Guardians Designate Anthony Gose For Assignment

The Guardians announced that right-hander Alex Cobb has been reinstated from the injured list, a move that was reported earlier today. In a corresponding move, left-hander Anthony Gose has been designated for assignment.

Gose, 33, was selected to the club’s roster just three days ago. He has made one appearance since then, which was in the first game of Cleveland’s doubleheader against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday. He pitched an inning and a third, striking out one but also allowing two earned runs thanks to a walk and a home run.

Not much can be gleaned from such a small sample size, but Gose was likely not a big part of the club’s long-term plans. Though he has just 29 innings pitched, that’s mostly due to his circuitous route to being a big league pitcher.

Gose was an outfielder at the big league level from 2012 to 2016 but never hit much and eventually tried a move to the mound. Incredibly, he succeeded in this late-career conversion, tossing 27 2/3 innings for the Guards over the 2021 and 2022 seasons with a 3.90 ERA, 31.9% strikeout rate and 13.8% walk rate. Unfortunately, Tommy John surgery in September of 2022 put the feel-good story on ice.

He was non-tendered by Cleveland at the end of that season and re-signed on a two-year minor league deal to cover his recovery period. On his rehab assignment this year, he showed that he still has some strikeout stuff, punching out 34.2% of Triple-A hitters. However, the lack of control was still an issue, as he walked 14.3% of batters faced. In his small sample of major league work, his velocity was down a bit. His fastball averaged 99.3 miles per hour in 2021 and was at 97 in 2022, but that was down to 94.5 mph this week.

Though Gose has a nice story and the Guards have stuck by him for a while, he’ll turn 34 years old tomorrow and still has some wildness. Cleveland has the best bullpen in the majors this year, with their collective 2.68 ERA being far ahead of second-place Atlanta’s 3.20. They’re also in a tight playoff race right now, just 2.5 games ahead of the Twins in the Central and only 3.5 clear of the Royals, so taking on a bit of a project like Gose maybe isn’t in the cards.

With the trade deadline now passed, the club will have to put him on waivers in the coming days. Perhaps some other club will be enticed by his strikeouts and put in a claim, hoping that more reps as he distances himself from the surgery will help him harness his command. If someone does put in a claim, he has over three years of service time and would pass the four-year mark if he stays in the majors for the rest of the year. He’s out of options but could be controlled via arbitration for two seasons beyond this one.

With over three years of service, he will have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of free agency. Since he has less than five, doing so would mean forfeiting whatever money he’s still owed on his deal, but it’s likely a minimal amount since it was a minor league pact.