The Guardians have re-signed left-hander Anthony Gose to a minor league deal, according to the transactions tracker on Gose’s player profile at MLB.com. The signing came together on August 31, meaning that Gose would be eligible to pitch for Cleveland in the postseason should the club choose to add him back to the 40-man roster.
Gose, 34, was once a second-round pick by the Phillies in the 2008 draft. He was a top-100 prospect as a hitter after making some noise as a two-way player during his prep days, but after struggling through five seasons in the majors with below average offensive results (he’s a .240/.309/.348 hitter for his career) the lefty decided to return to pitching. He resurfaced in the big leagues as a reliever in Cleveland back in 2021, impressing with a six-appearance cup of coffee that saw him strike out 37.5% of opponents and post a 1.35 ERA.
Since then, he’s accumulated an additional 24 big league appearances with the Guardians. The majority of those came back in 2022, when he pitched to a lackluster 4.71 ERA with a 5.06 FIP in 21 frames. While he still struck out an impressive 30.4% of opponents during that stretch, Gose walked an untenable 15.2% of batters faced and allowed four homers in his limited body of work, minimizing the impact of the high-octane arsenal he offers. Gose’s attempted comeback as a pitcher was complicated further when he underwent Tommy John surgery that September, wiping out the entirety of his 2023 season.
Gose returned to action at the start of the 2024 campaign and put up solid numbers at the Triple-A level with a 3.46 ERA and a 32.9% strikeout rate in 39 innings of work. That strong body of work is enough for the lefty to have earned a couple of opportunities at the big league level with Cleveland, although those have not gone well. In 3 1/3 innings of work across his two appearances with the Guardians this year, Gose has surrendered three runs on six hits and a walk while striking out two. That led the club to designate Gose for assignment last week, and while he initially elected free agency he evidently decided to return to the club shortly thereafter on a fresh minor league contract.
That will allow Gose to not only continue acting as a non-roster depth option for the Guardians’ bullpen down the stretch, but it also leaves the door open to Gose making the club’s postseason roster. Of course, for that to come to pass Gose would surely not only have to return to the big leagues before the regular season comes to an end but also flash results more in line with his strong minor league numbers than his brief stint in the majors this year.
I feel like we’ve seen this story before
Gose, at one time, also had above average speed. That could be the thinking as well come playoff time.
Maybe, but it was much better than above average. Dude stole 70 bases in the minors two different seasons.
@sascoach: Gose has never punch ran for Cleveland. They aren’t going to start in a pennant race or the playoffs.
What Gose around, comes around…
Groundhog Day!!!
We too serve who stand and wait to be released and resigned to protect that roster spot hill.
Gose gose back.
Love Grows ( where my Anthony Gose)… perfect walk up song
“I swear you guys release me 13 or 14 more times and I may not come back.”
Well it’s September so they don’t necessarily have to DFA him anymore lmao
Lefites who throw hard will always find work until they retire.
No one will just let this guy pitch for an extended period of time? The white Sox can’t spare the innings?
This situation reminds me of 2022 when the Tigers did the very same thing with Drew Hutchison. I lost track of the number of times they called him up for a start, DFAd him afterwards, then re-signed him to a minors deal a day or two later, and the cycle played out over and over again.
I look at his stat line as an OF as a sign of how much has changed. That’s probably an average player today with a solid hold on a roster spot. Add in his speed and defense and he would be a Kevin Pillar type player.
His defense was nowhere nesr as good as Pillar’s