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Guardians Rumors

Poll: Can The Guardians Hang Onto A Playoff Spot?

By Nick Deeds | May 28, 2025 at 1:55pm CDT

The Guardians made it all the way to the ALCS last year while dominating an AL Central division that sent three teams to the playoffs, and over the offseason they augmented their lineup with players like Carlos Santana, Nolan Jones, and Luis Ortiz. While that hasn’t been enough to prevent the Tigers from becoming the kings of the hill in the division, it’s still been more than enough to keep the Guardians firmly in the AL playoff picture throughout the year. They currently sport a solid 29-25 record, which leaves them tied with the Astros in the standings for the second of three AL Wild Card spots.

Cracks have begun to show in Cleveland’s armor, however. Their 93 wRC+ as a team gives them the eighth-worst offense in the majors this year, down from last year’s 100 wRC+ that was dead-on average and good for a median 8th in the AL. The rotation, similarly, is in the bottom eight in baseball by measure of both ERA (4.21) and FIP (4.52) this year. That’s actually one spot better than last year’s team, which ranked seventh from the bottom in rotation ERA (4.40) and FIP (4.51), but the pitching has deteriorated overall thanks to a massive step back for the club’s once-impenetrable bullpen.

Relievers have always been fickle when it comes to year-to-year performance, and evidently even a group as dominant as the Guardians’ 2024 bullpen is subject to variance. After leading baseball in both ERA (2.57) and FIP (3.30) out of the pen by a substantial margin last year, this year’s relief corps is actually below average by ERA (4.01), and has fallen to eighth in the majors (3.58) by measure of FIP. For a team that leaned so heavily on elite performances from pieces like Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith last year, a leaky bullpen is a major concern.

On some level, it’s impressive that the Guards have been able to win even this much given their backsliding offense and much weaker contributions from the bullpen. With that being said, those flaws have made them the only team presently in playoff position in either league with a negative run differential; they’ve allowed 20 more runs than they’ve scored entering play today, and the next weakest mark among that group is held by a Padres club that has done the inverse, with 20 more runs scored than allowed.

Will Cleveland be able to either improve those underlying numbers, or continue winning in spite of them? One thing that should benefit them is that their bullpen’s underlying metrics remain strong. As previously mentioned, they remain a top-ten club by bullpen FIP, and their relief corps’s 3.39 SIERA is good for an even better sixth in the majors. There’s some positive signs on offense, too, with Jones significantly under-performing his expected metrics and Lane Thomas likely to improve his performance the longer he’s back from the injured list. The rotation should get reinforcements eventually, as well, with longtime ace Shane Bieber expected back from Tommy John surgery at some point this year.

Even if those players don’t manage to turn things around, the Guardians could still benefit from a weak AL playoff field. While no team within even six games of a playoff spot in the NL has a negative run differential entering play today, the Royals, Rangers, and Blue Jays all have negative run differentials and make up three of the four teams within three games of an AL Wild Card spot. Unlike the Guardians, those clubs haven’t been so fortunate as to substantially outperform their expected records in the early going, with Texas and Toronto in particular both underwater at present. Each of those teams have their own flaws and challenges that could make it hard for them to catch the Guardians, while a more well-constructed club like the Red Sox just lost Alex Bregman and is currently on a four-game skid that leaves them 3.5 games behind Cleveland.

How do MLBTR readers view the Guardians’ playoff situation? Will they be able to hold onto their position in the playoff race for the long haul in spite of the early red flags? Or will another team emerge to push them out of the conversation? Have your say in the poll below:

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Cleveland Guardians MLBTR Originals MLBTR Polls

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Guardians Promote Nic Enright

By Nick Deeds | May 24, 2025 at 3:55pm CDT

The Guardians are recalling right-hander Nic Enright to the roster today, as noted by MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. He’ll take the place of right-hander Hunter Gaddis, who is going on the bereavement list. Should Enright make it into a game during this coming stint in the majors, it would be his big league debut.

Enright, 28, was drafted by Cleveland during the 20th round of the 2019 draft. Having mostly worked in relief during his college days, he was used out of the bullpen right away in his professional debut, when he allowed just one earned run in 18 dominant innings at the rookie league level. He struck out 36.1% of his opponents while walking 11.1%, and was clearly ready for a larger challenge. The cancelled minor league season in 2020 stalled Enright’s promotion somewhat, but he nonetheless reached Double-A by the end of the 2021 season. After scuffling to a 4.31 ERA in his first taste of action at the level, he enjoyed a fantastic season in the upper minors in 2022 with a 2.88 ERA in 65 2/3 innings of work between the Double- and Triple-A levels.

That’s the sort of performance that puts a player on the radar for a call-up to the majors. The Marlins clearly saw him as potentially ready for the show, as they plucked him from Cleveland in the Rule 5 draft that December. As Stebbins wrote about back in March, however, Enright was diagnosed with Hodgkins’ Lymphoma just a couple of weeks after being drafted by Miami. MLBTR readers are encourage to read Stebbins’s story about Enright’s battle with cancer in full.

The righty continued to pitch while undergoing treatment and made a handful of rehab appearances in the minors with the Marlins before eventually being returned to the Guardians organization in late May. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the fact that Enright was simultaneously changing organizations and battling cancer while trying to continue his development as a pitcher, 2023 was a bit of a down season for him as he struggled to a 5.09 ERA in 46 innings of work at the Triple-A level.

Despite those difficulties, Enright continued to persevere and turned things around last year, when he dominated to the tune of a 1.06 ERA and a 49.2% strikeout rate at Triple-A. That phenomenal performance came in just 17 innings of work, however, as the right-hander missed most of last year due to a strain in his throwing shoulder. Enright has been able to avoid further injury this year through nine appearances and has a 2.00 ERA at Triple-A, albeit with identical 18.9% strikeout and walk rates that are clear cause for concern. Regardless of that potential red flag, however, the 28-year-old is now on the precipice of making his big league debut despite the substantial off-the-field hurdles he’s faced in recent years.

If Enright does make his debut with the Guardians this evening, he’ll be tasked with facing a tough Tigers lineup in Detroit. As for Gaddis, his absence from the Cleveland bullpen will surely be felt given that he’s he’s pitched to a brilliant 1.41 ERA and 2.82 FIP with a 26.1% strikeout rate across 95 2/3 innings of work since the start of the 2024 season. Fortunately, the Guardians will still have Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith to handle the late innings in Gaddis’s absence.

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Hunter Gaddis Nic Enright

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Ben Lively To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

By Anthony Franco and Darragh McDonald | May 23, 2025 at 2:34pm CDT

Guardians right-hander Ben Lively will undergo Tommy John surgery and a flexor tendon repair, the team announced. The righty is expected to miss 12 to 16 months. That means he’ll miss the remainder of the 2025 season and maybe all of ’26 as well. He’s already on the 15-day injured list and will be moved to the 60-day IL whenever Cleveland needs his 40-man roster spot.

“Earlier this week, RHP Ben Lively sought a second opinion on his injured right elbow with Dr. Keith Meister in Arlington, TX,” the club’s statement reads. “Dr. Meister confirmed the presence of a flexor tendon injury while also noting medial elbow joint laxity due to an insufficient ulnar collateral ligament. Both team physicians and Dr. Meister believe the joint laxity is placing added stress on the flexor muscles and have recommended UCL reconstruction along with flexor tendon repair. No surgical date has been set but is expected in the coming days with Dr. Meister. Return to play timeframes in similar cases are 12-16 months.”

Lively was unexpectedly tabbed as Cleveland’s Opening Day starter this season after an illness ruled Tanner Bibee out for that assignment. The 33-year-old didn’t have a great outing, surrendering three runs over five innings in Kansas City. However, he has arguably been Cleveland’s best starting pitcher through the season’s first month and a half. After posting a 3.81 ERA in 151 innings a year ago, he worked to a 3.22 mark across nine starts this year. He’s up to nearly 200 innings with a 3.68 ERA in a Cleveland uniform since signing for a modest $750K as a free agent during the 2023-24 offseason.

It has been the most successful stretch of Lively’s big league tenure. He’d spent parts of two seasons apiece as a depth starter with the Phillies and Royals early in his career. He then pitched in Korea for three seasons before returning stateside with the Reds in 2022. Lively allowed 5.38 earned runs per nine with Cincinnati and was waived at the end of that year. Cleveland saw enough to give him a major league contract, and they were rewarded with generally solid results until he left the mound with forearm pain during a start against the Brewers last week.

There’s a decent chance this will end his Guardians tenure. Lively is playing this season on a $2.25MM contract after qualifying for arbitration for the first time. He’d be due a slight raise next year if tendered a contract. The Guardians will need to decide whether to offer him something in the $3MM range to spend most or all of next season rehabbing, then pay a similar salary for a hopefully healthy ’27 campaign. He’d be nearing his 35th birthday at that point. Lively doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats, so the team may feel they can more cheaply replace his production and non-tender him.

In the short term, it’s a hit to an already questionable starting staff. Cleveland starters rank 19th in both ERA and strikeout rate. They’re 23rd in innings pitched. Lively led the group in ERA. Slade Cecconi, who was acquired from the Diamondbacks for Josh Naylor over the winter, was activated from his own IL stint on Saturday to take Lively’s rotation spot. He worked five innings of three-run ball in his team debut. He slots behind Bibee, Gavin Williams, Luis Ortiz and Logan Allen for the time being. Shane Bieber and John Means are potential second-half reinforcements as they work back from their own UCL procedures.

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Cleveland Guardians Ben Lively

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Guardians Prospect Travis Bazzana Diagnosed With Oblique Strain

By Anthony Franco | May 20, 2025 at 7:34pm CDT

The Guardians announced this afternoon that last year’s first overall pick Travis Bazzana has been diagnosed with a right internal oblique strain. The top second base prospect hasn’t played since suffering the injury last Wednesday. The team noted that such injuries usually sideline a player for eight to ten weeks, so Bazzana will be out into the second half of the season.

That obviously hurts his chances of reaching the big leagues before the end of the year. Top college draftees fairly regularly reach the majors by the end of their first full professional season. A pair of first-rounders from last year’s class, Cam Smith and Nick Kurtz, have already debuted. Sixth overall pick Jac Caglianone, a first baseman/outfielder in the Kansas City system, might not be far off after receiving a promotion to Triple-A today.

Bazzana, an Oregon State product, has spent the entire season at Double-A Akron. The lefty-hitting infielder carries a .252/.362/.433 line with four homers across 149 plate appearances. That’s well above-average in the extremely pitcher-friendly league. (The average Eastern League hitter owns a .229/.317/.366 slash line.) Bazzana is striking out at a somewhat worrying 26.2% clip, but he’d begun to find his stride at the plate. He was hitting .279/.392/.512 this month after posting a .238/.347/.393 mark in April.

Daniel Schneemann has stepped up as Stephen Vogt’s primary second baseman. The second-year utilityman already has six homers with a .265/.339/.500 slash across 110 plate appearances. Schneemann had played a multi-positional role off the bench early in the year. Gabriel Arias was starting at second base to begin the season, but he kicked over to shortstop when the Guards optioned the scuffling Brayan Rocchio last week.

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Cleveland Guardians Travis Bazzana

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Guardians Activate Slade Cecconi

By Anthony Franco | May 17, 2025 at 2:28pm CDT

TODAY: The Guardians have officially announced Cecconi’s activation. Right-hander Zak Kent was optioned to Columbus in the corresponding move.

MAY 16: The Guardians will activate Slade Cecconi from the 15-day injured list to start tomorrow against Cincinnati, relays Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. It will be the right-hander’s team debut. He was acquired from the Diamondbacks in the offseason Josh Naylor trade.

Cecconi, 25, probably would have opened the season in Stephen Vogt’s rotation had he been healthy. He strained his left oblique during Spring Training. He has made a trio of rehab starts with Triple-A Columbus over the past couple weeks. Cecconi has allowed seven runs over 13 innings. He got through 5 2/3 frames and tallied 68 pitches over the weekend.

A Miami product, Cecconi was a supplemental first-round pick in 2020. His prospect stock has dimmed since then, though the Guardians still liked him enough to send their longtime first baseman to Arizona. Cecconi tossed 104 innings for the Snakes between 2023-24, allowing just over six earned runs per nine. His 18.7% strikeout rate is below-average, but he has shown excellent control. He owns a 4.73 ERA over parts of five minor league seasons.

Cleveland lost Ben Lively to the injured list with a flexor strain earlier this week. Cecconi will slot behind Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Luis Ortiz and Logan Allen to round out the rotation for the time being.

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Slade Cecconi Zak Kent

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Guardians Hire Corey Kluber As Special Assistant

By Anthony Franco | May 14, 2025 at 7:09pm CDT

Corey Kluber is back in Cleveland. The Guardians announced that they’ve hired the two-time Cy Young winner as a Special Assistant of Pitching. Zack Meisel of The Athletic first reported the news this morning.

Kluber spent nine of his 13 MLB seasons in Cleveland. Acquired from San Diego as an unheralded minor league pitcher as part of a three-team deal involving Jake Westbrook and Ryan Ludwick, Kluber reached the majors in 2011. He didn’t establish himself until 2013 but broke out as arguably the game’s best pitcher one season later. He won his first Cy Young while leading the AL with 18 wins and firing 235 2/3 innings of 2.44 ERA ball.

That was the first of five straight seasons in which Kluber finished top 10 in Cy Young balloting. He placed among the AL’s top three on four occasions during that stretch. He won his second Cy Young while winning the ERA title in 2017. Kluber finished his nine-year tenure in Cleveland with a 3.16 earned run average and 98 wins during the regular season. He made another nine postseason starts, headlined by a 1.83 ERA across six outings during Cleveland’s pennant run in 2016.

Kluber ranks third on the organization’s all-time leaderboard with 1461 strikeouts. He’s second behind Shane Bieber in strikeout to walk rate and behind only Hall of Famer Addie Joss in WHIP. He’s eighth among pitchers in franchise history in Baseball Reference’s Wins Above Replacement. The Guardians continue to benefit from that run, as they acquired Emmanuel Clase from the Rangers in the 2019 trade that ended Kluber’s tenure in Cleveland. Injuries wrecked his lone season in Texas, but he rebounded with decent seasons for the Yankees and Rays before struggling with the Red Sox in his final year.

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Cleveland Guardians Corey Kluber

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Guardians Place Ben Lively On Injured List With Flexor Strain

By Anthony Franco | May 13, 2025 at 10:04pm CDT

The Guardians placed Ben Lively on the 15-day injured list before the start of tonight’s game against Milwaukee. Lively was diagnosed with a flexor tendon strain in his forearm (relayed by Tim Stebbins of MLB.com). Righty Zak Kent was recalled to take his active roster spot.

Lively started Monday’s series opener against the Brew Crew. He made it through three scoreless innings but exited during his warm-up throws before the start of the fourth. Cleveland initially announced that he was dealing with forearm inflammation, and it seems subsequent evaluation revealed the flexor strain. That makes it highly unlikely that he’ll be back when first eligible a couple weeks from now.

The 33-year-old Lively is in his second season with the Guardians. He signed for barely north of the league minimum going into 2024. It has proven a very shrewd pickup. Lively turned in a 3.81 ERA across 29 starts a year ago. He was unexpectedly tabbed as the Opening Day starter this season after an illness ruled Tanner Bibee out for that assignment. Lively didn’t have a great outing, surrendering three runs over five innings in Kansas City. However, he has been Cleveland’s best starting pitcher through the season’s first month and a half.

Lively owns a 3.22 ERA across 44 2/3 innings. He and Bibee are the only Cleveland starters allowing fewer than four earned runs per nine. He’s succeeding despite a pedestrian 16.3% strikeout rate. He doesn’t throw hard or miss many bats, but he has tossed nearly 200 innings with a combined 3.68 ERA since landing in Cleveland.

The Guardians are off on Thursday, so they can get by without a fifth starter into the early part of next week. Slade Cecconi, who has been out all season with an oblique strain, got up to 68 pitches in a rehab start with Triple-A Columbus on Sunday. He could step into Lively’s rotation spot if the Guards don’t want to recall Doug Nikhazy, who surrendered six runs in three innings in a spot start during his big league debut earlier this year.

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Cleveland Guardians Ben Lively

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Guardians Option Brayan Rocchio

By Darragh McDonald | May 12, 2025 at 2:57pm CDT

The Guardians announced that outfielder Will Brennan has been recalled from Triple-A Columbus. Infielder Brayan Rocchio has been sent the other way, optioned to Columbus as the corresponding move.

Rocchio, 24, heads to the minors for the first time since the 2023 season. He spent the entire 2024 campaign in the big leagues as Cleveland’s primary shortstop. He appeared in 143 games and stepped to the plate 442 times. His offense wasn’t great, as he hit just .206/.298/.316 for a 79 wRC+, indicating he was 21% below league average on the whole. He did steal 10 bases, but was also caught six times. His glovework was well regarded, as he racked up 11 Defensive Runs Saved and six Outs Above Average.

Put all together, FanGraphs considered him to be worth 1.1 wins above replacement on the season, with Baseball Reference a bit more generous at 1.9. That’s obviously not outstanding production but fine value for a guy making modest pay since he’s in his pre-arbitration years.

It was enough for him to open the 2025 season back in that role, but his performance has tanked and he has gradually ceded playing time to others. Through 102 plate appearances this year, Rocchio is hitting .165/.235/.198. His .208 batting average on balls in play is quite low but he’s also not hitting the ball with much authority. His average exit velocity, hard hit rate and barrel rate are no higher than the 11th percentile of qualified hitters, per Statcast. His 4.9% walk rate is less than half of last year’s 10% clip. The defensive metrics have also soured on him, with OAA having him at league par and DRS at -3.

In recent days and weeks, Gabriel Arias has been taking more of the shortstop time. He has a .264/.319/.416 line and 110 wRC+ on the year, with solid defense to boot. Presumably, he will take over as the regular shortstop now that Rocchio has been optioned. Arias and Daniel Schneemann had previously been sharing second base, so perhaps Schneeman will get more playing time at the keystone as he’s hitting .273/.356/.532 for a 154 wRC+ this year. Ángel Martínez and Will Wilson are on hand to step in to the middle infield, if needed, though Martínez is currently the club’s regular center fielder.

For Rocchio, instead of sitting on the big league bench, he can get some regular playing time with Columbus as he tries to get out of his recent funk. Getting his offense back to a more acceptable level could put him in position to return to the majors when an opportunity arises. He is still young and it’s certainly possible that there are better days ahead for him.

How long he spends on this optional assignment could impact his financial position in the future. He came into 2025 with one year and 37 days of service time. That put him on track to qualify for arbitration after 2026 and free agency after 2029, though those timelines will no longer be possible if he ends up spending several months down on the farm. He also has just one option season left, so he’ll be out of options next year if he spends at least 20 days in the minors this season.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Brayan Rocchio Daniel Schneemann Gabriel Arias Will Brennan

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Guardians Outright Vince Velasquez

By Anthony Franco | May 5, 2025 at 10:02pm CDT

The Guardians outrighted Vince Velasquez back to Triple-A Columbus, according to the MLB.com transaction log. Cleveland had designated the right-hander for assignment when they acquired Matt Festa last week.

Velasquez signed a minor league contract in February. He was rehabbing from an elbow surgery that had cost him the second half of 2023 and the complete ’24 season. He’s started four games with Columbus, allowing 11 runs (10 earned) on 16 walks in 15 innings. Despite the mediocre numbers, Cleveland called him up to serve as a long relief option at a busy part of the schedule. Velasquez didn’t make it into a game during his three days on the big league roster, but he secured a prorated $1.5MM salary by reaching the majors.

As a player with over five years of major league service, Velasquez has the right to decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency. It’s unclear if he’ll test the market, though he’d be limited to minor league offers if he did. He may decide to simply head back to Columbus and hope that an improved performance can earn him a less fleeting look later in the year.

Cleveland has one of the weaker rotations in MLB. Their starters entered play Monday with a 4.59 earned run average that ranks 27th in the majors. Only the Orioles, Rockies and Marlins have gotten worse run prevention from the rotation. Cleveland’s 20.1% strikeout rate and 11% walk percentage are each in the bottom third. Gavin Williams and Luis Ortiz have missed bats at above-average rates, but they’ve each struggled to throw strikes. Ben Lively, Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee have reasonable earned run averages with mediocre strikeout rates. It has been an especially underwhelming start from Bibee, who was easily the team’s best starter a year ago.

The Guardians are hopeful that Shane Bieber and John Means can contribute later in the season as they rehab UCL surgeries. Slade Cecconi has been out all season with an oblique strain, though he began a rehab assignment last week. Doug Nikhazy is the top healthy depth starter on the 40-man roster. Kolby Allard and Joey Cantillo are working out of the big league bullpen but could theoretically stretch out as rotation options as well.

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Vincent Velasquez

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Guardians Designate Vince Velasquez For Assignment

By Darragh McDonald | May 2, 2025 at 2:40pm CDT

The Guardians announced that they have selected the contract of right-hander Matt Festa from Triple-A Columbus. Fellow righty Vince Velasquez has been designated for assignment as the corresponding move.

It was reported earlier this week that the Guardians had acquired Festa from the Rangers. He had signed a minor league deal with Texas but recently had the ability to opt out of that deal if not in the major leagues. Based on the trade, it seemed like the Guards were willing to give him the roster spot that the Rangers would not, and that has come to pass today.

He certainly did his best to earn the opportunity. He tossed 14 2/3 scoreless innings for Triple-A Round Rock to start this year. His 11.3% walk rate was a bit high but he punched out 32.2% of batters faced and kept 47.1% of balls in play on the ground. His big league track record is more middling, with a 4.60 ERA, 25% strikeout rate, 10.3% walk rate and 34.9% ground ball rate in 117 1/3 innings, but the Guards will see if his hot start this year can be carried over.

That will unfortunately lead to Velasquez losing his roster spot without pitching in a game. His last major league appearance was almost two years ago now, occurring with the Pirates on May 27th of 2023. UCL surgery wiped out the rest of that season and his entire 2024.

He signed a minor league deal with the Guards coming into 2025 and started this year in Triple-A. He tossed 15 innings over four starts with an ERA of 6.00, a 14.7% strikeout rate and 21.3% walk rate. Those are awful numbers in a small sample but the club wanted a fresh arm earlier this week. Last Friday’s game was rained out, which led to a Saturday doubleheader, meaning Cleveland was to play 13 games in 12 days. They added Kolby Allard on Saturday and Velasquez on Tuesday, two arms capable of pitching multiple innings, but didn’t use Velasquez in any of the past three games.

Velasquez will likely be placed on waivers shortly. Based on his rough early-season numbers and recent injury absence, he will likely clear. He has enough service time to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency instead.

If he ends up on the open market, he could perhaps re-sign with the Guardians or look for opportunities elsewhere. He has 763 2/3 career innings in the big leagues with a 4.88 ERA, 24.9% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

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Cleveland Guardians Transactions Matt Festa Vincent Velasquez

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