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Guardians Activate David Fry From 60-Day IL, Designate Cody Bolton

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12:54PM: The Guardians also announced that right-hander Andrew Walters has been placed on the 15-day IL due to a right lat strain, and righty Nic Enright was called up from Triple-A.  Walters has spent much of the season in Columbus, and was only called up to Cleveland earlier this week to make two appearances before hitting the injured list.

12:22PM: David Fry is ready to make his 2025 debut, as the Guardians announced that the utilityman has been activated from the 60-day injured list.  Right-hander Cody Bolton was designated for assignment in the corresponding 40-man roster move, and space on the 26-man roster was already open since Cleveland placed outfielder Lane Thomas on the 10-day IL yesterday (retroactive to May 27) due to plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

After undergoing elbow surgery back in November, Fry needed some extra time to fully recover, hence his season-opening stint on the Guardians’ 60-day IL.  He’ll return strictly as a designated hitter, as he still isn’t able to throw in the wake of his surgery.  Losing Fry’s defensive versatility is a blow, as he is the rare catcher that can also contribute at several places on the diamond — he saw action at both corner infield and corner outfield spots in 2025, with first base his primary position even moreso than his part-time work behind the plate.

Fry hit .263/.356/.448 with 14 home runs over 392 plate appearances last season, and his 129 wRC+ was topped only by Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan amongst Cleveland hitters.  The offensively-challenged Guardians would love to have that kind of production from Fry back in their lineup, even if his return and DH-only status does create a bit of a positional logjam.

Carlos Santana and Kyle Manzardo have split first base duties this season, with the other usually DH’ing when the other is at the cold corner.  Santana has played pretty much every day while the left-handed hitting Manzardo has been mostly shielded from facing southpaws.  This likely means that Manzardo will be the biggest reduction in his playing time, though manager Stephen Vogt can get creative in finding at-bats for all of Santana, Manzardo, and Fry.

It is a bit of an unfortunate issue for the Guardians that they’re facing this juggle of playing time for three productive hitters, while dealing with much less production from other spots in the lineup.  The outfield again has been a weak link apart from Kwan, though Angel Martinez has recently been on a hot streak and bidding for a more regular role.

Thomas in particular has struggled badly, with only a .119/.169/.136 slash line to show for 65 plate appearances.  The outfielder hasn’t had much time to really get on track after his ice-cold start, as a bone bruise in his right wrist sent Thomas to the injured list for a month, and he is only a little over a week removed from his activation from that prior IL visit.

Given the lingering nature of plantar fasciitis, the question Thomas and the Guardians are facing is exactly how long this latest IL stint will be, as Cleveland’s outfield depth chart is now even thinner.  With Will Brennan also on the injured list, Martinez, Nolan Jones, and Jhonkensy Noel will have to cover two outfield positions while Kwan is naturally locked into his usual spot in left field.

Bolton was acquired from the Mariners in early April, and he was recalled from Triple-A Columbus for one cup of coffee in the majors (a two-inning relief appearance in Cleveland’s 11-1 loss to Minnesota on April 28) before being sent back down the next day.  The right-hander has a career 5.79 ERA over 42 innings with the Pirates, Mariners, and Guardians over the last three seasons, but also a 3.42 ERA in 157 2/3 innings of Triple-A ball.  Breaking into the Guards’ deep bullpen may have always been a tall order for Bolton, but a team in need of swingman depth might be interested in putting in a waiver claim.

Guardians Sign John Means

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The Guardians announced the signing of free agent lefty John Means on a one-year deal with a 2026 club option. The Wasserman client will reportedly make $1MM for the upcoming season. The option carries a base value of $6MM and contains $1.5MM in bonuses: $75K apiece for every 10 innings between 20 and 50, $100K each for the next 10 innings up to 90, $125K for the following 10 innings through 130, and $150K each at 140 and 150 frames. The option does not include a buyout, so the guarantee is $1MM. Means is recovering from his second career Tommy John surgery and expected to be out of action until August.

As a corresponding move, Cleveland placed David Fry on the 60-day injured list. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November and won’t be able to play the field this year. Even returning as a DH will reportedly take six to eight months from that surgery, meaning he likely won’t return until midseason.

Means, 31, was once the Opening Day starter for the Orioles and looked to be a cornerstone in the rotation as the team navigated the late stages of its rebuild and moved back into a win-now mode. The southpaw pitched to a 3.72 ERA in 353 1/3 innings from 2019-22 but was limited to just eight innings in the final of those four years when a UCL tear necessitated Tommy John surgery.

Means grinded through a yearlong rehab process and returned late in the 2023 season. He didn’t make it out of May of 2024 without reinjuring his elbow, unfortunately, and the team announced a second UCL procedure for Means last June. That surgery figures to sideline him beyond the All-Star break — perhaps into the final month or so of the season. Given that timeline, he’s not a lock to pitch for Cleveland at all this year. Any setbacks of note would make it tough for the lefty to get back on a big league mound in 2025.

At his best, Means sat 92-94mph with a four-seamer and complemented the pitch with an 82 mph changeup and 85 mph slider. His strikeout rate typically sat just below league average, though Means’ impeccable command helped to offset his pedestrian bat-missing numbers.

Now, however, three full seasons have elapsed since Means last pitched even 25 big league innings in a season. He tossed 146 2/3 innings in 2019 when first establishing himself and logged a career-high 155 frames in 2021. He’s since combined for just 52 1/3 innings: eight in 2022, 23 2/3 in 2023 and 20 2/3 in 2024. When he was healthy enough to take the mound last year, Means’ fastball averaged only 90.5 mph — down more than three miles per hour from its peak of 93.8 in 2020.

There’s clearly a good bit of uncertainty with Means, which is reflected in the minimal nature of his guarantee this season. If he can get back to peak form, or even 80-90% of that form, he’ll be a bargain addition. If not, the Guardians are barely investing more than a league-minimum salary and can simply move on at season’s end. Stocking up on late-season reinforcements for the staff makes some sense for the Guardians, who don’t have the type of rotation certainty that we’ve generally come to expect from them over the years.

Right-hander Tanner Bibee has emerged as the unquestioned staff leader, but the rest of the group is far less certain. Gavin Williams and Logan Allen, both top prospects who graduated alongside Bibee and impressed in 2023, took substantial steps backwards in 2024. Right-hander Ben Lively has found a second act in his MLB career after spending three years in the KBO, but he sat 89.9 mph with his heater last year. He’s far from a sure thing, but coming off 151 innings of 3.81 ERA ball, he’s likely locked into a spot. Beyond Bibee and Lively, things are more up in the air.

Triston McKenzie opted to forgo surgery in 2023 when he was diagnosed with a UCL injury, and his 2024 season included 16 starts with a 5.11 ERA and noticeably lesser stuff on the mound. Cleveland picked up hard-throwing righty Luis Ortiz from the Pirates in the Andres Gimenez/Spencer Horwitz trade this offseason, but he’s something of a project, having yet to pitch a full season in a big league rotation. Swingman Jakob Junis signed a one-year deal within the past week and could factor into the rotation or serve as a long man in Stephen Vogt’s bullpen. Shane Bieber is back with the club on a two-year deal, but he’s rehabbing from his own Tommy John operation, performed April 12 last year. He’s not likely to be an option until May or June, and the rehab from any major surgery comes with the possibility of setbacks.

In all likelihood, Cleveland will open the season with a rotation including some combination of Bibee, Williams, Lively, Ortiz, McKenzie, Junis and Allen. Others on the 40-man roster include Joey Cantillo, Doug Nikhazy and Slade Cecconi, while non-roster hopefuls in camp include veterans Vince Velasquez and Kolby Allard.

There’s plenty of volume, but the Guards will need to continue showing their knack for coaxing quality performances out of unassuming pitchers if they’re to repeat as champions in an American League Central where they’ll face competition from the Tigers, Royals and Twins. Getting Means back in mid-August could serve the same effective boost as a trade deadline pickup, but only time will tell where his velocity will sit and what kind of workload he can be realistically expected to shoulder.

MassLive’s Chris Cotillo reported that the Guardians were in “advanced talks” with Means. Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com had the one-year agreement with a ’26 option. ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel reported the $1MM guarantee, option value of up to $7.5MM, and the August return timeline. Jon Heyman of The New York Post had the incentive breakdown.

Players Who Could Move To The 60-Day IL Once Spring Training Begins

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Most of the clubs in the league currently have a full 40-man roster, which means that just about every transaction requires a corresponding move these days. Some extra roster flexibility is on the way, however. The 60-day injured list goes away five days after the World Series but comes back when pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

Per R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports, most clubs have a report date of February 12th or 13th. The Cubs and Dodgers are a bit earlier than most, on the 9th and 11th, respectively. That’s due to the fact that those clubs are heading to Tokyo, with exhibition games in mid-March, followed by regular season games against each other on March 18th and 19th. All the other teams have Opening Day scheduled for March 27th.

It’s worth pointing out that the 60 days don’t start being counted until Opening Day. Although a team can transfer a player to the 60-day IL quite soon, they will likely only do so if they aren’t expecting the player back until end of May or later. A team also must have a full 40-man roster in order to move a player to the 60-day IL.

There are still plenty of free agents still out there, including big names like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, as well as Nick Pivetta, Andrew Heaney, David Robertson, Randal Grichuk, Kenley Jansen, Harrison Bader, Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana and many more. Perhaps the extra roster flexibility will spur some deals to come together in the next week or so. It could also increase the ability of some clubs to make waiver claims or small trades for players who have been designated for assignment.

Here are some players who are expected to miss some significant time and could find themselves transferred soon.

Angels: Robert Stephenson

Stephenson underwent a hybrid Tommy John surgery with internal brace in late April. Given the 14-plus months required to recovery from such a procedure, he’s not likely to be ready in the early parts of the 2025 season.

Astros: Cristian Javier, J.P. France, Bennett Sousa

Javier underwent Tommy John surgery in June and is targeting a return in the second half of 2025. France is recovering from shoulder surgery and hoping to return in July. Sousa’s timeline is less clear but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in April. Other possibilities include Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr., who are expected to start the season on the IL but returning in April or May still seems possible.

Athletics: Luis Medina, Ken Waldichuk

Medina underwent Tommy John surgery in August and Waldichuk in May. Medina might miss the entire season while Waldichuk is likely to miss a few months at least.

Blue Jays: Angel Bastardo, Alek Manoah

The Jays grabbed Bastardo from the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft in December, even though he had Tommy John surgery in June. Manoah also had Tommy John around that time and is hoping to be back by August.

Braves: Joe Jiménez

Jimenez had knee surgery in November with a timeline of eight to twelve months, so he might miss the entire season. Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. are also possibilities, though those will be more borderline. Strider had internal brace surgery in April, so returning in May is somewhat possible. Acuña is recovering from a torn ACL last year and it’s possible he’ll miss the first month or so of the season. Given how important both of those players are, Atlanta probably won’t put them on the 60-day IL unless it’s 100% certain that they can’t come back in the first 60 days of the season.

Brewers: Robert Gasser

Gasser had Tommy John surgery in June and will be looking at a late 2025 return even in a best-case scenario.

Diamondbacks: Kyle Nelson

Nelson’s timeline is unclear, but he underwent surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome in May and missed the remainder of the 2024 season.

Dodgers: Gavin Stone, Brusdar Graterol, River Ryan, Kyle Hurt, Emmet Sheehan

Stone underwent shoulder surgery in October that will cause him to miss the entire year. Graterol also underwent shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until the second half of 2025. Each of Ryan, Hurt and Sheehan required Tommy John surgery in 2024: Ryan in August, Hurt in July and Sheehan in May.

Guardians: Sam Hentges, David Fry, Shane Bieber, Trevor Stephan

Hentges required shoulder surgery in September, with an expected recovery timeline of 12 to 14 months. Fry underwent UCL surgery in November with a more fluid timeline. He won’t be able to throw at all in 2025 but could be cleared for designated hitter action six to eight months from that surgery. Bieber is perhaps a borderline case, as he underwent Tommy John surgery in April. Given his importance, the Guards may not transfer him to the 60-day IL until it’s assured that he won’t be back in the first 60 days of the season. Stephan underwent Tommy John surgery in March and perhaps has a chance to avoid the 60-day IL, depending on his progression.

Mariners: Matt Brash, Jackson Kowar

Brash underwent Tommy John surgery in May. Given the typical 14-month recovery timeline from that procedure, he would be looking at a midsummer return. However, it was reported in November that he’s ahead of schedule and could be back by the end of April. That’s an optimistic timeline but the Mariners will probably hold off moving him to the 60-day IL until the door is closed to an early return. Kowar underwent Tommy John in March, so an early return in 2025 is possible for him, depending on how his recovery is going.

Marlins: Braxton Garrett, Eury Pérez

Garrett just underwent UCL surgery last month and is going to miss the entire 2025 season. Pérez underwent Tommy John surgery in April of last year and will miss at least part of the beginning of the 2025 campaign.

Mets: Christian Scott

Scott required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in September and will likely miss the entire 2025 season.

Nationals: Josiah Gray, Mason Thompson

Gray required a Tommy John surgery and internal brace hybrid procedure in July, meaning he’ll miss most or perhaps all of the 2025 season. Thompson required Tommy John surgery in March, so he has a better chance to make an early-season return if his recovery is going well.

Orioles: Kyle Bradish, Tyler Wells

Bradish and Wells each required UCL surgery in June, so they’re both slated to miss the first half of the upcoming campaign.

Padres: Joe Musgrove

Musgrove had Tommy John surgery in October and will therefore miss the entire 2025 season. However, the Padres only have 36 guys on their 40-man roster at the moment, so they’ll need to fill those spots before moving Musgrove to the 60-day IL.

Pirates: Dauri Moreta

Moreta required UCL surgery in March, so an early-season return is possible if his rehab is going well, though he could end up on the 60-day if the club goes easy with his ramp-up or he suffers any kind of setback.

Rangers: Josh Sborz

Sborz underwent shoulder surgery in November and is expected to miss the first two to three months of the upcoming season.

Rays: Nate Lavender, Ha-Seong Kim

The Rays took Lavender from the Mets in the Rule 5 draft, even though he had Tommy John in May and will miss the start of the season. Kim’s status is more up in the air after he had shoulder surgery in October. Various reports have suggested he could return anywhere from April to July. The Rays made a sizable investment in Kim, their largest ever for a position player, so they probably won’t shelve him until they get more clarity on his status.

Red Sox: Patrick Sandoval, Garrett Whitlock, Chris Murphy

Sandoval had internal brace surgery in June of last year and should miss the first half of the season. Whitlock had the same surgery in May, so he could have a bit of a better chance to return in the first 60 days of the season. Murphy underwent a fully Tommy John surgery in April and will certainly miss the beginning of the upcoming season. Another possibility is Lucas Giolito, who had internal brace surgery in March, though he expects to be ready by Opening Day.

Reds: Julian Aguiar, Brandon Williamson

Aguiar underwent Tommy John surgery in October and Williamson in September, so both are likely slated to miss the entire 2025 season.

Tigers: Sawyer Gipson-Long

Gipson-Long underwent internal brace surgery in April. On top of that, he underwent left hip labral repair surgery in July, with the club hoping to address both issues at the same time. It seems likely that he’ll miss some of the early 2025 schedule, but his IL placement will depend on how he’s been progressing.

White Sox: Jesse Scholtens

Scholtens underwent Tommy John surgery in early March. Whether he goes on the 60-day IL or not will depend on how he’s progressed since then and when the White Sox expect him back.

Yankees: Jonathan Loáisiga

Loáisiga underwent internal brace surgery in April, so he could potentially be back on the mound early in the 2025 season. It was reported in December that the Yankees are expecting him to be in the bullpen by late April or early May, so he’ll only end up on the 60-day IL if he suffers a bit of a setback.

David Fry To Miss Start Of 2025 Season Due To Elbow Surgery, Will Be Limited To DH Duty

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Guardians utilityman David Fry was known to be receiving consultation from Dr. Keith Meister about a lingering right elbow injury, and MLB.com’s Mandy Bell (X link) reports that Fry had to undergo a surgery to correct the issue.  As outlined by the Guardians (via X), Fry underwent a hybrid/internal brace and tendon reconstruction surgery to address a flexor strain and a “chronically insufficient” UCL.

Fry will need 12 months to return to action as a fielder, so he’ll be limited to DH duty for the entirety of the 2025 season.  Even in that case, Fry will need 6-8 months just to return as a designated hitter, so he’ll be sidelined for at least the start of next season.

It’s a tough turn of events for both Fry and the Guardians, as his defensive versatility made him a uniquely valuable asset on Cleveland’s roster.  Ostensibly a backup catcher, Fry has bounced all over the diamond during his two MLB seasons, banking almost as many innings at first base and as a corner outfielder (129 innings in left, 67 in right) as he has behind the plate, and Fry has also made a handful of appearances at third base.

This usage was curtailed midway through the 2024 season as Fry’s elbow issue began to surface.  After June 23, he made only one appearance at catcher and 10 appearances at first base, otherwise playing only as a DH and pinch-hitter.  There was a clear impact on Fry’s production, as he had a scorching-hot 1.046 OPS over his first 159 plate appearances of the season, and a far more modest .649 OPS over his final 233 trips to the plate.

The overall result was still a .263/.356/.448 slash line and 14 homers in 392 PA, and Fry’s 129 wRC+ ranked third on the team behind Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan.  Fry kept it going in the playoffs, hitting .286/.333/.536 with two homers over 31 October plate appearances, highlighted by his 10th-inning walkoff homer in Game 3 of the ALCS.

Cleveland was expected to pursue hitting help this winter anyway, so losing one of their top bats to a brace surgery further sets back the Guardians’ quest for offense.  In the best-case scenario, Fry will be able to return to Cleveland’s lineup in early April, and he’ll assume at least a share of the regular DH role.  The right-handed hitting Fry was a lot more productive against lefties than righties this season, so a left-handed bat like Kyle Manzardo might be in line to get the lion’s share of the DH at-bats anyway once Fry eventually returns.

Of course, quite a bit might be in flux with the Guardians’ first base/DH situation this winter, as Josh Naylor is widely seen as a trade candidate as he enters his last year of team control.  If Naylor was dealt and Fry needs more recovery time, it leaves Manzardo and Jhonkensy Noel as an inexperienced pair of first-choice candidates for first base and DH duty, which might make Cleveland a little more apt to hang onto Naylor.

On the catching side, Bo Naylor will continue to receive the bulk of starts behind the plate, and nobody would be surprised if defensive specialist Austin Hedges is re-signed to again serve as the backup.  Fry will be missed in the outfield as well, though it was expected that the Guardians would look to bolster the outfield mix anyway with a new addition.

Guardians Notes: Fry, Free Agents, Coaching Staff

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The Guardians had a strong season in 2024 but came up just shy of the ultimate goal, falling to the Yankees in the ALCS. They now head into offseason mode with some questions to be answered. Zack Meisel of The Athletic relayed a few interesting notes on X today, arguably with the most notable detail being that David Fry is going to see Dr. Keith Meister about his injured elbow. On top of that, Meisel also says that the entire coaching staff will be back unless someone gets a promotion with another club, and that the Guards have some degree of mutual interest in reunions with free agents Shane Bieber, Alex Cobb, Matthew Boyd and Austin Hedges.

Fry had a strong season in 2024, hitting 14 home runs in just 392 plate appearances and drawing walks at a 10.7% clip. That led to a .263/.356/.448 batting line and 129 wRC+. Most of that damage came against left-handed pitching, as the righty hitter had a massive 18.2% walk rate with the platoon advantage but just 5.3% without it, while nine of his 14 long balls were against southpaws. That created lopsided platoon splits with Fry slashing .287/.430/.566 against lefties for a 179 wRC+, while those numbers were .248/.302/.374 and a 94 wRC+ against righties.

While Fry was limited by those splits this year, he was also limited in another way. He is capable of playing various spots on the diamond, with some past experience at catcher and in the four corner spots. But in late June, he was diagnosed with right elbow inflammation, as Meisel relayed on X at that time. In the latter half of the season, he mostly served as a designated hitter or pinch hitter, only rarely taking the field. He didn’t play a position other than first base after the month of July.

This left manager Stephen Vogt a little bit hamstrung down the stretch and into the postseason, as he couldn’t but Fry behind the plate. That left the Guards with a catching tandem of Bo Naylor and Hedges. Naylor had a strong year defensively but didn’t hit much. As for Hedges, he’s been on the extreme edge of that profile for a long time, having spent a decade in the big leagues as one of the worst hitters but one of the best backstops when the gear is on.

Fry’s elbow issue was manageable enough that he could hit through it, but it seems he might do a deeper dive now that the season is done. Meister is an elbow specialist who has performed dozens of Tommy John surgeries and internal brace procedures. The fact that Fry is going to see him doesn’t mean that surgery is inevitable, as it will obviously depend on the condition of his elbow, but the meeting is notable nonetheless.

If surgery is required, he’d naturally be in line for a lengthy rehab. Position players can generally return from major elbow surgeries a bit quicker than pitchers, with hitting a possibility before throwing. Bryce Harper was one extreme example, undergoing Tommy John surgery in November of 2022 and then being reinstated in May of 2023, less than six months later. Harper served as a DH for a while and then started playing some first base in July.

Of course, each case is unique and it’s not even a guarantee that going under the knife will be necessary, but that provides a rough guideline of something that could be considered. However, if such a scenario does come to pass, then it makes sense that Guardians would have some interest in bringing back Hedges.

As mentioned, Hedges is an extreme case of a glove-first backstop, which he showed again in 2024 by putting up a line of .152/.203/.220 in his 146 plate appearances. His wRC+ of 20 was the worst in the majors among guys with that many trips to the plate, except for Martín Maldonado’s 11 wRC+ in 147 plate appearances.

But Hedges has consistently been atop defensive leaderboards for catchers. He has 91 Defensive Runs Saved from 2015 to the present, easily the most in baseball with Roberto Pérez second with 75. He’s also tops in terms of Statcast Fielding Run Value for that stretch and second only to Yasmani Grandal in terms of FanGraphs’ framing metric. If Fry is set to miss some time next year, it would make sense to have Hedges come back and share the catching duties with Naylor, at least until Fry is once again an option behind the plate. Hedges signed for $4MM coming into this year and is likely in line for a pay cut, as his hitting in 2024 was below even his own low standards.

As for the other free agents, it’s understandable that Cleveland would be interested in bringing them back as they are all starting pitchers. The Guardians have long been known for their ability to grow rotation options on trees but struggled in that department in 2024. Bieber required Tommy John surgery while pitchers like Triston McKenzie, Carlos Carrasco, Logan Allen and others struggled to post decent results.

That led to the club in the unusual position of having to find midseason additions. They signed Boyd, who was recovering from Tommy John surgery, to a major league deal in June. He was still on the injured list at the trade deadline when they acquired Cobb and added him into the mix.

Both of those two and Bieber are now heading into free agency. The Cleveland rotation for 2025 projects to be fronted by Tanner Bibee with plenty of question marks after that. Ben Lively posted a 3.81 earned run average in 2024 but that was despite a low strikeout rate of 18.7%. He may have been helped by a .265 batting average on balls in play and 78.4% strand rate, which were both on the fortunate side. His 4.66 FIP and 4.58 SIERA suggest he may have difficulty repeating that ERA. Gavin Williams is a bit of the inverse, as he had a 4.86 ERA in 2024 but with a low 66.9% strand rate, leading to a 3.67 FIP and 4.19 SIERA.

Beyond those three, it gets real murky. Joey Cantillo had a 4.89 ERA in his first major league action but did so with a 9.2% walk rate around league average. Since he’s walked 13.4% of minor leagues faced since the start of 2021 and was at 15% on the farm in 2024, it might not be wise to expect him to keep up that level of control. McKenzie and Allen had ERAs above 5.00 both in the majors and minors this year.

In short, bringing in starting pitching is a logical plan for this offseason. Mutual interest between the pitchers and the club is nice but a fair price will likely be required in each case. Boyd has been injured a lot in recent years but is going into free agency on a high note. He posted a 2.72 ERA with the Guards down the stretch, along with a 27.7% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate, then had a 0.77 ERA in his three playoff outings. He could perhaps parlay that strong finish into a solid two-year deal in free agency and will likely be looking to maximize his guarantee after so many injury absences in his career.

Bieber and Cobb will have less momentum in terms of their earning power. As mentioned, Bieber had Tommy John surgery early in the 2024 season and will be slated to miss at least the early parts of the 2025 season. Pitchers recovering from Tommy John sometimes sign two-year deals, but those guys are usually on a path to miss most or all of the first season in those cases. Since Bieber went under the knife in April, he could perhaps play a significant role in 2025 and might try to return to the open market a year from now, either by signing a one-year deal or a two-year pact with an opt-out.

Cobb is coming off an injury-marred season that saw him throw just 22 innings between the regular season and playoffs. He came into 2024 recovering from hip surgery and eventually battled through shoulder discomfort as well as fingernail/blister issues on his pitching hand before his season was ended by a lower back strain. Now 37 years old and coming off that year, he’ll have to settle for a fairly modest deal, perhaps heavy with incentives.

RosterResource projects the Guardians for a $95MM payroll in 2025, which is less than $10MM shy of their 2024 number. That might not leave them a lot to work with this winter unless they’re planning on a notable spending increase. With the club’s broadcast deal with Diamond Sports Group now done and MLB taking over in that department, they may have less TV money coming and may not have much appetite for a big bump in the budget.

However, Josh Naylor and Lane Thomas are each slated for notable salaries in their respective final seasons of club control. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects Naylor for $12MM and Thomas for $8.3MM. The Guardians often trade notable players before they reach free agency, with Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer being some recent examples. Perhaps they would consider the same with Naylor and/or Thomas as a way of freeing up money while also perhaps bolstering the rotation that way. Any free agent pursuits might also hinge on how that market plays out for them.

Carlos Carrasco, Tyler Beede Make Guardians’ Opening Day Roster

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The Guardians have informed right-handers Carlos Carrasco and Tyler Beede that they’ve made the team’s Opening Day roster, Mandy Bell of MLB.com reports. Both were in camp on minor league deals. Cleveland also informed catcher David Fry and infielders Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Tyler Freeman that they’ll open the season on the big league roster. Carrasco had an opt-out clause in his contract today but that won’t end up coming into play.

Both Carrasco and Beede will need to be formally selected to the 40-man roster before Opening Day. The Guards will need to make a pair of corresponding moves to clear space. One can be opened by placing Trevor Stephan, who’s set to undergo Tommy John surgery, on the 60-day IL, but they’ll need a second spot. The other spot could depend on the status of outfielder Myles Straw, who has been placed on waivers.

The Guards came into camp with a rotation consisting of Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and last year’s rookies Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen and Gavin Williams. But it was reported last week that Williams will open the season on the injured list due to some right elbow discomfort, which opened a spot at the back end.

That spot will go to Carrasco, who Cleveland fans will be plenty familiar with. He pitched for the club from 2009 through 2020, before going to the Mets as part of the Francisco Lindor deal. He tossed 1,242 1/3 innings during his previous stint in Cleveland with a 3.77 earned run average.

His time in Queens has been a bit rockier. He has a 4.78 ERA over the past three years, including a mark of 6.80 last year. He had stints on the IL last year due to right elbow inflammation and a right pinky finger fracture, limiting him to 90 innings with uninspiring results. His previous Cleveland tenure resulted in a 25.5% strikeout rate and 6.3% walk rate but those numbers were at 15.8% and 9.1% with the Mets last year.

It’s a bit of a belated birthday present for Carrasco, who turned 37 yesterday. He and the Guardians will be hoping that a return to Cleveland can get him back to his old form.

Beede, 31 in May, was once a highly-touted youngster. He was selected 14th overall by the Giants back in 2014 and was considered to be a top 100 prospect as he climbed the minor league ladder. Unfortunately, he struggled in his first tastes of the majors and then required Tommy John surgery in 2020, wiping out that year and much of the next. He had a 5.14 ERA in 2022 and headed to Japan last year.

The move overseas seems to have got him back on track. He posted a 3.99 ERA for the Yomiuri Giants in 49 2/3 relief innings. That got him a minor league deal with the Guardians and he’s looked well in spring so far, with 10 2/3 innings pitched with a 1.69 ERA. That will get him back onto a big league roster via the Cleveland bullpen, though he is now out of options and will need to stick in the majors or else be made available to other clubs, either via waivers or a trade.

As for the middle infielders, Mandy Bell of MLB.com tweets that Rocchio is expected to get the bulk of shortstop reps with Arias in a utility role. The Guardians have a huge number of shortstop options, something that MLBTR’s Anthony Franco looked at last month. It’s likely a fluid situation that will evolve over time but Rocchio will get a crack at taking the job for now.

He made his major league debut last year and hit just .247/.279/.321, though in a small sample of 86 plate appearances. His Triple-A batting line was a much nicer .280/.367/.421 last year and he’ll hope to bring some of that production up to the big leagues this season.

Cam Gallagher Elects Free Agency

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Cam Gallagher has elected to become a free agent, according to the veteran catcher’s official MLB.com profile page.  The Guardians designated Gallagher for assignment earlier this week and he presumably cleared waivers, and then opted for free agency rather than accepting an outright assignment to Cleveland’s Triple-A team.  Because Gallagher has been outrighted before in his career, he has the ability to reject any future outright assignments.

Gallagher seemed like a pretty clear non-tender candidate even before the Guardians picked up Christian Bethancourt off waivers from the Rays, which was the move that led to Gallagher’s DFA.  Over 149 plate appearances for the Guardians last season, Gallagher hit only .126/.154/.168 — this translated to an ugly -17 wRC+, the lowest of any player in baseball in 2023 with at least 140 PA.

Seven different players saw action at catcher for the Guards last season, a mess of a situation sparked when offseason acquisition Mike Zunino struggled badly at the plate.  This led to a revolving door of backstops until Zunino was designated for assignment in June, and Bo Naylor was called up from Triple-A for good.  With Naylor’s bat coming alive near the end of the season, the former top prospect looks to have solidified his role as the Guardians’ starting catcher going forward, hopefully adding some pop to a position that has long been an offensive black hole for Cleveland.

Between Naylor, Bethancourt, and utilityman David Fry able to catch once in a while, there wasn’t any room for Gallagher to vie for work as a backup.  Gallagher is projected to earn $1.3MM via the arbitration process in 2024, but it seems likely that he’ll have to settle for another minor league contract and compete for a backup job in Spring Training.

Turning 31 next month, Gallagher is a veteran of 227 MLB games over seven seasons with the Royals and Guardians, with a .211/.266/.307 slash line over 618 PA.  While the offense hasn’t been there, Gallagher is a pretty well-regarded defender, and 2023 was at least a very strong year for Gallagher with the glove.  As per Statcast’s numbers, Gallagher was solidly above average at framing and blocking, and he threw out nine of 52 baserunners for his first-ever positive (+1) grade in the Catcher Stealing Runs metric.

The Guardians’ Lineup Needs An Overhaul

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The 2022 Guardians skated to a division title in the American League Central and did so with a lineup unlike any other in MLB. Cleveland’s offense was a triumph for fans of small ball and the older-school game that relied far less on the long ball than today’s brand of three-true-outcomes offenses. The ’22 Guardians put the ball in play more than any other team in baseball, and it wasn’t close. Their 18.2% strikeout rate was the lowest in MLB and made them one of just four teams shy of 20%. The others — the Astros (19.5%), Mets (19.7%) and Cardinals (19.9%) — weren’t particularly close. Cleveland ranked 15th in the Majors in runs scored despite ranking 29th in home runs. Their 119 steals (a number that seems pedestrian in light of this year’s rule changes) ranked third in MLB.

Fast forward a season, and the lineup has a similar complexion but staggeringly different outcome. The 2023 Guardians are MLB’s most punchless team, ranking dead last with 24 home runs — just eight more than Pete Alonso has by himself. Cleveland’s 150 runs scored entering play Friday led only the Tigers (143), and the Guards had played two more games than Detroit. Cleveland enters play ranking 28th in the Majors with a .228 batting average and .302 on-base percentage, and 30th out of 30 teams with a .341 slugging percentage.

As The Athletic’s Zack Meisel pointed out Wednesday (Twitter link), Cleveland catchers have been astonishingly anemic at the plate. Prior to Cam Gallagher’s single yesterday, the Guardians hadn’t received a hit from their catcher since the calendar flipped to May; Gallagher was hitless in 32 at-bats entering play yesterday, while Zunino is currently 0-for-27 with 21 strikeouts this month.

The Guards opened the season surprisingly carrying three catchers: Mike Zunino, Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria. Even after designating Viloria for assignment, they added another catching option in 27-year-old David Fry. The Guardians have gotten less production from behind the dish than any team in the American League. Zunino, Gallagher, Viloria and Fry have combined for a .127/.225/.231 slash (29 wRC+) while serving as catcher, striking out in 38.4% of their plate appearances.

All of this comes at a time when Cleveland has one of baseball’s top catching prospects thrashing Triple-A pitching. Bo Naylor has appeared in 39 games with Columbus, taken 180 turns at the plate and batted .264/.400/.521 with nine home runs, eight doubles, a triple, a sky-high 18.3% walk rate and a 22.6% strikeout rate. The bar he’d need to clear in order to be an upgrade could scarcely be lower, yet he’s still in the minors while Cleveland backstops endure a nearly three-week-long hitless streak.

The problem isn’t confined to the team’s catching corps, although that’s the most glaring weak point in the lineup. Still, here are the Guardians’ position-by-position rankings, in terms of wRC+, at the other positions on the diamond: first base (90, 21st in MLB), second base (86, 19th in MLB), shortstop (79, 23rd in MLB), third base (116, sixth in MLB), left field (97, tied for 13th in MLB), center field (74, 28th in MLB), right field (37, 30th in MLB), designated hitter (80, 26th in MLB).

Jose Ramirez (.285/.364/.457) remains excellent and is the one still decidedly above-average hitter on the roster, although even he’s having a down year by his MVP-caliber standards. Steven Kwan has been solid in left field (.269/.356/.353) but not as good as during last year’s sensational rookie campaign. No other player who’s taken 20 plate appearances for Cleveland this season has been better than league-average at the plate.

Some of this was to be expected. The Guardians surely weren’t hoping to get much offensive production from catcher — though they hoped for more than this — and knew Myles Straw’s contributions would come more from his elite center field defense and baserunning. But every hitter on the roster has taken a step back from last season’s performance.

The offseason signing of Josh Bell to a two-year, $33MM deal looks regrettable with the Guardians getting closer to the Padres version of Bell from 2022 than the Nationals version. In 177 plate appearances, Bell is walking at a huge 14.7% clip but has batted only .227/.339/.3535 with three home runs. His 19.8% strikeout rate would be the second-highest of his career, and his .127 ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average) is 33 points south of the league average and 67 points below his own career mark. Bell is hitting the ball on the ground at a staggering 58.6% rate. He can opt out of his contract at season’s end, but it would take a drastic turnaround for that to seem realistic.

Meanwhile, Cleveland has optioned last year’s primary right fielder, Oscar Gonzalez, to Triple-A after he followed up last year’s .296/.327/.461 debut with a .192/.213/.288 start to his sophomore season. MLBTR’s Anthony Franco has already outlined shortstop Amed Rosario’s struggles, and Josh Naylor hasn’t been any better at first base. Will Brennan, called up to replace the demoted Gonzalez, has barely been an improvement.

The Guardians’ commitments to defense-, contact- and/or speed-oriented players at multiple positions isn’t inherently flawed, but it only works if the rest of the lineup is capable of supporting players like Straw and Zunino (or, in last year’s case, Austin Hedges). That hasn’t been the case in 2023. The Guardians’ team strikeout rate is up nearly two percentage points (from 18.2% to 19.8%), while their team BABIP is down 20 points (from .294 to .274).

That might not seem like much — perhaps an extra strikeout and one extra ball in play turned into an out per game — but the margin for error is thin when there’s practically no one on the team with even average power. The Guardians are completely reliant on balls in play to manufacture runs, which leaves them at the mercy of sequencing and hitting when it counts. Entering play Thursday, they’d batted .228/.296/.325 as a team with men on base. Last year, they hit .258/.319/.394 in such situations.

These struggles all come in spite of remarkably good health among the team’s collection of position players. The Guardians don’t have a position player on the injured list at the moment and in fact haven’t placed a hitter on the Major League injured list all season. They’ve still had injury troubles — Triston McKenzie, Aaron Civale and Sam Hentges have most notably been sidelined — but they’ve come exclusively on the pitching side of the roster.

As for how they can turn things around, the avenues to doing so aren’t plentiful in mid-May. The trade market simply isn’t active this time of season — and that was true even before an expansion to a 12-team playoff field likely further emboldened fringe contenders to take a wait-and-see approach to trade deadline season.

Over the past half decade, there have been just two mostly regular position players who were traded in May and had not first been designated for assignment. The Rays shipped Willy Adames and righty Trevor Richards to the Brewers for right-handers Drew Rasmussen and J.P. Feyereisen back in 2021. Tampa Bay was also involved in a 2018 swap with the Mariners, centering around Denard Span and Alex Colome. That’s not to say a deal can’t and won’t happen, but history tells us it’s overwhelmingly unlikely. Cleveland can certainly monitor the DFA and waiver market, but with a 20-23 record they’re not close to top waiver priority right now.

If the Guardians are going to right the ship, they’ll need to promote from within. Bo Naylor is an obvious candidate to join the big league roster and quite arguably should already be there. Tyler Freeman hit .329/.468/.482 in 109 Triple-A plate appearances before being called up to the roster but is being used in a bench role. He’s not a home run threat himself and the team isn’t going to bench Andres Gimenez seven weeks into a seven-year extension, but there are still ways to get Freeman into the lineup more regularly. Top outfield prospect George Valera only just made his season debut in Triple-A a week ago, as he missed the first several weeks of the year recovering from hamate surgery. If he’s able to approximate the .264/.367/.470 output he showed in Double-A last year over even a small sample, there’s good reason to give him a look in right field over both Brennan and Gonzalez sooner rather than later.

The Guardians are rather fortunate that they’ve managed to remain as close to .500 as they have. They’re sitting on a -31 run differential, while the Pythagorean win-loss system and BaseRuns both put their expected record at 18-25. Their sub-par run differential and sub-.500 record come despite the fact that Baseball-Reference grades their strength of schedule to date as the third-easiest in MLB.

Cleveland has already gone full speed ahead with a youth movement in the rotation, giving prospects Tanner Bibee, Logan T. Allen and Peyton Battenfield prominent rotation spots. Some of that’s been necessitated by injury, but the Guardians weren’t shy about optioning one of their most experienced starters, Zach Plesac, to Columbus when he wasn’t performing up to expectations. Given the state of their lineup, it shouldn’t be long before they take a similar approach on the position-player side of the roster. And, if some of those young bats don’t break through, the Guardians ought to be on the lookout for controllable bats heading into the trade deadline — particularly with so much young pitching at their disposal. The schedule is only going to become more difficult from here on out, and the current group of hitters gives little reason for optimism.

Guardians Designate Meibrys Viloria, Select David Fry

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The Guardians announced that they have selected the contract of catcher/infielder David Fry, while catcher Meibrys Viloria was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Cleveland somewhat surprisingly opened the season with three catchers, with Mike Zunino backed up by Cam Gallagher and Viloria. The 26-year-old Viloria has been the least used of the trio, with no starts and just 21 2/3 total innings spend behind the plate so far this year, compared to 158 for Zunino and 74 for Gallagher. He’s also only received four plate appearances on the season, going 0-3 with a walk.

That wasn’t a terribly effective use of a roster spot and Viloria will now be cut loose. None of those three backstops had the ability to be optioned to the minors, so he had to be designated for assignment. Prior to this season, he had been with the Royals and Rangers and is now at 103 career major league games, hitting .198/.270/.279 in that time. That’s obviously not a great batting line, but Viloria does rank well in Statcast’s new caught stealing above average metric (helpful explainer via Mike Petriello of MLB.com). The Guards will now have a week to trade Viloria or pass him through waivers, though in the event he clears waivers, he would have the right to reject an outright assignment by virtue of having a previous career outright.

In his place, the Guardians are sticking with the three-catcher system in a sense, though Fry is not merely a backstop. The 27-year-old was initially drafted by the Brewers but came to the Guardians in March of 2022 as the player to be named later in the J.C. Mejia trade. Throughout his minor league career, he’s played all around in the infield and outfield, in addition to his time spent behind the plate. This year, he’s actually primarily played third base along with a bit of time at second and first, not having taken up the catcher spot since last year. The club still announced him as a catcher/infielder, which suggests his time as a backstop isn’t totally over, but his defensive versatility should give him more opportunities than Viloria to get into games and help the club.

This is his first time joining a big league club and he’ll be making his major league debut as soon as he gets into a game. With Triple-A Columbus last year, he hit 17 home runs in 119 games and slashed .256/.329/.450 for a wRC+ of 105. Through 25 games this year, he’s hitting .289/.381/.478 and has a 121 wRC+. He figures to slot into the club’s bench as a backup infielder alongside Gabriel Arias, with José Ramírez, Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez hold three starting spots with Josh Bell and Josh Naylor sharing first base and designated hitter.

Guardians Acquire David Fry To Complete J.C. Mejia Trade

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The Guardians have acquired catcher/infielder David Fry from the Brewers as the player to be named later to complete the November trade that sent right-hander J.C. Mejia to the Brewers. The Brewers announced the move on Twitter.

Fry was a seventh-round selection of the Brewers in the 2018 draft and immediately saw some action that year in rookie ball and A-ball. In 2019, his first full season in the professional ranks, he played 134 games in A-ball, hitting 17 home runs and stealing seven bases, finishing with a line of .258/.329/.444, wRC+ of 123. After the pandemic wiped out the minors in 2020, Fry spent last year primarily in Double-A, playing 75 games there, along with 19 in Triple-A. His line on the year was .255/.348/.449, wRC+ of 122.

Defensively, Fry is quite versatile, often found behind the plate but also seeing significant time at the infield corners, and even rare appearances at second base, shortstop and in the outfield.

Back in December, FanGraphs ranked the 26-year-old as the 33rd-best prospect in the Milwaukee system, noting that his power and positional versatility gave him the chance to be an interesting bench piece.

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