The Indians recently added Joe Smith to the bullpen, but they'll now be without Andrew Miller for a stretch.
The Indians on Wednesday placed Miller on the 10-day disabled list with patella tendonitis in his right knee. In a corresponding move, Adam Plutko was promoted to the majors from Triple-A Columbus. It's a significant loss for the time being, with Miller remaining one of the elite relievers in baseball and the headliner from last year's deal at the trade deadline.
According to Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, this wasn't something that recently popped up with Miller.
"It's something Andrew's been battling for the course of the last month," Antonetti told MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM. "It just got to the point where, given his workload and volume that he pitches, it's just been tough for him to get through.
"Rather than ask him to continue to pitch through it, we really kind of went to Andrew and thought this made the most sense so we can get it behind us and really have him strong for the balance of the season and the stretch run, rather than have him continue to try to compensate for it."
Miller this season has posted a 1.67 ERA, 0.759 WHIP and 78 strikeouts in only 54 innings. His injury leaves Tyler Olson as the only left-hander in the bullpen.
The Indians didn't pull the trigger on any potential deal for a left-handed reliever before Monday's nonwaiver trade deadline, instead adding Smith, a right-hander, in a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays. The loss of Boone Logan to the 60-day disabled list with a strained lat muscle opened a spot in the bullpen for a lefty to play the matchup game ahead of Miller.
Now with both out and the absence of a deadline-day deal, Olson stands to see plenty of opportunities, barring a move using waivers.
The Indians have maintained that they have been excited to add Olson, who came to camp as a nonroster invitee, into the mix. Still, these certainly weren't the circumstances they had hoped to bring about those opportunities.
The Indians also received some clarity regarding Josh Tomlin's situation. Tomlin was recently placed on the 10-day disabled list just as he had seemed to hit his stride, which opened the door for Olson's promotion. Tomlin underwent an MRI on Tuesday, which revealed a mild-to-moderate left hamstring tendon strain. He is expected to miss six weeks.
Tomlin's placement on the disabled list momentarily solves the situation of the club having six starting pitchers on the roster. For now, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger will continue to start every fifth game, along with Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.
