The Indians have agreed to a minor-league deal with catcher Adam Moore, per Jon Heyman of Fan Rag (via Twitter). He can earn at a $570K annual rate when he’s in the majors and receives an invitation to MLB camp this spring.
Moore, who’ll turn 33 in May, has been with the Cleveland organization for the past two years and will return for a third. His role, by now, is a familiar one for the veteran: he’ll likely see part-time duty at Triple-A unless and until there’s a need for a reliable backstop at the major-league level.
Rather remarkably, Moore has appeared at the MLB level in each of the last eight seasons, but has exceeded a dozen total plate appearances just twice. In his first trip to the bigs, back in 2009, he took 24 trips to the dish for the Mariners. And he received heavy part-time use the following year, appearing in sixty games. Since, he has picked up the bat in the big leagues just fifty times over six campaigns.
Moore was once a well-regarded prospect, but didn’t hit much in his one true look at the majors and hasn’t received much of a chance since. Still, he has carved out a nice niche for himself. And he has shown some hitting ability in the minors: in nearly 2,000 plate appearances over parts of seven seasons at Triple-A, he owns a solid .275/.334/.421 batting line.
