Guardians trade for Estevan Florial, send Cody Morris to New York

Cleveland, like most of America from the small-town snapshot I got at my local Target, did some after-Christmas shopping yesterday and acquired outfielder Estevan Florial from the New York Yankees in a one-to-one deal for starter/long-man Cody Morris. Florial, 26, spent all but 19 games in 2023 in Triple-A, posting a .284/.380/.565 triple slash line with 28 dingers and swiping 25 bags. He played mostly center field in the minors, only sparingly in right field, which would fit with the roster as the goal has been to add some offense to the two outfield spots not manned by Steven Kwan. Myles Straw's bat has been begging to be relegated to OF4 duty, and last year's acquisition of Ramon Laureano is better defensively in right field at this point in his career. He fits with the most recent Guardian transactions: big traits with room to grow into them...hopefully.The downside with Florial is that a team like New York, which prizes their homegrown prospects, never gave Florial a full-time opportunity, even in 2023 when they were desperate for outfield production. He struggled in the majors, hitting only .230/.324/.311 in 71 plate appearances. His contact rates were low, 72.5 Z-Contact% and 65.0 overall Contact%, and his SwStr%, the measurement of how many times he swings and misses, would have been on par with Oscar Gonzalez, who is now on the Yankees. Florial was designated for assignment in April last season but stayed with the organization after no one claimed him on waivers. It's slightly concerning that no one wanted the prospect and he was able to return to the Yankees, but it's not unheard of in this world. OG had done the same thing in previous seasons.Morris, 27, has been more bark than bite in the majors, totaling 31.2 IP over two seasons in the bigs. When he's been healthy, Morris has been a monster, but health has always been a question. The performance has never been a question: throughout his minor league career, Morris was a strikeout machine, in 2022 achieving a 51.7 K% in his 15.1 IP in Triple-A. However, he's only thrown 61 or more innings in one season, 2021, and that included a brief start at the Arizona developmental complex as he was working back from injury. His promise has been enough to want to give him a chance but to quote WFNY's own Ethan Forness: the best ability is availablity. ((I'm pretty sure he stole that from someone but whatevs.))We've expected a trade from Cleveland where they deal from their pitching depth to find some offense, but we have long expected that trade to come in the form of a Shane Bieber-for-a-ML-bat that would possibly take Cleveland a step back in contention but bring over a controllable piece that fits for the future, not Morris for Florial. Is this a sign that Bieber stays? That Morris is never to be healthy? The move fits the organizational goals of finding offense for arms, but dealing depth when Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and others have had recent injury issues could be a tough look, especially after they determined that Cal Quantrill's arbitration projections were too high for a pitcher that was on the downslope and dealt him to Colorado.Whatever those maybes are, the trade is a perfect "flyer for flyer" trade: Cleveland gets a guy with traits who is out of options and without a place to play in the Big Apple after other bigger acquisitions, ((Juan Soto, ever heard of him?)) and New York gets a possible power arm if he's able to stay healthy. Maybe Cleveland gets more out of Florial by letting him stay up and letting him figure it out and find their centerfielder of the future. Maybe this is the year Morris can stay healthy enough to throw more than 60 innings in the majors and become the starter the Yankees have been searching for and coming up short.