Guardians To Acquire Alex Cob Guardians To Acquire Alex Cob

The Guardians and Giants are in the proce s of finalizing a trade that will send veteran right-hander from San Francisco to Cleveland, ESPNs Jeff Pa san. Zack Meisel of The Athletic that theres an agreement in place, with Cleveland sending minor league lefty and a player to be named later to San Francisco in the swap. Cobb has yet to pitch this season after opening the year on the injured list while rehabbing from offseason hip surgery. He was expected back sooner in 2024, but multiple setbacks including a shoulder i sue and blister troubles slowed his recovery. Hes on the cusp of being reinstated from the injured list at this point, however, and could pitch within the next week. Joel Sherman of the New York Post that the Guardians plan for Cobb is to make one final Corbin Carroll Jersey rehab start before his reinstatement. He last pitched on the 26th and should be on turn to throw again tomorrow. The 36-year-old righty is in the final season of what was originally a two-year, $20MM deal but became a three-year, $28MM contract after the Giants chose to exercise a $10MM club option rather than pay a $2MM buyout. Hes still owed $3.333MM of this years salary between now and seasons end. Though Cobb has yet to pitch in 2024, hes been a rock-solid rotation arm for the Angels and Giants over the past three seasons, pitching to a combined 3.79 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate and 6.9% walk rate in 394 1/3 innings. Hes started 74 games in that time, averaging about 5 1/3 frames per outing. The Guardians, whove lost for the season and had to option and due to notable struggles, have been relying on a patchwork staff including veteran and journeyman . Lively has exceeded expectations, but Carrasco has struggled to a 5.68 ERA in 95 innings (19 starts). The Guards recently called on rookie southpaw for his MLB debut as well. The only steady presences in the rotation at the moment are righties , (who opened the season with a monthslong IL stint) and Lively. In return for Cobb, the Giants will add Clevelands 13th-round pick from the 2023 draft (Bresnahan) and a PTBNL. The 19-year-old Bresnahan was an over-slot add for Cleveland in the 13th, signing for a $375K bonus ($225K of which counted against the Guardians pool). Thats the equivalent of a signing bonus near the tail end of the fifth round in the draft. Baseball America ranked Bresnahan as the No. 491 prospect in last years draft. Hes not considered to be among the Guardians top prospects but has had a nice start in the low minors after getting hit hard in last summers pro debut. Hes pitched 50 innings between Clevelands Rookie-level ACL and Cla s-A affiliates, logging a 2.70 ERA with a 32.5% strikeout rate and 8.9% walk rate. BAs scouting report on Bresnahan from the draft notes an upper-80s/low-90s heater (which could add velocity as he continues to mature) and a changeup that has the potential to be an above-average pitch. With Cobb now out of the fold in San Francisco, the Giants will likely go with young to follow , , and . The Giants surely wanted to get Birdsong a look after hes impre sed in six big league starts (2.97 ERA, 30 1/3 innings, 30.2 K%, 11.9 BB%) and shown well in the upper minors as well. With Cobb out of the mix, thats now easier to accomplish. That said, the Giants could easily have gone to a six-man rotation. Theyve been anything but adherent to the conventional five-man rotation under the watch of president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi, after all. The Cobb trade was very likely as much about the modest return and an opportunity for Birdsong as it was shedding the remainder of Cobbs contract once a taker presented itself. The Giants shed the remainder of s contract in last nights deal with the Braves, and adding Cobb to the pile trims more than $30MM off the books in total all while dropping the Giants down a tier in terms of luxury-tax penalization. The Giants will be hard-pre sed to actually duck beneath the $237MM threshold, barring a trade of a major contract like Snell or Ray, but the Cobb trade alone will spare them a bit shy of $4MM when factoring in his remaining salary and their 20% tax on his contracts AAV. Randy Johnson Jersey