There’s Plenty of Help for the Indians Bullpen in 2018; Here’s Some Options

David Hernandez, RHP (2017 teams – Angels and Diamondbacks)

Hernandez is a quality match-up righty who strikes a lot of batters out. He throws a mid-90’s fastball and also features an above-average change and slider he can throw for strikes. Over his eight seasons, Hernandez has struck out 546 in 542 innings.

The 2005 Orioles draft pick is 32 years old. He signed for just $535,000 last season with the Angels after making $3.9 million in 2016.

It was money well-spent. In 38 games for the Angels Hernandez struck out 37 in 36.2 innings and posted a 2.23 ERA. On July 31 the Angels moved Hernandez to Arizona in a straight-up swap for Luis Madero.

The Mexican-born Hernandez throws strikes as well after struggling with walks early in his career. In 2010, while pitching for the Orioles, he walked 4.8 batters per nine innings. Those numbers have steadily gone down. He walked just nine batters last season, 1.5 per nine innings.

At 32 years old it wouldn’t be much of a gamble to give Hernandez a multi-year deal…something in the neighborhood of three years at $2.5-$3 million per would probably be enough to get him to Cleveland.

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