Indians Designate Third Baseman Giovanny Urshela, Reliever Jeff Beliveau For Assignment

The Cleveland Indians made a plethora of roster moves this afternoon, including designating third baseman Giovanny Urshela for assignment.

The moves also included designating left-handed reliever Jeff Beliveau for assignment, optioning Thursday’s Game Two starter Adam Plutko back to Triple-A Columbus, and purchasing the contract of right-handed pitcher Alexi Ogando.

Moves for the Tribe…

-RHP Alexi Ogando has contract selected from AAA
-LHP Jeff Beliveau DFA'd
-RHP Adam Plutko optioned to AAA
-INF Gio Urshela activated from DL, and DFA'd

— Jordan Bastian (@MLBastian) May 4, 2018

The decision on Urshela comes with the uber-talented defender out of options to use. It came down to the Indians keeping either he or utility infielder Erik Gonzalez. After an eleven-game rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus, the Tribe made the call to stick with Gonzalez.

In 148 games for Cleveland over two seasons in 2015 and 2017, Urshela batted .225 and drove in 36 runs. It was the lack of pop in his bat that made it tough for Cleveland to put Urshela in the lineup, no matter how talented he was on the defensive side of things.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez has heated up at the dish. In fifteen games in which he’s seen 24 plate appearances, the versatile infielder is hitting .391 with six RBI. The RBI count is just five fewer than Gonzalez’ entire total with Cleveland last season.