Myles Straw Placed on Waivers (Updated With Additional Info)

The Guardians may have decided the juice wasn’t worth the roster squeeze

Reliable sources tell Covering the Corner that the Guardians have placed centerfielder Myles Straw on waivers.

All MLB teams would now have a chance to claim Straw. Given the length of his remaining contract, I would guess he would clear waivers and rejoin Cleveland who will still be the hook for the remaining $15 million he is owed, but pay him while he is in Columbus and clear a 26-man spot and possibly a 40-man spot if he is outrighted (my expectation).

This would still be an aggressive move for Cleveland’s ownership and front office which is typically reticent to move on from players to whom they owe any amount of significant payroll. But, Straw’s 68 wRC+ over the past two seasons and decline in baserunning production and defense in 2023 apparently made this move necessary in order to negotiate their roster needs.

Without Straw, the roster falls into place more easily. Given a recent Zack Meisel tweet:

...my guess is the roster currently looks like:
C- Bo and Hedges
1B - Josh Naylor, DDLS and Fry
2B - Gimenez
SS - Rocchio and Arias

LF - Kwan
CF - Florial and Freeman (also serving as UIF)
RF - Laureano

HOWEVER, this is the kind of move that clears the way for a Chase DeLauter promotion down the road, in my humble view, which is an exciting idea.

I will have fond memories of Myles Straw when he is not a Guardian as a defender and I know I’ll miss assuming that any ball hit to centerfield will automatically be an out. But, he’s truly one of the worst non-catcher-playing hitters I’ve ever seen and I applaud the team’s willingness to recognize this and move on so they can try to find some hitting value in the margins of this roster. I also wish Myles Straw the best as he seems like a tremendous human being and invaluable teammate. If he somehow finds his way back into the Cleveland minor-league system with this being a procedural move when it's all said and done, I’d be very pleased.

After the publishing of this article, Zack Meisel of the Athletic had an update: