Indians plan to expand their roster in waves
ATLANTA -- Only three days remain until Major League teams can expand the active rosters, but the Indians are not ready to officially unveil any of their planned promotions.
On Thursday, manager Terry Francona said the team has an assortment of players in mind for Sunday's roster expansion to a maximum of 40 players. Cleveland will likely call up a handful of players on Sunday and then follow with more promotions by next Wednesday or Thursday.
"We're going to call up guys in two different waves," Francona said. "For obvious reasons, we're not going to say it yet, because everybody doesn't know."
Francona did note that the Indians are leaning toward calling up three pitchers, one infielder and a catcher on Sunday, when the team will be wrapping up a three-game road series in Detroit. Next week, more pitchers are likely to be added to the fold. The Indians already added an extra outfielder on Tuesday when the club purchased the contract of Matt Carson from Triple-A Columbus.
Possible position players on the 40-man roster under consideration include shortstop Juan Diaz and outfielder Tim Fedroff. Catcher Lou Marson, who is currently rehabbing a right shoulder injury in Arizona, is not on the 40-man roster due to being on the 60-day disabled list. A few non-roster possibilities include first baseman David Cooper and catchers Roberto Perez and Chris Wallace.
The list of pitchers likely being considered includes right-handers Vinnie Pestano, C.C. Lee, Preston Guilmet, Matt Langwell, Blake Wood, Trevor Bauer and Josh Tomlin, as well as lefties T.J. House and Nick Hagadone.
Cleveland wants to have plenty of pitching depth with starter Danny Salazar's workload being monitored closely and right-hander Corey Kluber expected back soon from a sprained right middle finger.
"We're going to have a lot of pitchers," Francona said. "We've talked over a lot about what we wanted to do, and because of Danny pitching and Kluber potentially pitching, I think we thought that may be our best way to win."