Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Guardians Rumors

Guardians Designate Estevan Florial For Assignment

By | at

The Guardians have designated outfielder Estevan Florial for assignment, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. His spot on the roster will go to outfielder Steven Kwan, who’s been reinstated from the injured list and is back in the Cleveland lineup tonight.

Acquired from the Yankees in a December swap that sent right-hander Cody Morris back to New York, the out-of-options Florial won a spot on Cleveland’s Opening Day roster but has yet to hit with his new club. The once-vaunted prospect has appeared in 36 games with the Guards and tallied 111 plate appearances while mustering only a .173/.264/.367 slash. Florial has shown some extra-base pop, with three homers, six doubles and a pair of triples, but he’s also gone down on strikes in a staggering 36.9% of his plate appearances.

Strikeout woes are nothing new for Florial, who’s now punched out in 33.5% of his 245 big league plate appearances. Even as Florial put up gaudy numbers in Triple-A with the Yankees organization in 2022-23, he did so while fanning in three out of every ten trips to the plate. The Yankees largely left him in Triple-A to try to sort through his lack of contact skills, but it’s not a flaw that Florial has been able to overcome to this point.

Florial’s combination of power and speed has long been tantalizing, but he’s now a .192/.291/.329 hitter in the big leagues who can’t be sent to the minors without first clearing waivers. Another club that’s not in contention could perhaps afford to take a flier and place a waiver claim, but it’d be hard for any team with postseason aspirations to give Florial any kind of meaningful playing time when he’s clearly a project. The Guardians will have a week to try to trade him, pass him through outright waivers, or release him. If he clears outright waivers, Florial can reject the assignment and elect free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s been outrighted once in the past (with the Yankees in April 2023).

Guardians Reinstate, Option Angel Martínez

By | at

The Guardians announced today that infielder Angel Martínez has been activated from the 60-day injured list and optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Cleveland had an open 40-man spot but that roster is once again at capacity after this move.

Martínez, 22, began the season on the injured list due to a right foot contusion but later transferred him to the 60-day IL, with his injury listed as a left hamate fracture. He still hasn’t made his major league debut but this stint on the IL did allow him to pick up roughly two months of MLB service time.

He was initially added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster in November of 2022, to keep him out of that year’s Rule 5 draft. He was coming off a season in which he hit .278/.378/.471 in the minors for a 135 wRC+. His offense dipped a bit last year, as he hit .251/.321/.394 between Double-A and Triple-A for a 92 wRC+.

The Guards have had an open 40-man spot since designating Ramón Laureano for assignment last week, which is why no corresponding move was required today. Martínez will try to earn his major league debut by getting regular action in Columbus. He can be kept on optional assignment for the rest of this year and one more season as well.

KBO’s Hanwha Eagles Sign Jaime Barria, Release Felix Pena

By | at

May 28: The Guardians announced that Barria’s contract has officially been sold to the Eagles. Hanwha announced over the weekend that they’ve released former MLB righty Felix Pena (h/t to Dan Kurtz of MyKBO). KBO teams are limited to carrying two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, so the Eagles had to move on from either Pena or Ricardo Sanchez to add Barria. Cutting Pena was the straightforward call, as he has struggled to a 6.27 ERA over nine starts. (Sanchez has a solid 3.35 mark in his nine appearances). Pena spent parts of three seasons with Hanwha, posting a sub-4.00 mark between 2022-23 before this year’s struggles.

May 25: Right-hander Jaime Barria is finalizing a deal with a team in the Korea Baseball Organization, according to MLBTR’s Steve Adams. It’s not yet clear which club Barria is working out a deal with. Barria is currently in the Guardians organization on a minor league deal but it’s common for teams to release players in order to pursue overseas opportunities, often in exchange for cash considerations from the player’s new club. Kim Geun-han of MK Sports (Korean language link) reports today that Barria is poised to sign with the Hanwha Eagles.

Barria, 27, signed with the Angels as an international free agent out of Panama and made his big league debut with the club back in 2018 during his age-21 season. The righty enjoyed a strong rookie campaign with a 3.41 ERA and 4.58 FIP across 26 starts for the Halos that year, although he suffered a sophomore slump the following season as he pitched to a 6.42 ERA in 19 appearances (13 starts) while swinging between the bullpen and rotation during the 2019 campaign. Barria would stay in that swing role for the next two seasons, pitching to roughly average results (106 ERA+) across 89 innings of work during that time.

The 2022 season saw Barria pitch in something closer to a pure relief role, with just one start and five outings where he threw more than fifty pitches. It was perhaps the best season of his career, as he posted an excellent 2.61 ERA that was 54% better than league average by measure of ERA+ to go along with a 4.11 xERA and 4.13 SIERA, all of which were career best figures for the righty. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse for Barria last year as his home run rate spiked, leaving him with a 5.68 ERA and 6.07 FIP in 82 1/3 innings of work across 34 appearances, six of which were starts.

After that difficult 2023 campaign, Barria was outrighted off the Angels roster and elected free agency, leading him to his aforementioned minor league pact with the Guardians. He’s remained in multi-inning relief during his time at Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, and while his 4.81 ERA in 13 appearances is nothing to write home about he’s also shown a surprising proclivity for strikeouts this year, punching out batters at a 28.1% clip across his 24 1/3 innings of work.

It’s possible that uptick in strikeout rate is what caught the attention of a team overseas, and Barria now figures to head to Korea in hopes of re-establishing himself as a potential big league option. KBO teams are only allowed to carry a maximum of two foreign-born pitchers on their rosters, meaning that if Barria’s new team has already reached that limit they’ll have to part ways with another arm to make room for the righty.

Guardians Release Ramón Laureano

By | at

The Guardians have released outfielder Ramón Laureano, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll now head to the open market and will be free to explore opportunities with all clubs.

This was the most likely outcome when the Guardians designated Laureano for assignment last week. The outfielder’s production has been trending down for a few years now and is at an especially low point this year. The 29-year-old has hit .143/.265/.229 thus far in 2024 while striking out 38.6% of the time.

On top of his poor performance, his salary has been creeping up gradually via the arbitration process. He’s making $5.15MM this year and any team acquiring him via a waiver claim or trade would have been taking on that money. It’s unsurprising that no club wanted to take that on, given how he has been playing of late. He has more than five years of service time, meaning he can reject an outright assignment while also keeping that salary in place.

Now that he is a free agent, teams may be interested in a low-cost flier. Since he’s now been released, the Guardians are on the hook for what’s left of the money, meaning that any club that signs him would only be responsible for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster. That amount would be subtracted from what the Guards pay.

It’s been a few years now, but Laureano was once a solid regular for the Athletics. From 2018 to 2021, he stepped to the plate 1,257 times for the A’s and hit 49 home runs. His .263/.335/.465 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 119, indicating he was 19% above league average in that time. He also stole 34 bases and was generally given strong defensive grades, leading FanGraphs to credit him with 8.6 wins above replacement in 313 games.

But towards the end of that 2021 season, he was given an 80-game PED suspension and his performance has been tailing off since then. He hit .211/.287/.376 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 95 and his offense slipped a bit farther in 2023. The A’s designated him for assignment in August of last year and the Guards put in a claim.

Moving to Cleveland seemed to spur a bit of a bounceback, as Laureano slashed .243/.342/.382 for a wRC+ of 106 down the stretch. That apparently intrigued the Guards enough that they tendered him a contract, agreeing to the aforementioned $5.15MM salary. But he has fallen off dramatically and now finds himself looking for his next opportunity.

As mentioned, Laureano can be signed to a major league roster at essentially no cost. Perhaps some club would give him a spot and see if he can play well enough over the next two months to be flipped for a lottery ticket prospect. Or even if no club is willing to bite on that, he should at least be able to find a minor league deal somewhere.

Guardians Place Carlos Carrasco On Injured List

By | at

The Guardians announced to reporters, including Zack Meisel of MLB.com, that right-hander Carlos Carrasco has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to an acute neck spasm. Fellow righty Xzavion Curry has been recalled in a corresponding move. Carrasco was slated to pitch tonight but Curry will take the ball instead.

Carrasco, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Guardians this offseason and was able to crack the Opening Day roster. To this point in the season, he has tossed 45 1/3 innings over nine starts with a 5.16 earned run average. His 17.2% strikeout rate is well below league average, but his 9.1% walk rate is around par while he’s getting grounders at a decent 47.2% clip.

That’s obviously not elite performance, but it will nonetheless add to the pile of injuries in the rotation that are creating a challenging situation for the Guards. Shane Bieber required Tommy John surgery in April and is out for the year. Gavin Williams has been on the IL all season due to some elbow discomfort and has hit some speed bumps in his attempts to get back to the club.

With Carrasco now joining those two on the injured list, the Guards will be down to Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee, Triston McKenzie and Ben Lively in their rotation. McKenzie has a 3.23 ERA this year but is quite lucky to have that figure as low as it is. His 20.1% strikeout rate and 14.1% walk rate are both subpar but a .224 batting average on balls in play is helping keep runs off the board. That’s why his 4.88 FIP and 5.16 SIERA suggest regression is forthcoming. Meanwhile, Allen has a 4.91 ERA.

Despite those rotation issues, the club is 31-17 and sitting atop the American League Central. Carrasco wasn’t exactly dominating opponents but removing him from the roster nonetheless thins out the starting depth a bit more. It’s not currently clear how long the club expects him to be out of action.

Curry will step in for now, though his results might dictate whether it’s a spot start or a longer stay. He made one spot start earlier this year and was able to throw five shutout innings against the Red Sox, but he has an ERA of 8.79 in Triple-A this year.

Last year, Curry tossed 95 innings for the Guards in a swing role with a 4.07 ERA. His 7.4% walk rate was strong but he struck out just 16.6% of opponents. In 2022, he threw 122 innings between Double-A and Triple-A with a 4.06 ERA, 26.2% strikeout rate and 8.2% walk rate.

If the club decides to replace Curry in the weeks to come, they have options on the 40-man roster, though there are issues with each. Zak Kent has been on the minor league injured list for the past month due to an elbow strain. Wes Parsons hasn’t lasted four innings in any outing yet this year. Darren McCaughan has an ERA of 5.67 over his six Triple-A starts so far this season. Joey Cantillo hasn’t pitched yet this year due to a hamstring strain. Daniel Espino is expected to miss the entire season due to yet another shoulder surgery. Adam Oller is a somewhat intriguing non-roster option as he is striking out 26% of batters faced at Triple-A this year, but a 15% walk rate and some home run troubles have pushed his ERA to 6.85.

Guardians Designate Ramon Laureano For Assignment

By | at

The Guardians have designated outfielder Ramon Laureano for assignment, tweets Zack Meisel of The Athletic. In his place, the team is promoting outfield prospect Johnathan Rodriguez for his MLB debut. Rodriguez is already on the 40-man roster, so the move also frees up a 40-man spot for Cleveland. Guardians Prospective first reported that Rodriguez was getting the call to the big leagues.

Laureano, 29, came to the Guardians early last August after the A’s placed him on waivers in hopes of finding a taker for the remainder of last season’s salary. The Guardians obliged, hoping that Laureano would provide a boost down the stretch as they tried to keep pace in the American League Central. The veteran did provide a bit of offense, hitting .243/.342/.382 following the claim (106 wRC+), but the Guards wound up missing the postseason.

It was something of a surprise to see a budget-conscious team like Cleveland tender Laureano a contract this winter. He wound up agreeing to a $5.15MM salary, which amounted to a significant portion of the Guardians’ very limited offseason resources. The team made that commitment despite Laureano having turned in a bleak .224/.304/.371 slash (91 wRC+) on the season overall — and a .218/.296/.373 batting line in 2022-23 combined (93 wRC+).

The decision didn’t go at all as the Cleveland front office or the player himself hoped. Laureano’s strikeout rate has absolutely erupted to a career-worst 38.6% this season. He’s hitting just .143/.265/.229, albeit in a small sample of 83 plate appearances. Just four of his 10 hits have gone for extra bases (one homer, three doubles). The Guardians will have a week to try to trade Laureano, place him on outright waivers or release him.

Given the pronounced nature of Laureano’s struggles at the dish and his relatively notable salary, they won’t find a trade market for his services. Laureano is overwhelmingly unlikely to be claimed on waivers due to that salary and will thus likely clear and become a free agent. He has enough service time to retain all of his salary even if he rejects an outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Earlier in his career, Laureano was a quality regular in Oakland. From 2018-21, he turned in a sound .263/.335/.465 batting line (119 wRC+) with 49 homers and 34 steals over the life of 1257 plate appearances. That came while playing strong defense across all three outfield spots. Laureano was an oft-rumored trade candidate and might well have been part of Oakland’s fire sale, but an 80-game PED suspension midway through the 2021 season tanked his value. That proved all the more costly, as his suspension surely played a role in pushing the A’s to part with left-hander Jesus Luzardo to acquire Starling Marte from the Marlins in a rental deal while Oakland made a push for the postseason.

As for the 24-year-old Rodriguez, he’ll step into the Cleveland outfield for his MLB debut after hitting .276/.389/.449 in 185 Triple-A plate appearances this season. The 2017 third-rounder entered the season ranked 23rd among Guarda farmhands at Baseball America, 16th at MLB.com and 30th at FanGraphs.

The 6’0″, 225-pound Rodriguez draws praise for his plus raw power but also some skepticism for his penchant to chase and whiff. He’s walked in a huge 15.7% of his plate appearances in Triple-A Columbus but also fanned at a 25.4% clip. That’s a suboptimal mark against Triple-A pitching but also a marked improvement over 2023’s 32.4% strikeout rate in 202 Triple-A plate appearances. Rodriguez is a former switch-hitter who now bats exclusively from the right side of the plate. He popped 29 homers between Double-A and Triple-A last season, and he’s already slugged seven long balls on the season.

Strikeouts will likely continue to be a part of his game, but probably not to the extremes that Laureano experienced this season. Rodriguez will also add some legitimate thump to a Cleveland lineup that in recent years has been light on power but is turning a corner this season. Thanks in part to a big step forward from emerging star Josh Naylor, the Guards rank ninth in the majors with 51 big flies on the season. Rodriguez gives them another power bat. He won’t be nearly as strong a defender in the outfield corners as Laureano was, but MLB.com pegs him as a potentially average right fielder and Baseball America touts his plus throwing arm.

Guardians Notes: Kwan, DeLauter, Williams

By | at

Guardians fans received a positive update today regarding the status of injured outfielder Steven Kwan. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters (including Mandy Bell of MLB.com) this morning that the club is hoping that Kwan can begin a rehab assignment within the next seven to ten days. The 26-year-old was placed on the 10-day IL earlier this month due to what was described as an “acute” hamstring strain and was initially expected to miss around a month of action.

Now two weeks out from his initial diagnosis, it appears that Kwan remains on pace to meet that timeline. It’s an encouraging update, particularly given the fact that manager Steven Vogt indicated to reporters (per the Associated Press) on Friday that while Kwan had resumed baseball activities and was running “relatively pain-free,” there was still no clear timetable for his return to the majors. Today’s addendum provides a bit more clarity regarding the status of the third-year outfielder.

Cleveland figures to be particularly antsy for Kwan to return to action given the incredible start he was off to at the time of his injury. In 145 trips to the plate with the Guardians this season, Kwan has slashed an incredible .353/.407/.496 with three home runs, six doubles, and two triples. That home run total is particularly impressive given the fact that Kwan’s career high homer total is just six, a figure he achieved over the course of 638 plate appearances during his rookie season. Estevan Florial has handled left field in Kwan’s absence but is hitting a mediocre .189/.263/.400 in 32 games this season.

Kwan isn’t the only outfielder making progress in his recovery from injury, as Bell also notes that top outfield prospect Chase DeLauter has resumed baseball activities. The club’s first-round pick in the 2022 draft, DeLauter entered the 2024 season as a consensus top-30 prospect in the game but suffered a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot earlier this month. There was some initial concern at the time of the injury that surgery would be required, as it was when DeLauter previously suffered a fractured foot during the 2022-23 offseason.

Fortunately, that did not come to pass and it appears that DeLauter is already making excellent progress towards a return to action as Bell notes that he’s currently hitting on the field, though he hasn’t yet begun a running progression. DeLauter was off to a tough start at Double-A this year prior to this injury, having slashed just .197/.296/.295 in 16 games. Even so, it’s not hard to imagine the youngster taking off and reaching Triple-A before the end of the year in the event that he hits the ground running upon his return to action, a timeline that could potentially put him on the big league radar for 2025 or perhaps even a September call-up.

Also making progress towards a return is right-hander Gavin Williams, who according to MLB.com’s Injury Tracker threw a 50-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday and was scheduled to throw again on Friday. The 24-year-old has not yet pitched in the majors this season after opening the season on the 60-day IL due to discomfort in his right elbow, but appears to be making good progress in his rehab and could be an option for Cleveland sometime next month. Williams’s return would provide a major boost to the Guardians, who have seen both Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco struggle during their time in the rotation this year. Williams, meanwhile, pitched to a sterling 3.29 ERA with a 4.09 FIP in sixteen starts for the club during his rookie season last year.

Dodgers Acquire Anthony Banda From Guardians

By | at

The Guardians announced that they have traded left-hander Anthony Banda to the Dodgers in exchange for cash considerations. The southpaw was not on Cleveland’s 40-man and therefore won’t need to be added to the Dodgers’ roster.

Banda, 30, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in January. He has been pitching for their Triple-A club, throwing 17 innings over 12 appearances. He has a 2.12 earned run average in that time, striking out 37.9% of batters faced, giving out walks at a 9.1% rate and getting grounders on 67.9% of balls in play. It’s a small sample but it seems to have intrigued the Dodgers enough to put some cash on the barrel to get a deal done.

The lefty was once a notable starting pitching prospect but underwent Tommy John surgery in 2018, which wiped out the remainder of that season and most of the following year as well. Since that time, he’s spent more time as a reliever but has struggled to establish himself in that role.

He has bounced to the Mets, Pirates, Blue Jays, Yankees and Nationals since the start of 2021. That’s partly due to him burning his final option year in 2020 but also his struggles in recent seasons. He has thrown 67 1/3 big league innings over the past three years with a 5.48 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 9.6% walk rate. He also threw 126 1/3 innings in the minors during the 2021-23 period with a 6.91 ERA, though that’s likely somewhat misleading. His 20.9% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate were both similar to his major league work, but his .345 batting average on balls in play and 51.7% strand rate were both on the unlucky side for that stretch.

The Dodgers will see if the recent improvement in his results can be continued. If it does, they can reap long-term benefits. Banda came into this year with three years and one day of major league service time. There’s not enough time left in this season for him to get to the four-year mark. That means he could potentially be retained for three seasons beyond this one.

First, he will have to get a spot on the Dodgers’ roster. They already have Alex Vesia, Ryan Yarbrough and Nick Ramirez as southpaws in their bullpen but Banda will give them some non-roster depth in that department.

Guardians Acquire Darren McCaughan From Marlins

By | at

The Guardians announced today that they have acquired right-hander Darren McCaughan from the Marlins. The latter club, who designated the righty for assignment on the weekend, receive cash considerations in return. The Guards optioned McCaughan to Triple-A Columbus and transferred Gavin Williams to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man roster spot.

McCaughan, 28, spent his entire career with the Mariners until he was designated for assignment in February. He was traded to the Marlins for cash and was sent to Triple-A Jacksonville to start the year. He made five starts there with poor results, posting a 6.14 earned run average despite average-ish peripherals. He struck out 22.2% of batters faced with an 8.1% walk rate, but with a .338 batting average on balls in play and 52.8% strand rate.

The Marlins called him up to the big leagues last week. In Saturday’s game against Oakland, Trevor Rogers allowed eight earned runs in 2 1/3 innings. McCaughan came in for some long relief, throwing 4 2/3 but also allowing eight earned runs on the way to a 20-4 loss. McCaughan was designated for assignment the next day.

The Guardians are undoubtedly interested in McCaughan based on his work in previous seasons. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 408 2/3 innings for Triple-A Tacoma, in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. He had a 4.98 ERA in that time as well as a 21.4% strikeout rate and 6% walk rate.

Cleveland has less pitching depth than other recent seasons. Shane Bieber required Tommy John surgery while Williams has been on the IL all year due to elbow soreness. Their rotation currently consists of three youngsters in Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, as well as two veterans in Carlos Carrasco and Ben Lively. McKenzie hardly pitched last year due to a sprain of his UCL and is currently getting by with diminished stuff. Allen has a 6.41 ERA on the year, Bibee 4.91 and Carrasco 5.67. Lively is down at 2.08 in only four starts. He was at 5.38 last year with the Reds, his first MLB action since 2019.

Despite the lackluster results from the rotation, the club is 24-13 and leading the American League Central. To help keep things afloat, they have been actively trying to bolster the starting depth. They acquired Zak Kent from the Rangers on Opening Day and later grabbed Wes Parsons from the Blue Jays, sending international bonus pool space away in both cases. With the acquisition of McCaughan, they have now added three optionable starters to their system in the past two months.

As for Williams, as mentioned, he’s been on the injured list all season due to elbow soreness. This transfer is backdated to his initial IL placement, meaning he’s ineligible return until late May. He recently resumed a throwing program but will need to build up a full starter’s workload and isn’t going to be ready in the next month or so regardless.

Guardians Outright Tyler Beede

By | at

The Guardians sent right-hander Tyler Beede outright to Triple-A Columbus, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. He has the right to elect free agency but it’s not yet clear if he’s chosen to do so.

Beede, 31 this month, made it back to the big leagues after spending 2023 in Japan. He signed a minor league deal with the Guardians and cracked the Opening Day roster by throwing 13 innings in Spring Training with a 4.15 earned run average.

Unfortunately, the regular season results weren’t there for him, despite a strong 26.5% strikeout rate. He allowed 13 earned runs in 14 innings, leading to an ERA of 8.36. There was a bit of bad luck in there, as he wouldn’t sustain a .389 batting average on balls in play nor a 55.6% strand rate over a larger sample. But he also didn’t do himself any favors with a 13.2% walk rate. His 5.00 FIP was better than his ERA but still not great, though his 3.78 SIERA was quite optimistic.

Once a top prospect with the Giants, Beede struggled to cement himself in the big leagues from 2018 to 2022, exhausting his option years in the process. That means he is now out of options and can’t be easily sent down to the minors. He was bumped off the Guardians’ 40-man recently and the other 29 clubs all passed on the chance to grab him off waivers.

All players with at least three years of service time or a previous career outright have the right to reject outright assignments, electing free agency instead. Beede qualifies on both counts and could head to the open market if he so chooses.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top