Guardians acquire Thor from LA in exchange for Rosario

CLEVELAND -- We're still six days away from Tuesday's Trade Deadline, but the Guardians are already starting to make some moves.

The Guardians have acquired right-hander Noah Syndergaard and cash from the Dodgers in exchange for shortstop Amed Rosario, the club announced Wednesday night.

“[Syndergaard] adds to our Major League pitching depth” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “He is ready to rejoin the Major League rotation. … It also provides us an opportunity to provide some playing time to [Gabriel] Arias and Tyler Freeman at the Major League level and get them some more opportunities.”

Syndergaard, who signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the Dodgers, will be a free agent after the season. A source told MLB.com that the Dodgers are paying $2 million of Syndergaard’s remaining $4.9 million on the season. The Guardians are responsible for $2.9 million, which is what they owed Rosario.

Rosario has been a consistent offensive provider for the Guardians over the last two and half years. But statistically, he’s ranked among the worst defenders at any position in the Majors. And when it became clear he wasn’t going to be part of Cleveland’s future, as he’s set for free agency this winter, he created a logjam in the middle of the Guardians infield, blocking a handful of their highly touted prospects from getting more playing time as the team hoped his offense and/or defense would start improving as the season continued.

“We also wanted to be respectful to Amed,” Antonetti said. “We recognized his place on our team and as a veteran leader and his expectations of himself and transitioning him to a lesser role would have had an impact on him and the team and we were very mindful about doing that.”

Now, Freeman and Arias, who have struggled to get playing time the entire season, will be able to get more reps at shortstop. Eventually, Brayan Rocchio, who’s currently in Triple-A Columbus, will likely get into the mix. The Guardians need time to evaluate who's most likely to end up manning the position for the foreseeable future and this move allows them to start figuring that out immediately.

Syndergaard, 30, adds some pitching depth to the Guardians' rotation that is in desperate need of extra arms. He’s pitched to a 7.16 ERA this season with 38 strikeouts and just nine walks in 55 1/3 innings. The righty was one of the hardest-throwing starters in baseball when he began his career in 2015. But once he had to undergo Tommy John surgery in 2020, he hasn't been the same.

Syndergaard's fastball velocity has dropped significantly, as he averaged 93.5 mph on his heater last season and 91.5 mph so far this year. He battled issues with a blister on his right index finger and has been on the injured list since June 8. He began his rehab assignment on July 15 and has given up six runs in 10 innings over two starts for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

“He had a blister issue initially where he did miss some time,” Antonetti said. “Since then, he’s been working to regain his mechanics and to be able to find some success. He’s made some progress we felt in the last two rehab starts, and so our hope is that we can continue to partner with him and help him contribute at the Major League level in the starting rotation.”

Syndergaard may not be at his prime, but the Guardians have a history of finding ways to get the best out of starters. With Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie all on the injured list and a trio of rookies following Aaron Civale in the rotation, the Guardians just need an arm who can eat up innings. Assuming he’s able to get through the rest of his rehab with no hiccups, Syndergaard should be able to at least provide that depth.

The Guardians are in need of a starter on Friday in Chicago, but the team isn’t expecting Syndergaard to be an option just yet. He was scheduled to make a rehab start on Thursday, but he will now throw a bullpen at Guaranteed Rate Field in front of Cleveland’s coaching staff. After that, the team will determine if he’ll need to make another rehab start or if he can make his next outing in a Guardians uniform.

“We obviously want his feedback before we make any decisions,” Antonetti said.

The Guardians wanted to address two needs at the Deadline: Starting pitching and a bat. They've started to work on the former, but now as they sit two games back of the first-place Twins, they'll need to shift their focus to acquiring an impact bat -- one preferably with some power -- to help bring a boost to this offense.