Nick Goody

After his breakout 2017 campaign, the Indians expected Goody to help replace the void with Bryan Shaw leaving for Colorado. The season began swimmingly as Goody registered a 1.13 ERA and 0.88 WHIP in his first eight appearances, spanning eight innings. However, it fell apart quickly as Goody allowed eight runs in his next four outings, ballooning his ratios to 6.94 and 1.71. He could have been pitching hurt, as he was then placed on the disabled list with elbow inflammation which eventually required season-ending arthroscopic surgery in late August. Goody is expected to be fully recovered in time for the 2019 campaign where he'll have to work his way back into a high-leverage role in a revamped Cleveland bullpen. As a flyball pitcher with spotty control, Goody was risky even before the injury. He's at best a wait-and-see for fantasy purposes.

Goody turned in an excellent season for Cleveland in 2017, but he's an extreme flyball pitcher (48.4 percent flyball rate last season) without a clear path to regular save opportunities. Of course, the lack of save chances doesn't disqualify him from consideration, even in standard fantasy leagues, but Goody does not have the track record of other skilled middle relievers. He struggled in a major way while with the Yankees in 2016, with the aforementioned flyball propensity leading to an unsightly 2.17 HR/9. The right-hander gets opposing hitters to come up empty a lot of the time thanks to his slider -- he had a 16.1 percent swinging-strike rate and a mid-30s O-Swing percentage -- but any regression with the walks (3.3 BB/9 last year, 3.7 in 2016) or homers could lead to more pedestrian ratios. He should at least pick up more holds this season while working more in high-leverage duty.

Goody came seemingly out of nowhere to impress in the upper levels of the minor leagues in 2015, and he continued that progress with a 1.93 ERA and 13.5 K/9 with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2016. He hasn't yet been able to translate that success in the majors, where he got knocked around to the tune of a 4.66 ERA and 1.45 WHIP, with the latter being boosted by command issues. The young righty also gave up seven home runs in just 29 innings in the big leagues -- more than he had given up in the minors the last two seasons combined. He was designated for assignment this offseason, so he will really need to improve his command to earn his way back onto the 40-man roster.

Goody burst onto the scene in 2015 after a few unremarkable seasons at the lower levels. The 24-year-old had only pitched 16 innings at Double-A coming into the season, but worked to a 1.73 ERA there en route to earning his first promotion to Triple-A. Goody continued his success with a 1.31 ERA at Triple-A and finished his minor league season with 84 strikeouts in 62.1 innings across both levels. He struggled a bit after getting a call up to the big leagues though, and he wasn't able to miss bats as regularly as he was in the minors. If Goody can build on his minor league success during spring training, then he could earn a spot in the big league bullpen on Opening Day but he likely won't see too many high leverage situations.