Texas Rangers Claim Nick Goody Off Cleveland Indians Waivers

Right-handed pitcher Nick Goody has accepted his assignment to the Texas Rangers after being waived by the Cleveland Indians.

After claiming right-handed pitcher Nick Goody off of waivers from the Cleveland Indians, the Texas Rangers announced Monday that the 28-year old has accepted his assignment to Texas and has been added to the 40-man roster. With Goody’s addition the Rangers 40-man roster is now full meaning a move must be made to open a spot for Kyle Gibson once his deal is announced as expected later this week.

Goody is coming off a solid season for the Indians making 39 relief appearances. He posted a 3.54 ERA and struck out 50 in 40.2 innings last year. His 4.62 FIP, 5.02 xFIP and 1.279 WHIP suggest he is a bit prone to giving up hits and benefitted from good fielding around him. Goody’s best season came in 2017 with the Indians when he made 56 appearances with a 2.80 ERA, 3.45 FIP and 3.74 xFIP to go along with a 11.85 strikeout per nine innings rate.

At just 28-years old, the acquisition of Goody means the Rangers add some bullpen insurance at a fairly low cost over the next few years. Goody is in his first year of arbitration and is projected to get $1.1 million from MLB Trade Rumors. Assuming that process plays out, Goody would be under team control and go through arbitration through the 2022 season.

The Rangers now have a full 40-man roster and with the pending signing of Kyle Gibson at least one move will have to be made in the next few days. The deadline to non-tender players is Monday at 7 PM so it’s possible we could see a corresponding move as quickly as tonight. Considering Goody is a right-handed reliever, it raises questions about whether the Rangers might be willing to move on from one of their other righty relievers. Some names that could be on the outside looking in are Luke Farrell, Ian Gibaut and Wei-Chieh Huang all of whom should be Major League relievers in 2020 but are not showing signs of being impact relievers at this point.