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Guardians Designate Anthony Castro For Assignment, Activate Cody Morris

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The Guardians have designated right-hander Anthony Castro for assignment in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster for fellow righty Cody Morris, who’s been reinstated from the 60-day injured list, MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets. Infielder Ernie Clement has also been recalled from Triple-A Columbus.

Castro, 27, was acquired in the Opening Day swap that sent outfielder Bradley Zimmer to Toronto. He appeared in a dozen games with Cleveland and posted a 7.43 ERA with a 12-to-10 K/BB ratio in 13 1/3 innings of relief. Castro averaged 95.2 mph on his heater and induced grounders at a 51.2% clip — both solid marks — but the bottom-line results and shaky command clearly weren’t encouraging. He’s notched a 3.94 ERA and an impressive 29.5% strikeout rate in 29 1/3 Triple-A innings this season but also posted a cringe-worthy 15.2% walk rate in that time.

Dating back to 2020, Castro has totaled 39 Major League innings between the Tigers, Blue Jays and Guardians but limped to a 6.00 ERA in that time. He throws hard and has missed plenty of bats in Triple-A, but command has long been an issue and Castro will be out of options in 2023. Cleveland will place him on outright waivers or release him within the next week.

Morris, 25, likely would’ve made his MLB  debut by now were it not for a strained teres major muscle that shut him down back in Spring Training. Cleveland selected him to the 40-man roster back in November on the heels of a 2021 season that saw him log a sparkling 1.62 ERA and 93-to-20 K/BB ratio in 61 innings across three levels.

Though he spent most of the season on the injured list, Morris has been able to go out on a minor league rehab assignment recently, and the results have been outstanding. He tossed three scoreless innings with nine strikeouts and no walks for the Guardians’ Rookie-ball affiliate before jumping to Triple-A and holding opponents to four runs with a 30-to-6 K/BB ratio in 15 1/3 innings of work. Between the past two seasons, Morris has tallied 52 innings of Triple-A work with a 1.90 ERA, a massive 40.6% strikeout rate and an 8.9% walk rate.

Guardians Re-Sign Bryan Shaw

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March 25: The Guardians have formally announced the signing. In a corresponding roster move, right-hander Cody Morris has been placed on the 60-day injured list.

MLB.com’s Mandy Bell tweets that Morris recently underwent an MRI, which revealed a strained teres major muscle. He’s been shut down entirely and will be reevaluated after a period of four to six weeks without throwing. Given the length of that shutdown, Morris wasn’t likely to be ready early in the 2022 season anyhow.

March 24: It’s a one-year, $3MM deal that contains an option for the 2023 season, tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman.

March 23: The Guardians have reached a deal to bring veteran right-hander Bryan Shaw back to Cleveland, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports (via Twitter). Shaw made a league-leading 81 appearances in 2021 for Cleveland — his second stint with the organization. Shaw is repped by CAA Baseball.

A staple in the Cleveland bullpen from 2013-17, Shaw thrice led the league in appearances during that stretch and pitched to an overall 3.11 ERA through 358 2/3 innings of relief work. He reached free agency as one of the most durable and effective names on the market in the 2017-18 offseason, but a three-year deal with the Rockies quickly went south. Shaw was clobbered for a 5.61 ERA in 126 2/3 frames with the Rox, who released him in July 2020. He latched on with the Mariners for the 2020 campaign but was rocked for a dozen runs in six frames with Seattle.

A return to Cleveland on a minor league deal this past year didn’t come with high expectations following that ugly three-year stint, but Shaw generally righted the ship. In 77 1/3 inning of bullpen work, he notched a solid 3.49 ERA, picking up 20 holds and a pair of saves along the way. Shaw’s success wasn’t without its red flags, as his 21.3% strikeout rate was down about four percentage points from its peak and his 11.4% walk rate was the highest full-season mark of his 11-year big league career. Still, Shaw limited hard contact, suppressed homers and picked up swinging strikes at his best rates since the 2017 season.

Assuming he’s on the big league roster, the 34-year-old Shaw will become the elder statesman of Guardians bullpen that is packed with power arms but light on experience. Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak and Anthony Gose can all pump 100mph fastballs with regularity, but Gose is the only member of the relief corps with even two years of MLB service time — and most of that came earlier in his career as an outfielder, before he made the switch to the mound.

Guardians Designate Seven Players For Assignment

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The Guardians announced Friday that they’ve designated outfielders Daniel Johnson and Harold Ramirez; righties Justin Garza and J.C. Mejia; and lefties Kyle Nelson, Alex Young and Scott Moss for assignment.

Cleveland also added a whopping 10 players to the 40-man roster, headlined by top prospects Tyler Freeman and George Valera. Also added to the 40-man roster are Brayan Rocchio, Richie Palacios, Steven Kwan, Jose Tena, Cody Morris, Bryan Lavastida, Konnor Pilkington and Jhonkensy Noel.

Finally, the Guardians have also acquired right-hander Tobias Myers from the Rays in exchange for minor league infielder Junior Caminero, tweets FanGraphs’ Eric Longenhagen. Myers will also be added to the 40-man roster.

Johnson and Ramirez have been part of a revolving door in an uncertain Cleveland outfield in recent seasons. Neither has hit well enough to lock down a permanent roster spot, although Ramirez did start more than half the team’s games in 2021. Ramirez would have the right to elect minor league free agency if he clears waivers.

Mejia logged significant action as a depth starter this year but struggled. Garza, Nelson and Young saw some bullpen work, while Moss has yet to make it to the major leagues.

The massive turnover highlights the high minors depth Cleveland has stockpiled in recent seasons. The selection of ten prospects is highly atypical, but it’s a testament to the Guardians’ scouting and development staffs that they’ve managed to accumulate so much talent they’re afraid other teams might jump on. That’s particularly true on the position player side, with much of this group being hitters with advanced bat-to-ball skills who could factor onto the big league roster in relatively short order.

Freeman, Valera and Rocchio might be the most notable. All three appeared on FanGraphs’ Top 100 list entering the 2021 season. They’ve all topped out at Double-A Akron, where each posted above-average offensive performances despite being 22 years old or younger. Valera plays center field, while Freeman and Rocchio are middle infielders. Palacios is another infielder with great high minors numbers, while Lavastida is regarded as one of the better catching prospects in the minors.

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