Hedges agreed to a one-year, $4 million contract with the Guardians on Sunday, Jon Heyman of the New York Post reports.
Hedges split last season between Pittsburgh and Texas but will make a return to the Cleveland in 2024, where he made 199 appearances from 2020 to 2022. The veteran backstop brings nothing offensively with a .478 OPS over the past two years but provides strong defense. Hedges should fill the backup job at catcher behind youngster Bo Naylor for the Guardians.
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Guardians' Deyvison De Los Santos: Heading to Cleveland
Rotowire
The Guardians selected De Los Santos during the 2023 Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old was at Double-A Amarillo with the Diamondbacks last season and had a .254/.297/.431 slash line with 20 homers in 113 games. De Los Santos will skip the Triple-A level with Cleveland, and will need to stay on the big-league roster for all of 2024 in order for the organization to retain him.
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Guardians' Jaime Barria: Finds work with Guardians
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Barria signed a minor-league contract with the Guardians on Wednesday, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports.
Barria rejected an outright assignment from the Angels and became a free agent earlier in the offseason, and he'll now attempt to carve out a role for himself with the Guardians. The 27-year-old righty posted a 5.68 ERA and 1.47 WHIP last year -- a sharp decline from his 2.61 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 2022. Barria's deal includes an invitation to major-league spring training, and a good spring could be enough for him to earn a spot in Cleveland's Opening Day bullpen.
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Guardians' Ramon Laureano: Avoids arbitration at $5.15M
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Laureano signed a one-year, $5.15 million contract with the Guardians on Friday, avoiding arbitration, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports.
Laureano was designated for assignment by the Athletics this past August, but Cleveland quickly scooped him up and he went on to post a decent .724 OPS over 41 games with his new team while drawing regular starts in the outfield. The 29-year-old gets a nice raise here over his $3.55 million salary from 2023.
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Guardians' Scott Barlow: Traded to Cleveland
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Cleveland acquired Barlow from the Padres on Friday in exchange for Enyel De Los Santos.
Barlow posted a rough 5.35 ERA through his first 38.2 innings with the Royals in 2023, but he turned it around to the tune of a 3.07 ERA across 29.1 innings following an Aug. 1 trade to San Diego. The 30-year-old right-hander should be a setup option for the Guardians next season.
The Guardians acquired Huff from the Rockies in exchange for Cal Quantrill on Friday.
Huff, 22, slashed .262/.357/.374 with five homers over 86 games at Low-A Fresno in 2023. He'll probably move up to the High-A level to start 2024 and looks merely like organizational depth.
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Guardians' Daniel Espino: Joins 40-man roster
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The Guardians selected Espino (shoulder) to their 40-man roster Tuesday.
Espino missed all of 2023 due to a shoulder issue which eventually led to anterior capsule repair surgery, but he ranked as one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball before that injury arose. The 22-year-old right-hander appears on track to return to live games around the middle of the 2024 campaign.
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Guardians' Cade Smith: Added to 40-man roster
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The Guardians selected Smith to their 40-man roster Tuesday.
Smith pitched to a 4.02 ERA and 95:28 K:BB over 62.2 innings this past season between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus. The 24-year-old reliever is now protected from next month's Rule 5 Draft and might be poised to make his MLB debut at some point in 2024.
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Guardians' Michael Kelly: Designated for assignment
Rotowire
Kelly was designated for assignment by the Guardians on Tuesday.
Kelly is 31 years old and has logged only 20.2 career innings at the major-league level, but he's generally been effective when given a chance. The righty reliever could draw interest on waivers given the high demand -- and low supply -- for bullpen help.
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Guardians' Cal Quantrill: Pushed off 40-man roster
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Quantrill was designated for assignment by the Guardians on Tuesday.
Qunatrill was a reliable member of Cleveland's starting rotation between 2021-22 before stumbling to a 5.24 ERA, 1.47 WHIP and 58:35 K:BB over 99.2 innings in 2023. The 28-year-old right-hander can elect free agency if he passes through waivers unclaimed and would actually probably do quite well for himself in this pitching-thin market.
Oller signed a minor-league contract with an invitation to spring training with the Guardians on Wednesday, Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston reports.
He'll be reunited with new Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, who caught Oller some in 2022 with the Athletics. Oller had a disastrous 2023 season both in the majors (10.07 ERA) and minors (6.22 ERA) but had a solid minor-league track record previously.
Guardians' Cam Gallagher: Designated for assignment
Rotowire
Gallagher was designated for assignment by the Guardians on Monday.
Gallagher somehow was given 149 plate appearances in 2023 even as he slashed an embarrassing .126/.154/.168. He'll go through the waiver process.
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Guardians' Christian Bethancourt: Catches on with Cleveland
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The Guardians claimed Bethancourt off waivers from the Rays on Monday, Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times reports.
Bethancourt spent a large portion of the 2023 season as the Rays' No. 1 catcher and put up decent counting statistics over his 332 plate appearances (11 home runs, 49 runs, 33 RBI and one stolen base), but an ugly .225/.254/.381 slash line (74 wRC+) made his less useful at the plate from a real-life standpoint. Still, the 32-year-old graded out as a capable defender behind the dish and wasn't a complete zero with the bat, so he should at least make for a dependable backup option and short-side platoon mate in Cleveland for No. 1 backstop Bo Naylor.
