That means the Padres passed - interesting move by Cleaveland but I applaud them going for it

Cleveland saved a bunch of money when they traded Civale and Bell. Looks like they decided to spend some of it making things more difficult for the Twins.

Who are they losing off the 40 man roster?

How many pairs of players have played together on 4 different teams? The only ones I know are Jose Vizcaino and Jeff Kent.

I think the Guardians' move is one-quarter that they didn't get swept by the Twins and three-quarters splurging to reach the playoffs since Francona is now expected to retire.

#5, I'd say more like three-quarters trying to protect some of their good young arms from having to pitch too many innings down the stretch. If they wanted to splurge on Francona's last chance, they would have added someone at the deadline and not traded away Rosario, Civale, and Bell.

I'm not certain if Francona was as likely to retire then—everything I've read suggesting he's stepping down has been post-deadline—but you could well be correct.

Cleveland is also buying a free agent negotiating window with these players, which could also be valuable.

#7 - Francona has been barely able to keep himself out of a wheelchair for a while now, the health issues that he mentioned were well known by his bosses, who he would almost certainly be telling anyway that he will retire before he tells the public.

#8 - Cleveland negotiating with free agents? I'm not sure they know that's allowed.

#8 - Cleveland negotiating with free agents? I'm not sure they know that's allowed.

Just because they don't sign free agents doesn't mean they don't try.

Much like Lorne Michaels negotiated with the Beatles to appear on SNL.

I didn't notice the Bell trade. That was a weird trade. Bell, doing badly, on a 1/$17 contract with a 1/$16.5 player option. I assume Cle assumed he would exercise that option given his poor season. They traded him to the Marlins for Jean Segura and a prospect. Segura was having an even worse year than Bell but is under guaranteed contract for next year at $10.5 M including the buyout. Segura hasn't even played for the Guardians. Bell meanwhile has hit very well for the Marlins and maybe is turning his season around enough that he'll decline that option ... maybe. At best Cle saves $6 M in the deal but Bell 2024 might well be worth that marginal $6 M. If there was cash going either way, it's not mentioned in the b-r transaction.

The kid they got seems decent -- Kahlil Watson, 1st rounder in 2021, was top 100 coming into 2022 but was pretty bad in 2022 and worse in 2023 but still only 20 at A+. So not nothing and probably worth taking on Segura's money.

I believe Cleveland cut Segura immediately

Watson was also perceived to be a headache from what I understand but yea definitely worth the risk.

#13 I wondered about that but his b-r transactions don't list a release from Cle.

Walt - Near the bottom - 08/01/23 Cleveland Guardians released SS Jean Segura. You also seem to not be including this year's salary in the calculation, so it's about $9M saved on Bell. Also no cash went either way in the deal.

The Yankees sure picked a great time to go on a 3 game winning streak that put them behind the Guardians in the pecking order.