The Cleveland soon-to-be Guardians have come to terms with their first-round draft pick. Gavin Williams, taken with the 23rd overall selection, signed for $2.25MM, more than half a million under the slot amount of $2.93MM, per MLB.com’s Jim Callis (via Twitter).
This seemed like a natural pairing to many, given Cleveland’s success developing pitching and Williams’ tantalizing triple-digit fastball. The soon-to-be 22-year-old posted a 1.99 ERA across 81 1/3 innings for the East Carolina Pirates while winning AAC Pitcher of the Year.
The under slot money can be explained by Williams’ going a little higher in the draft than many expected. ESPN projected him as the 33rd pick, MLB.com had him at 31, and Baseball America put him at #30. Keith Law at the Athletic was even less bullish, placing him at 55th on his list, noting an “intermittent health history.” Conversely, Fangraphs liked him better than most, placing him at 19th on their pre-draft rankings.
Cleveland also came to terms with second-rounder Doug Nikhazy, notes Callis. The Mississippi southpaw signed for $1.2MM, just about equal to the slot value for where he was selected (58th overall).
You can say Indians still lol
The author did not want to
But that is who they are. They are the CLEVELAND INDIANS. For those sheep out there that’s I-N-D-I-A-N-S
Until 2022
Forever!!
Btw Bauer does A LOT more than bite
Oh, do tell!
Don’t wanna get banned lol. Just saying tho… good at punchouts
Guardians is a low effort name. They should have called them the Cleveland Fires / Flames because their river caught on fire. Or Cleveland Rockers because of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m not from Cleveland, but based on fan reactions the name Guardian doesn’t have significance to the city?
Why would you choose a name that brings up an embarrassing moment in the city’s history?
Better yet, they never should have changed the name
Go Guardians of the traffic.
No longer allowed to say the “I” word?
Ignoramuses?
Cleveland Indians*
Cuyahoga River Creatures?
Well, at least the Traffic Directors signed their first 2 picks of the draft. Needed some good news after blowing another late inning lead.
Lucky for me, they weren’t the Guardians in 2016, because they sure didn’t guard that 3-1 lead.
Soon to be the Cleveland Afterthoughts.
Don’t quit your day job, kids.
As a die hard Gaurdian fan I love these signings
Says the guy who can’t spell guardian.
maybe it can be “gourdians” for the squash fans.
Gourdians wouldn’t be the worst new Cleveland team name I heard today.
Then they could ‘squash’ their opponents.
If they were the Gordians, they could tie their opponents up in knots.
There are parental guardians, legal guardians, galactic guardians, estate guardians, inspector guardians, and apparently guardians of cured meats and guardians of traffic. Which will these men strive to be?
Guardians was such a bad choice… Hopefully, they just relocate after a couple seasons.
Agreed. “Halifax Demon Ducks” would be way better…and before anyone says Halifax can’t support a team, Halifax would draw no worse than the two Florida teams.
Just get them to sell to Rachel Phelps who will then trade away all the good players and replace them with rejects like Ricky Vaughn, Pedro Cerrano, Eddie Harris, and Willie Mays Hays so she can relocate them to Daytona Beach (can’t be Miami anymore).
It’s irony at it’s highest as the Tribe owner said he was influenced to change the name of the team after George Floyd’s murder by a policeman and he then names them Guardians, which is a synonym for policemen. If that’s the case, Cleveland Cops sounds better.
The name change is done. Stop whining about it.
The name will eventually catch on. That logo has got to go though. It looks like a minor league team for the angels
Congrats on adding nothing to the conversation
Will forever be known as the Cleveland Indians.