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The Cleveland Indians roster continues to be shuffled around. Less than a day after demoting Tyler Holt back to Triple-A, the Tribe have placed Cody Anderson on the 15-day disabled list with a left oblique strain. Filling the two spots on the roster will be relief pitcher Shawn Armstrong and newly acquired outfielder Abraham Almonte.
Anderson has not looked good in his last four starts after looking lights out in his first four. Overall on the season Anderson has a 4.31 ERA and 4.45 FIP, which is at least passable for a fifth starter. However, in each of his last four starts he has allowed at least four runs. His worst outing came two weeks ago against the Kansas City Royals in which he allowed seven earned runs in five and two-thirds innings.
Part of his decline was expected due to regression, but apparently there was a bigger issue at hand in the form of his left oblique. Curiously enough, the Indians did not recall a starter to take Cody’s in place. But as beat writer Jordan Bastian pointed out, the team does not technically need a fifth starter until August 15 thanks to some convenient off days.
Almonte came over to the Indians organization in exchange for reliever Marc Rzepczynski (and here I thought I was done trying to spell his name forever). He has a bit of Major League experience, playing in 31 games for the Padres this year where he tallied 11 hits, three doubles, walked four times and struck out 19 times. His biggest asset is on defense, and he easily slots into center field for the Tribe with Holt sent down to Triple-A.
Assuming he makes it into any games among the other 100 relievers on the Indians roster, Armstrong will be making his Major League debut. He has been a strikeout machine in the Minors, and currently sports a 14.11 K/9 rate playing for the Columbus Clippers.