Indians Tweet Farewell to OF Brandon Guyer After Declining His 2019 Option

On Tuesday the Indians announced two moves regarding options for the 2019 season, picking up the team option for starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco, but declining the option for veteran outfielder Brandon Guyer.

Following the decision to allow Guyer to go and become an unrestricted free agent, the team tweeted out a ‘thank you’ for three years of being a valuable member of the teams’ roster.

We're grateful for BG's 3 years of service in Cleveland, and wish him the best moving forward.

Brandon's .333 BA in the 2016 playoffs aided in our run to the World Series. pic.twitter.com/D21FxoehON

— Cleveland Indians (@Indians) October 30, 2018

The veteran outfielder hit .206 with seven homers and 27 runs batted in this last season, and over the three years with the Indians, Guyer hit .241 with 11 homers and 61 runs batted in, and was hit by a pitch 27 times.

With the team declining the option, he will get a $250,000 buyout.

“With Brandon it was a very difficult decision for us to make,” Indians GM Chris Antonetti said.

“We had to assess where we are in the off season. Making a decision now to allocate those payroll dollars, we thought it would be best to decline the option, leaving the door open to bring Brandon back under potentially different terms.”

As with everything in sports, never say never about a possible return for Guyer for less money, as the team has plenty of decisions to make regarding the outfield, and under the right circumstances Guyer could come back.

For now, the Indians have a number of free agents that could all find new teams come the 2019 season including Guyer. On the list includes Cody Allen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Melky Cabrera, Guyer, Andrew Miller, Oliver Perez, Adam Rosales, Michael Brantley, Rajai Davis, Josh Donaldson and Josh Tomlin.