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Guardians Promote Kyle Manzardo, Place Steven Kwan On 10-Day Injured List

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May 6: Cleveland has now announced the promotion of Manzardo and Kwan’s placement on the injured list. In a pair of corresponding moves, the Guards optioned righty Peter Strzelecki and reinstated lefty Sam Hentges from the injured list.

May 5: The Guardians will promote slugging prospect Kyle Manzardo prior to tomorrow’s game with the Tigers, according to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (X link).  Cleveland has an open space on its 40-man roster to add Manzardo, and the 26-man space will be created when outfielder Steven Kwan is placed on the 10-day injured list.

Kwan left Saturday’s game due to hamstring tightness and was set to undergo an MRI today.  The results of the tests aren’t yet known, but even if the MRI is clean, the Guards might’ve felt it necessary to sideline Kwan anyway given his long history of hamstring problems.  As Kwan explained to reporters (including Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer) yesterday, he has battled hamstring issues both in the minors and during his college days.

Losing Kwan for any amount of time is a blow to the Guardians, as his huge early-season performance has fueled Cleveland’s rise to first place in the AL Central.  Kwan is hitting .353/.407/.496 over 145 plate appearances, leading the American League in both batting average and hits (47).  Some regression is inevitable since Kwan has a .370 BABIP and has continued to make some of the weakest contact of any hitter in baseball, but the Guards were happy to ride that offensive wave for as long as possible.  In addition to this surge at the plate, Kwan has also been delivering his customary superb left field defense, and looks like a favorite to win his third straight Gold Glove.

Will Brennan got the start in left field today, but the Guardians will probably keep the Brennan/Ramon Laureano platoon going in right field and address Kwan’s absence by using Estevan Florial a bit more regularly in left.  Florial has gotten the bulk of DH at-bats for Cleveland this season, yet the team will now need the designated hitter spot as a way to get Manzardo (who only plays first base) and Josh Naylor in the lineup at the same time.  Gabriel Arias and David Fry also figure to get some playing time in the corner outfield in certain situations.

A second-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Manzardo came to Cleveland at last year’s trade deadline in the one-for-one swap that sent Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay.  Manzardo’s minor league numbers had already drawn him top-100 prospect attention prior to the trade, and he has only gotten better since joining the Guardians organization.  Manzardo is hitting .303/.375/.642 with nine home runs over 128 PA with Triple-A Columbus this season, and while the Guards chose to start him at Triple-A rather than add him to their Opening Day roster, it only seemed like a matter of time before Manzardo made his MLB debut.

MLB Pipeline ranked Manzardo 52nd on its list of the sport’s top 100 prospects, and Baseball America has him 87th.  (For lists released prior to the season, The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Manzardo 66th and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him 83rd.)  The consensus is clear — Manzardo’s bat is definitely ready for the big leagues, though the 23-year-old might already be ticketed for a DH-only future even in a world where Cleveland didn’t have Naylor locking down first base.  Manzardo is viewed as a decent first baseman at best, and his lack of speed makes him an implausible choice to play outfield.

At the plate, however, Manzardo is a threat.  He both makes a lot of hard contact and a lot of contact in general, befitting the Guardians’ preference for hitters who rarely strike out.  Manzardo has 50 home runs over his 990 PA in the minors, and there is some sense that he might be able to unlock more power given how well-developed his approach is in the batter’s box.

This is music to the ears of a Guardians team that has long been lacking in power, though Cleveland’s offense has been greatly improved in the early going this season.  Naylor has been a big contributor to that more dangerous lineup, but since Naylor is a free agent after the 2025 season, there has been a sense that Manzardo might well be the heir apparent at first base.  Cleveland’s history of trading pricier players prior to free agency could make Naylor a big trade chip this coming offseason, so while a nice showing from Manzardo in his rookie season would certainly help the Guardians’ chances in 2024, it might have the Catch-22 of also hastening Naylor’s eventual departure.

Even if he stays on the Guards’ roster for the rest of the season, Manzardo won’t earn quite enough service time for a full season of MLB service.  As a result, he wouldn’t garner the Guardians an extra draft pick under the Prospect Promotion Incentive even if he had a top-two finish in Rookie Of The Year voting.  It is possible Manzardo might earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility if he garners enough service time over his first three seasons, though we won’t know that answer until the 2026 season is complete.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Transcript For Chat With Fantasy Baseball Expert Nicklaus Gaut

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Fantasy baseball expert Nicklaus Gaut held a live chat today, dishing out advice on Paul Skenes, Wyatt Langford, Corbin Carroll, and many more.

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Giants Designate Daulton Jefferies For Assignment

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The Giants announced Monday that they’ve designated right-hander Daulton Jefferies for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster will go to right-handed pitching prospect Mason Black, whose previously reported promotion from Triple-A Sacramento is now official.

Jefferies, 28, went through two years of painstaking rehab to get back to the big leagues after undergoing both Tommy John surgery and thoracic outlet surgery. The former No. 37 overall draft pick’s Giants debut at the end of March was his first MLB appearance since May 2022 with the A’s.

Jefferies shined in spring training this year (2.57 ERA, 16-to-3 K/BB ratio in 14 innings) and has pitched quite well in four Triple-A appearances this season. In 18 1/3 frames with Sacramento, he’s notched a tidy 3.44 ERA while fanning 22.7% of his opponents against a sharp 6.7% walk rate.

However, in a pair of big league appearances, he’s lasted just 4 2/3 innings overall and been tagged for 13 runs (nine earned) on the strength of 14 hits (two homers) and a pair of walks. Jefferies has only fanned four of the 31 men he’s faced. He’s seen more than half the balls in play against him land for hits, which certainly hasn’t helped his cause, but he’s also paid the price for plenty of mistakes over the plate; in addition to the pair of homers, he’s surrendered six doubles and a triple.

Jefferies has had a fair bit of minor league success, but he’s yet to carry it over to the big leagues in a quartet of seasons where he’s seen mostly fleeting action. In 61 MLB frames, he carries an unsightly 6.64 earned run average, although his overall mark in six minor league seasons is nearly half that number, sitting at 3.88. Injuries have played no small part in his struggles; the previously mentioned Tommy John surgery in 2022 was actually the second of his career, and he battled nerve issues in his elbow for nearly a year before finally being diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and undergoing that surgery.

The Giants will have a week to trade Jefferies, attempt to pass him through outright waivers, or release him. He’s in his final minor league option season, so any team that acquires him would be able to send him to Triple-A without needing to expose him to waivers. Jefferies has been outrighted once in the past, so even if he goes unclaimed on waivers, that prior outright assignment grants him the right to reject another outright assignment in favor of free agency.

Royals Showed Interest In Luis Arraez Prior To Trade To Padres

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The Marlins got a surprisingly early jump on the trade market this offseason, hammering out a rare May trade of significance when they shipped infielder Luis Arraez to San Diego last Friday in exchange for a package of four players. It’s not entirely shocking given both the Marlins’ awful start to the season and that their trade partner was the hyper-aggressive Padres, whose president of baseball operations, A.J. Preller, leaves no stone unturned when a big-name player is even remotely available. However, it seems the Padres weren’t the only club sniffing around Arraez despite the early nature of his entry to the trade market; Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports this morning that the Royals also showed interest in Arraez before the Padres pulled off that swap.

Rosenthal emphasizes that talks with the Kansas City were preliminary and did not advance far. Still, the mere interest from Kansas City is telling. The Royals had an aggressive winter that saw them spend $109MM across several free agent signings, and now that they’re out to a 20-15 start to the season, it seems they’re interested in further bolstering the club.

Arraez is a limited defender who’s below-average at second base, solid enough at first base and of course has the bat to handle designated hitter duties. The Royals presumably wouldn’t have used Arraez at first base much, thanks to the presence of Vinnie Pasquantino. In all likelihood, Kansas City would’ve given Arraez the bulk of his playing time at second base and designated hitter.

Instead, the Royals will hope for 26-year-old second baseman Michael Massey to continue his recent hot streak and look to get DH/outfielder Nelson Velazquez back to his 2023 form. Velazquez bashed 14 homers in 147 plate appearances for the Royals last year after being acquired in a deadline swap with the Cubs, but he’s hitting just .215/.284/.344 with a 30.4% strikeout rate this season as the team’s primary designated hitter.

Even looking beyond Arraez specifically, the mere fact that Kansas City was poking around the market for one of the presumably few players genuinely available on the trade market at such an early stage in the season signals that the Royals won’t necessarily be content with their offseason additions and any in-house reinforcements that might surface. It also likely signals a willingness to deal from the top end of their farm system. The Royals’ system isn’t viewed as particularly strong, so they’d have had to expend some of their most notable prospects in order to pique Miami’s interest.

Ultimately, news of interest from a team that didn’t wind up trading for a player only carries so much weight. The Royals’ interest in Arraez will be little more than a footnote that’s perhaps worth keeping in mind when he reaches free agency. But it’s also a portent for how the Royals could operate in the weeks and months ahead, and it gives some credence to the idea that they’ll be in the mix when other high-profile bats become available this summer. Whether it was expressed to the Royals that the Marlins would be willing to pay down the remainder of Arraez’s contract isn’t clear. Kansas City opened the season with a roughly $116MM payroll, per RosterResource, and has previously run its payroll as high as $143MM (under the previous ownership regime).

The Royals’ offseason activity already pointed to a win-now mindset, and so long as they remain in or on the periphery of postseason contention, it seems they’ll continue to keep their foot on the gas.

Submit Your Questions For This Week’s MLB Trade Rumors Podcast!

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On the MLB Trade Rumors podcast, we’ll frequently answer questions from our readers and listeners.  With the next episode set for Wednesday, we’re looking for MLBTR’s audience to submit their questions and we’ll pick a few to answer.

The 2024 season is now over a month old, with the trade deadline just over two months away. If you have a question about the ongoing 2024 season, a future transaction or anything else baseball related, we’d love to hear from you!  You can send your questions to mlbtrpod@gmail.com.

Also, if you want to hear your voice on the podcast, send us your question in audio form and we might play it.  iPhone users can find instructions on how to do so here.

In the meantime, don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

The Opener: Prospect Promotions, Steele, Martin

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With 20% of the 2024 regular season now in the books, here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Prospect promotions incoming:

The Guardians plan to select the contract of first baseman Kyle Manzardo prior to today’s game against the Tigers this evening. Cleveland will need to make room on both its active and 40-man rosters to accommodate the addition of Manzardo, though the former will be accomplished by the club’s expected placement of outfielder Steven Kwan on the 10-day IL. Also reportedly receiving the bump to the majors today is Giants right-hander Mason Black. He too will require corresponding moves on both the 40-man and active rosters before this afternoon’s game against the Phillies.

Acquired from the Rays at last year’s trade deadline in exchange for Aaron Civale, the 23-year-old Manzardo is a consensus top-100 talent with little left to prove in the minor leagues, slashing an incredible .303/.375/.642 in 128 trips to the plate at the Triple-A level this year. A full-time first baseman, Manzardo’s defensive limitations leave him likely to handle either first or DH alongside Josh Naylor, with Estevan Florial moving to occupy left field in Kwan’s absence. As for Black, he appears poised to step into the San Francisco rotation after the club lost left-hander Blake Snell to the injured list and received a combined 4 2/3 innings from starting pitchers Keaton Winn and Logan Webb over the weekend. Black, a 24-year-old with an excellent 1.01 ERA in six starts at the Triple-A level this season, figures to be tasked with helping to give the club’s bullpen a much-needed breather.

2. Steele to be activated:

Cubs left-hander Justin Steele has been on the injured list since suffering a hamstring strain on Opening Day. Steele made his first All-Star team in 2023, posted a 3.06 ERA (146 ERA+) with a 3.02 FIP, and finished fifth in NL Cy Young voting last year. He’d been cruising through 4 2/3 innings of one-run ball at the time of his injury.

The Cubs will need to make a corresponding move to make room for Steele on the active roster prior to the game. Shota Imanaga, Jameson Taillon, and Javier Assad have all been outstanding in Steele’s absence, and the staff ace’s return should further bolster a starting staff that ranks third in the majors with a 3.13 ERA this year. Steele’s return will also allow the club to move either Hayden Wesneski or Ben Brown to the bullpen, thereby strengthening the relief corps.

3. Could Martin be facing an IL stint?

Veteran right-hander Chris Martin was dominant in his first season with the Red Sox last year, pitching to a sterling 1.05 ERA with a 2.44 FIP in 55 appearances while acting as the primary set-up man for closer Kenley Jansen. Things haven’t gone quite as smoothly for the 37-year-old in his second year with the club, however. While he’s struck out a strong 25% of batters faced, Martin has seen his ERA balloon to 5.11 this season and has made just one appearance since the calendar flipped to May.

Per Pete Abraham of The Boston Globe, that absence has been due to Martin dealing with “lingering soreness” in his non-throwing shoulder that could ultimately require a trip to the injured list. While an injury in Martin’s left shoulder is certainly not as serious as one in his right would be, Abraham notes that the Red Sox are concerned that the soreness could impact his mechanics and negatively impact his throwing arm down the line. Should Martin require a trip to the shelf, left-hander Bailey Horn is the only relief arm available to come up from the minors currently on the 40-man roster. If the club is willing to clear a 40-man spot, veterans like Lucas Luetge and Joely Rodriguez or a prospect like Luis Guerrero would become available.

Padres Place Joe Musgrove On 15-Day Injured List

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The Padres announced that right-hander Joe Musgrove has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to right elbow inflammation.  Righty Randy Vasquez has been called up from Triple-A to take Musgrove’s spot on the active roster and in San Diego’s rotation.

More specifically, Musgrove is suffering from triceps tendinitis, as the Padres told reporters (including The Athletic’s Dennis Lin).  Since the IL placement was described as precautionary, it’s possible Musgrove could miss just the minimum 15 days if the triceps issue isn’t overly serious.  However, returning to the IL continues a rough stretch of injury-related misery for Musgrove that has now stretched across two seasons.

A broken toe suffered in a Spring Training weight-room accident delayed Musgrove’s 2023 debut until late April, and he was limited to 17 starts after a bout of shoulder inflammation returned him to the IL in late July, and ultimately ended his season.  The former All-Star still delivered a 3.05 ERA in 97 1/3 innings between these IL stints, but Musgrove has gotten off to a slow start in 2024.

No pitcher in baseball has allowed more home runs (10) or earned runs (29) than Musgrove this season, as he has lurched to a 6.37 ERA over eight starts and 41 innings.  This trouble with the long ball has naturally coincided with a huge drop in Musgrove’s barrels and barrel rate, and his strikeout and hard-hit ball rates are also below average.

It could be that Musgrove’s elbow problem contributed to these struggles, or potentially some lingering affects from his long shutdown period in 2023.  Assuming that his injury doesn’t sideline him for too long, this IL visit could be viewed as something of a chance for Musgrove to reboot his season after his time off.

Getting a healthy and effective Musgrove atop the rotation is critical to the Padres’ hopes, as Musgrove being an unexpected weak link has contributed to an overall inconsistent performance for the rotation.  Dylan Cease has been tremendous and Yu Darvish has started to stabilize after a tough start of his own, while Michael King and Matt Waldron have both been up-and-down.

Vazquez has also made a pair of starts, delivering a 5.87 ERA in 7 2/3 innings.  The 25-year-old right-hander was acquired as part of the Juan Soto trade package from the Yankees this past winter, and it remains to be seen if starting pitching will be his long-term role.  Though he has gotten the start in 92 of his 102 professional games, Vazquez hasn’t shown much at Triple-A (5.19 ERA in 95 1/3 career innings) or his 45 1/3 frames in the majors.  He’ll get another look in Musgrove’s absence, though the Padres could approach Vazquez’s starts as bullpen games if he can’t deliver a good chunk of consistent innings at the front of games.

Blue Jays Sign Beau Sulser To Minors Contract

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The Blue Jays have signed right-hander Beau Sulser to a minor league contract.  Sulser made the start for Triple-A Buffalo today, which happens to be his 30th birthday.

Sulser’s only MLB experience came during the 2022 season, when he posted a 3.63 ERA across 22 1/3 combined innings with the Pirates and Orioles.  He was a 10th-round pick for Pittsburgh in the 2017 draft, was claimed off waivers from Baltimore in May 2022, and then was claimed back by the Pirates following the season before then landing a deal with the KT Wiz of the Korea Baseball Organization.  The righty’s 2023 campaign was split between pitching in South Korea and then yet another stint with Pittsburgh, since Sulser signed with the Bucs last June after his release from the Wiz.

Over 413 innings in the affiliated minors, Sulser has posted a 4.31 ERA and a 6.64% walk rate.  Sulser has relied more on control, grounders and soft contact than missed bats, as he has a modest 19.49% strikeout rate.  He struggled during his brief time in the KBO League, with a 5.62 ERA over nine starts and 49 2/3 innings.

Besides the nine KBO starts, Sulser has also started 49 of his 145 career appearances in the minors.  Most of those starts have come within the last three seasons, though Sulser’s flexibility as a swingman could help him find another path back to the majors.  Starting depth is an issue for a Blue Jays team that has both Yariel Rodriguez and Bowden Francis on the injured list, plus Alek Manoah is still a big question mark after all his struggles since the start of the 2023 season.  If Manoah can’t get on track or if the Jays have another rotation injury, swingman Paolo Espino might be the next man up from Triple-A, but Sulser might not be far behind in line given Toronto’s lack of options.

Diamondbacks Notes: Sewald, Thomas, Nelson, E-Rod, Perdomo

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Paul Sewald and Alek Thomas could both return from the injured list on Tuesday, when the Diamondbacks start a six-game road trip by facing the Reds.  Sewald has yet to pitch this season due to a Grade 2 oblique strain suffered near the end of Spring Training, while Thomas got four games under his belt before being sidelined by a hamstring strain.

Sewald seems to be the closer of the two to being activated, as he already joined the D’Backs in the clubhouse today prior to their departure for Cincinnati.  The closer started a Triple-A rehab assignment with two-thirds of an inning on April 23, but then his rehab was slowed down after he felt sore following a bullpen session.  A subsequent bullpen session went much more smoothly, and after tossing an inning in an extended Spring Training game Saturday, Sewald appears to be ready to get his 2024 season underway.

The return can’t come soon enough for an Arizona bullpen that has been shaky at best.  The Diamondbacks can only hope that Sewald can stabilize things as well as he did last summer after being acquired from the Mariners at the trade deadline, as Sewald solidified Arizona’s ninth-inning situation and played a huge role in the club’s pennant-winning postseason drive.  This success brought a bit of spotlight to a reliever who had largely flown under the radar in posting a 2.95 ERA over 189 1/3 innings with the M’s and D’Backs since the start of the 2021 season.

Thomas is much more familiar with the hype train due to his time as a top-100 prospect, but the outfielder is still looking to break out in his third Major League season.  On the plus side, Thomas has been an excellent defensive center fielder and he brings a lot of speed to the table, but his career .230/.273/.362 slash line (over 827 plate appearances) leaves a lot to be desired.

Once he makes his return, the Diamondbacks should be able to finally adopt their preferred outfield alignment of Corbin Carroll in right field, Thomas in center, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in left field, and Randal Grichuk and Jake McCarthy providing depth (with Grichuk likely spelling Thomas against left-handed pitching).  This alignment might have the carry-on effect of helping Carroll get on track at the plate, as the reigning NL Rookie of the Year’s struggles could be linked to the fact that he took over regular center field duty with Thomas sidelined.

Speaking of injury returns, the D’Backs got some reinforcement back today when Ryne Nelson was activated from the 15-day IL.  Nelson hadn’t pitched since he was struck in the elbow by a line drive on April 18, and while he looked a little rusty in allowing four earned runs in five innings today, it was still enough to earn a win in Arizona’s 11-4 rout of the Padres.

Nelson provides some help to a rotation that is still without Merrill Kelly and Eduardo Rodriguez due to their placements on the 60-day IL.  Kelly is gone until at least late June, but manager Torey Lovullo provided some news about Rodriguez today, telling Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports and other reporters that the southpaw will undergo some more tests on his injured lat muscle.  If E-Rod is feeling good and the tests come back clean, Lovullo said Rodriguez could soon start a throwing program.

Rodriguez started the season on the 15-day IL before being transferred to the 60-day, so late May represents the absolute best-case scenario for his first official appearance in a D’Backs uniform.  Since some significant ramp-up time will be required and Rodriguez has already been shut down from throwing once due to continued discomfort in his lat, it’s probably safe to guess that his rehab process will stretch into early June.

Lovullo also had an update on Geraldo Perdomo, as the infielder is throwing and taking grounders.  “Three weeks post surgery, so he’s gotta be careful with his next steps.  It’s getting close to him getting to full baseball activities and I’m excited about that,” the manager told Weiner and company.  Perdomo tore his right meniscus just shy of a month ago, so is on pace with the usual 4-6 week timeline associated with such injuries.

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