Guardians Place Steven Kwan On Injured List

The Guardians announced that outfielder Steven Kwan has been placed on the 10-day injured list. They have selected the contract of Myles Straw to take his place on the active roster. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco, currently on the 15-day injured list, has been designated for assignment to open a 40-man spot for Straw.

Kwan hasn’t played in a game since September 12. He was scratched from the lineup on September 13 with the club describing his issue as body fatigue, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com on X. Manager Stephen Vogt later described the issue as back soreness, per Bell.

It’s unclear how long the club expects Kwan to be out, but it seems they want him to rest for at least a week. IL stints can be backdated by as many as three days if they player has been out of the lineup, so the Guardians have presumably done so with Kwan.

For however long he’s out, the Guards will be without one of the game’s best contact hitters. Kwan has only been punched out in 9.4% of his plate appearances this year. Among qualified hitters, only Luis Arráez has been struck out at a lower rate this year. Kwan is generally not a power threat but has 13 homers this year, more than doubling his previous career high of six. He’s hitting .291/.364/.419 on the year overall for a wRC+ of 127.

In addition to the offense, Kwan has stolen 12 bases and received strong grades for his left field defense. That’s allowed him to produced 3.8 wins above replacement on the year, per the calculations of FanGraphs, second on the team to José Ramírez.

Losing a player like that would be a blow at any time, but it’s especially concerning at this part of the calendar. Perhaps the club is just giving Kwan a breather and expects him to be healthy by the time the playoffs start. But even in that scenario, any kind of setback would roll into the postseason.

With Kwan out in recent days, the Guards have been utilizing an outfield mix of Lane Thomas, Ángel Martínez, Jhonkensy Noel and Will Brennan. Thomas has been the club’s regular center fielder since coming over from the Nationals in a deadline trade but he hasn’t taken well to his new club. He has hit .217/.273/.377 for Cleveland while striking out in 37.3% of his plate appearances.

Perhaps the Guards will install Straw in center and hope for better results, though that might be a tall ask. He was outrighted off the club’s roster in March after a few years of offensive struggles. He hit .229/.296/.284 for the Guards over 2022 and 2023, leading to a combined wRC+ of 67. Since clearing waivers and getting sent down to Columbus coming into this year, his results haven’t improved much. in 123 Triple-A games this year, he’s hitting .240/.321/.329 for a wRC+ of 72.

Despite the lack of offense, Straw at least has a solid floor from his speed and defense. He has swiped 30 bags in 31 tries this year and has regularly had similar stolen base totals in previous seasons. Thomas is also capable of providing value in those departments, with 32 steals this year and defensive metrics that are roughly average for his time in center. Whether Straw will push Thomas for playing time or simply serve as a glove-first bench guy remains to be seen.

Straw signed a $25MM extension with Cleveland going into 2022, which has not worked out so far due to his aforementioned offensive downturn. Given his struggles and that contract, it was unsurprising that he went unclaimed off waivers. He had the right to elect free agency at that time since he has at least three years of service, but since he has less than five years, doing so would have meant walking away from the money still to be paid out on that deal. He unsurprisingly accepted his outright assignment and gets back on the roster today. There’s not enough time left in this season for him to hit that five-year mark, so it’s possible he’s outrighted again later this year or in the winter.

Carrasco, 37, signed a minor league deal with the Guards in the winter and made the Opening Day roster. He has made 21 starts for the club this year with a 5.64 earned run average in 103 2/3 innings. That’s obviously not amazing production but it was valuable to the club at times this year as various other starters struggled or landed on the injured list.

The club currently has a rotation of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Matthew Boyd, Joey Cantillo and Ben Lively with Alex Cobb currently on the IL due to a blister. Williams was on the IL for most of the first half of the year but has since returned. Boyd wasn’t signed until midseason as he rehabbed from Tommy John surgery but has looked strong since joining the club. Cobb was a midseason trade acquisition and Cantillo has gradually pitched his way into the picture with a solid season.

That leaves less room for Carrasco than earlier in the year and he has had his own injury issues. He landed on the injured list in May due to an acute neck spasm and returned a couple of weeks later. A second IL stint put him out of action just over a month ago, with a left hip strain being the culprit. He began a rehab assignment a few days ago but the club has nudged him off the roster today.

Injured players can’t be placed on outright waivers so Carrasco should be on release waivers shortly. It’s a fairly moot point as he’s likely to clear in either case. He’s making a $2MM salary this year and other clubs won’t have much use for him at this part of the calendar. He wouldn’t be postseason eligible for any other team and wouldn’t have much time to make contributions in the regular season either.

Assuming he clears waivers, he would be able to elect free agency as a veteran with plenty of years of experience, but it’s possible he decides to stay and serve as non-roster depth for the Guards and possibly get a chance to rejoin the roster for the postseason.