The Nationals announced they successfully claimed left-handed pitcher Francisco Perez off waivers from the Guardians. The Nats also announced their decision to outright right-handed pitcher Kyle McGowin to Triple-A.
Cleveland selected Perez to make his big league debut in early August. He ultimately got into four games, tossing 6 2/3 frames of relief and allowing three runs. During his brief MLB time, Perez relied mostly on a fastball that averaged just under 93 MPH and a low-80s slider.
That’s not the most overpowering raw stuff, but the 24-year-old posted dominant numbers between the Guardians’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates this past season. Over 53 combined innings at the minors’ top two levels, he worked to a 1.87 ERA, punching out an incredible 38.1% of opposing hitters in the process. Perez also still has a pair of minor league option years remaining, so the Nats can shuttle him between the majors and minors for the next couple seasons if he sticks on their 40-man roster.
McGowin’s tenure with the Nats could come to a close after today’s outright. The 29-year-old has appeared in the bigs in each of the past four seasons, with his 30 frames of 4.20 ERA/3.87 SIERA ball in 2021 his most extensive action. McGowan will have the right to elect minor league free agency.
Indians
They’re the Guardians. Guardians of the gamma quadrant in alpha sector 104
Tried to do some research on this new-fangled Guardians team, but whenever I look up mlb.com/guardians, it takes me to a team called the Indians? Very confusing, it’s as if the Guardians don’t even exist
The Guardians do exist, helluva roller derby squad they got there…
Can we stop this with every Cleveland post, please? They have changed the name. Like it or not, it has happened. Personally, I hate the new name, but I am rooting for Cleveland. I will learn to deal with the new nickname.
That’s actually a fairly reasonable take, @hockeyjohn. I understand the consternation amongst Cleveland fans. & the roller derby thing is undeniably funny.
But it is still your team.
It may not stay that way, the roller derby team is suing them.
Yeah the name isn’t the best. But it’s better that they change the second part of the name instead of the first.
As long as they stay in Cleveland I don’t care what they call themselves
Can’t believe that the nickname “Yankees” has an unlimited shelf life, to be honest. & – yessir – I will still root for them when they’re the Silk Sox or whatever hell name doesn’t bother anyone.
Yeah, I get that. We’ve lost teams twice out of DC.. Good luck next season, assuming they don’t screw it all up.
Wrong
Yep, jersey the player has on says Indians.
IMO the Guardians is a perfectly fine name, but then I’m not a Guardians fan.
I would be just as pissed if the Yankees name was changed. Which one can certainly see happening. I just hope if it happens, we don’t jack a roller derby team’s nickname.
If you want to know who the winning players are just watch who Rizzo gets
I like what I seen of Perez. Good no harm pickup by Nationals.. Hope he does well over there.
So do we Nats fans 🙂 BTW, I admit that Guardians is a really lame name, but our football team still doesn’t even have a name. How did they pick that name? Was it arbitrary, or was it the result of fan voting?
There is a bridge connecting the West Side to downtown near Progressive Field with statues that are called the Guardians of traffic. It is a dumb name, but I cheer for Cleveland.
As far as the nonsense with the roller derby team, I find it very hard that the lawsuit is anything but an attempt at a money grab by the roller derby team.
Thanks.
Indians.
The Guardians….. #WokeMLB
I find it interesting they moved on from Perez, who has options remaining and was about as statistically dominant in AAA as a reliever can be. But that likely means they’re intent on rolling with Gose and Hentges as their lefty relievers, probably don’t need 3 or 4.
I would imagine Kyle Nelson is also on the waiver wire as a fellow lefty. I can’t imagine why they’d keep a guy with less recent success and fewer options. They also have Logan Allen who is entirely out of options, but he’s more of a starter and doesn’t have the kind of stuff that plays up in relief. And he’s clearly behind at least 6 other starters in the org. Also waiver claim Alex Young who had a pretty terrible year and I believe is out of options. Of all those lefties, I assumed Perez would be the safest.
Speculatively, this is what their bullpen looks like next year:
Karinchak, Clase, Sandlin, Gose, Hentges, Mejia, Garza, Stephen
They could sign a veteran or two to bump down Garza, Mejia, or Stephen to the minors (Mejia likely qualifies for a 4th option year).
I’m a Cleveland season ticket holder and I personally would have kept Perez. However if I know more about it than the people making the decision then we are in big trouble.
They will bring him back with a lower AAV.
I think he means Francisco Perez, not Roberto Perez. I do see them bringing Roberto Perez back on a much cheaper deal though.
nice claim here
I’m surprised that the Guardians let Perez go, but the FO is amazing at dealing with pitching. There is reason to trust that it won’t hurt us much in the long run.
I want to thank Kyle McGowin for struggling through several years with the Nats. I know we fans tried to will him to earn his way, but it never really quite worked. I hope he can find a place through minor league free agency, but I hope more that Perez can be a much more successful call-up for the Nats than usually happens for their bullpen. I also hope he gets a fun nickname, because that is a Joe Smith kind of name.
I’m very surprised that Cleveland let him go. If they hadn’t added him to the 40-man this offseason, he would have been eligible for minor league free agency, so I assumed that promoting him meant they would keep him since they could have just let him walk this winter anyhow.
The walk rate is a little high but overall he’s been pretty lights-out in the minors and being a lefty always helps (especially since Gose and Hentges have proven next to nothing even though I’m intrigued by both). I get that they have a massive 40-man crunch, but there seemed like better guys to get rid of first.
Yeah, it’s hard to conceive Gose or Hentges having more value long term than Perez, so this must be all about short-term considerations. I don’t get it, but like others who have commented,I trust the Tribe’s deep thinkers on this one. I would have liked to see Perez get more of an audition at the big league level than he did.
Or the FO just doesn’t think he can stick in the majors.
I hope the INDIANS know what they are doing, the INDIANS are not that far away, the INDIANS can get it done; and, the cUBS where handed the WS by the powers to be, check the video tape… Go INDIANS, oh, and Let’s go MLB Commissioner and NFL…., too.
Who the hell are Guadians
It seems the Guardians have let their guard down trying to pass Perez through waivers.
He seemed to have solid MiLB stats, just 24 yo, LHRP, limited MLB time, why waive him?
Perez has difficulties with walks. Cleveland is also facing a 40 man roster crunch with many of their best prospects needing to be added to the 40 man or risk losing in the rule 5 draft.
The idiots with the Cleveland Indians have failed miserably in finding a new name for the team & need to go back to the drawing board to find a better name.