Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Guardians Rumors

Shane Bieber Drawing Trade Interest

By | at

The trade deadline is still over three weeks away but Guardians right-hander Shane Bieber is already drawing interest, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

It’s hardly surprising to see Bieber garnering attention around the league given his situation. He’s established himself as a quality big leaguer, having tossed over 800 innings to this point with a 3.24 ERA. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2020 when he posted a 1.63 ERA in 12 starts.

Beyond his performance, there are other factors that would lead clubs to pick up the phone and call Cleveland. The Guardians have long had a reputation of trading away their players as they get closer to free agency, with their salary increasing and their club control waning. Recent years have seen them ship out Corey Kluber, Francisco Lindor, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger under such circumstances. Bieber is making just over $10MM this year and can qualify for one more arbitration raise before he’s slated for free agency after 2024.

The Guards are below .500 with a record of 43-44, but no club is running away with the American League Central division. The Guardians are just a game and a half back of the Twins, who sit atop the group with a 45-43 record. The Guardians are still very much in contention there, though that doesn’t necessarily mean Bieber would be off the table. There are few clear sellers this year and it’s been speculated that there may end up being more trades between contenders, with each trading from an area of surplus to address an area of need.

Despite Zach Plesac being outrighted off the roster and injuries putting each of Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill and Daniel Espino out of action, the Guardians still have a strong rotation. In addition to Bieber, they have Aaron Civale, Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee. Rookie Logan Allen was optioned to the minors when Quantrill came off the injured list but could potentially be recalled after the break now that Quantrill has landed on the IL again. All the aforementioned factors led to Bieber being placed in the #8 spot on MLBTR’s recent list of top deadline trade candidates.

That’s no guarantee Bieber will be moved, as the Guardians could opt to keep him for the stretch run and even for 2024, though they will surely listen to any other club that calls up and expresses interest. It will be fascinating to see exactly how strong that interest is, as Bieber seems to have taken a step back from his dominant performance in previous seasons.

The righty struck out 30.2% of hitters in 2019 and that figured jumped to 41.1% in the shorter sample of the 2020 season. It naturally dropped to 33.1% the year after but has continued sliding, getting to 25% last year and just 19.3% here in 2023. He’s still avoiding walks, getting grounders and generally keeping runs off the board, as shown by his 3.66 ERA this year. However, his 4.13 FIP and 4.44 SIERA suggest he might be lucky to be there, with a .280 batting average on balls in play perhaps helping him out. His velocity is also down, with his fastball averaging 91.3 mph this year compared to the 93-94 range he was at a few years ago.

That puts the Guardians in an tricky spot. If they have designs on trading Bieber like they have done with other players in the past, his value won’t get any higher. They could always delay a trade until the offseason, but they would then be marketing Bieber for just one playoff push instead of the two they can offer now. There’s also the ever-present risk of an injury putting a dent in a pitcher’s value at any point.

But while pulling the trigger now may be the best time to do so in terms of cold-hearted asset management, it would hurt their chances of taking advantage of a weak division here in 2023. The White Sox are disappointing this year but could always reload and have better results next year. The Tigers are showing some signs of life and could be stronger next season as well. Perhaps the decision makers in Cleveland would prefer to try to take advantage of the door that is open in front of them right now.

There will be much to think about in the next few weeks, with the decision undoubtedly to be impacted by the results of the club, the performance of Bieber and the nature of the offers they receive. The trade deadline this year is on August 1.

Guardians Acquire Chris Vallimont From Orioles

By | at

The Guardians have acquired right-hander Chris Vallimont from the Orioles in exchange for cash, per announcements from both clubs. Vallimont, who was designated for assignment by the Orioles yesterday, has been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. To open a spot on the 40-man roster for him, the Guardians transferred Triston McKenzie to the 60-day injured list.

Vallimont, 26, was added to the O’s roster on the weekend and made his major league debut, tossing two thirds of an inning on Monday before getting designated for assignment yesterday. Prior to getting called up to the majors, he tossed 57 1/3 innings over 14 Triple-A appearances, with eight of those being starts. He posted a 5.02 ERA in that time, striking out 25.8% of opponents but walking 12.1%.

That lack of control has been an ongoing issue for the righty, who walked 10.6% of minor league batters faced last year and 14.2% in 2021. But he’s generally gotten his share of strikeouts as well, which is surely what’s intrigued the Guardians.

It’s unclear if the Guards view Vallimont more as a starter or a reliever but he’ll give them some extra pitching depth regardless. Earlier today, they placed Cal Quantrill on the injured list, who joined Peyton Battenfield and McKenzie among Cleveland pitchers on the shelf. Vallimont still has a pair of options and just a few days of service time, meaning the club could potentially deploy him as an optionable depth piece for the rest of this year and another season, as long as he continues to hold onto his 40-man spot.

As for McKenzie, he’s already been on the injured list for a couple of weeks and isn’t close to a return. It was reported this week that he’s going to attempt to come back from his UCL sprain via non-surgical means, which will require a three-week shutdown period before he attempts to ramp back up again. He’ll now be officially ineligible to return until 60 days from his initial IL placement of June 17, which would be mid-August.

Guardians Place Cal Quantrill On 15-Day IL

By | at

The Guardians have informed reporters, including Zack Meisel of The Athletic, that right-hander Cal Quantrill has landed back on the 15-day injured list due to right shoulder inflammation. Right-hander Cody Morris was recalled to take his roster spot.

It’s been a challenging year for Quantrill, who posted a 5.61 ERA through the end of May and then landed on the IL due to shoulder inflammation. He returned a week ago and made two more starts but was shelled for 11 earned runs over 7 2/3 innings in those, raising his season ERA to 6.45 and now landing back on the IL due to the same shoulder ailment.

He’s proven himself quite capable of being a solid starter when healthy, as he tossed 336 innings over 2021 and 2022 with a 3.16 ERA. He only struck out 18% of batters faced in that time but kept his walks to a 6.8% clip and got grounders on 42.6% of balls in play.

There’s been a few twists in the Cleveland rotation this year, with Quantrill’s struggles as well as those of Zach Plesac, who has been outrighted off the roster. Triston McKenzie has also been injured for most of the season. That’s forced them to turn to prospects like Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen as the season has gone along, slotting those youngsters next to Shane Bieber and Aaron Civale. The club’s starters as a whole have a 4.35 ERA that’s 15th in the league but enough to keep them afloat in a weak division. Their 42-44 record puts them just two games back of the Twins in the American League Central. When Quantrill came off the IL last week, Allen was optioned to the minors and could perhaps be recalled to retake his rotation spot after the upcoming All-Star break.

The club’s status over the next few weeks will make them an interesting player as the August 1 deadline approaches. They have frequently traded players, especially pitchers, as they get into their arbitration years and become more expensive. Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger have all been traded in recent years and replaced by younger and cheaper hurlers from within. With the emergence of Williams, Bibee and Allen, it’s been speculated that the club could look to move someone like Bieber or Civale for more offense at this year’s deadline. Though the Guardians are still in contention, so few clubs are clear sellers this year that swaps between contenders might become a common theme.

The Guards will have a few weeks to assess Quantrill’s health, but it may have an impact on their willingness to move someone from their rotation in such a deal. Earlier today, MLBTR published a list of the top 50 deadline trade candidates and listed Bieber and Civale in the #8 and the #20 spots, respectively, though that was before the news of Quantrill’s return to the IL.

Triston McKenzie To Rehab UCL Sprain Without Surgery

By | at

  • Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie will look to recover from last month’s UCL sprain without going under the knife, per The Athletic’s Zack Meisel. Meisel notes that the 25-year-old righty will be shut down for three more weeks but that Cleveland is hopeful McKenzie will be able to return to the big league mound at some point this season. The prospect of McKenzie returning this season is surely a tantalizing one for Guardians fans, as the young right-hander broke out in a big way last season with a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings of work. With McKenzie on the shelf, Cleveland is currently utilizing a rotation of Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale, Tanner Bibee, and Gavin Williams.

Latest On Triston McKenzie

By | at

  • Guardians right-hander Triston McKenzie has been shut down from throwing since mid-June with a UCL sprain, but the club is still gathering information regarding their young starter before deciding on how to move forward, as manager Terry Francona told reporters (including Joe Noga of Cleveland.com). Francona suggests that an update on McKenzie’s status could come within the next few days now that the righty has received second opinions from Dr. Neal ElAttrache and Dr. Keith Meister. Any diagnosis involving the UCL- the ligament repaired during Tommy John surgery- is obviously a worrisome diagnosis, so it’s no surprise that the club is proceeding with care. McKenzie broke out in a big way for Cleveland last season, posting a 2.96 ERA in 191 1/3 innings of work, but has managed just two starts this season between his current injury and a strained teres major muscle he suffered during spring training.

Guardians Sign Sandy Leon To Minors Contract

By | at

The Guardians announced that catcher Sandy Leon has signed a minor league deal.  The veteran backstop will report to Triple-A Columbus.

This is Leon’s fourth separate stint with the organization, as Cleveland first acquired him from the Red Sox in a trade in December 2019.  He returned to the Guardians on a minors deal in the 2021-22 offseason but opted out at the end of Spring Training, and soon afterwards joined the Reds on another minor league contract.  Cincinnati then traded Leon back across Ohio to the Guards last June, before the Guardians dealt Leon again to the Twins at the trade deadline.

The transactional carousel continued for Leon this past offseason when he joined the Rangers on a minor league contract.  Leon appeared in 21 games for Texas (who selected his contract when Mitch Garver went on the injured list) before being designated for assignment.  Leon did accept his subsequent outright assignment to Triple-A, but then asked to be released 10 days ago, with the Rangers accommodating the request.

The 34-year-old defensive specialist will now seemingly take up a depth role for the Guardians, as Bo Naylor has now taken over the team’s regular starting catcher.  Cleveland has Cam Gallagher in a traditional backup role and utilityman David Fry also capable of playing catcher in a pinch, but Leon might provide additional depth since Mike Zunino was released.  If nothing else, Leon gives the Guardians a familiar face at Triple-A, but it wouldn’t be surprising if Leon found himself on the move again if a clearer chance at playing time didn’t materialize with Cleveland.

Guardians Option Logan Allen

By | at

The Guardians today optioned left-hander Logan Allen to Triple-A and recalled right-hander Michael Kelly in a corresponding move, per Mandy Bell of MLB.com. The move seemingly opens up a rotation spot for righty Cal Quantrill, who is currently on the injured list but scheduled to start tomorrow’s game.

This move highlights the rotation surplus in Cleveland. Allen, 24, was considered by many evaluators to be one of the top 100 prospects in the game coming into this season. He was promoted to the big leagues just over two months ago and has done little to dampen his stock. He has a 3.47 ERA through 62 1/3 innings in 12 starts. He’s struck out 22.9% of opponents, walked 8.7% of them and gotten grounders on 44.3% of balls in play. He might be getting a bit of a boost from a 79.9% strand rate, but his 3.70 FIP and 4.28 SIERA still suggest he’s been solid overall.

Most clubs would love to have that kind of performance. That may not be the production of an ace but it would make him a serviceable mid-rotation arm in any of the 29 other rotations. The Guardians, however, are spoiled in this department.

They have three more-established arms in Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale and Quantrill. The latter had a 5.61 ERA before landing on the injured list but has been much better in previous campaigns, with a 3.38 ERA last year and a 2.89 the year before. Bieber and Civale are having solid results, with ERAs of 3.69 and 3.18, respectively. Then the Guards also have two other top 100 prospects they promoted this year: Tanner Bibee has a 3.79 ERA while Gavin Williams is at 2.84 through his first two career starts.

Despite Triston McKenzie being shut down due to a sprain of his UCL, Zach Plesac struggling to the point of being outrighted off the roster and Daniel Espino, yet another top 100 prospect, requiring season-ending shoulder surgery, they still have so much pitching that Allen has been squeezed out. It’s possible this is just a short-term option, with Allen essentially being given an early start on the upcoming All-Star break, but there’s still obviously a logjam here. General manager Mike Chernoff suggested as much (link via Bell), implying that sending Allen to Columbus will allow the team to monitor his workload a bit. “While he’s down, he doesn’t have to go out and throw 100 [pitches] and try to prove something,” Chernoff said of Allen.

Even with all of that starting pitching, however, the club is below .500 at 39-40 thanks to their tepid offense. The team as a whole has hit .248/.313/.375 for a wRC+ of 90, placing them 24th out of the 30 clubs in terms of overall production. But with the weak American League Central, that record is enough for the Guardians to currently possess the top spot in the division, half a game up on the Twins.

All of that will give the Guardians’ front office much to think about. With the expanded playoffs and weak Central divisions, there are very few clubs that make for obvious sellers. Teams that are clearly in the seller lane like the Athletics or Nationals have already sold many of their most appealing players. That creates the possibility for more deals between contenders this year, trading from areas of surplus in order to address areas of need.

There are many contending clubs that could use a rotation upgrade, either due to injury or underperformance, and the Guards would get plenty of interest if they made any of their arms available. They could certainly entertain the idea of moving one of their rookies for some kind of blockbuster, but the more likely path would be moving one of the more experienced arms. The low-budget Cleveland club has operated this way for many years, often trading away players in their arbitration years as they get more expensive and closer to free agency.

Each of Bieber, Civale and Quantrill would fit this bill. Bieber is making $10.01MM this year and slated for one more pass through arbitration before reaching free agency after 2024. His strikeout rate and velocity are both down compared to previous years but he’s still keeping earned runs off the board. Each of Civale and Quantrill have one extra year of control beyond that, slated for the open market after 2025. Civale is making $2.6MM this year while Quantrill is earning $5.5MM.

Each of those individuals would garner varying levels of interest based on how highly they are valued by other clubs, but each undoubtedly has value and could potentially land the Guardians some kind of offensive upgrade. Another injury or two before the August 1 deadline would obviously change their calculus, but the ingredients seem to be in place for the Guardians to be a team to watch over the next month.

Guardians Sign Jerad Eickhoff, Riley Smith To Minor League Deals

By | at

The Guardians have signed right-handers Jerad Eickhoff and Riley Smith to non-roster contracts, according to an announcement from GuardsInsider (Twitter links). Both pitchers have been assigned to Triple-A Columbus. Cleveland also indicated that left-hander Daniel Norris went unclaimed on outright waivers after being designated for assignment earlier in the week.

Eickhoff, 33 next month, returns to affiliated ball in search of an eighth big league season. A former Ranger draftee who was sent to the Phillies in the Cole Hamels trade, Eickhoff broke in as a decent back-of-the-rotation arm in Philadelphia. He struggled between 2017-19 and has only gotten brief looks in the last two seasons.

After making five appearances with the Mets in 2021, Eickhoff took a lone start for the Pirates last year. He was hit hard in those stints, surrendering 34 runs in his last 24 MLB innings. Eickhoff had spent most of last season in Triple-A with the Bucs, posting a 4.96 ERA with solid strikeout and walk numbers (22.5% and 6.3%, respectively) through 114 1/3 frames. He’d been pitching in the independent Atlantic League this year, allowing a 6.16 ERA over 49 2/3 innings.

Smith made 30 appearances for the Diamondbacks between 2020-21. He owns a 5.04 ERA over 85 2/3 MLB frames. The LSU product spent last season in the Rockies’ system. An assignment to Triple-A Albuquerque, a brutal environment for pitchers, didn’t go well. Smith allowed an 8.06 ERA through 92 2/3 innings.

Whether Norris will join Eickhoff and Smith in Columbus remains to be seen. The veteran has more than enough service time to decline the assignment in favor of free agency. Norris signed a minor league contract in Spring Training. He posted a 6.93 ERA with middling strikeout and walk rates in 14 outings (nine starts). The Guardians called him up for a two-inning big league appearance earlier this week but quickly took him back off the roster thereafter.

MLBTR Trade Rumors Podcast: Exciting Youth Movements in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, Bad Central Divisions and the Dodgers Want Pitching

By | at

The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.

This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss:

  • the Pirates promote Henry Davis (1:20)
  • the scorching-hot Reds designate Wil Myers for assignment (7:35)
  • Guardians promote Gavin Williams (10:40)
  • White Sox want to sell rental pieces only (16:20)
  • Dodgers need pitching (19:15)

Plus, we answer your questions, including:

  • Do you think the Cubs will deal Christopher Morel at the deadline? (22:45)
  • What are the chances the Diamondbacks promote Jordan Lawlar later this season? (25:50)
  • If Rangers make a blockbuster trade who would you think it would be? Obviously bullpen is a need but what is something blockbuster worthy? (29:45)

Check out our past episodes!

Guardians Release Mike Zunino

By | at

The Guardians have released Mike Zunino, according to the catcher’s transaction log at MLB.com. That always seemed the likely outcome once Cleveland designated him for assignment last Friday.

Zunino signed a $6MM free agent contract over the winter. A little over half that salary remains to be paid out, making it a lock he goes unclaimed on release waivers. Once that process plays out, he’ll be a free agent. At that point, other teams could add him for the prorated portion of the $720K league minimum while leaving the Guardians on the hook for the rest of the money.

Cleveland bought low on the veteran backstop after his 2022 season was ruined by thoracic outlet syndrome. It didn’t pan out, as the 32-year-old struggled on both sides of the ball. He hit .177/.271/.306 with only three home runs in 140 trips to the plate. Zunino annually runs one of the sport’s highest strikeout rates, but this season’s 43.6% clip would be a career-high in a 162-game schedule.

Zunino has generally been a solid defensive catcher in his career. He had well below-average marks with the glove in Cleveland, however. He allowed a league-high five passed balls while throwing out 16.7% of attempted basestealers (a few points below the 20.6% league average). Defensive Runs Saved pegged Zunino as nine runs below average, tying for second-worst at the position.

Without much production on either side of the ball, Cleveland went in a different direction. The Guardians called up top prospect Bo Naylor on the heels of a .253/.393/.498 showing through 270 plate appearances with Triple-A Columbus. He’s the new starting backstop, with Cam Gallagher and David Fry on hand as reserve options.

Show all

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

hide arrows scroll to top