CLEVELAND -- The Indians will have an opening or two in their bullpen this spring, so gathering an assortment of non-roster possibilities was part of the team's offseason plan.
On Friday, Cleveland found another one in right-hander Preston Claiborne, who signed a Minor League deal with the team and was extended an invitation to attend Spring Training with the big league club. Claiborne gives the Tribe 20 non-roster invitees, including 12 pitchers, with a little less than three weeks remaining until the start of camp.
Indians pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to Arizona on Feb. 14, with the first official workout slated for Feb. 16. The remainder of the position players will report on Feb. 18, leading up to the Tribe's first full-squad workout on Feb. 20.
Claiborne, 30, has big league experience with both the Rangers and Yankees. The right-hander appeared in one game for Texas last season, but logged 62 games for New York between the '13-14 campaigns. Overall, Claiborne has a 4.05 ERA with 60 strikeouts against 24 walks in 73 1/3 innings in the big leagues. For his career, the righty has limited right-handed hitters to a .226 average (.684 OPS).
Claiborne -- who throws a fastball, slider and changeup -- had a 1.89 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 15 walks in 38 innings with Triple-A Round Rock last year.
As things stand, the Indians' bullpen projects to include closer Cody Allen and relief ace Andrew Miller, along with Dan Otero, Zach McAllister, Nicholas Goody and Tyler Olson. The last spot (or spots, if manager Terry Francona goes with an eight-man relief corps) is up in the air.
Beyond Claiborne, the pitchers who will be in camp with Cleveland as non-roster invitees include Jeff Beliveau, Lisalverto Bonilla, Louis Head, Cameron Hill, Evan Marshall, Josh Martin, Alexi Ogando, Neil Ramirez, Cole Sulser, Adam Wilk and Robert Zarate.