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Guardians Place Steven Kwan On Injured List

By Darragh McDonald | September 17, 2024 at 5:10pm CDT

The Guardians announced that outfielder Steven Kwan has been placed on the 10-day injured list. They have selected the contract of Myles Straw to take his place on the active roster. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco, currently on the 15-day injured list, has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Straw.

Kwan hasn’t played in a game since September 12. He was scratched from the lineup on September 13 with the club describing his issue as body fatigue, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com on X. Manager Stephen Vogt later described the issue as back soreness, per Bell.

It’s unclear how long the club expects Kwan to be out, but it seems they want him to rest for at least a week. IL stints can be backdated by as many as three days if they player has been out of the lineup, so the Guardians have presumably done so with Kwan.

For however long he’s out, the Guards will be without one of the game’s best contact hitters. Kwan has only been punched out in 9.4% of his plate appearances this year. Among qualified hitters, only Luis Arráez has been struck out at a lower rate this year. Kwan is generally not a power threat but has 13 homers this year, more than doubling his previous career high of six. He’s hitting .291/.364/.419 on the year overall for a wRC+ of 127.

In addition to the offense, Kwan has stolen 12 bases and received strong grades for his left field defense. That’s allowed him to produced 3.8 wins above replacement on the year, per the calculations of FanGraphs, second on the team to José Ramírez.

Losing a player like that would be a blow at any time, but it’s especially concerning at this part of the calendar. Perhaps the club is just giving Kwan a breather and expects him to be healthy by the time the playoffs start. But even in that scenario, any kind of setback would roll into the postseason.

With Kwan out in recent days, the Guards have been utilizing an outfield mix of Lane Thomas, Ángel Martínez, Jhonkensy Noel and Will Brennan. Thomas has been the club’s regular center fielder since coming over from the Nationals in a deadline trade but he hasn’t taken well to his new club. He has hit .217/.273/.377 for Cleveland while striking out in 37.3% of his plate appearances.

Perhaps the Guards will install Straw in center and hope for better results, though that might be a tall ask. He was outrighted off the club’s roster in March after a few years of offensive struggles. He hit .229/.296/.284 for the Guards over 2022 and 2023, leading to a combined wRC+ of 67. Since clearing waivers and getting sent down to Columbus coming into this year, his results haven’t improved much. in 123 Triple-A games this year, he’s hitting .240/.321/.329 for a wRC+ of 72.

Despite the lack of offense, Straw at least has a solid floor from his speed and defense. He has swiped 30 bags in 31 tries this year and has regularly had similar stolen base totals in previous seasons. Thomas is also capable of providing value in those departments, with 32 steals this year and defensive metrics that are roughly average for his time in center. Whether Straw will push Thomas for playing time or simply serve as a glove-first bench guy remains to be seen.

Straw signed a $25MM extension with Cleveland going into 2022, which has not worked out so far due to his aforementioned offensive downturn. Given his struggles and that contract, it was unsurprising that he went unclaimed off waivers. He had the right to elect free agency at that time since he has at least three years of service, but since he has less than five years, doing so would have meant walking away from the money still to be paid out on that deal. He unsurprisingly accepted his outright assignment and gets back on the roster today. There’s not enough time left in this season for him to hit that five-year mark, so it’s possible he’s outrighted again later this year or in the winter.

Carrasco, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the winter and made the Opening Day roster. He has made 21 starts for the club this year with a 5.64 earned run average in 103 2/3 innings. That’s obviously not amazing production but it was valuable to the club at times this year as various other starters struggled or landed on the injured list.

The club currently has a rotation of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Matthew Boyd, Joey Cantillo and Ben Lively with Alex Cobb currently on the IL due to a blister. Williams was on the IL for most of the first half of the year but has since returned. Boyd wasn’t signed until midseason as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery but has looked strong since joining the club. Cobb was a midseason trade acquisition and Cantillo has gradually pitched his way into the picture with a solid season.

That leaves less room for Carrasco than earlier in the year and he has had his own injury issues. He landed on the injured list in May due to an acute neck spasm and returned a couple of weeks later. A second IL stint put him out of action just over a month ago, with a left hip strain being the culprit. He began a rehab assignment a few days ago but the club has nudged him off the roster today.

Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers so Carrasco should be on release waivers shortly. It’s a fairly moot point as he’s likely to clear in either case. He’s making a $2MM salary this year and other clubs won’t have much use for him at this part of the calendar. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any other team and wouldn’t have much time to make contributions in the regular season either.

Assuming he clears waivers, he would be able to elect free agency as a veteran with plenty of years of experience, but it’s possible he decides to stay and serve as non-roster depth for the Guards and possibly get a chance to rejoin the roster for the postseason.

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Carlos Carrasco Myles Straw Steven Kwan

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View Comments (34)
Post a Comment

34 Comments

  1. Trolling stops when Internet Anonymity stops.

    10 months ago

    The worst commenters on MLBTR are: Inutero, DodgersBro, BirdieMan, njbirdsfan, JoeBrady, Blue Baron, Johnny Utah, Fever Pitch Guy, Rocker49, FletcherFan69, DarrenDreifort’sContract, JayRyder, 27champyankees (AKA TonyGwynnSD19 and 27ringsbtch… you always find him in SF Giants articles), Halos11, BlueSkies_LA, Dogbone, waldfree, DarkSide830, LFGMets, Rsox, NYCRiddler, Samuel, Travis’ Wood, whyhayzee, johnsilver, Steinbrenner2728, Mickey Solis, tangerinepony, Dumpster Divin’ Theo, its_happening, Zippy the Pinhead, Edp007, Blackpink the area, coupofthecentury, Old York, Mitchell Page, Rocker49, Rocker49, and Rocker49.

    3
    Reply
    • HiredGun23

      10 months ago

      I’m saddened by this post…cuz I didn’t make the cut. Hahahaha

      13
      Reply
    • Turdstomper12

      10 months ago

      Your name is stupid and you will never understand why. Please add me to your list.

      5
      Reply
    • BaseballisLife

      10 months ago

      I’m crushed that I didn’t make your little whiny list.

      5
      Reply
    • numberoneslayerfan

      10 months ago

      excuse me, i have an extremely low iq

      5
      Reply
    • Clofreesz

      10 months ago

      Nice job creating this acc to point fingers at people.

      Trolls are a part of life; they can say whatever they want. It’s just that you can ignore them.

      Reply
    • Jobu's Rum

      10 months ago

      I would subdivide.

      (1) Obvious trolls with no substance.

      (2) Ones who are funny ONLY to themselves and can’t carry a baseball convo.

      (3) Ones who are ad nauseum.

      (4) Condescending a-holes who mostly know their baseball but will vehemently deny, make strawman arguments, and double-down when being called out for being factually wrong.

      (5) Curmudgeons who struggle to adapt to modern baseball.

      5
      Reply
      • Ignorant Son-of-a-b

        10 months ago

        Great list to use in any internet forum. Well done.

        1
        Reply
    • LFGMets (Metsin7) #BannedForBeingABaseballExpert

      10 months ago

      You forgot Yankee Bleacher Creature and Filihok

      1
      Reply
    • HatlessPete

      10 months ago

      Rocker49…his trolling so nice this weirdo repeated his name thrice! Damn dude what have you even been up to in the comments lately lol

      1
      Reply
    • case

      10 months ago

      This post is sizzling with sexual energy

      2
      Reply
      • HatlessPete

        10 months ago

        Case you can say that again lol! I’m turning up the fan cuz its getting hot in here! Oh mercy!!!

        2
        Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      10 months ago

      Steve Urkel should be at the top of that list!

      3
      Reply
    • stevewpants

      10 months ago

      Funniest part is posting it for a Guardians thread and a bunch of these names probably haven’t even seen this because they never read Guardian posts…

      1
      Reply
    • marcfrombrooklyn

      10 months ago

      It’s funny. I used to think that about trolls back in the day of clowns commenting on places like Yahoo! Sports. But, then along came social media, and it turned out that there are plenty of people happy to troll under their real names. It’s sad. They’re sad.

      Reply
  2. miggywrld

    10 months ago

    So that wasn’t the final Straw?

    5
    Reply
    • CO Guardening

      10 months ago

      Sadly it wasn’t. Total waste of a roster space at this point.

      1
      Reply
      • waittilnextyear

        10 months ago

        Welcome back Myles. Put in as pinch runner and got picked off

        3
        Reply
  3. This one belongs to the Reds

    10 months ago

    They no longer have the Kwan.

    1
    Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      10 months ago

      Straw couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.

      3
      Reply
  4. CKinSTL

    10 months ago

    Wow.. who saw a Myles Straw call-up coming?!

    3
    Reply
    • solaris602

      10 months ago

      I thought we’d make it thru the entire season without him being called up because he has shown ZERO improvement at Columbus. Best used as a pinch runner or late defensive substitute. The guy still can’t hit worth a damn.

      1
      Reply
      • CO Guardening

        10 months ago

        Myles saw your post and immediately went out and got picked off first base.

        Reply
      • waittilnextyear

        10 months ago

        When you build your team out of straw. The big bad other teams will huff and puff and blow them out of the playoffs

        Reply
  5. vincent k. mcmahon

    10 months ago

    When was Straw dfa’d or outrighted off the 40-man? He was still on the 40-man roster the last time I checked which probably happened before he was taken off of it.

    Reply
    • oscar gamble

      10 months ago

      @vincent:
      Straw was designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training.

      Reply
  6. cwsOverhaul

    10 months ago

    Tiger fans would echo your wish.

    1
    Reply
  7. Michael Chaney

    10 months ago

    It’s worth at least pointing out that Lane Thomas has been way better lately. He’s slashing .316/.328/.632 in his last 15 games and .272/.320/.489 in his last 30. He hasn’t walked a ton but he’s hit a few homers and is just making better contact than he did when he first joined the team.

    He was so bad right after the trade that his overall numbers still aren’t great since they got him, but they don’t tell the whole story either. I honestly think he was just pressing, but they also weren’t doing him any favors playing him every day against righties.

    2
    Reply
  8. Datashark

    10 months ago

    There goes Kwan’s drive to 20HRs and 20SB.

    Seriously, something is really strange here with him – he went into a deep tailspin last month for “Body Fatigue” seems like CLV has enough staying power to keep ahead of a remarkable KC team

    What is really meant by fatigue here.

    Reply
    • padrepapi

      10 months ago

      Kwan has a .588 OPS in the 2nd half (50 games). They probably regret not getting him some rest sooner with the hope he will be better for the playoffs.

      Reply
  9. CravenMoorehead

    10 months ago

    Straw obviously won’t be able to replace Kwan’s production at the plate but at least he’ll provide Cleveland with superb defense in the OF as a gold glove winner. Hope to see Kwan back and rested in time for the playoffs.

    2
    Reply
  10. This one belongs to the Reds

    10 months ago

    I don’t think we need a straw poll to know Cleveland’s fans feelings on Straw.

    1
    Reply
    • Carl Winslow

      10 months ago

      Straw < Strawberry

      1
      Reply
  11. D-Money

    10 months ago

    It’s okay. Kwan has the MVP in the bag. He’s so good he will likely take home both AL and NL awards. Carrasco is a strong favorite for Cy Young, and Straw, hands down, comeback player of the year. Tribe going all the way, baby! Let’s go!

    Reply

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