11:20am: Mandy Bell of MLB.com relays word from manager Terry Francona, who confirms that Quantrill, Miller and Castro are on the Covid-IL. Zack Meisel of The Athletic provides a quote from Francona, who says “I don’t know that we’re out of the woods yet. I hope we are, but I don’t know that that’s going to be the case. We’ll see.”
10:45am: The Guardians announced a series of transactions prior to today’s doubleheader against the White Sox, placing right-hander Cal Quantrill, infielder Owen Miller and righty Anthony Castro on the injured list. No designation was provided, likely indicating that all three are being placed on the Covid-related IL. In their place, Cleveland has selected the contracts of right-hander Enyel De Los Santos and lefties Kirk McCarty and Tanner Tully. Additionally, top shortstop prospect Gabriel Arias is up as the 29th man for today’s twin bill — as first reported last night by Andrea Alejandra Gil of Brujula Deportiva 106.3 FM in Maracay, Venezuela (Twitter link).
It’s not clear whether any of the players placed on the injured list today tested positive or have been deemed close contacts and thus require testing that leaves them unavailable for today’s games. The 2022 health and safety protocols jointly agreed upon by MLB and the MLBPA technically call for a 10-day absence for players who test positive, but players are able to return more quickly than that — provided they receive a pair of negative PCR tests, show no signs of fever and are then subsequently approved by a team medical staffer and a joint committee of one MLB-appointed and one MLBPA-appointed medical expert. Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo, for instance, returned to the team in less than half that 10-day window.
Of the players added to the big league roster today, only De Los Santos has prior MLB experience. A well-regarded prospect during his time with the Padres and the Phillies, De Los Santos debuted with Philadelphia in 2018 but has yet to carry his strong Triple-A production over to the big league level. He’s seen action in parts of three MLB seasons but carries a 6.06 ERA in 65 1/3 innings. De Los Santos has fanned 24% of his opponents against a 10% walk rate, but he’s also yielded an average of 1.9 homers per nine frames — far too many to succeed over any lengthy sample. He’s fared vastly better in Triple-A, where he sports a career 3.37 ERA in 237 2/3 innings and just 1.1 HR/9.
The 27-year-old Tully, meanwhile, was a 26th-rounder back in 2015 who posted a 3.50 ERA in 113 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last year. He’s never posted particularly high strikeout or ground-ball rates, but Tully has walked only 4.5% of the hitters he’s faced in his pro career.
McCarty, 26, was Cleveland’s seventh-rounder back in 2017 and has gotten out to a fast start in Triple-A Columbus, holding opponents to one run on seven hits and five walks with a dozen punchouts through 11 1/3 innings. He was knocked around for a 5.01 ERA in 124 Triple-A frames a year ago.
As for Arias, the 22-year-old infielder is regarded as a potential key piece down the line for the Guardians. Acquired from the Padres (alongside Miller and Quantrill) in the trade that sent Mike Clevinger to San Diego, Arias entered the season ranked among the game’s top 100 prospects at Baseball America (No. 100), MLB.com (No. 73), Baseball Prospectus (No. 57), FanGraphs (No. 95) and ESPN (No. 73).
Arias hit .284/.348/.454 with 13 home runs, 29 doubles, three triples and five steals in 483 trips to the plate last season, and he’s out to a near-identical start in 2022, hitting .278/.350/.472 in 40 plate appearances. He’s starting at second base in Game 1 of today’s doubleheader.
In all likelihood, it’ll be a one-day look for the highly touted Arias, but he’ll give Cleveland fans a brief glimpse of the future. The fact that he’s both on the 40-man roster and being considered for roles like this speak to his general proximity to MLB readiness, and it wouldn’t be a surprise at all if he were to get a lengthier audition at some point in 2022. Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez are getting a good portion of the middle-infield time early in the season, but Rosario has at least some outfield experience and, of course, injuries are inevitable over the course of a 162-game schedule. Arias is one of many high-end middle infield prospects in the upper levels of the Cleveland system; Brayan Rocchio, Tyler Freeman and Jose Tena, among others, have all received a good bit of fanfare.
*SPIDERS
Tully and McCarty are pretty much non prospects who weren’t ever expected to make the majors. So this represents a possible once in a lifetime break for them. De Los Santos I expect will make the big league team for real at some point this season once the starters are actually stretched out and the bullpen isn’t half starters to piggyback.
That’s mostly the case with Tully, but McCarty has at least pitched pretty well for the most part in the minors (except for last year). He’s probably a fringe 40-man guy and doesn’t have great stuff, but I like him as an up and down swingman/spot starter.
I’m not sure if they’ll be “COVID replacements” and removed from the 40-man without going through waivers, but it would still be nice to keep them around.
Atta boys, we’re up a TD and a Field Goal over the cinch winner of the AL Central. How can that be? Stoney and young boy wonder, Benetti are going to jump out of the booth.
They rarely froth at the mouth like the Cleveland announcers do, radio and TV.
I’m a CLE fan and acknowledge we have among the worst broadcasters–both TV and radio–in the game..
The Sox teams, by contrast, are rather good.
The TV broadcasters aren’t great but I’m pretty much used to it so they don’t really bother me anymore. I’m curious to see how long we’ll go without Rick Manning calling them the Indians on a broadcast.
But you really don’t like Tom Hamilton? I have to disagree with that. Radio is definitely better.
Hamilton rode the 90’s to popularity…the team was great and he had the booming voice to chronicle it. But let’s be honest; he hasn’t kept up with analytical tools, he’s not much of a storyteller or conversationalist, and all too often he goes off on bitterly snide tangents about people, places, and things he doesn’t like. I get the impression he does broadcasts like a cooped up adrenaline junkie who can’t wait to get his next hit. And when he gets something to scream about the histrionics are impressive…and often over the top. Beyond those moments of high drama, Tom Hamilton is deadly dull at best and worst kind of crotchety old man yelling on his lawn that one can imagine.
Quantrill, Miller, Arias more great young, highly rated players and prospects gifted to Cleveland by AJ Preller and the Padres farm system for Clevinger who has barely pitched at all for the Padres.
Do the Padres even give their trade targets complete physical exams and/or analyze their physical conditions before making foolish trades?!
It appears that the Padres methods are slipshod and unprofessional….
Leave it to the Padres fans that insist on making every thread all about them, even when it has nothing to do with them.
Polish Hammer;
Can’t be helped…….
They have ‘Yankee Fan Disease’.
At least the Yankees won a couple dozen titles before those fans were born that they can now take credit for.
Don’t forget Franmil Reyes, Josh Naylor, Logan Allen, and Austin Hedges were also part of various Padres trades. And Joey Cantillo hasn’t debuted yet but still might be a MLB pitcher.
Col_chestbridge;
The Padres have no idea how to bring along players (maybe Melvin and his coaches can do something). They’re happy to trade prospects stuck in 1st gear for name players that have passed their physical peak and want lots more money.
The Rays feast off of them as well. Francona, Cash and their staffs are up to it.
It will be interesting however, with Ruben Niebla in the fold, whether the Padres pitching improves. Mackenzie Gore may be one of his first projects (and indicators).
Quantrill, Miller, Arias more great young, highly rated players and prospects gifted to Cleveland by AJ Preller and the Padres farm system for Clevinger who has barely pitched at all for the Padres. Do the Padres even give their trade targets complete physical exams and/or analyze their physical conditions before making foolish trades?!
It appears that the Padres methods are slipshod and unprofessional….
That Clevinger trade is up there for one of the worst in recent memory, just an awful trade for San Diego.
How Preller still leads the operations there is beyond me. Multiple managers, nine-figure deals, and major blockbusters with little to show except for one playoff berth and a bunch of preseason top five rankings.
San Diego is not the most baseball savvy market.
The name players sell tickets.
Unfortunately, CLE shares this designation with SD. How many wailed that “all we got” was pieces and parts for Sunshine and no “top prospects.”
LOL
Yes, especially the posters on here.
I don’t live in the area, but I get the idea that there are a core of fans that will support anything (they loved Puig), but they just kvetch about why the FO/owners don’t spend money to bring guys like Conforto for $20m…..when they have 3 young guys that can play OF that combined make 10% of that; while each play better than him.
But Avory – how long do they not only keep Bobby Bradley on the roster, but in the organization? It’s not just that he can’t hit ML pitching, he’s an awful fielding 1B.
I think Naylor will get the lion’s share of time at 1B going forward. It won’t be long before Bradley is demoted (if he has an option) or DFA’d (if he doesn’t).
BS! San Diego is the 8th largest city in the country and the 2nd largest city in a California.(bigger than San Francisco, bigger than Oakland, bigger than San Jose)..San Diego is home to some of the smartest fans anywhere including many MLB athletes who make their full time home there including from major market teams.(and many retired MLB players, managers, coaches etc)..
Fans in San Diego are from every city in the country and dozens of foreign countries also. There is a lot to do in San Diego and lots of outdoor and sportsman activities what with the great year round weather etc..
So major sports teams in the area better provide a quality product or fans and their families will spend their $$ elsewhere.
Ownership of the local sports teams has not always been the greatest like many other cities. Current Padres ownership includes of few members of the former Dodgers Ownership/O’Malley Family.
So, Post nonsense about San Diego and its fans at your own risk.
Bob Melvin, former A’s Manager and current Padres Manager was blown away when the A’s played the Padres @ Petco Park in the middle of the week and 35,000 fans where showing up to see Padres v A’s games. That is one of the things that attracted Melvin to the Padres Manager’s job: the passion, knowledge and sophistication of the Padres fans…according to Melvin himself in a TV interview..
SportsFan0000;
I lived in LA for decades and went down to see games at the new park by the ocean.
I’m sorry, those fans are hardly into the game. They view it as entertainment.
Of course people play baseball year-round in Southern California. That has nothing at all to do with the fans.
The fans show up for the reason I said – they keep acquiring name players and trading off guys that are underperforming and can be developed by other teams. The fans think they’re making smart trades.
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Am currently watching the Royals-Twins game from KC. Those fans are knowledgeable. They didn’t show up tonight because it’s freezing out. (Fans didn’t show up at Wrigley or in Cleveland either). But they will as the weather breaks. Dayton Moore has succeeded – the Royals are back. In a 1-0 game with runners in 1st and 3rd – no out – the Twins tried to cheat on defense. Mondesi pushed a perfect bunt between the 1B, P and 2B that took everyone by surprise. This is smart baseball and the fans loved it. They’re also currently playing 4 SS’s in the infield, along with a fine defensive OF in their large park including the GG CF. They play smart baseball. The fans in KC know what they’re doing. The Padres are a low Baseball IQ team and if the fanbase understood the game they’d know that.
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One other thing – LA stole your NBA and NFL team – the Padres are the only professional team sport in town. The “8th largest city in the country and the 2nd largest city in a California” has no NHL team either. The Padres are the only major professional sports team in the area. So if fans want to see professional sports live it’s either the Padres or drive up to Anaheim.
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As for the Padres fans that post on this site – sure, there are some good ones. But most are just homers that play up their guys and put down opponents. That’s to be expected. But the conversations between them are what I read from Yankee / Mets fans, most Red Sox fans and some others – Just spend a lot of money, bring in name players and the WS is around the corner. That’s nice. But I also read fans posting here from teams that understand the sport – Rays, Brewers, Phillies, Cubs, Giants, Dodgers, Astros, Royals, Braves, and others that have something to offer other then who will take on Hosmer’s contract ad infinitum.
That is all on AJ Preller. He is great at scouting, drafting talent, signing International free agents. Padres need someone to share his job with regards to trades and free agent signings that is not an area that Preller excels at
that happens when a dude suddenly needs TJS
Cleveland smells like feet
Could be worse, could smell like that coochie you dropped from…
What an ignorant comment
Gabriel Arias is in the lineup for today’s first game of the doubleheader. He is batting 7th and playing 2B. mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#inbox/F…
Why not lefty Ben Krauth? Hasn’t given up a run I. AAA and has a career 19-9 and 2.64 ERA in the minors.
He’s never been able to succeed beyond high A ball. All his good stats were accumulated at low levels.
19-9 2.67 ERA for his career. You should look at his numbers last year in AA and this year in AAA. Tully’s numbers are 1 Run higher on ERA for his career and a worse record.
FYI: 2022 AAA numbers: Tully 9ip 7 era. Career 3.6 ERA 32-40 record.
Krauth: 2022 AAA numbers 7.1 ip 0 era. 19-9 record 2.67 era
Saw ‘roster moves’ in the headline before seeing the rest of it and immediately assumed it was mainly about mike trout going back on the IL.
You should learn how to read so you don’t get mistaken on so many post. Remember, you read the English language from left to right.
Thanks
Considering the increased transmissibility of the current variant compared to the prior ones, and the fact that the current vaccines are much less effective at blocking infection and transmission over time and after multiple shots, then I suspect every team will have a burst of Covid cases and IL’s over the next month. Hopefully it all clears thereafter.
Or hopefully they just stop testing young, healthy athletes with world class diets and athletic training regimes at their fingertips. These guys won’t be hurt by this…let them play.
I see posts like this guys every 3 months.
As soon as there’s an bit of an outbreak, imminent disaster looms.
Chief Wahoo!!!