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Indians DFA Whitenack
The Cleveland Indians designated right-hander Robert Whitenack for assignment on Tuesday to make room on the roster for catcher Omir Santos, who was called up from Triple-A, the team announced. The Tribe needed to add catching depth in the wake of Lou Marson hitting the DL and Carlos Santana hurting his thumb.
Whitenack, 24, was claimed off of waivers from the Chicago Cubs last week and had been assigned to Double-A. Yet to play above Double-A, the right-hander threw 51⅓ innings of High-A ball last season and got clobbered to the tune of a 5.96 ERA.
Cubs prospect suspended
Chicago Cubs minor leaguer Pedro Silverio has been suspended 50 games for testing positive for Stanozolol, a performance-enhancing drug, the league announced.
On the roster of the Cubs' Dominican Summer League squad, Silverio's suspension will begin when the season starts in June. Given that Silverio's B-Ref page is essentially blank beyond his name, this suspension is highly unlikely to have much of an effect on the farm system.
Kipnis puts talks on hold
Multi-year extension talks between the Indians and second baseman Jason Kipnis have been put on hold since the beginning of the month. Both sides decided that the best course of action was to keep contract discussions exclusively an offseason endeavor, so talks are likely to pick back up in the fall.
Kipnis, 26, is now in his second full season with the Tribe, and is on pace to become arbitration eligible after the 2014 season.
