The Indians have signed 32-year old righty reliever Saul Rivera to a minor league deal. Rivera pitched in 30 games (0 starts) for the Nationals last season and he was 1-3 with a 6.10 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP. He has now pitched in 245 games (0 starts) in his four years in the majors and he is 13-15 with 4 saves, a 4.05 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. This was a good move for the Indians as Rivera is a decent reliever who will have a good chance of breaking camp with the Tribe.

The Indians have decided not to tender a contract to 29-year old righty reliever Jose Veras making him a free agent. Veras pitched in 22 games (0 starts) for the Indians last season and he was 1-2 with a 4.38 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. This is just the Indians being cheap again as Veras wasn’t that bad in a bullpen that was a big mess.

The Indians have selected 25-year old righty starting pitcher Hector Ambriz from the D-Backs in the Rule 5 Draft. Ambriz pitched in 28 games (27 starts) in AA+AAA ball last season and he was 12-11 with a 4.94 ERA and a 1.46 WHIP. He has now pitched in 98 games (83 starts) in his 4 years in the minors and he is 28-35 with 3 saves, a 4.41 ERA and a 1.31 WHIP. Despite his so-so minor league stats it’s possible that Ambriz will make the pitching staff out of spring training due to the state of it right now.

The Cleveland Indians are in a full blown rebuilding mode so any player that makes decent money is on the block. That means that Jhonny Peralta, Travis Hafner, Fausto Carmona and Kerry Wood are likely all on the block. The Indians won’t likely get much interest in Hafner because of his contract and health. Carmona and Peralta will both likely inspire teams to talk to Indians’ GM Mark Shapiro and that should get Indians’ fans nervous. The Indians should keep Wood as he really looked good at the end of the year for the Tribe. The wild card of the Indians is Grady Sizemore. He is without a doubt the face of the Indians but the brass can’t be happy of his recent Photo Gate. Although it’s nowhere near as bad as the Kaz Tadano situation a few years back the Indians are still not happy with him right now and they could get back a King’s Ransom for him if they were willing to deal him.

The Indians have re-signed 29-year old lefty reliever Mike Gosling to a minor league deal. Gosling pitched in 15 games (0 starts) for the Indians last season and he was 0-0 with a 5.04 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He has now pitched in 58 games (9 starts) in his major league career and he is 3-4 with a 4.85 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. Gosling has walked 72 batters and allowed 139 hits in only 117 innings in the majors so he wasn’t going to get a lot of offers this winter. It was a smart move for Gosling to sign with the Tribe but they should have moved on and let him walk.