The Cleveland Indians went all-in at the trade deadline, acquiring all-star left-hander Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees for a package that includes outfielder Clint Frazier, left-hander Justus Sheffield, right-hander Ben Heller and right-hander J.P. Feyereisen.
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Perhaps more importantly, it gives the Indians two pitchers who are interchangeable in the later innings, allowing Francona to fully leverage his starting rotation, which is averaging the second-most innings per start (6.1) in the American League.
He met with reporters prior to the series opener against Minnesota, touching on a number of topics. And if you want to become a super team, there’s certain ways to go about that that you have to strongly consider. Now they have arguably the best left-handed reliever in the game. “That’s a good character trait, I’m looking forward to working with him”. But ultimately this is a good team. Andrew Miller will be heading to a new team, fracturing their three-headed monster more. Maybe they’re just too modest, and players on the outside just don’t know. They grind out at-bats and hit the ball all over the field.
The right-handed Betances traded compliments with the lefty Miller, illustrative of the bullpen bond they formed since Miller’s arrival as a free agent in 2015.
As Miller arrived in Cleveland, after tweeting about the continuous party at Mike Napoli’s place, he knew that he’d see some familiar faces. While it certainly isn’t the mecca of culture and handsome people like NY or Los Angeles, for a professional athlete those problems cease to matter very quickly. They went and got the best there is. 500 and management looked like they had no idea what they were doing.
On the reaction of Indians fans to the trade: “It’s been pretty neat so far. About the only thing I have left after this will be retirement”.
“When you are dealing with life-changing, life-altering decisions like this, there are a lot of factors that come into play, mostly family”, he said before the Brewers’ 4-2 win over the Pirates. “I’m going to be the same way here…however I can help the team, and if we win games, that’s what’s important”.
“We lost a true leader and good friend for me”, Betances said. I’ve done that before.
Frazier is now listed as the franchise’s number one guy with Torres right behind. So, I’ll find a way. I’ve been released and designated for assignment and traded in the offseason.
“It was becoming increasingly hard to play him because he was having a tough time”, Francona said of Uribe, who batted only.
Beltran is batting. 304 with 22 home runs and 64 RBIs this season. “And when he wasn’t playing, it’s not like he’s a guy that can really help off the bench a ton”. To discuss we brought in Kyle Glaser of Baseball America.
“It’s not how we envisioned the season going (with) those guys being moved before the deadline”, manager Joe Girardi said. “He did make an incredible impact in our clubhouse with a handful of players specifically”.
“We’re trying to get back to a situation where we can build an uber-team and a sustainable one”. “I loved my time here”, Miller said. And we feel great about him there.
After an off-day Sunday, Michael Brantley (right shoulder) returned to hitting off a machine in the cage.
“It’ll be fun”, Francona said. “It was a little bit of a whirlwind after that”.
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“He keeps increasing the volume (of activity)”. It’s not like were slow-playing it. He’s getting after it back there. “It’s a different role”, but “I believe in my stuff and trust my stuff and I’ll try to get the job done”. “We’ll see where that takes us, but that’s the effort that we’ve got going on here”. “But, we don’t have any more clarity than that”.
