Guardians outright recently DFA'd pitcher to Triple-A Columbus

Just last week, the Cleveland Guardians designated Pedro Avila for assignment to make room for the recently signed Paul Sewald. Cleveland's front office was taking a chance that no other team would pick him up on waivers, and luckily, that was the case as the Guardians were able to outright Avila to Triple-A Columbus.

Since Avila has been outrighted previously in his career, he is allowed to become a minor league free agent if he so chooses to. Considering that every other ballclub had the opportunity to claim him and chose not to, any sort of opportunity with a different organization may be of the non-roster invite/minor league deal variety. This may impact his decision-making process and could ultimately result in him staying with the Guardians.

Avila came to Cleveland in mid-April last season for cash considerations from the San Diego Padres in a move that was very much unheralded at the time. Little did anyone know how much action Avila would see for the Guardians in 2024. Avila pitched 74.2 innings (82.2 total), which just so happened to be the fourth-most in all of baseball last season. While the bulk of his innings were in low-leverage situations, this proved to be incredibly valuable, with his 3.25 ERA, 1.313 WHIP, and 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings in Cleveland being evidence of exactly that.

Avila's value goes beyond just being an innings eater for the Guardians. This allowed Cleveland to utilize their better relief arms for higher leverage situations that require a certain level that only a few arms are capable of providing. Should Avila remain with the Guardians organization, it would not be surprising to see him fall into a similar type of role that he had last year, a bulk innings reliever that comes in when needed and preserves their best relief arms for later in the game.