A while back I did a post about how the Guardians created an issue rostering Jhonkensy Noel last winter. It was a necessary move with the upcoming Rule 5 draft as he was a prime player to be selected. However, rostering him created a 'dead' 40-man roster space. That is, there was no way that Noel was helping the Guardians major league team in 2022 and maybe not in 2023. By rostering him under those conditions the team also started his 'option clock' as they will have to burn at least two of his minor leagu options (2022 and 2023) as they wait for him to develop. That, in turn, will hurt his trade value.
So I suggested the the aforementioned post that there is no way that we could afford to roster another player who would create an additional dead spot on our 40-man this winter. The target of my article was Alexfri Planez.
Here's the rub. Noel just was named to the Futures game roster. While this validates the Guardians rostering Noel last winter it also, along with Planez's current 19-game hitting streak, brings back to the surface the topic of whether there is logic to rostering Planez this winter.
We will see what the rest of the year brings but inclusion of Noel in this year's future game combined with Planez's strong start to the 2022 season, brings the topic of rostering Planez this winter back up.
A pleasant problem to to have? Not so much when you are a small market team who can't afford to throw assets away for nothing (see Junior Caminero for Tobias Meyers, for example).
Just for grins, without any trades, here are the outfielders on our 40-man roster this winter:
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