The Guardians have launched outfielder Ramón Laureano, in line with his transactions tracker at MLB.com. He’ll now head to the open market and will likely be free to discover alternatives with all golf equipment.
This was the most certainly end result when the Guardians designated Laureano for task final week. The outfielder’s manufacturing has been trending down for a couple of years now and is at an particularly low level this yr. The 29-year-old has hit .143/.265/.229 to date in 2024 whereas placing out 38.6% of the time.
On prime of his poor efficiency, his wage has been creeping up step by step by way of the arbitration course of. He’s making $5.15MM this yr and any group buying him by way of a waiver declare or commerce would have been taking over that cash. It’s unsurprising that no membership needed 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 protecting that wage in place.
Now that he’s a free agent, groups could also be concerned with 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 chargeable 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 couple of years now, however Laureano was as soon as a strong common for the Athletics. From 2018 to 2021, he stepped to the plate 1,257 occasions for the A’s and hit 49 dwelling runs. His .263/.335/.465 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 119, indicating he was 19% above league common in that point. He additionally stole 34 bases and was usually given robust defensive grades, main FanGraphs to credit score him with 8.6 wins above substitute in 313 video games.
However in the 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 yr 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 $5.15MM wage. However he has fallen off dramatically and now finds himself in search of his subsequent alternative.
As talked about, Laureano will be signed to a significant league roster at basically no value. Maybe some membership would give him a spot and see if he can play nicely sufficient over the following two months to be flipped for a lottery ticket prospect. Or even when no membership is prepared to chunk on that, he ought to a minimum of have the ability to discover a minor league deal someplace.
