Guardians prepare for Winter Meetings by letting little-used reliever go on waivers

Earlier today, the St. Louis Cardinals and Cleveland Guardians linked up for a transaction, as the Cardinals claimed Guardians reliever Zak Kent off waivers. 

While it wasn’t the transaction we’ve been waiting for the two teams to make, it was the kind of transaction that seems to be setting the Guardians up for a big Winter Meetings.

With the move, the Guardians now have 38 players on their 40-man roster, which gives them some much-needed wiggle room ahead of the busiest time in the MLB calendar. 

Guardians free up 40-man space by letting Zak Kent go on waivers

Kent made his major league debut for the Guardians earlier this year and ended up posting a 4.58 ERA in 17 2/3 innings out of the bullpen.

Kent is the definition of an quad-a reliever, as his fastball sat at just 92.6 miles per hour along with having a slider and curveball. He was great at limiting hard contact in his brief time in MLB (no one barreled any of his pitches and he surrended a hard-hit rate of just 29.4%, but he had a strikeout rate of just 21.1%.

The biggest bugaboo has been command, as he had a walk rate of 10.5% in the big leagues along with a 12.2% walk rate in Triple-A. He did have a 2.84 ERA in 38 innings in Triple-A, though, so there are some things to like under the hood.

While he never would have been a high-leverage reliever for the Guardians, his standing in the bullpen dropped even lower when the Guardians added minor leaguers Austin Peterson and Yorman Gómez to the 40-man roster along with signing Connor Brogdon to a guaranteed MLB contract.

According to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Cardinals are hoping to get a fourth option year for Kent, which would give him some much-needed flexibility. if he doesn't get another option year, the Cardinals would need to expose him to waivers to get him off the roster.

Even though the Cardinals will have a variety of open bullpen spots, it's hard to believe Kent won't be in a situation where he'll be shuttled between Triple-A and MLB.

The irony of this trade is that it could eventually open up a pathway for the Guardians to trade for some of the veteran Cardinals who could be available on the trade block. One of those Cardinals is reliever JoJo Romero, who is, as of right now, Kent's bullpen mate.

But regardless of what happens with the Cardinals, this move seems like the move ahead of a bigger move that could come later in the Winter Meetings.