Mark Shapiro continued his barrage of off season moves on Wednesday when he signed pitchers Kirk Saarloos and Greg Aquino to minor league contracts. The Indians have been busier this off season than most in their recent history as they have already made a few trades and signed various players to many different contracts.
Both Saarloos and Aquino received invitations to spring training to compete for jobs with the Indians.
Saarloos was originally drafted by the Houston Astros in the third round of the 2001 draft out of Cal State Fullerton. The right hander has pitched in 165 games during his major league career for three different teams. In addition to Houston, Saarloos has had stops in both Oakland and Cincinnati. He has acquired a 5.02 ERA during his seven seasons in the majors and has a win-loss record of 29-30 with 251 career strikeouts. Saarloos has been used as both a reliever and a starter throughout his career, as 73 of his appearances came as a starter.
Aquino was originally signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks as an undrafted free agent in 1995. He has seen action in the major leagues in the last five seasons of his career and has appeared in a total of 135 games. He has an overall ERA of 5.40 and has a win-loss record of 2-4 while posting 132 strikeouts.
It is possible that both players could see some time in the majors during the season as the Indians were very prone to injuries last season.
Bill Jordan is a contributor to BaseballReflections.com. He can be reached by e-mail at BillJordaniv@yahoo.com.
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