The Guardians announced a batch of roster moves prior to today’s doubleheader. Left-hander Kirk McCarty has been recalled as the club’s “27th man” for the twin bill. The club also recalled infielder Gabriel Arias, with outfielder Oscar Gonzalez going on the 10-day injured list as a corresponding move. Furthermore, right-hander James Karinchak was reinstated from the 60-day IL and optioned to Triple-A, with fellow righty Tobias Myers being designated for assignment to open a spot for Karinchak on the 40-man roster.
The Guardians haven’t yet announced an injury designation for Gonzalez, but he was reportedly dealing with some abdominal tightness recently. This IL placement will put a pause on his nice breakout campaign, as the rookie has hit .285/.315/.431 through his first 32 big league games. Despite a 3.8% walk rate that’s less than half the league average, he’s hit enough to produce a 112 wRC+, indicating he’s been 12% better than the league average hitter overall. With him out of action, Richie Palacios could potentially be line for more regular playing time next to Steven Kwan and Myles Straw in the Cleveland outfield. Manager Terry Francona tells Mandy Bell of MLB.com that an MRI on Gonzalez revealed some swelling near his ribs that will shut him down for about a week.
Myers, 23, was first added to the club’s 40-man roster in November as part of a huge shuffle. At the deadline to add players prior to the Rule 5 draft, which ended up not happening, the Guardians designated seven players for assignment in order to add ten prospects to the squad. In addition to all of that, they acquired Myers from the Rays and added him to the roster as well. Originally drafted by the Orioles, he was traded to the Rays for Tim Beckham in 2017. Since then, he climbed the ladder in Tampa’s system, pitching in Double-A and Triple-A in 2021. He made 22 starts last year with a 3.90 ERA, 30.5% strikeout rate and 5.8% walk rate. That surely enticed Cleveland to bring him aboard as rotation depth, though he hasn’t been able to maintain those results this year. In 14 Triple-A starts, he has an ERA of 6.00, along with a 14.1% strikeout rate and 11.6% walk rate. Based on those diminished results, he has lost his roster spot and has now entered DFA limbo. The club will have one week to trade him or place him on waivers. Despite his poor season thus far, teams may be willing to take a chance on him on the hope he can rebound into his previous form.
As for Karinchak, 26, he seemed to emerge as an elite bullpen weapon in the shortened 2020 season. He threw 27 innings that year with a 2.67 ERA and an absurd 48.6% strikeout rate, though a concerning 14.7% walk rate as well. In 2021, he came back down to earth with a 4.07 ERA over 55 1/3 innings. His strikeout rate fell to 33.2%, still very good, but was also still issuing free passes at a 13.6% rate. He has yet to pitch in the majors this year as he began the season on the IL due to a teres major strain. He’s been rehabbing for the past month, throwing 11 Triple-A innings with a 5.73 ERA. He’s still getting Ks 32.1% of the time but also giving a free trip to first base to 20.8% of batters faced. There’s surely some rust to deal with after a long injury layoff, which he will try to shake off by staying in Columbus.
Who are the Guardians? Oh yeah-Cleveland for cowards.
Why are we still talking about the team name? No matter how you feel about it, it’s here to stay. It’s been a year, let’s move on.
Because people are snowflakes.
Very true
Yep, especially the ones who forced the name change in the first place.
When courage is defined is sticking to your nickname, you’ve outdone the participation trophy.
For me they will always be the CBT the Cleveland baseball team
I really was expecting to see Nolan Jones names today
Not sure how adding another middle infielder helps with depth in outfield. Naylor needs to be a 1rst baseman/DH. Nolan Jones or wil Brennan would make sense…I would love to see how they transition to the bigs. Love kwan and Gonzalez so far
I wonder if the Guardian fans will throw things at the Yankees outfielders. When that happened in New York, I give the Yankee players credit for running out there at the end of the game. I wish more of the fans had the same amount of class as most of the players. Because throwing things on the field has no place in this game.
Yankee fans are pretty bad. But they make up for their bullying and arrogance by not understanding the first thing about how to play baseball.
Think I currently have over 50 blocked here. Got sick of trying to reason with 11 year-old mentalities. Have enjoyed the comment section a lot more since I did it. Nice that MLBTR paid to have the Mute option programmed.
All right, I’m one of the proud 50. Or is that 50 Yankee fans that have been blocked?
I actually have very rewarding discussions with a couple of them. No matter what, there are always more good people than bad. Crowd behavior can be very dangerous though. Combine that with drinking and you bring out the worst in people. But for pure entertainment, you can’t beat Fenway. “Here comes the pizza!” That’s about the tiniest of upgrades in behavior.
I’m a Met fan and I’m pretty sure he muted me. Samuel doesn’t do well with counter arguments.
Very true. Wholesale blocking is easier for certan people than critical thought.
Can’t wait to see Arias make his debut.
He already has, I think in May for a game or 2
both halves of a DH on 4/20, yeah.
Well…impress you?
Batting third…how ridiculous was that?
Karinchak was the king of sticky stuff last year, hasn’t been the same since.
Arias and Gimenez up the middle might be quite the site for years to come.
I’m a big believer in Rocchio, but I agree. They have a lot of interesting options.
Why do people think Arias is some sort of proven commodity? Gimenez should be the shortstop, end of story.
Myers’s walk rate has doubled and his strikeout rate has almost halved. looks like a mechanical issue, and perhaps not too hard to solve?
Was hoping Hedges be back, so we can send Leon on his way. He shouldn’t be employed by anyone for anything in MLB.
Right. Cuz Hedges us a real stud! About half the teams in MLB have two xatchers significantly better.