You have to be happy that McKenzie is back. You have to be sad that Plesac is gone. And, you might be scratching your head about Michael Kelly and Peyton Battenfield.
Let's peel back the onion.
We all knew Triston McKenzie was coming back today. We all knew that this would require us to trade or DFA someone. What we didn't know was who that would be. There were several candidates who were making themselves available by bad performance. Zach Plesac and Richie Palacios were the most likely.
Palacios is hitting close to .200 at AAA. He started the season by raking and taking walks in bunches. Then in May the bottom fell out. Right now he is looking like a AAAA player as he doesn't have any great tool and his defense at the premium spot, center field, is below average. He was brought up as a second baseman but apparently the Guardians thought he wasn't playable at that position.
Plesac is a sad story. He has been given a long leash by the Guardians after his COVID-related transgressions in 2020 and his anger-related injuries in 2021 and 2022. Yet, this spring, the Guardians still gave him the keys to the 5th starter's role, much to the dismay of the Plesac nay-sayer fans. But he botched that up and the Guardians finally tired of him and sent him to AAA, hoping it would be the intervention he needed. But it wasn't. After his first, excellent start with Columbus, he stunk it up in every other start...against AAA hitters. I can't figure out if he just wanted to be released or if he is just that bad. Maybe he was hoping to join his buddy Clevinger back at the scene of their 2020 night out. Who knows. But he was set up to be DFA'd, which might be a real shame for the Guardians because ML baseball right now is not pitching-rich that any glimmer of talent shown by him at AAA might have made him a trade asset, at least to get a B prospect or two (look what Will Benson brought).
There was also the possibility that Cal Quantrill or Peyton Battenfield could be moved from the 15-day to the 60
So today came and Palacios got a reprieve as it was Plesac who was DFA'd. In addition, Battenfield was added to the 60-day DL and Michael Kelly was promoted only to be sent back to Columbus (but stayed on the 40-man) when McKenzie was called up. This is in line with what we did last year when we had the 40th spot on the roster as a revolving door where we would bring up a guy for a short time and then DFA him to bring up someone else. So we are set up to do that with Kelly and Toussaint and whoever else we feel we may need for a short time.
Our starting pitching looks pretty solid with Beiber, McKenzie, Bibee, Civale and Allen 1 through 5. Allen is the most vulnerable if and when Quantrill comes back, in my opinion. Remember that Allen struggled later in the year at Columbus last year. As the league gets to know him better he may not have the weapons right now to combat them, maybe requiring more seasoning at Columbus before he can have enough weapons to stay ahead of ML hitters.
Finally, I think Morris, Gaddis, Quantrill and even Battenfield, if and when he comes back, could provide us depth both in the bullpen and in the rotation. I would love to see us use an opener like Morris and then go to Gaddis or Quantrill as the bridge to the back end of the bullpen.
Fnally, let's hope we get someone of value for Plesac. The Benson trade gave me hope that we are learning how to get some value for these DFA guys. There is enough need for starting pitching in baseball and probably enough buzz around baseball about Plesac and how both sides may have needed a split that someone will be willing to beat the waiver wire and give us enough value for Plesac that we want to pull the trigger now.
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