Yankees Claim Oscar Gonzalez From Guardians
By Darragh McDonald | December 1, 2023 at 1:30pm CDT
The Yankees have claimed outfielder Oscar Gonzalez off waivers from the Guardians, reports Jack Curry of YES Network. There wasn’t any public indication that Gonzalez was removed from the Cleveland roster but they evidently tried to pass him through waivers without success. Cleveland’s 40-man roster is now at 39 while the Yankees are at 37.
Gonzalez, 26 in January, is coming off a dismal season in 2023. In 54 big league games, he struck out in 25.6% of his plate appearances while walking at just a 2.8% rate. He hit just two home runs and produced a batting line of .214/.239/.312 for a wRC+ of 49.
That was a big drop from a solid rookie season in 2022, wherein Gonzalez hit 11 home runs in 382 plate appearances. His 3.9% walk rate was still well below average but his strikeout rate was a more manageable 19.6%. He slashed .296/.327/.461 overall for a wRC+ of 125. He also became known to many baseball fans for using the SpongeBob SquarePants theme song as his walk-up music.
Despite that strong 2022 campaign, the poor plate discipline is an ongoing issue. He has swung at 49.1% of pitches outside the strike zone in his career, the highest rate among MLB hitters with at least 550 plate appearances over the past two seasons. In 2,734 minor league plate appearances, he has walked in just 109 of them, a 4% rate.
Gonzalez is generally considered a poor defender in an outfield corner and he’s not a huge stolen base threat, so the offense really needs to carry the profile. Chasing pitches off the plate and the resulting lack of walks have always been an issue for him. He hit enough in 2022 to overcome those faults but crashed back to earth in 2023. He clearly fell out of the plans in Cleveland, spending much of this year in the minors and now departing organization completely.
The Yankees are known to be looking for outfield help but Gonzalez is likely to just be a depth pickup. He still has a couple of option years remaining, which means the Yanks can keep him in Triple-A until they need him in the majors, either due to an injury or Gonzalez showing himself to be in good form. While struggling with the Guards last year, he spent a lot of time in Triple-A and hit .287/.323/.496 at that level for a wRC+ of 98.
The Yanks have Aaron Judge in one outfield spot but will likely pursue external additions to fill out a couple more. They have been connected in rumors to players such as Juan Soto of the Padres and free agent Cody Bellinger. How they fare in their pursuits of those players and others will ultimately determine how high Gonzalez is on the depth chart. He figures to be battling players like Everson Pereira, Estevan Florial and Oswaldo Cabrera for playing time as depth outfielders.
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10127Jeffmlbdraft
@jeffMLBdraft
There are some reasons for clearing a roster spot. 1) Guardians might be near some kind of acquisition 2) There might be a player they could be considering for the Rule 5 3) With FA occurring and the Rule 5 on the horizon right now is the best chance to pass a guy through waivers
2:12 PM · Dec 1, 2023
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2,300
Views
@jeffMLBdraft
There are some reasons for clearing a roster spot. 1) Guardians might be near some kind of acquisition 2) There might be a player they could be considering for the Rule 5 3) With FA occurring and the Rule 5 on the horizon right now is the best chance to pass a guy through waivers
2:12 PM · Dec 1, 2023
·
2,300
Views
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10128I thought the roster numbers were frozen for the rule 5 draft on a past deadline. Releases after that date doesn't mean they have room to add a player in the rule 5 draft.
At least the major league portion.
Losing Gonzalez opens a spot for a deal but not grant them a pick in the rule 5 draft.
I don't know the rule if another team selects a player in the rule 5 draft and then the G's trade for that player.
At least the major league portion.
Losing Gonzalez opens a spot for a deal but not grant them a pick in the rule 5 draft.
I don't know the rule if another team selects a player in the rule 5 draft and then the G's trade for that player.
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10129What are the rule 5 draft rules?
Rule 5 Draft rules
Any club with an open spot on its 40-man roster is eligible to make a selection. Teams pick in reverse order of the previous season's standings.
Rule 5 Draft rules
Any club with an open spot on its 40-man roster is eligible to make a selection. Teams pick in reverse order of the previous season's standings.
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10130Shane Bieber Reportedly Open To Extension Following Potential Trade
By Steve Adams | December 1, 2023 at 3:57pm CDT
Guardians righty Shane Bieber is one of the more prominent names on the offseason trade market, with the Cubs and Reds among the many teams to check in thus far. Bieber is slated to become a free agent next offseason and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $12.2MM this coming season, giving him the look of an affordable one-year rental for a team on the lookout for rotation upgrades. However, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Bieber is at least open to the idea of signing an extension with a team that acquires him. Presumably, that’d mean he’s open to a long-term deal in Cleveland as well, although it’s not clear that the generally frugal Guardians would be amenable to that after already hammering out nine-figure extensions with Jose Ramirez and Andres Gimenez in recent years.
One could argue that it’s natural for Bieber to take this approach, given that he missed more than two months late in the 2023 season with elbow inflammation. He made it back to the mound and looked healthy in a pair of late-season starts, but he’s seen his velocity dip by about three miles per hour since its peak and has a number of red flags in his profile, including strikeout, walk, swinging-strike, chase and ground-ball rates that have all trended in the wrong direction. There’s some logic to taking the risk-averse approach and locking in a long-term deal this offseason.
On the other hand, it’s far more common for players to spurn extension overtures at this stage of their original club control window — particularly following a trade. Players often want to get a feel for their new organization (coaching staff, teammates, competitive outlook).
Furthermore, while Bieber might not command the type of deal he once looked destined for when he was taking home AL Cy Young honors in 2020, he’s still clearly a talented pitcher. The market for even third/fourth starters has progressed over the past couple years, too, evidenced by contracts like the four-year deals awarded to Taijuan Walker ($72MM) and Jameson Taillon ($68MM). Bieber is only 28 (29 in May) and would turn 30 in the first year of a theoretical free-agent deal (or extension). With any form of bounceback season in terms of health, if not performance, he’d have a case for at least a four-year deal.
It’s rare, although not unprecedented for teams to grant extension windows as a conditional element of a trade. Most recently, the Reds simultaneously acquired and extended Sonny Gray in a trade with the Yankees, although that was four years ago. More likely is a scenario where Bieber is simply traded to another club and the two parties spend the remainder of the offseason discussing a potential long-term deal.
Bieber’s openness to an extension might improve his trade value a bit, but one would imagine that openness would ultimately depend on where he’s traded. Using a pair of teams to which he’s already been connected, it’s easier to see a big-payroll team like the Cubs pony up on a long-term pact than it would be a smaller-payroll club like the Reds, who’ve shied away from long-term deals over the past few offseasons. Cincinnati did extend Hunter Greene, but was was a pre-arb deal that isn’t really comparable to Bieber when he’s at five-plus years of service.
While it’s interesting to hear that any prominent player who’s only a year from the open market is amenable to forgoing that right, it’s simultaneously difficult to imagine it happening. Bieber made only two starts in his return from that months-long stay on the injured list, which isn’t much for a new club to go off of when weighing whether to sign him for on a long-term arrangement. From Bieber’s vantage point, it’d be a surprise to see him sign for anything less than those aforementioned Taillon and Walker deals, given his track record. Prior to the 2023 season, he looked like a candidate for a $100MM+ deal in free agency.
The 2023 season tells another story, though. Bieber’s 3.80 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate, 47.2% grounder rate, 91.6 mph average fastball and career-low swinging-strike and chase rates (10.5% and 30.6%) all have the look of a mid-rotation arm rather than an ace and are are all reasons to exercise caution. An uptick in velocity or reversal of course in some combination of those declining rate stats next season would go a long ways toward bolstering his stock. Perhaps Bieber and a new team (or the Guardians themselves) could find some kind of middle ground, but his recent injury troubles — he also missed two months with a shoulder strain in 2021 — and diminished performance might make it particularly difficult to find a middle ground.
By Steve Adams | December 1, 2023 at 3:57pm CDT
Guardians righty Shane Bieber is one of the more prominent names on the offseason trade market, with the Cubs and Reds among the many teams to check in thus far. Bieber is slated to become a free agent next offseason and projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $12.2MM this coming season, giving him the look of an affordable one-year rental for a team on the lookout for rotation upgrades. However, Jon Heyman of the New York Post writes that Bieber is at least open to the idea of signing an extension with a team that acquires him. Presumably, that’d mean he’s open to a long-term deal in Cleveland as well, although it’s not clear that the generally frugal Guardians would be amenable to that after already hammering out nine-figure extensions with Jose Ramirez and Andres Gimenez in recent years.
One could argue that it’s natural for Bieber to take this approach, given that he missed more than two months late in the 2023 season with elbow inflammation. He made it back to the mound and looked healthy in a pair of late-season starts, but he’s seen his velocity dip by about three miles per hour since its peak and has a number of red flags in his profile, including strikeout, walk, swinging-strike, chase and ground-ball rates that have all trended in the wrong direction. There’s some logic to taking the risk-averse approach and locking in a long-term deal this offseason.
On the other hand, it’s far more common for players to spurn extension overtures at this stage of their original club control window — particularly following a trade. Players often want to get a feel for their new organization (coaching staff, teammates, competitive outlook).
Furthermore, while Bieber might not command the type of deal he once looked destined for when he was taking home AL Cy Young honors in 2020, he’s still clearly a talented pitcher. The market for even third/fourth starters has progressed over the past couple years, too, evidenced by contracts like the four-year deals awarded to Taijuan Walker ($72MM) and Jameson Taillon ($68MM). Bieber is only 28 (29 in May) and would turn 30 in the first year of a theoretical free-agent deal (or extension). With any form of bounceback season in terms of health, if not performance, he’d have a case for at least a four-year deal.
It’s rare, although not unprecedented for teams to grant extension windows as a conditional element of a trade. Most recently, the Reds simultaneously acquired and extended Sonny Gray in a trade with the Yankees, although that was four years ago. More likely is a scenario where Bieber is simply traded to another club and the two parties spend the remainder of the offseason discussing a potential long-term deal.
Bieber’s openness to an extension might improve his trade value a bit, but one would imagine that openness would ultimately depend on where he’s traded. Using a pair of teams to which he’s already been connected, it’s easier to see a big-payroll team like the Cubs pony up on a long-term pact than it would be a smaller-payroll club like the Reds, who’ve shied away from long-term deals over the past few offseasons. Cincinnati did extend Hunter Greene, but was was a pre-arb deal that isn’t really comparable to Bieber when he’s at five-plus years of service.
While it’s interesting to hear that any prominent player who’s only a year from the open market is amenable to forgoing that right, it’s simultaneously difficult to imagine it happening. Bieber made only two starts in his return from that months-long stay on the injured list, which isn’t much for a new club to go off of when weighing whether to sign him for on a long-term arrangement. From Bieber’s vantage point, it’d be a surprise to see him sign for anything less than those aforementioned Taillon and Walker deals, given his track record. Prior to the 2023 season, he looked like a candidate for a $100MM+ deal in free agency.
The 2023 season tells another story, though. Bieber’s 3.80 ERA, 20.1% strikeout rate, 6.4% walk rate, 47.2% grounder rate, 91.6 mph average fastball and career-low swinging-strike and chase rates (10.5% and 30.6%) all have the look of a mid-rotation arm rather than an ace and are are all reasons to exercise caution. An uptick in velocity or reversal of course in some combination of those declining rate stats next season would go a long ways toward bolstering his stock. Perhaps Bieber and a new team (or the Guardians themselves) could find some kind of middle ground, but his recent injury troubles — he also missed two months with a shoulder strain in 2021 — and diminished performance might make it particularly difficult to find a middle ground.
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10131Looks like you're right, Rusty.
A club must have space on their 40-man roster on draft day in order to make a selection in the Rule 5 draft. Players can be non-tendered or waived to create space before the draft. However, players may not be added after November 14 unless they are acquired from another team or signed as a free agent. Teams will often remove players from the 40-man roster at this time to make room for prospects, rather than waiting to non-tender them a few days later.
The freeze date of November 14 this year means players that need to be protected from the Draft cannot be added after this date
A club must have space on their 40-man roster on draft day in order to make a selection in the Rule 5 draft. Players can be non-tendered or waived to create space before the draft. However, players may not be added after November 14 unless they are acquired from another team or signed as a free agent. Teams will often remove players from the 40-man roster at this time to make room for prospects, rather than waiting to non-tender them a few days later.
The freeze date of November 14 this year means players that need to be protected from the Draft cannot be added after this date
Re: Articles
10132the Bowden suggested Bieber deal was posted in General folder too and I will repeat here what i said there that the deal he posited makes no sense for Cleveland.
Passan's suggestion that Cleveland would trade Clase seems as unlikely to me and has been disputed in the Plain Dealer; they always are "open to offers for anyone:" but since their number two goal is to strengthen the bullpen dealing their closer with no one on hand to take over seems pretty stupid to me; I don't think they got Barlow to take over the role.
Miesel on the other hand actually knows what he's talking about.
Passan's suggestion that Cleveland would trade Clase seems as unlikely to me and has been disputed in the Plain Dealer; they always are "open to offers for anyone:" but since their number two goal is to strengthen the bullpen dealing their closer with no one on hand to take over seems pretty stupid to me; I don't think they got Barlow to take over the role.
Miesel on the other hand actually knows what he's talking about.
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10133BA Posts a Dynasty Top 50 for fantasy fans into the future.
No. 17 is Junior Caminero, their top prospect on the list
No. 20 is
Jose Ramirez, 3B — Ramirez hit 24 home runs and stole 28 bases in his age-30 season, surpassing the 20 home run and 20 stolen base mark for the fifth time in his career. Ramirez’s numbers were down a little in 2023 from his previous two seasons, but he still returned top-25 positional value and should continue to do so in the coming seasons.
No. 50 is Lindor
The list is topped by young studs: Acuna; Juliio Rodriguez; Corbin Carroll; Tatis; Bobby Witt.
Not a lot of pitchers are ranked; Ohtani is 10; Spencer Strider is 12; Gerrit Cole 23; that's it until no. 35
No. 17 is Junior Caminero, their top prospect on the list
No. 20 is
Jose Ramirez, 3B — Ramirez hit 24 home runs and stole 28 bases in his age-30 season, surpassing the 20 home run and 20 stolen base mark for the fifth time in his career. Ramirez’s numbers were down a little in 2023 from his previous two seasons, but he still returned top-25 positional value and should continue to do so in the coming seasons.
No. 50 is Lindor
The list is topped by young studs: Acuna; Juliio Rodriguez; Corbin Carroll; Tatis; Bobby Witt.
Not a lot of pitchers are ranked; Ohtani is 10; Spencer Strider is 12; Gerrit Cole 23; that's it until no. 35
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10135Guardians win draft lottery, get No. 1 pick in 2024 MLB draft
Updated: Dec. 05, 2023, 5:59 p.m.|Published: Dec. 05, 2023, 5:57 p.m.
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
NASHVILLE -- The Guardians might not have a TV contract for 2024, but they do have the No. 1 pick in the draft.
That’s right, the long-shot Guardians rolled a seven in MLB’s second ever Draft Lottery. The Guardians, by way of their 76-86 finish, came into the draft with 2% chance of winning the No. 1 pick.
Oakland, Kansas City and Colorado, the three teams with the worst winning percentages last season, each had a 18.3% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick. The White Sox (8.3%) and Cardinals (6.1%) rounded out the top five.
The Guardians were ninth.
Cleveland has never had a No. 1 pick. Steven Dunning, 1970, Rick Manning, 1972, Greg Swindell, 1986, Mark Lewis, 1988 and Paul Shuey, 1992 were No. 2 selections.
Among their recent drafts, Clint Frazier, a fifth round pick in the first round of 2013, was their highest pick.
Last year the Pirates won the MLB lottery. They selected Paul Skenes from LSU and paid him a record $9.2 million signing bonus.
Seventeen of the 18 teams that did not qualify for the the postseason were eligible for the lottery to decide the first six picks in the draft.
The Nationals, who finished second in last year’s lottery, wer not eligible this year because teams “payor clubs” -- clubs that give, rather than receive, revenue sharing dollars -- are not allowed to be selected in consecutive years. They can pick no higher than 10th.
The draft will take place at the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas in July.
Updated: Dec. 05, 2023, 5:59 p.m.|Published: Dec. 05, 2023, 5:57 p.m.
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
NASHVILLE -- The Guardians might not have a TV contract for 2024, but they do have the No. 1 pick in the draft.
That’s right, the long-shot Guardians rolled a seven in MLB’s second ever Draft Lottery. The Guardians, by way of their 76-86 finish, came into the draft with 2% chance of winning the No. 1 pick.
Oakland, Kansas City and Colorado, the three teams with the worst winning percentages last season, each had a 18.3% chance of receiving the No. 1 pick. The White Sox (8.3%) and Cardinals (6.1%) rounded out the top five.
The Guardians were ninth.
Cleveland has never had a No. 1 pick. Steven Dunning, 1970, Rick Manning, 1972, Greg Swindell, 1986, Mark Lewis, 1988 and Paul Shuey, 1992 were No. 2 selections.
Among their recent drafts, Clint Frazier, a fifth round pick in the first round of 2013, was their highest pick.
Last year the Pirates won the MLB lottery. They selected Paul Skenes from LSU and paid him a record $9.2 million signing bonus.
Seventeen of the 18 teams that did not qualify for the the postseason were eligible for the lottery to decide the first six picks in the draft.
The Nationals, who finished second in last year’s lottery, wer not eligible this year because teams “payor clubs” -- clubs that give, rather than receive, revenue sharing dollars -- are not allowed to be selected in consecutive years. They can pick no higher than 10th.
The draft will take place at the All-Star Game in Arlington, Texas in July.
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10136Guardians win 2024 MLB Draft lottery with ninth-best odds
Aug 19, 2020; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Indians hats and glove on the dugout rail against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at PNC Park. The Indians won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
By Melissa Lockard
4m ago
Save Article
The results are in from Major League Baseball’s second draft lottery and according to the ping-pong balls, the Cleveland Guardians will have the No. 1 pick in next July’s amateur draft. Seventeen teams entered Tuesday with dreams of landing the top pick, but only the Guardians’ — who had a 2 percent chance to land the top pick — were realized. The top-two picks rose up the ranks significantly to grab those spots. The Reds are perhaps the most shocking mover, grabbing the No. 2 pick after a season in which they had a winning record (82-80). Two of the three teams with the top odds to get the No. 1 pick (A’s and Royals) dropped out of the top three all together.
The order of the top-18 picks is as follows:
Cleveland Guardians
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Oakland A’s
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
St. Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Angels
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals
Detroit Tigers
Boston Red Sox
San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs
Seattle Mariners
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Rays
Last December, the Pirates hit the jackpot during MLB’s first draft lottery, jumping from what would have been the No. 3 selection to the top pick. The Pirates would use that pick on LSU right-hander Paul Skenes, who was one of the most highly regarded collegiate pitching prospects in recent history. The Minnesota Twins may have been the biggest beneficiaries of last year’s draft lottery, moving up from the projected 13th spot to No. 5. They took high school outfielder Walker Jenkins. The Oakland A’s were the biggest fallers in the draft, dropping from the No. 2 spot to outside of the lottery at No. 6.
The A’s finished the 2023 season with the league’s worst record and entered this year’s draft lottery with an 18.3 percent chance of landing the top pick. The Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies also had an 18.3 percent chance at that top pick, while the Chicago White Sox had the fourth-highest chance at 14.7 percent. The Washington Nationals finished the season with the fifth-worst record, but they were not eligible for a lottery selection as a payor club in the league’s Revenue Sharing plan who received a lottery pick the year before (the Nationals picked second in 2023). All other teams who missed the playoffs were eligible for the draft lottery, with the Seattle Mariners carrying the lowest odds of landing the top pick at 0.2 percent.
The 2023 draft was notable for its depth in terms of high-impact talent, especially from the collegiate ranks. It’s too early to know exactly how the 2024 draft will shake out, though there isn’t a clear-cut group of top prospects for the first few picks right now like there was at this time last year.
Aug 19, 2020; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Indians hats and glove on the dugout rail against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at PNC Park. The Indians won 6-1. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
By Melissa Lockard
4m ago
Save Article
The results are in from Major League Baseball’s second draft lottery and according to the ping-pong balls, the Cleveland Guardians will have the No. 1 pick in next July’s amateur draft. Seventeen teams entered Tuesday with dreams of landing the top pick, but only the Guardians’ — who had a 2 percent chance to land the top pick — were realized. The top-two picks rose up the ranks significantly to grab those spots. The Reds are perhaps the most shocking mover, grabbing the No. 2 pick after a season in which they had a winning record (82-80). Two of the three teams with the top odds to get the No. 1 pick (A’s and Royals) dropped out of the top three all together.
The order of the top-18 picks is as follows:
Cleveland Guardians
Cincinnati Reds
Colorado Rockies
Oakland A’s
Chicago White Sox
Kansas City Royals
St. Louis Cardinals
Los Angeles Angels
Pittsburgh Pirates
Washington Nationals
Detroit Tigers
Boston Red Sox
San Francisco Giants
Chicago Cubs
Seattle Mariners
Miami Marlins
Milwaukee Brewers
Tampa Bay Rays
Last December, the Pirates hit the jackpot during MLB’s first draft lottery, jumping from what would have been the No. 3 selection to the top pick. The Pirates would use that pick on LSU right-hander Paul Skenes, who was one of the most highly regarded collegiate pitching prospects in recent history. The Minnesota Twins may have been the biggest beneficiaries of last year’s draft lottery, moving up from the projected 13th spot to No. 5. They took high school outfielder Walker Jenkins. The Oakland A’s were the biggest fallers in the draft, dropping from the No. 2 spot to outside of the lottery at No. 6.
The A’s finished the 2023 season with the league’s worst record and entered this year’s draft lottery with an 18.3 percent chance of landing the top pick. The Kansas City Royals and Colorado Rockies also had an 18.3 percent chance at that top pick, while the Chicago White Sox had the fourth-highest chance at 14.7 percent. The Washington Nationals finished the season with the fifth-worst record, but they were not eligible for a lottery selection as a payor club in the league’s Revenue Sharing plan who received a lottery pick the year before (the Nationals picked second in 2023). All other teams who missed the playoffs were eligible for the draft lottery, with the Seattle Mariners carrying the lowest odds of landing the top pick at 0.2 percent.
The 2023 draft was notable for its depth in terms of high-impact talent, especially from the collegiate ranks. It’s too early to know exactly how the 2024 draft will shake out, though there isn’t a clear-cut group of top prospects for the first few picks right now like there was at this time last year.
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10137Woohoo guys!!
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
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10138So, for a team squeezing nickels, they got "lucky" and are now looking at least a $10M signing bonus.
Can they trade that pick?
Can they trade that pick?
Re: Articles
10139No draft picks cannot be traded in baseball
Antonetti in some article said spending this huge sum is clearly worth it.
It is if their pick works out.
As articles note Cleveland has never drafted first; our 2nd in the draft picks have had good but not great careers and No. 1 is not that much different from No. 2.
Cle did acquire a first in the draft pick,, Brady Aiken, after he did not sign with the original team that drafted him and they choose him later; and he never recovered
Antonetti in some article said spending this huge sum is clearly worth it.
It is if their pick works out.
As articles note Cleveland has never drafted first; our 2nd in the draft picks have had good but not great careers and No. 1 is not that much different from No. 2.
Cle did acquire a first in the draft pick,, Brady Aiken, after he did not sign with the original team that drafted him and they choose him later; and he never recovered
Re: Articles
10140How the Guardians landed the top pick in the MLB Draft
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 05:
By Zack Meisel
5h ago
14
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — At 2:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, Ethan Purser entered what he described as an “underground dungeon” at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, with nothing but his room key and a notepad. No phone. No Apple Watch. No contact with the outside world.
“The most terrifying thing I’ve done recently,” Purser said.
At 4:57 p.m., Purser sprinted out of the nondescript room to find his phone, then the meeting point for the organization’s impromptu celebration.
For the two-and-a-half hours in between, Purser — in his fourth day as the Cleveland Guardians’ scouting director — was the only member of the organization who knew the Guardians had improbably landed the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft. For those two-and-a-half hours, he couldn’t tell a soul.
Instead, he sat in a room with 15-20 other team representatives and league officials, playing Sequence and Yahtzee and Settlers of Catan and Texas Hold’em (using Cheez-It crackers and cookies as poker chips) to pass the time until the draft order was revealed on MLB Network. The Guardians had a 2 percent chance of securing the top pick, the ninth-best odds of any team. Chris Antonetti, Cleveland’s team president, said he had devoted zero brainpower to considering the club might enjoy such a stroke of fortune. Purser and longtime infielder John McDonald, the team’s on-stage representative during the broadcast, simply wanted the team to finish better than ninth.
For the first time in franchise history, Cleveland will select first.
Each team has the choice to send someone to watch the official process, which unfolded inside the Lincoln Ballroom. Purser left his electronics in his hotel room and arrived at 2:30. League officials verified he had no way of communicating with anyone while sequestered. Bill Francis, the league’s director of draft operations, explained the process to those dispatched to the bunker.
They dropped 14 table tennis balls into a hopper, and every 15 seconds, an official pushed a “select” button and one ball would emerge from a tube. They repeated that process four times — taking about a minute in all — to create a four-digit combination that corresponded to a particular team. They printed a list of each possible combination for the team representatives in the room.
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Unlike on the broadcast, they started at the top. By about 2:45 p.m., the No. 1 pick had been decided.
And it belonged to the … Washington Nationals.
One issue: The Nationals weren’t eligible because of a league mandate that states a team paying into the revenue sharing pot can’t finish in the lottery in consecutive years. Washington landed the No. 2 pick last year.
So, they started over, and the Guardians were the beneficiary.
“(You’re) seeing some numbers come across,” Purser said, “and you’re looking at your chart, like, ‘Oh, wow. This could happen.’”
But Purser couldn’t relay the news to anyone. There was no clock in the room. There was no window, so Purser couldn’t gauge the time by the dwindling supply of sunlight. He had a secret he wanted to shout from the top balcony of the building, but he had to keep it to himself.
Antonetti headed to the media workroom at 3:45 p.m. for an interview session involving each team’s top executive and its respective press corps. Before he entered the room, a league official stopped the Guardians’ head of PR, Bart Swain. The league wanted to ensure Antonetti didn’t stray too far after he completed his media obligations. Antonetti thought that was odd, and then he remembered the draft lottery was approaching.
As he fielded questions from reporters, Antonetti noticed a few more league representatives chatting with Swain. He stepped back from the scrum, sent a couple texts and received confirmation that the league’s insistence on him sticking around — the draft lottery show took place down the hall from the media workroom — would be worth his time.
“If my answers were a little scattered,” Antonetti later told a few reporters, “more so than usual, (it’s) probably because I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, we just got the No. 1 pick.’”
The MLB Network show started at 4:30 p.m. so the league had time to finalize every production element, from creating graphics and organizing the analysts’ commentary to arranging interviews to supplying country music star and draft lottery host Brad Paisley with the proper envelopes. They also budgeted extra time in case the table tennis ball machine malfunctions.
After the picks were unveiled, Purser rushed out of the ballroom, a few minutes before 5 p.m. He grabbed his phone, which had 50-some texts and a handful of missed calls. He met the rest of the front office for “a moment of collective jubilation.” Antonetti barged onto the stage to bear hug McDonald.
On Wednesday morning, as Purser started to detail his whirlwind day, McDonald walked past. The two hadn’t seen each other since the Guardians’ triumph. McDonald joked that Purser had only just been permitted to escape the secret hideout. Purser said the navy pullover McDonald wore during the broadcast deserves a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Guardians landed the No. 1 pick. And now everyone knows.
NASHVILLE, TN - DECEMBER 05:
By Zack Meisel
5h ago
14
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — At 2:30 p.m. CT Tuesday, Ethan Purser entered what he described as an “underground dungeon” at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, with nothing but his room key and a notepad. No phone. No Apple Watch. No contact with the outside world.
“The most terrifying thing I’ve done recently,” Purser said.
At 4:57 p.m., Purser sprinted out of the nondescript room to find his phone, then the meeting point for the organization’s impromptu celebration.
For the two-and-a-half hours in between, Purser — in his fourth day as the Cleveland Guardians’ scouting director — was the only member of the organization who knew the Guardians had improbably landed the No. 1 pick in the MLB Draft. For those two-and-a-half hours, he couldn’t tell a soul.
Instead, he sat in a room with 15-20 other team representatives and league officials, playing Sequence and Yahtzee and Settlers of Catan and Texas Hold’em (using Cheez-It crackers and cookies as poker chips) to pass the time until the draft order was revealed on MLB Network. The Guardians had a 2 percent chance of securing the top pick, the ninth-best odds of any team. Chris Antonetti, Cleveland’s team president, said he had devoted zero brainpower to considering the club might enjoy such a stroke of fortune. Purser and longtime infielder John McDonald, the team’s on-stage representative during the broadcast, simply wanted the team to finish better than ninth.
For the first time in franchise history, Cleveland will select first.
Each team has the choice to send someone to watch the official process, which unfolded inside the Lincoln Ballroom. Purser left his electronics in his hotel room and arrived at 2:30. League officials verified he had no way of communicating with anyone while sequestered. Bill Francis, the league’s director of draft operations, explained the process to those dispatched to the bunker.
They dropped 14 table tennis balls into a hopper, and every 15 seconds, an official pushed a “select” button and one ball would emerge from a tube. They repeated that process four times — taking about a minute in all — to create a four-digit combination that corresponded to a particular team. They printed a list of each possible combination for the team representatives in the room.
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Unlike on the broadcast, they started at the top. By about 2:45 p.m., the No. 1 pick had been decided.
And it belonged to the … Washington Nationals.
One issue: The Nationals weren’t eligible because of a league mandate that states a team paying into the revenue sharing pot can’t finish in the lottery in consecutive years. Washington landed the No. 2 pick last year.
So, they started over, and the Guardians were the beneficiary.
“(You’re) seeing some numbers come across,” Purser said, “and you’re looking at your chart, like, ‘Oh, wow. This could happen.’”
But Purser couldn’t relay the news to anyone. There was no clock in the room. There was no window, so Purser couldn’t gauge the time by the dwindling supply of sunlight. He had a secret he wanted to shout from the top balcony of the building, but he had to keep it to himself.
Antonetti headed to the media workroom at 3:45 p.m. for an interview session involving each team’s top executive and its respective press corps. Before he entered the room, a league official stopped the Guardians’ head of PR, Bart Swain. The league wanted to ensure Antonetti didn’t stray too far after he completed his media obligations. Antonetti thought that was odd, and then he remembered the draft lottery was approaching.
As he fielded questions from reporters, Antonetti noticed a few more league representatives chatting with Swain. He stepped back from the scrum, sent a couple texts and received confirmation that the league’s insistence on him sticking around — the draft lottery show took place down the hall from the media workroom — would be worth his time.
“If my answers were a little scattered,” Antonetti later told a few reporters, “more so than usual, (it’s) probably because I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, we just got the No. 1 pick.’”
The MLB Network show started at 4:30 p.m. so the league had time to finalize every production element, from creating graphics and organizing the analysts’ commentary to arranging interviews to supplying country music star and draft lottery host Brad Paisley with the proper envelopes. They also budgeted extra time in case the table tennis ball machine malfunctions.
After the picks were unveiled, Purser rushed out of the ballroom, a few minutes before 5 p.m. He grabbed his phone, which had 50-some texts and a handful of missed calls. He met the rest of the front office for “a moment of collective jubilation.” Antonetti barged onto the stage to bear hug McDonald.
On Wednesday morning, as Purser started to detail his whirlwind day, McDonald walked past. The two hadn’t seen each other since the Guardians’ triumph. McDonald joked that Purser had only just been permitted to escape the secret hideout. Purser said the navy pullover McDonald wore during the broadcast deserves a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Guardians landed the No. 1 pick. And now everyone knows.