The Cleveland Indians acquired left-handed All-Star reliever Andrew Miller from the New York Yankees on Sunday in a five-player trade to bolster their bullpen.
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Miller has been one of baseball’s best relievers since moving to the bullpen full time in 2012, using a high 90s fastball and a almost unhittable slider to overpower both lefties and righties.
He met with reporters prior to the series opener against Minnesota, touching on a number of topics. “That’s exciting. That’s where you want to be”. The left-hander was ranked 69th on Baseball America’s midseason top 100 list while MLB.com rated him 95th. “A guy like him, as dominant as he is, as good as he’s been his entire career, everything we’ve heard about him, we’re definitely excited to have him”. But ultimately this is a good team. “They’ve got a great lineup, rotation”. For the Pirates, they receive a potential future closer in Rivero, along with another controllable pitcher for the remaining two months of Melancon’s season. They grind out at-bats and hit the ball all over the field. I think we’ve tried to be consistent with that and we talk about that all the time.
On his role with the Indians: “I’ll be a bullpen pitcher, beyond that I don’t know”. I told him ‘I’m just now waking up.’ He said, ‘Yeah, I figured that, but I’m going to wake you up some more. “If we win games, that’s what’s important”.
While the familiar faces were nice to see, it might’ve been unfamiliar face that was the most important for Miller to seek. NY hopes to get under the luxury tax threshold by no later than 2018, which would put the team in prime position to spend again after that season. “It seems like a good clubhouse”. Which is a perfectly fine mindset, but Beltran is not the right fit.
On the reaction of Indians fans to the trade: “It’s been pretty neat so far”. “But upper management has a job to do, and I have a job to do, and we have a job to do in this room. I haven’t really gotten to know Cody that well but I’m looking forward to it”, Miller said. When we go into NY next week, we don’t have to face Andrew Miller, which will be really nice. I’ve done that before. “It was a little bit of a whirlwind after that”. “A lot more things could happen”. “I’ll find a way”. I pride myself in all parts of the game. I’ve been released and designated for assignment and traded in the offseason.
“I was very surprised”, said Betances, who learned of the trade via social media at around 9:30 Sunday morning.
“He’s going to be fine”, Miller said.
Uribe’s departure clears the room for Jose Ramirez to play third on a regular basis.
“It’ll be fun”, Francona said.
“We’re going to try and win ballgames”, Mickey Callaway, Cleveland’s pitching coach, explained to reporters on Sunday.
“The reason he’s been hitting off the machine is because he can crank it up to like Nolan Ryan-ish (mph)”, Francona said. The Indians have been lacking a quality reliever in the seventh and eighth innings, and Miller fills that void.
With the Rays in the cellar of the AL East, their contingent of young starting pitchers could well turn out to be the best available before Monday’s deadline. He’s getting after it back there. “Obviously being in Triple-A is a lot closer than where I was in the past”.
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There is still no timetable for Brantley to begin another minor-league rehab assignment.
