Gabriel Arias' horrible outing showed how much Guardians need José Ramírez back

Last week, the Cleveland Guardians’ offense took a huge blow when José Ramírez went on the injured list with a hamate bone injury that changed the framework of Cleveland’s season. 

And while there was no way a single player on the Guardians’ roster would be able to replace Ramírez’s production, they were immediately able to fill his spot with toolsy infielder Gabriel Arias, who was activated from the injured list as the corresponding move to fill Ramírez’s spot on the roster. 

After a hot start to his return highlighted by hits in three straight games, Arias has gone 0-for-9 across the Guardians last two games highlighted by an 0-for-5 showing on Monday with five strikeouts. 

With that performance, Arias became the fifth player in Guardians history to record five strikeouts in a nine-inning game, joining Larry Doby, Rick Manning, Jim Thome and Daniel Johnson. 

As of now, Arias’ Guardians career is looking more like Johnson’s than Doby’s. 

Gabriel Arias' flaws were on full display on Monday

While Arias has all the tools needed to succeed and has one of the best arms in baseball, he’s batting just .197 this year and has a career OPS+ of 74 in 999 at-bats. He’s shown us exactly the kind of player he is. 

And that player is one who whiffs. A lot. 

After his five strikeout performance yesterday, Arias boasts a 46.3% strikeout rate, which is the highest rate in MLB among batters who have 50+ plate appearances. Arias has the power needed to make an impact, but those swing-and-miss problems have put a clear cap on how much he can impact the Guardians. 

It would be one thing if he was on the roster as a utility man who wasn’t asked to be an everyday option, but that’s the exact role that he’s been thrust into thanks to Ramírez’s injury. In fact, it looked like he could be approaching the end of his time on Clevleand’s roster before being thrust into a bigger role after Ramírez got hurt.

And the gap between the two was on full display yesterday when he recorded those five strikeouts and left three runners in scoring position. 

His first strikeout set the tone for his lackluster day when he struck out on three pitches with the bases loaded against Anthony Kay in the first inning. 

He ended up striking out two more times against Kay before whiffing on a Bryan Hudson fastball in the eighth inning before strikeout out on a Chris Murphy curveball in the ninth inning with a runner on third. 

Arias has recorded five starts at third since Ramírez went down while Daniel Schneemann has recorded two appearances (and hit a homer in one of them). 

Even though Ramírez isn’t going to miss all of the season, the limitations of the Guardians’ lineup have been on full display since he hit the injured list thanks in large part to Arias’ struggles. 

If those struggles keep up, Arias may not be on the Guardians’ roster by the time Ramírez returns. 

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