Stuart

Fairchild

He finished with only three at-bats, as the platoon option was pinch-hit for by Chase DeLauter late in the loss. No fantasy value here, just thought we’d give Fairchild his due as the rest of the Guardians mustered only one hit combined against Carlos Rodón.

The Guardians are facing left-hander Carlos Rodon, but DeLauter has started the last two games against lefties. Of course, that was with Steven Kwan on the bereavement list, so with Kwan back, DeLauter shifts to the bench so that Stuart Fairchild can play center field with Kwan in left field.

Fairchild was hitting .289/.417/.479 in 176 plate appearances at Columbus after a nice WBC with Chinese Taipei. He could figure in as a short-side platoon bat for the Guardians with Daniel Schneeman handling the strong side while Steven Kwan is on the bereavement list.

Chinese Taipei scored its automatic runner with two bunts in the top of the 10th. Korea advanced its to third with one sac bunt, but the runner was thrown out at home on Hyeseong Kim’s non-bunt grounder to first, and Do Yeong Kim flew out to end the game afterwards. Chinese Taipei, which also got homers from Yu Chang and Tsung-Che Cheng, finishes 2-2 in Pool C play to keep itself alive for now. It needs to hope that Korea and Japan both beat Australia, which would result in three 2-2 teams behind Japan in the standings. One of Chinese Taipei, Korea and Australia would then advance by claiming the tiebreaker.

This game ended after seven due to the mercy rule. Chinese Taipei also for four RBI from Yu Chang and three from Chen-Wei Chen for its first win through three games. The club will need to beat Korea on Sunday to have any chance of moving on from pool play.

Fairchild fortifies Cleveland’s outfield depth and will compete for a bench role in spring training. The well-traveled 29-year-old defensive specialist got into 28 games this past season for the Braves, batting .216 (11-for-51) with two steals across 55 plate appearances. He’s gotten into 277 games at the highest level dating back to 2021.

You’d be excused for not knowing any of these players were even on Tampa Bay’s 40-man roster; the five pitchers combined to throw 6 1/3 innings for the Rays last season and Fairchild was hurt one day after being acquired from the Braves in July. Faedo, who was acquired from the Tigers in February, ended up missing the entire season with shoulder problems after a rehab assignment in July went badly.

The 29-year-old outfielder has been shelved since mid-July with a right oblique strain. Nothing has changed in his prognosis, as he’s still slowly working his way back, this was merely done as a procedural move to free up a spot on the Rays’ 40-man roster for the promotion of Carson Williams on Thursday.

Well, that was fast. Fairchild was acquired earlier this week from Atlanta in a small trade and winds up hitting the injured list without ever putting on a Rays uniform. No word on the severity of the ailment, which will determine how much time he misses. It’ll likely be a multi-week absence, even in a best-case scenario.

Fairchild gets another opportunity right away in spite of his struggles the last couple of years. Even if one wants to throw out his .216/.273/.333 line in 55 plate appearances for the Braves, given how sparingly he was used, he still had just a 77 OPS+ for the Reds last season. His mark of 89 from 2023 isn’t very good, either. The Rays, who had an opening with Brandon Lowe going on the IL, figure to use him in left or right against lefties.