Thoughts for a Thuraday: 40-man roster (s**t is about to get real) and Owen Miller PTBNL - Where Fore Art Thou?

BRINGING BACK INJURED PITCHERS -UPDATE!!!!

 Advice to the Cleveland Guardians: Don't rush getting Morris,  McKenzie and Civale back unless you think they can go Ohtani on the league.  We need hitting, ptching is less of an issue.

NOTE: Watched McKenzie's start tonight.  He is not ready.  1-2 more starts in Columbus to build up his strength and get him sharpened up after missing almost two months.  Not the time to bring him up, especially when he is not ready and it is possibly going to cost us someone from our 40-man to do it.  Shouldn't have to do that before McKenzie (or Civale or Morris) is ready.  

Watching Civale's second start it is apparent to me that he could use 2 more starts, at least, to get back to the majors.   It was hard to tell about Morris but he, too, looked like he could use some more work before being added to the 26-man.

The thing is, none of these 3 guys is the cure for what is wrong with this team.  Here are my thoughts:

40-man roster - We will need to clear rosters spots for Morris and McKenzie when they are ready to pitch in the majors or be optioned to Columbus for more work.  Right now the guys, in order, who could be DFA'd (with corresponding moves, if appropriate):

• Cam Gallagher along with bringing up Bo Naylor and making Zunino the backup. - Look, keeping Gallagher is a luxury and not a necessity.  Naylor needs to be up and we need the roster spot.  In a pinch we can brng up Lavastida who is hitting the ball and catching much better than he was last year or in ST.
• Juan Brito - Look, the stats bear out what we thought before the season
• Brito can take a walk 
• Brito has borderline power
• Brito is only passable defensively
• Brito has very little speed
• There is NOTHING to indicate that Brito will have an accelerated development path that will allow him to establish himself in the majors before his 3 minor league option years run out.

Time to rip off the bandad and DFA Brito and acknowledge that the trade with Colorado is a bust

• Richie Palacios -  Some people would rate him as #1 on the DFA list.   His defense in center sucks.  He is a slap hitter who hits left-handed and draws walks well and is relegated, really, to left field.   I think that any guy who is relatively young and hitting .300+ in AAA with more walks than strikeouts and has great energy is worth more than a guy at high A with middling tools and a running option clock.  Palacios is the next man up in the outfield in my opinion and you just don't DFA that guy.
• Juan Gonzalez - Two months ago this would have seemed impossible, but following the Bobby Bradley and Franmil Reyes DFAs,  I have watched every one of Gonzalez's AAA ABs this season and I just don't see him making the changes he needs to make.   I see him just as lost at AAA as he was int he majors, he is just getting more production because the pitching is weaker.  So, while I think he makes it through the end of the year in Columbus as we keep him as an insurance policy, it is not out of the question that we DFA him in mid-season as we did our previous two would-be power hitters.
• Tim Herrin - No one knew why he was rostered this winter and so DFAing him now should not be a shock.  However, if we do tank it this year I could see them bringing up Herrin to see what we really have in him before making a decision on him in the off-season.
• Jose Tena - DFAing him would be a sign that our farm system is starting to fall apart.  But I could see us doing that given that his repeat at AA is not going too well.    I imagine they would keep him for the rest of the year to see if he turns things around.
• Zach Plesac - Some wanted to do this before the season.  I said to give him a chance but he failed miserably.  I thought he would use his time in AAA to dominate to get back to the majors but he is now falling deeper into mediocrity.   Hard to believe that he could be this bad but he is.  While I think it is a bad idea to just give him away for free with the majors being so think on starting pitching I can't eliminate DFAing him as a possible addition-by-subtracton outcome, I could hope we would trade him for something viable first.

In any case, I hope the Guardians don't kneejerk to bring these guys back up because Civale doesn't look ready, Morris needs 3-4 more outings, at least, and I will know more about McKenzie after his start tonight.  But I think we may need to take a breath before we bring any of these guys off the injured list.

OWEN MILLER PTBNL

Miller is hitting .346 on a 100 AB sample size, helping Milwaukee to first place in the NL Central so far.

We traded Miller to Milwaukee for a PTBNL on January 15th meaning the PTBNL has to be identified by June 15th.   

Who is the PTBNL and when do we expect to see him?