The Guardians were right to pull the plug on the Paul Sewald experiment 

On Jan. 22, the Cleveland Guardians signed Paul Sewald to a one-year contract in the hopes that he’d be able to work as a lock-down option in the middle of their talented bullpen. 

That never ended up being the case. 

On Thursday, the Guardians shipped Sewald to Detroit for a Player to be Named Later, bringing an unceremonious end to his short tenure in Cleveland.

And while the move stings considering the lack of production the Guardians got from him (along with the fact he got traded to the team Cleveland is chasing in the standings), it was the right move. 

The Guardians were right to pull the plug on the Paul Sewald experiment 

While Sewald is a nine-year MLB veteran who served as a closer for an Arizona Diamondbacks team that made it to the World Series, he was never able to get things going in his time with the Guardians.

He picked up the save in extra innings on Opening Day, but posted a 6.17 ERA through his first 14 games before going on the injured list due to a right shoulder strain. 

He returned from the injured list at the start of July and recorded three scoreless outings before giving up the lead against the Chicago White Sox on July 11, which ended up being his last appearance with the Guardians. 

He was placed on the injured list again the next day with a moderate teres major strain.

Now he’s off to the American League Central-leading Tigers, who enter play on Thursday with a nine-game lead over the Guardians despite being 20th in baseball in bullpen ERA (4.16 ERA). 

He’s also the fourth pitcher the Tigers have added over the past 48 hours, joining Rafael Montero, Randy Dobnak and Chris Paddack.

While the Guardians’ bullpen is scrambling right now due to Emmanuel Clase’s suspension, it’s clear that Sewald wasn’t the kind of player the Guardians were expecting when they paid him $7 million in the offseason (he has a $10 million mutual option for next season along with a $1 million buyout). 

One of the reasons why the Guardians may have felt comfortable trading Sewald could be due to the emergence of Erik Sabrowski and Nic Enright. Sabrowski (1.74 ERA) has built on his showing last year, while Enright (2.29 ERA) has stuck in MLB after bouncing between the majors and minors earlier in the year. 

The Guardians took a swing on Sewald, and it ended up being a miss. While there’s still a chance the Guardians could still get some value out of Sewald through the Player to be Named Later, they were smart to cut ties with Sewald.