Cleveland Guardians: 3 surprises from aggressive 40-man roster moves

2. Cleveland Guardians don’t protect Oscar Gonzalez

The Cleveland Guardians did not add outfielder Oscar Gonzalez to the 40-man roster, despite watching him belt 31 home runs between Double- and Triple-A in 2021.

There was never a lot of buzz surrounding Gonzalez’s name as a prospect, but we’ll now see how other teams feel about him now that he’s Rule-5 eligible.

As for the outfielder, the Guardians designated Daniel Johnson and Harold Ramirez for assignment, which really isn’t a surprise considering the glut of outfielders the team was trying to find out about in 2021.

Neither impressed. Johnson looks the part and puts up the numbers in in Spring Training, but when it came to producing at the Major League level, it just wasn’t there. Ramirez hit .268 (second best mark on the team), but posted a WAR of 0.0 and  90 wRC+, according to FanGraphs.

By protecting Zimmer and Mercado, the Guards have five outfielders with experience on the 40-man roster: Zimmer, Mercado, Myles Straw, Josh Naylor and Franmil Reyes. You can throw Amed Rosario in there as well, if you want to give him credit for his time in center field. Who knows? Perhaps outfield will remain an option so that Andres Gimenez can get another shot at short stop.

Cleveland added Steven Kwan and George Valera to the 40-man roster, and Valera is the one to watch. The 2017 international signee can mash, reaching Double-A as a 20-year-old while slashing ,260/.405/.505 across two levels of play.