Chris Antonetti RECAPS Guardians 2025 Trade Deadline Moves

Chris Antonetti RECAPS Guardians 2025 Trade Deadline Moves

We completed a couple of trades over the last few days. Uh we traded uh Paul Seawald to the Detroit Tigers for a player to be named later or cash considerations and then completed uh a trade with the Toronto Blue Jays in which we sent Shane Bieber uh in return for Cal Steven. Um I’ll start with the the trade for Shane. Um obviously it’s a very difficult one for us as everyone knows. We really appreciate all of Shane’s contributions to our organization and his time with us. We appreciate the fact that he trusted us to help him continue on his path back to being a successful Major League starting pitcher and um are grateful at the impact that he made along the way. But we’re also really excited uh to be able to add Cal Steven to our organization. Uh Cal’s a 6’4 right-handed pitcher um from Mississippi State out of the draft last year. In fact, we we were did our best to try to select him, but just didn’t have that opportunity. So, we’re excited to add him to the organization. Um he’s currently rehabbing from a um minor shoulder injury uh but should be back pitching likely at the DA level before the end of the season. And uh another guy we’re excited to add to our organization. um to add to our upper level starting pitching depth. And I think that’s it in terms of things to share. Um but would be happy to answer any questions. Chris, I guess just how much if at all did the class A news situation, Ortiz news and situation impact your guys direction at this trade deadline? Yeah, there are a lot of different considerations, Tim, that we had to weigh around this time of year. Um the unexpected developments recently were certainly one of them. But in the end, I think we are we feel good about the roster that we have for the balance of 2025 and are excited about our future. Chris, how close did you come to training Stephen Quan? Well, I think the best way to share that, Joe, is um and this I actually talked to Stephen a little while ago and shared the same thing was that what I can confirm for Stephen is that not only do we have a profound appreciation for what he’s able to contribute on the baseball field and in the clubhouse, but so does the rest of Major League Baseball. But we are really excited that he will continue to be with us moving forward. Jeff, you have to come off mute. Jeff. Jeff, you’re still on mute. Sorry about that. So, how did you react though when you saw all these closers going all over the place here at the deadline and you you know because of that investigation, you couldn’t do anything with CL if you wanted to. I I didn’t react at all really, Jeff. I think as I shared the other day, our focus is to move forward, which is, you know, make the next best decision for the Cleveland Guardians in our future. Chris, what do you think of the your uh your uh playoff uh possibilities now coming out of the Detroit trade deadline? I’m not sure that that they’re materially different. Paul, what I what I would share is we continue to believe in the group of players that are here, not just at the major league level, but players that we think can possibly contribute from the upper levels to our minor league system. So hopefully we play our best baseball from here on out and make things interesting heading into September. Chris, you mentioned that you were pretty interested in Cal Steven when he was coming out of college. What did you specifically like about him as a college pitcher and what has impressed you about his development so far as a professional? There’s lots to like with Cal. First and foremost, he’s a big physical uh starting pitcher with a good frame. He’s got a very deep arsenal of pitches. Uh it’s a five pitch mix. He recently this year added a split finger fast ball that’s added another element to his game and we think he’s a guy that’s capable of not only logging innings at the major league level but pitching pretty effectively. So we’ll be excited to part continue to partner with Cal and his development as he progresses towards that end. Chris confident that just a minor injury with him Chris. Sorry about that. to him. Uh yes, it’s a shoulder impingement. So, he’s already back throwing. Uh not yet in games, obviously, but he’s he is back throwing. He will continue his rehab with us out in Arizona. If he’s healthy enough to Paul Chris, if he’s healthy enough to uh get back in join an affiliation, where where would you think he’d end up? Likely double A. He made one start in double A. Uh he had pitched really well in high A and was promoted to double A prior to having that shoulder discomfort. So he would likely join Akran once he’s ready to go. Chris, uh Quan was saying this week that he kind of understands how things work here as far as in season extension talks go, contracts, more of a spring training thing. I guess philosophically is is that what he was saying kind of how the organization goes? Is it something you guys prefer to do in spring training versus in season? I we don’t have any hard and fast rules, Tim, about that, but what we found often times is that when you try to explore contract extensions during the season, it can be a real it can be a distraction. So, that’s why we’ve typically preferred for that to happen in the uh in the offseason or in spring training. Any other questions? Oh, go ahead, Jack. How do you scout for the Twins tomorrow? Uh, we have a lot of work to do to reaclimate ourselves with what their roster will be. So, um, more to come on that. Zack, do you have something? No, that was the question I was that that was along the lines of the question I was going to ask. Okay, sorry I can’t fully see everybody on the screen. So, Chris, I had one more. You talk about players in the organization, upper levels, minors, like how do you guys view someone like CJ Cay? Because looking at the numbers with Columbus and the box scores, it looks like he’s been playing more outfield or a steady dose of it in July. So, just kind of where is he in that realm of learning how to play outfield and in terms of making himself a big league candidate? Yeah, Tim, I I’m glad you asked. As I shared before, CJ’s made great progress this year and his continued development as a player, both with his progression offensively, but now defensively where he’s added some versatility. So, we’ve talked about this, you know, a few times in the past. the more positions players can play capably, um, the better chances they’ll have to impact the major league team. And T CJ is among that group of players in Columbus that we think has a chance to help us in the second half. You mentioned you guys like Cal Stefen last year a lot in the draft and or Steven, sorry. Uh, you guys also acquired Josh Hardle in the offseason. It’s just a extra amount of due diligence last year in the draft because of your position or just individual cases with these players. We try to have a lot of information on a lot ofers uh as we go through the draft process. We’re only able to select, you know, up to 20 or 23 of those players depending upon, you know, comp picks and other things. So, but we do work on a lot more than that. And that was the case with both uh Josh and Cal. Chris, what was the experience like talking to teams about Shane Bieber and just the the process of of trying to deal a player who is still going through his rehab? Um, I think with the way information has progressed over the course of the last 10 or 12 years, teams were able to get a really good feel of where Shane was in his rehab progression, they were able to, you know, not only get the video, but get all the pitch metrics in in addition to having, you know, maybe some SK park. So, I think that there were teams that um you know felt good about where Shane was in his rehab and what the path for him might be moving forward. Chris, when did trade talks with Toronto start or really intensify? Oh boy. Um I I think with all teams, we probably had some initial check-ins back towards the end of June, early July. Uh, and then those talks kind of have some E es and flows to them leading up deadline and then, you know, there’s bit of a lull when the draft happens and the frequency picks up after that. But, uh, as Shane was progressing through his rehab, u Russ continued to reach out and check in and and express interest. Chris, was was there any money did you have to send any money to Toronto on this on this deal with with Bieber? No. Any other questions? Chris, what do you like about uh Carlos Hernandez? He’s got a power arm with really good stuff. Uh, I think he, you know, we’ll, what we’ll try to do is partner with Carlos to to help translate that stuff to more consistent performance, but there’s some great ingredients there to work with. Anything else? All right, everybody, have a great day. Thanks for joining.

Chris Antonetti talks to the media following the 2025 MLB trade deadline, and reacps the moves the Cleveland Guardians made.

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