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.
Trolling stops when Internet Anonymity stops.
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HiredGun23
I’m saddened by this post…cuz I didn’t make the cut. Hahahaha
Turdstomper12
Your name is stupid and you will never understand why. Please add me to your list.
Travis’ Wood
Let’s go! Gwynning is at the top for sure. Not sure how you could forget guard the Vogt, the single lowest IQ poster on this site
BaseballisLife
I’m crushed that I didn’t make your little whiny list.
numberoneslayerfan
excuse me, i have an extremely low iq
josephf
Is this a serious attempt to name and shame people who post here? If so you have to be the single lamest poster who has ever visited MLBTR. EVER.
Clofreesz
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.
MLB Fanatic
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.
Ignorant Son-of-a-b
Great list to use in any internet forum. Well done.
LFGMets (Metsin7) #BannedForBeingABaseballExpert
You forgot Yankee Bleacher Creature and Filihok
HatlessPete
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
case
This post is sizzling with sexual energy
HatlessPete
Case you can say that again lol! I’m turning up the fan cuz its getting hot in here! Oh mercy!!!
Carl Winslow
Steve Urkel should be at the top of that list!
stevewpants
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…
marcfrombrooklyn
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.
miggywrld
So that wasn’t the final Straw?
CO Guardening
Sadly it wasn’t. Total waste of a roster space at this point.
waittilnextyear
Welcome back Myles. Put in as pinch runner and got picked off
This one belongs to the Reds
They no longer have the Kwan.
Carl Winslow
Straw couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a boat.
CKinSTL
Wow.. who saw a Myles Straw call-up coming?!
solaris602
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.
CO Guardening
Myles saw your post and immediately went out and got picked off first base.
waittilnextyear
When you build your team out of straw. The big bad other teams will huff and puff and blow them out of the playoffs
vincent k. mcmahon
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.
oscar gamble
@vincent:
Straw was designated for assignment at the end of Spring Training.
cwsOverhaul
Tiger fans would echo your wish.
Michael Chaney
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.
Datashark
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.
padrepapi
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.
CravenMoorehead
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.
This one belongs to the Reds
I don’t think we need a straw poll to know Cleveland’s fans feelings on Straw.
Carl Winslow
Straw < Strawberry
D-Money
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!