The Indians have released pitcher Brett Myers, who's been rehabbing in the minors but has not appeared in an MLB game since April 19, after which he was shut down with a strained elbow. Myers performed poorly in the four appearances he made for the Tribe near the start of the season. He posted an ERA of 8.02 in 21.1 innings, allowing 10 home runs in that time, giving him a staggering HR/9 ratio of 4.22, which is the worst in MLB history among pitchers with 21.1 innings or more in a single season. His 8.71 FIP is also the worst in franchise history, among pitchers with at least that many innings.
Myers was signed during the offseason for $7 million in 2013, with a team option for $8 million in 2014 (which will obviously not come into play). That money should instead have been lit on fire, as even a moderate-sized blaze would not have done as much damage to the Indians as Myers did. From the looks of Twitter, Myers was not the most popular guy within the clubhouse:
I'm not going to go so far as to state that Myers' teammates couldn't stand him. But they sure as heck won't miss him. #indians
— Dennis Manoloff (@dmansworld474) August 29, 2013
(Manoloff is a beat writer at the Cleveland Plain Dealer)
This move doesn't really impact the Indians, because there was no chance Myers was going to contribute anything in September. He came off the 60-day DL today, and if they Indians hadn't released him, they'd have been forced to move someone off the 40-man roster to make room for him, which would have been unwise.
Farewell, Brett Myers, we'll always have... Um... Nothing, really. We'll always have nothing.