Guardians’ Chris Antonetti Addresses Cleveland’s Recent Transactions

Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti discussed the team's trading of Cal Quantrill and Enyel De Los Santos, and signing of Ramón Laureano.

Yesterday, the Cleveland Guardians made three roster moves ahead of the 2023-24 MLB non-tender deadline.

First, the team traded starting pitcher Cal Quantrill to the Colorado Rockies for Minor League catcher Kody Huff.

After that, Cleveland traded relief pitcher Enyel De Los Santos to the San Diego Padres for fellow relief pitcher Scott Barlow and signed outfielder Ramón Laureano to a one-year contract to avoid arbitration.

Sep 15, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Ramon Laureano (10) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field / © Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Earlier today, Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti addressed each of these transactions.

Cal Quantrill Trade

“I think we’ll continue to look at opportunities to add depth to our rotation as we go through the winter. We’re probably not as concerned with if it’s a veteran or someone with a little bit less experience. I think we’re trying to focus on trying to make sure we have options to turn to in the event we have a need.”

Trade for Scott Barlow

“I think in the end, we really liked Scott’s experience pitching in those late innings. One of our goals was, as we talked about last year, we didn’t perform as well in the late innings and lost a lot of those close games. So, what we were hoping to do was add another leverage reliever that could help us when those games are tight. And it gives us another option on the days when Emmanuel [Clase] isn’t available, or maybe a little bit fatigued. We have another option to go to back there.

Ramón Laureano Signing

“Ramón came over last year, did a good job for us both playing right field and occasionally in center. So exactly how he’ll be deployed, we’ll figure out once we have a complete sense of the roster. But we think he’s part of the puzzle for helping us be a better overall team next year.”