The Tribe Land Another Reliever

Indians acquire Juan Salas from Rays for Isaias Velasquez

One of the longer-tenured players in the Rays organization, Salas signed as an international free agent in 1998 as a third baseman. In 2004, Salas converted to pitching and had an impressive streak of 34 scoreless innings for Double-A Montgomery in 2006. Salas broke into the Rays pen in 2007 and was amongst their more reliable relievers until being suspended for 50 games following a positive drugs test. Salas is 30-years-old, but his minor league strikeout rates suggest he’s got a chance of being decent if given the chance. He throws two pitches heavily – a cutter and a fastball – along with a slider, but his velocity isn’t quite what it was at one point.

Velasquez has an interesting name and plays second base. Another former undrafted free agent, Velasquez hit .281/.368/.343 in the New York-Penn League last season Over the last two seasons he’s produced wRAAs of 3.5, with varying wOBAs. Velasquez has maintained a decent walk rate while showing little-to-no power.

Diamondbacks claim Robert Korecky

29-year-old Korecky made his debut last season for the Twins, but his recently strong strikeout rates bombed while his walk and homerun rates crept upward. Korecky used a low-90s fastball nearly 60% of the time while mixing in a slider and sprinkling a change-up occasionally. The Backs aren’t losing much here whether Korecky works out or flames out.

Royals claim Timothy Hulett

It appears there no Mariner infielder is safe from Dayton Moore this off-season. “Tug” Hulett’s player page amusingly calls him a DH, but that’s not a mistake, Hulett actually did DH in eight games last season despite being a middle infielder in the minors. Hulett is short and basically everything you’d imagine from a utility infielder type.