Cleveland Sports Forum

Flaherty scratched from Detroit's lineup tonight.
Two good reasons why I like it...
We don't have to face him tonight.
Will he be in the dugout tonight?

It's obvious that he's being traded to someone. I'll be happy if its us.
We just traded 2 of our many shortstops and our best pre-2024 draft young pitcher
What package will get Flaherty? How long is he under team control?

I believe he's a rental. Free agent after this season.
Since Rodriguez isn't going anywhere here, I'd include him in the deal.
Tena and a pitcher, maybe Logan Allen.

Mets lead the Twins 11-1 top of the 7th.
Royals lead 2-1 Mid 5 in Chicago.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Guardians have helped their offense by trading for outfielder Lane Thomas from the Washington Nationals. It cost them three prospects -- left-hander Alex Clemmey and infielders Jose Tena and Rafael Ramirez.

Knowing how much the organization treasures its prospects, it could not have been an easy trade to make. Still to let Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline pass without doing something to help this team would have been a mistake.

This has been a shockingly good season by the first-place Guardians. An out-of-nowhere season to be honest. But over the last three weeks, it’s been clear that the offense, as productive as it was in April, May and June, needed help for the stretch run.

The acquisition of Lane is the kind of move the Guards needed to make. Many of their primary hitters -- Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez -- are left-handed. Frequently used reserves Will Brennan, Bo Naylor and Daniel Schneemann also swing from the left side of the plate.

The right-handed hitting Thomas will not only balance the lineup, but add speed and power. He hit 17 homers in 2022 and 28 in 2023 along with 20 stolen bases.

This year he’s hitting .253 (76 for 300) with 16 doubles, eight homers and 40 RBI. He’s stolen 28 bases and been caught a Major-League high 12 times. Which means he should fit in nicely with the Guardians sometimes overly aggressive running attack.

Lane has played in only 77 games this year after missing over a month with a sprained MCL in his left knee. He was injured stealing a base on April 23 and didn’t return to the active roster until May 27.

Originally drafted by the Blue Jays in the fifth round in 2014, Lane, 28, didn’t make his big league debut until 2019 with the Cardinals. The Blue traded him to St. Louis in 2017 and the Cardinals sent him to Washington at the deadline in 2021 for Jon Lester.

Lane has played all three outfield positions, but has spent most of his time in right field. The Guardians have used nine different players in right field this season -- Gabriel Arias, Will Brennan, Estevan Florial, David Fry, Ramon Laureano, Angel Martinez, Jhonkensy Noel, Johnathan Rodriguez and Daniel Schneemann. Brennan has spent the most time out there, starting 50 games, but recently he’s lost playing time to Noel.

Guardians right fielders, through 105 games, are hitting .210 (75 for 357) with 13 homers and 40 RBI. The .210 batting average is the second lowest in the big leagues.

Rookie manager Stephen Vogt likes to keep all his position players involved, but Lane should be to stabilize right field.

Lane’s acquisition won’t break the bank. He’s making $2.2 million this year and the Guardians have one more year of control over him in 2025.

The deal is similar to Cleveland’s trade for Jay Bruce during the 2017 season. They acquired the veteran outfielder from the Mets in August when MLB had what amounted to a second trade deadline. Bruce helped the Guardians win 102 games that year.

Here’s what the Guardians gave up for Lane:

Tena: He made his big league debut last year and has played four games with the G’s this year. In 90 games at Class AAA Columbus, he’s hitting .298 (110 for 367) with 17 doubles, 17 homers and 90 RBI.

Ramirez: He’s hitting .187 (34 for 216) with 10 doubles, four homers and 23 RBI in 54 games at Class A Lynchburg.

Clemmey: He was the Guardians second round pick out of high school in 2023. They signed him for $2.3 million. This year at Class A Lynchburg the 6-6 left-hander was 1-4 with a 4.67 ERA in 19 starts. He struck out 92, walked 42 and allowed 53 hits in 69 1/3 innings.

The Guardians approached this year’s deadline trying to help the pitching staff, particularly the rotation, and offense. Lane should help the offense. Not to be greedy, but there’s still time to help the pitching staff as well.

If that doesn’t happen, Vogt, Carl Willis and the rest of Cleveland’s pitching group is going to have their hands full getting this rotation through the last two months of the season.

But there’s still time to make that right. For now the addition of Thomas was just what the Guardians needed on the field and in the clubhouse.

DETROIT — Sam Hentges is set to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday when the Clippers host Syracuse at Huntington Park, according to Guardians manager Stephen Vogt.

Hentges has been sidelined since July 11 with left shoulder inflammation. It is not clear how many rehab outings the 6-foot-6 southpaw will require before he is ready to return.

“We don’t know how many he’s going to need,” Vogt said. “We’ll just kind of go one at a time to see where he is at.”

Prior to the injury, Hentges had appeared in 25 games for Cleveland, posting a 3.04 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings. He allowed a pair of earned runs and a walk on five hits in five outings from July 3-10.

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Bold move!
Promote Johnathan Rodriquez to add more right handed power in the lineup.
He played left field all winter long to two years in a row. Rodriguez plays left field.
Kwan to center field.
Freeman and Rocchio to Columbus.
Martinez to shortstop.

Mets 15 Twins 2 Final

CONDENSED GAME

https://www.mlb.com/video/condensed-gam ... 0Games&p=0

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Unlikely we include Tena in a package for Flaherty, since he went to the Nationals.

And unlikely that JRod will be up to play RF since we just dealt for Thomas.
Rodriguez looks like a good hitter but he has actually fallen out of our top 30 prospect list, although 3 spots have just opened up so perhaps he'll sneak back in at 28-30.

@ZackMeisel

Lane Thomas is batting second for the Guardians today and starting in right field.

Will Brennan optioned to Triple A.

singled his 3rd time up and scored on Jose's homer
5 - 0 win behind effective but inefficient Williams [90 pitches in 5 innings] and the world's greatest bullpen.
Josh Naylor solo homer. Rocchio solo homer. Schneemann rbi double

We land alex cobb from the giants

Guardians to acquire Cobb from Giants (source)
41 minutes ago

Maria Guardado

@mi_guardadoo


The Guardians are set to acquire right-hander Alex Cobb from the Giants for Minor League left-hander Jacob Bresnahan and a player to be named later, a source told MLB.com's Mandy Bell on Tuesday. The clubs have not confirmed the trade.

Cobb has yet to make his season debut, but he’s on the verge of completing his long rehab from left hip surgery and right shoulder irritation, making him an intriguing arm to follow down the stretch. The 36-year-old veteran is coming off an All-Star campaign with the Giants, logging a 3.87 ERA over 28 starts in 2023.

Cobb appeared to be on track for a May return after undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in his left hip over the offseason, but his timeline was pushed back after he was shut down with right shoulder issues. He finally started to progress after receiving nerve medication and began a rehab assignment on June 30, posting a 3.92 ERA with 24 strikeouts over 18 1/3 innings across six starts in the Minors.

He is owed the remainder of his $10 million salary this year and will be eligible for free agency at the end of the season.