians being cautious with center fielder; Moroff DFA'd; Karinchak promoted
CLEVELAND -- When Leonys Martin didn’t return to the field in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 5-4 victory, there was a brief moment of concern that the Indians would have yet another injury on their hands, but manager Terry Francona seems confident that the center fielder will only be down for a few days.
Martin was dealing with some left hamstring tightness on Saturday, which is something that the coaching staff did not want to push in cold, damp conditions for one final inning. When Martin wasn’t in the lineup on Sunday, Francona said it would be a few days to make sure that they don’t aggravate the hamstring even more.
“It’ll be a day or two,” Francona said. “Some of it may depend on the weather. He showed up feeling really good. But again, he’s had these issues.”
Before getting traded to the Indians at the Trade Deadline and missing the end of the 2018 season due to a life-threatening illness, Martin had stints on the injured list with the Tigers with a left hamstring strain, which is why the Indians are being cautious with the injury.
“We don’t want to turn something that is a day or two into an IL,” Francona said. “So that’s why he’s not playing.”
Moroff DFA’d
To make room for Sunday’s starter, Cody Anderson, the Indians designated infielder Max Moroff for assignment. In 20 games, Moroff hit .125/.176/.250 with one homer and four RBIs in 32 at-bats. He served as the Tribe’s utility player, leaving behind Mike Freeman to now take over the role.
“Professional,” Francona said when asked how Moroff handled the news. “He’s a great kid. It’s more [president of baseball operations] Chris [Antonetti] walking him through what the mechanics of it were. But he’s a great kid.”
When a player's contract is designated for assignment -- often abbreviated "DFA" -- that player is immediately removed from his club's 40-man roster, and 25-man roster if he was on that as well. Within seven days of the transaction (it was previously 10 days), the player must either be traded, released or placed on irrevocable outright waivers.
Karinchak impressing
James Karinchak, who spent some time with the Indians at big league Spring Training camp this preseason, is quickly turning heads in the farm system. The 23-year-old right-handed reliever made 10 appearances at Double-A Akron and allowed just two hits, two walks and struck out 24 in 10 scoreless innings. He earned a promotion to Triple-A Columbus on Friday and fanned three batters and walked one in his first inning.
“Looks like a video game,” Francona said. “It’s going to be interesting because of his stuff. He’s got plenty of fastball. I mean plenty. Like 97-98. And a breaking ball that’s like, I don’t know if you’d call it a curveball, slider, hard curveball. He’s got two pitches that are just like wipeout pitches. The reason we wanted to get him to Triple-A so quickly is to try to force him more in the zone just to see how it plays. Because those numbers were stupid at Double-A.”
This date in Indians history
1986: Pat Tabler hit a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning to beat Kansas City, 5-4.