The Guardians have launched outfielder Ramon Laureano, based on his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll now head to the open market and shall be free to discover alternatives with all golf equipment.
This was the most probably consequence when the Guardians designated Laureano for task final week. The outfielder’s manufacturing has been trending down for a number of years now and is at an particularly low level this 12 months. The 29-year-old has hit .143/.265/.229 to this point in 2024 whereas placing out 38.6 p.c of the time.
On prime of his poor efficiency, his wage has been creeping up steadily by way of the arbitration course of. He’s making $5.15M this 12 months and any workforce buying him by way of a waiver declare or commerce would have been taking up that cash. It’s unsurprising that no membership wished to take that on, given how he has been enjoying of late. He has greater than 5 years of service time, that means he can reject an outright task whereas additionally conserving that wage in place.
Now that he’s a free agent, groups could also be excited about a low-cost flier. Since he’s now been launched, the Guardians are on the hook for what’s left of the cash, that means that any membership that indicators him would solely be answerable for the prorated league minimal for any time spent on the roster. That quantity can be subtracted from what the Guards pay.
It’s been a number of years now, however Laureano was as soon as a stable common for the Athletics. From 2018 to 2021, he stepped to the plate 1,257 instances for the A’s and hit 49 house runs. His .263/.335/.465 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 119, indicating he was 19 p.c above league common in that point. He additionally stole 34 bases and was usually given sturdy defensive grades, main FanGraphs to credit score him with 8.6 wins above substitute in 313 video games.
However in direction of the tip of that 2021 season, he was given an 80-game PED suspension and his efficiency has been tailing off since then. He hit .211/.287/.376 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 95 and his offense slipped a bit farther in 2023. The A’s designated him for task in August of final 12 months and the Guards put in a declare.
Shifting to Cleveland appeared to spur a little bit of a bounceback, as Laureano slashed .243/.342/.382 for a wRC+ of 106 down the stretch. That apparently intrigued the Guards sufficient that they tendered him a contract, agreeing to the aforementioned $5.15M wage. However he has fallen off dramatically and now finds himself on the lookout for his subsequent alternative.
As talked about, Laureano may be signed to a significant league roster at primarily no price. Maybe some membership would give him a spot and see if he can play effectively sufficient over the following two months to be flipped for a lottery ticket prospect. Or even when no membership is keen to chunk on that, he ought to at the least be capable of discover a minor-league deal someplace.
