Indians claim Deolis Guerra from Pirates

The Indians announced yesterday that they've claimed Deolis Guerra from the Bucs.

The Pirates, of course, designated Guerra when they acquired Joakim Soria last week, which tells you most of what you need to know. He has many years of team control left and got off to a modestly promising start to his big-league career -- he had a 6.48 ERA in 16.2 innings with the Bucs, thanks largely to a huge blowup in his last outing with them, but he struck out 17 batters and walked three. That's not bad, particularly for a player signed in a minor-league deal last offseason.

He is, however, already 26 and was out of options, and he doesn't have exceptional stuff. And with the addition of Soria, the Pirates simply got better and no longer had a spot for him. Guerra will, instead, head to an out-of-contention Cleveland team better equipped to take a chance on his strong peripherals and good 2015 minor league performance.