The Guardians added their first reliever of the offseason, the usual minor-league contract variety, in left-hander Antoine Kelly.
Kelly has had a 1 inning at the major league level so far, and will turn 27 years old soon. Last season in Triple-A for the Rockies, Cubs and Dodgers, he put up a 10.28/7.28 K/BB/9 and an FIP of 5. So, if the Guardians can help him halve his walk-rate, he could be their next reclamation project success. He has a mid-90’s fastball and a nice slider. There is no such thing
as a bad minor-league deal. He gave up an .803 OPS to RHH and a .575 to LHH last season.
Guardians’ prospects Welbyn Francisca and Luke Hill both got singles in the Arizona Fall League All-Star Game yesterday, and Hill added a walk. Francisca started at short and Hill came in mid-game to play second base. Both players had an excellent first half of AFL play, and we’ll see how they do in their remaining games.
Guardians’ prospect Jaison Chourio will play winter ball in Venezuela, playing for the Aguilas del Zulia.
Currently, the Guardians have three open roster spots ahead of November 20th’s deadline to roster players ahead of the Rule-5. However, one would guess they will non-tender folks like Matt Festa and Blake Perkins on November 17th to open a couple more spots, and there may be other moves made prior to that.
The second week of Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz’s trial begins today. Sam Blum breaks down what has happened so far for the Athletic here. Basically, nothing is clear yet, except it’s a funny element that the judge apparently knows next to nothing about the game of baseball.
