Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Guardians Rumors

Sam Hentges Out 12 To 14 Months Due To Shoulder Surgery

By | at

Guardians left-hander Sam Hentges will undergo shoulder surgery next week, the team announced. Dr. Neal ElAttrache will repair both the labrum and capsule in Hentges’ left shoulder, and the recovery period is expected to be in the range of 12 to 14 months. In all likelihood, the procedure will keep Hentges out of action not only for the balance of the 2024 season but also the entirety of the 2025 campaign. Hentges has been out since July 10 with what was originally termed inflammation in his left shoulder.

It’s an awful blow for the Guardians and the 28-year-old Hentges alike. The former fourth-round pick had a rough debut campaign as a starter in 2021 but has thrived as a reliever across the past three seasons. Dating back to 2022, Hentges boasts a terrific 2.93 ERA with a 27.7% strikeout rate, 7.5% walk rate, 58.1% grounder rate and just 0.52 HR/9. Metrics like FIP (2.66) and SIERA (2.93) feel he’s been as good or perhaps even better than that more rudimentary earned run average would indicate.

As Hentges broke out as a quality reliever, the Guardians increasingly trusted him in higher-leverage spots. Former manager Terry Francona and (to a lesser extent) rookie skipper Stephen Vogt wound up trusting Hentges in a pivotal setup role to star closer Emmanuel Clase. He’s picked up 32 holds and one save over the past three years and been remarkably effective while pitching in those pressure-packed spots; Hentges only has one blown save in those 34 save situations into which he’s been placed.

Hentges and the Guardians agreed to a one-year, $1.1625MM deal this season in his first trip through the arbitration process as a Super Two player. He’s controllable for another three seasons but would be owed a small raise in arbitration next year after pitching 23 2/3 innings of 3.04 ERA ball and collecting nine holds this season. He’d then likely be owed that same salary for the 2026 season. Since he can be controlled through 2027, it’s likely the Guards will still tender him a contract and be content to pay him around $3MM combined for the 2025-26 seasons even though he won’t pitch in the former.

Guardians Designate Anthony Gose For Assignment

By | at

The Guardians designated left-hander Anthony Gose for assignment … again. Cleveland announced Monday that Gose has been DFA in favor of fellow southpaw Joey Cantillo, who has been recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

It’s the fourth DFA of the past month for the out-of-options Gose, who has fully embraced the depth role in which the Guardians have placed him. He can’t be optioned to the minors, so Cleveland has continually designated him for assignment and passed him through waivers, at which point Gose has either accepted an outright assignment or briefly elected free agency and near-immediately re-signed on a new minor league deal.

It’s an odd cycle but not an entirely unfamiliar one. The Yankees have gone this route with righties David Hale and Ryan Weber in the past. The Marlins have done the same this year with lefty Kent Emanuel, just as they did with Devin Smeltzer in 2023. Gose is clearly fine with the tumultuous and somewhat unconventional arrangement, as he’s getting frequent MLB service time and pay out of it and agreeing to return to the organization each time. Granted, not all of those situations featured such rapid-fire selections to the majors and immediate DFAs, but it’s conceptually the same scenario.

Gose allowed two runs in an inning of work during his most recent brief stint with the Guards. He’s pitched in three games this season and yielded runs in all of them, combining for five runs on nine hits and a walk with four strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. He’s posted better run-prevention numbers in Triple-A, logging a 3.27 earned run average with a hearty 32.8% strikeout rate against a more troubling 14.7% walk rate.

The 2024 season is Gose’s first year back from a Tommy John procedure that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign. A former second-round pick who ranked as one of the top prospects in the game during his days as a center fielder, he’s still looking to establish himself as a viable big league option in the bullpen. Gose has pitched 32 innings in the majors since making the switch to the mound and recorded a 4.78 ERA with big strikeout numbers (29.7%) and also big walk issues (12.3%).

A two-way star in high school who had some draft interest as a pitcher, Gose was brandishing a fastball that averaged 99.3 mph when he made his mound debut in 2021. He’s since undergone elbow surgery and seen that average heater dip to 95.2 mph — still a well above-average mark (particularly for a lefty), but not the same type of overpowering offering it was a few years back. Gose is still piling up strikeouts in Triple-A, but the command of his fastball/slider combination is a work in progress. He’ll head back to waivers and likely clear quickly before returning to the Guardians, whether via outright assignment or again electing free agency and signing a new minor league pact while he awaits his next call to the majors.

Guardians Designate Scott Barlow For Assignment

By | at

The Guardians have designated right-hander Scott Barlow for assignment, according to MLB.com’s Transactions Tracker. Taking his spot on the 40-man and active rosters will be left-hander Anthony Gose, whose contract was selected according to Gose’s MLB.com Player Page.

Barlow, 31, was acquired by the Guardians in a trade with the Padres last November that sent right-hander Enyel De Los Santos to San Diego. A longtime Royals relief arm who emerged as the club’s top leverage arm during the 2021 season, Barlow pitched to an excellent 2.30 ERA and 3.13 FIP in 148 2/3 innings between 2021 and ’22 while striking out 28.2% of batters faced and racking up 40 saves.

Unfortunately, he took a step back in 2023 with a somewhat uneven season. While his numbers under the hood during his time with the Royals last year, including a 26.7% strikeout rate and a 4.04 SIERA, offered plenty of reason for optimism, he struggled in terms of preventing runs and ultimately surrendered a 5.35 ERA in 38 2/3 innings of work before being shipped to the Padres at the trade deadline. Once in uniform with San Diego, Barlow pitched much better down the stretch with a 3.07 ERA and 3.15 FIP in his final 29 1/3 innings last year. That seemed to leave Barlow poised to occupy a key role with the Padres in the late innings this year, but he was ultimately shipped to the Guardians as part of an effort to slash the club’s payroll and duck under the luxury tax for 2024.

That allowed the Guardians step in and take the opportunity to add Barlow to their already excellent bullpen, where he was poised to act as one of the top setup men for closer Emmanuel Clase. For much of the season, the right-hander performed that role admirably with a 3.12 ERA and 3.50 FIP in 43 1/3 innings of work through the end of July. Things took a sharp turn for the worse once the calendar flipped to August, however, and Barlow was shelled to the tune of an 8.49 ERA in 11 2/3 innings of work. The right-hander has seemed lost on the mound for over a month now, with a 17.9% strikeout rate against a 10.7% walk rate to go along with three hit batters and two home runs over his last 13 appearances. As the Guardians look to fend off the Royals and Twins in the AL Central and earn a bye through the Wild Card Series this October, the club evidently felt they couldn’t afford to continue giving the righty opportunities to get right.

Barlow’s departure makes way for Gose, 34, on the big league roster. Once a top-100 prospect as a hitter with the Phillies, he struggled through five seasons in the majors with a below average .240/.309/.348 slash line in 372 career games and eventually decided to try converting 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. Gose sported a respectable 3.90 ERA and 4.17 FIP in 27 2/3 innings of work as pitcher for his career when he underwent Tommy John surgery in September of 2022, and he spent the entire 2023 season rehabbing.

Now back in action with the Guardians, Gose surrendered three runs in 3 1/3 innings of work during a brief cup of coffee earlier this year but has posted a solid 3.27 ERA in 41 1/3 frames at the Triple-A level. He’ll get another opportunity with the big league club down the stretch as he looks to establish himself as a viable relief option for the 2025 campaign, whether that’s with Cleveland or elsewhere.

Guardians Re-Sign Anthony Gose To Minor League Deal

By | at

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.

Anthony Gose Elects Free Agency

By | at

August 30: Cleveland announced Friday that Gose cleared waivers and again elected free agency in lieu of an outright assignment.

August 28: The Guardians announced Wednesday that they’ve designated left-hander Anthony Gose for assignment. It’s rather incredibly the third DFA of the month for Gose, who has twice cleared waivers and returned to the organization (the second time after very briefly electing free agency). His spot on the roster will go to fellow left-hander Erik Sabrowski, whose contract has been selected from Triple-A Columbus. Sabrowski is now in line to make his major league debut the first time he takes the mound for Cleveland.

Gose, 34, pitched two innings in last night’s loss to the Royals, allowing a run four hits with one strikeout. The outfielder-turned-reliever has pitched 3 1/3 big league frames this season and allowed three runs. He’s spent the bulk of the season pitching for Cleveland’s Triple-A affiliate in Columbus, where he’s logged 39 innings with a solid 3.46 ERA, a huge 32.9% strikeout rate and a problematic 15% walk rate.

The 2024 season is Gose’s first year back from a Tommy John procedure that wiped out his entire 2023 campaign. A former second-round pick who ranked as one of the top prospects in the game during his days as a center fielder, he’s still looking to establish himself as a viable big league option in the bullpen. Gose has pitched 31 innings in the majors since making the switch to the mound and recorded a 4.35 ERA with big strikeout numbers (29.5%) and also big walk issues (12.9%).

A two-way star in high school who had some draft interest as a pitcher, Gose was brandishing a fastball that averaged 99.3 mph when he made his mound debut in 2021. He’s since undergone elbow surgery and seen that average heater dip to 95.2 mph — still a well above-average mark (particularly for a lefty), but not the same type of overpowering offering it was a few years back. Gose is still piling up strikeouts in Triple-A, but the command of his fastball/slider combination is a work in progress.

Gose will once again head to the waiver wire now that he’s been designated for assignment. He has the right to reject an outright in favor of free agency, but at this point of the season there’s a good chance he’d just re-sign with Cleveland and head back to Columbus anyhow, as he did following his previous DFA.

As for Sabrowski, this is his first call to the big leagues. The 6’4″, 230-pound southpaw was a 14th-round pick by the Padres in 2018 who came to the Guardians organization by way of the Rule 5 Draft’s minor league phase in 2021. Although he’s a 2018 draftee, he’s only pitched in parts of three professional seasons, thanks to the canceled 2020 minor league campaign and a pair of Tommy John surgeries that both cost him at least a full season. He has just 99 1/3 professional innings under his belt at this point.

Even with that minimal workload, Sabrowski has been impressive with the Guardians since returning from his most recent elbow surgery. Like Gose, he’s posted huge strikeout numbers but also bloated walk rates. His 2023 season saw Sabrowski log 21 2/3 frames with a 2.49 ERA in Double-A. He punched out 30.4% of his opponents but also walked 19.6% of the batters he faced.

Sabrowski opened the 2024 season back at Double-A and notched a pristine 0.77 ERA in 11 2/3 innings there, fanning a comical 54.2% of his opponents against a vastly improved 4.2% walk rate. Since being promoted to Triple-A, he’s logged a 4.38 ERA in 37 innings while recording a 31.2% strikeout rate against a once-again troublesome 17.6% walk rate. He’ll need to improve that command in order to find sustained success in the majors, but there’s little doubting Sabrowski’s ability to miss bats in droves. For now, he gives Cleveland skipper Stephen Vogt a fresh arm as the Guards look to fend off a surging Royals club in the AL Central, with the Twins only 2.5 games behind as well.

Guardians Select Anthony Gose

By | at

The Guardians announced that they have selected left-hander Anthony Gose to their roster. He had recently elected free agency but re-signed with the club on a minor league deal, per his transactions tracker at MLB.com. Lefty Logan Allen was optioned in a corresponding move. The club already had a 40-man vacancy and won’t need to make a corresponding move in that regard.

Gose, 34, has been on and off the Cleveland roster all year. This is the third time his contract has been selected. Since he is out of options, the two previous stints resulted in him being designated for assignment fairly quickly. The first instance resulted in him accepting an outright assignment. The second time, as mentioned, he elected free agency but quickly re-signed on a fresh minor league pact.

A former outfielder, Gose switched to pitching a few years ago. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a late convert, control has been an issue but he has racked up some tantalizing strikeout numbers. In 2022, he tossed 21 innings for the Guards, punching out 30.4% of batters faced. But he also gave out walks at a 15.2% clip, leading to a 4.71 earned run average.

He required Tommy John surgery at the end of that year, which led to him missing the entire 2023 season. The Guards signed him to a two-year minor league pact, which covered that lost year as well as the current campaign. Around his transactions, he has managed to throw 39 Triple-A innings this year with a 3.46 ERA. The 15% walk rate is still high but he’s also still getting the Ks, with a 32.9% rate this year.

The Guardians have Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee scheduled to start their next two games but then have an off-day on Thursday. By optioning Allen, they can add one extra bullpen arm to a relief mix that is fairly taxed after yesterday’s double-header. Given the way they’ve treated Gose this year, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he is designated for assignment again once the club needs another fresh bullpen arm or a fifth starter.

Giants Acquire Nate Furman As PTBNL In Alex Cobb Deal

By | at

The Giants have acquired minor league infielder Nate Furman from the Guardians as the player to be named later in the trade that sent Alex Cobb from San Francisco to Cleveland, per announcements from both clubs. Cleveland also sent young lefty Jacob Bresnahan to San Francisco at the time of the swap. Robert Murray of FanSided reported Furman’s swap prior to the deal being made official.

Furman, 23, was Cleveland’s fourth-round pick back in 2022. He’s not ranked prominently among the team’s prospects but posted a big .338/.417/.500 batting line in 176 plate appearances at High-A this season before struggling in 13 games in the wake of a promotion to Double-A (.125/.300/.200 in 51 plate appearances). It’s possible that health played a role in those struggles with the Guards’ affiliate in Akron, however. Furman hit the injured list with a strain in his right shoulder late in June, was transferred to the minor league 60-day injured list in July, and has still yet to return to action.

With the Guards, Furman played primarily second base and third base. He played both middle infield slots in college at the University of North Carolina. Scouting reports tout him as a plus runner who’ll likely settle in at second base. While Furman didn’t show much power in college (three career homers) and didn’t hit a home run in 2023, he popped seven long balls in High-A this season. He’s also 47-for-54 in stolen bases during his young professional career, and he’s shown a plus approach at the plate, with a 13.6% walk rate against a 13.9% strikeout rate. Furman has high-end speed and bat-to-ball skills, but he’ll need to continue to add power and/or break out as a high-level defender at second base in order to profile as a regular.

The trade of Furman finalizes the return for the veteran Cobb, whom Cleveland has thus far only been able to utilize for two starts. The veteran righty pitched 10 1/3 innings and allowed five runs during that pair of outings and has since been placed back on the 15-day injured list due to a finger injury. Those are the first two starts Cobb has made this season. He opened the year on the injured list while rehabbing from offseason hip surgery and dealt with shoulder and blister issues that delayed his return to the big leagues.

Anthony Gose Elects Free Agency

By | at

TODAY: Gose cleared waivers, as per his MLB.com profile page, and chose to become a free agent rather than accept an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus.

AUGUST 21: The Guardians have designated left-hander Anthony Gose for assignment, per their transactions tracker at MLB.com. Left-hander Joey Cantillo has been recalled to take his spot on the active roster.

This is the second time that Gose has been quickly designated for assignment after being added to Cleveland’s roster. The first stint led to one appearance but he didn’t get sent to the mound at all in the second stint. He is out of options and therefore can’t be sent to the minors unless he’s removed from the 40-man roster entirely and passed through waivers.

The converted outfielder underwent Tommy John surgery in September of 2022, then was non-tendered by the Guards. He re-signed with them on a two-year minor league deal, covering his rehab from that procedure and planned return to the mound this year.

His results both before and after the surgery have featured a lot of strikeouts but also a lot of walks. In 29 major league innings, from 2021 to the present, he has a 4.34 ERA, 30.9% strikeout rate and 13.8% walk rate. In his 39 Triple-A innings this year, he has a 3.46 ERA, 32.9% strikeout rate but a 15% walk rate.

With the trade deadline now passed, the Guardians will have no choice but to place Gose on waivers again. Players with at least three years of service time or a previous outright have the right to reject outright assignments and elect free agency, with Gose meeting both of those criteria. Last week, he passed through waivers unclaimed and accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus, so perhaps that sequence of events will take place again in the coming days.

Guardians Place Alex Cobb On Injured List

By | at

The Guardians announced that right-hander Alex Cobb has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to a fractured nail on his right hand. Left-hander Anthony Gose was selected to take his roster spot. Lefty Sam Hentges was transferred to the 60-day IL in order to open a 40-man spot for Gose.

Cobb, 36, has dealt with his share of challenges over the past year. While with the Giants last season, he finished the campaign on the IL due to left hip inflammation. He underwent surgery on that hip in October, which was going to put him on the shelf to start 2024, but it was hoped that he could be back some time in May. The Giants seemed to have some belief in that timeline, as they picked up a $10MM club option for this year.

As he was ramping things up in March, it seemed he had a chance to beat that projection and come back earlier than expected, but then he hit some snags. Right shoulder inflammation delayed his return and he was transferred to the 60-day IL in mid-April. Even at that point, it was still hoped that a late May return was possible, but his throwing program was shut down in the middle of May due to discomfort in that shoulder.

He was able to get back on the mound and start a rehab assignment on June 30 but was traded to the Guardians a month later, just ahead of the deadline. The Giants had strengthened their rotation by welcoming Robbie Ray and Blake Snell off the IL, while getting encouraging results from rookies Kyle Harrison and Hayden Birdsong.

The Guardians, meanwhile, had far less stability in their rotation. Shane Bieber required Tommy John surgery in April and is done for the year. Gavin Williams missed the first half of the season due to right elbow inflammation and has posted a 5.02 earned run average since being activated. Guys like Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen and Carlos Carrasco have also posted ERAs north of 5.00 this year. Carrasco is now on the IL with a strained hip while McKenzie and Allen have been optioned.

Getting a veteran like Cobb was therefore a sensible move but he’s now back on the IL after just two starts. The club hasn’t yet provided any information about what kind of absence they expect but it’s less than ideal regardless. Even if the finger issue is relatively minor and clears up in a few weeks, it’s yet another hurdle that will make it challenging for Cobb to get into a groove after so many stops and starts this year.

The Guardians have been in first place for a large chunk of the season but the standings have tightened up on them lately. They are now just two games up on the Twins and just three up on the Royals in the Central. Teams like the Red Sox and Mariners aren’t far behind, so it’s possible the Guards find themselves in a tight battle for a playoff spot in the coming weeks.

For now, they will have to try to stay afloat with a rotation that still has lots of uncertainty apart from Tanner Bibee. They recently welcome Matthew Boyd back from a lengthy Tommy John absence and he looked good in his first start of the year, but it’s his fourth straight season of missing time due to a serious injury, so it’s anyone’s guess what he can provide in the coming weeks and months. Ben Lively has a 3.68 ERA on the year but with a .255 batting average on balls in play and 83.6% strand rate. His 4.90 FIP and 4.51 SIERA are less optimistic. As mentioned, Williams has an ERA over 5.00 this year.

The Guardians are off today but then play ten games in nine days starting tomorrow, thanks to a double-header against the Royals next Monday. With Cobb now out of the picture for the next little while, they will have to reach into their depth to fill out the rotation alongside Bibee, Boyd, Lively and Williams. Neither McKenzie nor Allen have been especially strong in the minors this year. Joey Cantillo has a 2.97 ERA in Triple-A but had a 6.23 ERA in his three major league starts earlier this season.

In the meantime, they’ve added another arm to their bullpen by selecting Gose. The lefty was just outrighted off the roster a week ago but accepted an assignment to Triple-A Columbus. The former outfielder has strikeout stuff on the mound but also notable control issues. In 39 Triple-A innings this year, he has a 3.46 ERA and 32.9% strikeout rate but he has also walked 15% of batters that came to the plate.

He missed the 2023 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and the Guards called him up earlier this month, but he was squeezed off the roster a few days later when Cobb was reinstated from the IL. Now that Cobb is back on the shelf, Gose has his roster spot back. However, Gose is out of options and could potentially be nudged off yet again in the coming days as Cleveland will need to figure out their rotation plans.

Hentges has been on the 15-day IL since July 11 due to left shoulder inflammation. He’s now ineligible to be activated until 60 days from that date, which would be the second week of September. He started a rehab assignment in early July but hasn’t pitched since August 7. A few days after that, Zack Meisel of The Athletic relayed on X that Hentges was slated for more testing. His current status isn’t publicly known but the Guardians apparently don’t expect him to be able to return in the next few weeks.

Guardians Outright Anthony Gose

By | at

The Guardians announced on Monday afternoon that reliever Anthony Gose accepted an outright assignment to Triple-A Columbus. He cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week.

Gose was only on the major league roster for three days. He allowed two runs while logging an inning and a third in his lone appearance. That was Gose’s first MLB work in two seasons. He tossed a personal-high 22 frames for Cleveland back in 2022, turning in a 4.71 earned run average with an excellent 30.4% strikeout percentage but a lofty 15.2% walk rate. Gose has posted similar rate stats with Columbus this season, fanning upwards of 34% of batters faced while issuing walks at a 14.3% clip.

A former outfielder with the Blue Jays and Tigers, Gose has focused exclusively on pitching for the past few seasons. He can run his fastball into the mid to upper 90s and clearly has significant bat-missing potential, though he has still yet to dial in his command consistently. Gose is out of options, so other teams passed on taking a flier. That’s to Cleveland’s benefit, as he’ll head back to Triple-A and remain on hand in case the Guards need additional lefty bullpen depth down the stretch. Gose will again have the ability to become a minor league free agent next offseason if Cleveland doesn’t call him back up before then.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top