Guardians right-hander Gavin Williams, who’s been out all season due to inflammation in his right elbow, experienced continued discomfort after his recent throwing session against live hitters, tweets Mandy Bell of MLB.com. He’ll receive an injection and be shut down for the next seven days before being reevaluated. The team is hopeful that’ll prove sufficient, but it’s an ominous development for the prized young right-hander. Williams, 24, was Cleveland’s first-round pick in 2021 and debuted in 2023 with considerable fanfare. He entered last season ranked among the sport’s top 50 prospects ..read more

Twelve-year Major League veteran Larry Brown passed away earlier this week at age 84.  Brown is survived by his wife Leni, their three daughters, and nine grandchildren. Brown hit .233/.300/.313 over 3872 plate appearances and 1129 games with the Indians, A’s, Orioles, and Rangers from 1963-74.  The first nine of those seasons were spent in Cleveland, where Brown became an infield regular and the team’s starting shortstop in 1967-68 and for much of the 1969 campaign.  The large majority of Brown’s career (712 games) came at shortstop, though he had a good chunk of playing time a ..read more

Triston McKenzie has had a rough start to the season, allowing 11 runs over his first 13 innings. The lanky righty has issued 12 walks with just five strikeouts. His swinging strike rate has plummeted to 5.6% while his velocity has backed up. McKenzie’s average fastball has sat at 90.9 MPH, down from its standard 92-93 range. McKenzie entered the season hoping for a rebound after his 2023 campaign was mostly lost to injury. He began last year on the shelf with a teres major strain in his throwing shoulder. He returned in June, made two starts, and then was shut back down after spraining the UC ..read more

We’re three weeks into the 2024 season, and this year’s crop of Rule 5 picks has had an atypical amount of staying power. That’s perhaps in part due to the fact that only ten players were selected in the 2023 Rule 5 Draft, but as of this writing, only one Rule 5 selection has been returned to his original organization. For those unfamiliar, in order to be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft, a player must not be on his team’s 40-man roster and must have played in either parts of five professional seasons (if they signed at 18 or younger) or four professional seasons (if they signed at 19 or older ..read more

April 17: The teams announced that Avila has been traded from San Diego to Cleveland in exchange for cash. In a corresponding 40-man move, the Guards transferred infielder Angel Martinez from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. April 16: The Guardians are acquiring right-hander Pedro Avila from the Padres, reports Daniel Álvarez-Montes of El Extrabase (on X). San Diego had designated Avila for assignment last week. Avila has had a tough start to the 2024 campaign. The Venezuelan-born pitcher has allowed eight runs in as many innings over his first four appearances. Avila has fa ..read more

Former All-Star pitcher Fritz Peterson has passed away at age 82. The Yankees announced the news this evening and offered their condolences to Peterson’s family. “The Yankees are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Fritz Peterson, who was a formidable pitcher and affable presence throughout his nine years in pinstripes,” the team said in a statement. “Along with longtime teammate Mel Stottlemyre, Peterson was part of a devastating one-two combination at the top of the Yankees’ rotation. A known prankster and well-liked among his teammates and coaches, Peterson had an outgoing personalit ..read more

The Blue Jays have traded right-hander Wes Parsons to the Guardians for $250K of international bonus pool space, per announcements from both clubs. Parsons was designated for assignment by the Jays last week and has now been optioned to Triple-A Columbus. Righty Shane Bieber was transferred to the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Parsons. It was reported over the weekend that Bieber will undergo Tommy John surgery, thus missing the remainder of the 2024 season. Parsons, 31, pitched in the majors in 2018 and 2019 but then didn’t make it to the show in 2020 and headed to Korea for a ..read more

Alex Stumpf of MLB.com offered a series of Pirates injury updates today. Yasmani Grandal is still a few weeks away from coming off the injured list as he recovers from plantar fasciitis. However, he seems to be making good progress, and Stumpf reports that he will begin baserunning in the coming days. He has already been participating in simulated games. The two-time All-Star spent his last four seasons with the White Sox. His days as one of the best catchers in baseball are long behind him, but the Pirates are hoping he can be a capable veteran backup. In less positive catching news, Jason ..read more

Guardians ace Shane Bieber will soon be undergoing a Tommy John surgery after experiencing elbow pain in each of his last two starts, the team announced.  Bieber will miss the rest of the 2024 season and roughly half of the 2025 season, as per the usual recovery timeline for TJ procedures.  As initially reported by MLB.com’s Mandy Bell, right-hander Peter Strzelecki has been called to take Bieber’s roster spot, now that the Guards have officially placed Bieber on the 15-day injured list.  (He’ll inevitably be moved to the 60-day IL when Cleveland next needs to open a 40-man rost ..read more

The Cardinals have been hit hard by injuries in the early days of the 2024 season, but they have recently received some good news about several players. Major offseason acquisition Sonny Gray suffered a right hamstring strain in spring training, robbing him of the necessary game action he needed to be ready for the regular season. The right-hander threw 36 pitches over three simulated innings today (per Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat), and he will pitch for the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds on Wednesday (per Lynn Worthy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch). Jones adds that a return as soon ..read more