4 years agoCleveland Indians relief pitcher James Karinchak will be splitting save opportunities between a trio of pitchers to begin the season. Cleveland will use a committee of Karinchak, Emmanuel Clase, and Nick Wittgren for save chances this season, manager Terry Francona told MLB.com. "The other thing we talked to them about is because there are so many days off early on, you want to keep workloads kind of even. So, there may be times they will pitch even when we're losing," he said. Karinchak entered spring as the leading candidate for the closer role but struggled with a 6.52 ERA and ten walks in 9 2/3 innings. He did have 19 strikeouts. It sounds like the closer situation could be in flux early in the season, so Karinchak could get a larger share of the save opportunities if he improves from his spring training performance.--James Stokke
Source: Mandy Bell (MLB.com)