When the Guardians traded for Scott Barlow last November, they were hoping the veteran reliever could help boost a bullpen that had been one of the league's most inconsistent in 2023.
Indeed, Cleveland's pen has rounded into form in 2024 as the best in baseball. Unfortunately, Barlow did not end up playing a starring role in that improvement. In fact, he may have been the unit's weakest link, and now the team has decided to pull the plug.
Prior to Sunday's loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Guards designated Barlow for assignment, removing him from the 40-man roster and placing him on waivers. Though he could technically go unclaimed and remain in the organization by going to the minor leagues, manager Stephen Vogt seemed to indicate that was unlikely and that he will eventually be released.
"We're devastated," Vogt told the press before Sunday's game at Dodger Stadium, according to 3News media partner Cleveland.com. "Scotty meant so much to us. He will continue to mean a lot to this group. He left an imprint on this group, as a person, as a pitcher, as a teammate. It's a really, really tough morning for us."
Barlow was acquired from San Diego in a one-for-one deal that sent fellow right-hander Enyel De Los Santos to the Padres. During his earlier run with the Kansas City Royals, he had emerged as one of the American League's top back-end arms, saving 40 games with a 2.30 ERA in 140 appearances across 2021 and 2022.
Though Barlow struggled during a 2023 season split between KC and SoCal, the Guardians were confident in his ability to turn things around, and took on his $6.7 million salary with the goal of making him the setup man to Emmanuel Clase. However, some shaky early performances led to his role being diminished, and by the summer he had been supplanted in the late innings by rookies Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis.
A lesser-leverage role could not cure Barlow's decline in both pitch velocity and command, and while his 4.25 ERA wasn't terrible, it was the worst of all active Cleveland relievers heading into this weekend. His walk rate also ballooned to 5.1 per nine innings, the fourth-worst in baseball for all pitchers with at least 55 innings under their belts this year.
Barlow's apparent final game for Cleveland came with his 63rd appearance on Saturday, allowing a run over 1 2/3 innings after starter Gavin Williams was chased from the mound in the first. After burning through their bullpen, the Guards selected Anthony Gose's contract from Triple-A Columbus to provide some reinforcements, and had to remove someone from the 40-man in order to make room. Barlow was the odd man out.
Gose, a former outfielder who reinvented himself as a pitcher, has been released and re-signed by the Guardians organization three times since 2020, including twice in the last three weeks alone. He came in for the eighth inning on Sunday and allowed two runs and a homer to Max Muncy, sending his season ERA to an uninspiring 10.38 across only three big-league outings.
At 81-62, the Guardians remain 2 1/2 games ahead of the Royals for first place in the AL Central with 19 games to go.