Some Guardians players face perilous off-season travel in their home countries
CLEVELAND, Ohio — The baseball season ends, players pack their bags, and many return to their home countries for the winter. For most, it’s a chance to reconnect with family and perhaps play winter ball to stay sharp. But for Guardians players from Latin America, this annual migration has sometimes led to life-altering — and in notably tragic cases, life-ending — incidents that have nothing to do with the game itself.
The most recent chapter in this troubling history involves Carlos Hernandez, a right-handed pitcher who appeared briefly for Cleveland last season. Hernandez was involved in a serious car accident Sunday while in his native Venezuela, where he was pitching winter ball.
“Unfortunately, Carlos was in a serious car accident,” Paul Hoynes reported on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “According to news reports he and his cousin were in the car. They were taken out, removed from the car and Hernandez suffered... a fractured left arm and a fractured right femur.”
These are serious injuries that will likely sideline Hernandez for a significant period. But as Hoynes grimly noted, “This is not the first time, you know, that a Guardians player or former Guardians player has run into trouble, you know, during the winter in Latin America. Unfortunately, we’ve had a list of these guys.”
That list is as disturbing as it is long, painting a picture of the dangers that can lurk for players when they return to countries that often face higher crime rates and infrastructure challenges.
“Jolbert Cabrera in 2001 in his native Colombia, somebody tried to carjack him. He got shot in the buttocks and it cost him a chunk of that season,” Hoynes recalled.
While Cabrera eventually recovered and continued his career, others weren’t as fortunate. “Another pitcher, Juan Lara, who pitched a few games for Cleveland in 2007, was involved in a serious auto accident in the Dominican Republic. His car was hit by a motorcycle. He was really close to death. He came back and pitched a little bit in the minors, but that effectively ended his career.”
Perhaps most heartbreaking was the fate of former Cleveland third baseman Andy Marte. “Marte was involved in a fatal car accident in the Dominican Republic that claimed his life,” Hoynes said. “This is not a joking matter. It’s a run of terrible luck.”
The photos shared on social media of Hernandez’s accident show a vehicle flipped over and crushed — a visual reminder of the severity of these incidents. “Just a scary scene,” Noga described.
These tragedies highlight the complex reality for Latin American players, who navigate between two worlds — the structured environment of Major League Baseball and the sometimes unpredictable conditions in their home countries.
“You hope that these guys when they return to their native countries, that they take all the precautions. That they keep themselves and their families safe,” Noga reflected.
For fans interested in learning more about this often-overlooked aspect of baseball and the challenges facing international players, tune into the full Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast episode. The hosts provide important context around these incidents and discuss how they impact both the players and the organization in ways that extend far beyond the baseball diamond.
Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s an AI-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.
Podcast Transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynsie, it was a busy weekend for the Guardians. They bring in officially the right hander from Italy, Ettore Giulianelli. They sign him to a minor league contract. This is a guy who spent the first three years of his professional career in the Cardinals minor league system. And you know, we’ll get into what makes him an attractive addition to the, the minor league mix for the Guardians. But primarily, it’s, it’s a pitch that he throws that not a lot of guys throw. And that’s the screwball.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. When you have not seen a lot of screwballs throwing in the big leagues recently, Joe, just because of such, of the emphasis is, is such on velocity and power pitching. But this is an interesting diversion and what he played for the Italian 23 and under team last season. So we’ll have to see how that translates to the big leagues and what the pitching factory can do with this guy.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that’s sort of the thing you talked about, the velocity there. The reports are that he’s, he’s gotten his, his fastball velocity up to around the 98 mile an hour range. It’s a guy who stands 6 foot 3, you know, a little over 200 pounds. Developed from a, a showcase over in Europe back in, you know, a few years ago where you know, he was 17, 18 years old and the Cardinals saw him, they signed him, they brought him over and they, they put him in their Florida complex league for about two or three seasons and then he, he went to their single A affiliate and the walks were there, the strikeouts were there, but the walks were a little high. It was the fact that he was able to throw this pitch that sort of made him an Internet sensation. Because when you’ve got a screwball that, that starts off basically at the, the belt of a left handed hitter, breaks over the middle of the plate. It’s a pitch that not a lot of guys throw. Like you said, we, we haven’t seen it in a while, at least consistently. But you pair that with a 90mL on our fastball and a, a, a, slot and you’ve got the makings of, you know, a potentially a good middle reliever there. Like you said, it’s the Guardians maybe with their, their pitching factory, maybe they think they have the, the formula to sort of cure all of these right handed relievers that they, they’re signing of their inability to throw strikes at. At some point maybe they, they think they can fix them and that’s really where the, where Giulianelli is going to sort of fall into that category.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, you always take a chance, Joe. He’s got a good arm. Organizations that can develop pitching never turn their back on a good arm. This was a guy, Joe, that it took him a while to get the contract situation ironed out because from what I heard, he had already committed to an independent team. There was some contract, you know, kind of. There was a, there was a question about who, who he was going to pitch for this next season. And obviously the Guardians got it straightened out and we’ll bring him, bring him to minor league camp in late February and take a look at him. And who knows? The Guardians could use him in a, in a Cactus League game and maybe, you know, get him some exposure that way it’ll be.
Joe Noga: Be interesting to see when he gets an opportunity maybe to come up from depth camp and be an option out of the bullpen in some of these spring training exhibition games. I’m looking at his, his stat lines right now. I look back to the 2023 season with the Cardinals, Florida Coast League or Florida Complex League team. He was one in one with a 6.16 ERA. He doesn’t really give up too many home runs. Hasn’t really in his, his professional career. But you look at the, the innings pitched. He was in 15 games. He threw 19 innings. In those 19 innings, he struck out 34, but he walked 23. And then he moves up to the Single A for Palm beach in the, in the Cardinals organization, a 3.96 ERA over 25 innings, 39 strikeouts and 31 walks. The walk rate a little higher than you would like. 11.2 walks per nine innings. The strikeout, strikeouts per nine is exactly where you want it is that, that’s elite level 14.0. In that 2024 season for Palm beach, there, there’s something there. This is a guy who, if you can, you can get him to figure out how to throw strikes when he needs to not lose batters to walks. This is, you know, the, the raw materials, I guess, are there to build a pretty good reliever. And the fact that he’s, he’s, you know, straight over from Italy, you know, he was a guy who was in showcases in Europe, developed that way. You know, sort of found him over there, brought him to the States. He’s been in the States for, you know, four or five years. You know, shouldn’t be too much of a big cultural transition, but, you know, he’ll be pitching in Arizona instead of Florida now. Yeah.
Paul Hoynes: I wonder if he would pitch for Team Italy and WBC or if they gave him any consideration that way or he’s just, you know, so kind of, you know, he’s not that deep into his career and he wants to see if he can establish him self in Cleveland. But it’s a great spring training story and hopefully he has some success Joe and can stick around and make some progress in Cleveland’s organization.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that’s the, the thing. Even if he does go over and pitch with Team Italy, if he has an opportunity to either try out for them or even compete in whenever they’re playing in the World Baseball Classic, that can only build his reputation and give him that sort of experience that they like the young pitchers to get that sort of experience when you’re not really worried about risking them health wise. So yeah, great opportunities there for Tory, Julian, Ellie. We’ll, we’ll see if he, he makes it makes an impression this year in camp and what the Guardians dec do with them. Just another one of these right handed relievers that’s been added over the course of the offseason so far. Hoynsie, I know you reached out to Chris Antonetti this week. We’ll, we’ll get into Carlos Hernandez here in a, in a second. Just you know, where are the, the Guardians in terms of what they think about they’ve done this off season with their, their relief pitching and, and rebuilding that bullpen. Restocking that bullpen ahead of the 2026 season.
Paul Hoynes: Joe, they think they’ve done a, a, a good job strengthening the bullpen with the, the anticipated absence of Emanuel. Class A they, that was a goal going into the off season and they certainly have kind of, they’ve added a lot. I don’t know how much they’ve strengthened the bullpen, but they’ve certainly given it, you know, a good try. You know, with Paulette, with you know, with you know, I mean Armstrong, I mean Brogdon. They’ve added you know, 5, 6 reliever to the pen so we’ll have to see how that all works out. But you know he was pleased with that. As far as the offense goes, they’re still looking for kind of they will add offense. I think as long as that that hitter or the person they add isn’t going to block one of their, the core players that they want to see progress and get a lot of at bats in the big leagues.
Joe Noga: Yeah, that, that’s really the sort of the line that they’re Walking in terms of the, the offense just going back to the guys that they added in the bullpen. The, the, the, it’s just, just the sheer volume of arms that they’ve added that’s sort of striking to me is, you know, there isn’t going to be room for all of these guys. You’re really creating sort of this competition to see who sort of rises to the top and does make the opening day roster and then, you know, who they can move on to AAA and sort of stash there and give themselves options throughout the season because, you know, you’re not, you know, gonna have the same 26 guys all year on the roster. So you’re gonna need guys to come up and down and sort of be those transition guys as well. Pedro Avila and Cody Heuer are also guys that they’ve added and they’re, they’re going to look to either, either start them at AAA or have them make an impact on the big league roster at some point. We’re, you know, we’re, we’re, we’re keeping an eye on that, but also we’re keeping an eye on sort of the first guy, the forgotten guy that they signed in November and that was Carlos Hernandez, a guy who had pitched him, what, a few games for them during the regular season. Hernandez involved in a car accident down in his N of Venezuela where he’s pitching winter ball for, you know, a team in Caracas. You know, Hoynsie. What, what did you hear about that and what, what were you able to find out from the Guardians?
Paul Hoynes: Joe? You know, unfortunately, Carlos was in a serious car accident to, you know, the sources. According to news reports, he, he and his brother, I, I believe. Right. Were in the car. They were taken out, removed from the car and Hernandez suffered, you know, a fractured left arm and a fractured right femur, which I guess is, is that a broken leg? Yes. You know, that would, you know, he was, he was coming to camp on a minor league deal anyways. So I don’t think he’s going to be pitching, you know, he’s going to be laid up for, for a while. And Joe, this is not the first time, you know, that a Guardians player or former Guardians player has run into trouble, you know, during the winter in Latin America. Unfortunately, we’ve had a list of these guys.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I, you know, you go back, you can go back more than 20 years to, to see instances of where Cleveland players or former Cleveland players have been involved in auto accidents, you know, other incidents that make news down there. I know you did Some digging. You came up with a list of, you know, a couple of players that, you know, fans will should remember in terms of their impact in Cleveland.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, my friend Holbert Cabrera in 2001 in his native Colombia was in, you know, somebody tried to carjack him. He got shot in, in the buttocks, you know, cost him, you know, a chunk of that season. He recovered, however, and you know, was able to go on and, you know, continue his career. Another pitcher on Lara, who pitched a few games for Cleveland in 2007, was involved in a serious auto accident in the Dominican Republic. His car was hit by a motorcycle. He was really close to death. He came back and pitched a little bit in the minors, but that effectively ended his career. And Andy Marte, a third baseman that played for quite a while For Cleveland in 2017, he was involved in a fatal car accident in the Dominican that claimed his life. You know, this is not a joking matter. A run of terrible luck. Cleveland, with their players in Latin American countries, hopefully gets better, he heals quickly and can continue his career. But right now, if the reports are accurate, those were serious. That’s a serious injury, two serious injuries. And we’ll have to see, you know, how he responds.
Joe Noga: And it’s, it’s, it’s hard for the guardians to comment or talk about details about, you know, whatever happened because there are restrictions when it’s a non baseball injury related matter. There’s sort of the, the health and employee records and all that kind of stuff that they can’t really talk about. So we’re left to sort of follow up through Latin American media and, and whatever they’re sharing with us about the, the accident and the injury. The, the, the photos that were posted on X, formerly Twitter, you know, paint a really scary sort of picture of what happened. The vehicle looked like it was flipped over and crushed and just a scary scene. So, you know, you hope that, you know, these guys when they, when they return to their, their native countries, that they, they take all the precautions that they, they can, that they keep themselves and their families safe. But, you know, it’s, it’s just a tough thing. You know, your, your mind immediately jumps to places that you don’t really want. You know, you hope guys like, you know, anybody, anybody on that roster who’s, who’s out of the country and traveling around, you know, it certainly makes it back and we see them again when they get to spring training. And that’s the case here as well. All right, big news over the weekend. If you were in Chicago over The weekend, it was sort of the epicenter of the sports world. Saturday night, the Bears complete a 25 point rally in the fourth quarter to beat the Packers. And in the middle of that, Alex Bregman signs a five year, $175 million deal with the Cubs. Bregman and the Cubs have been sort of dance in the dance last off season before he signed with Boston, but you know, now they finally complete the deal.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, what a, what a great signing this is for the Cubs. I mean, and Bregman, what, last year he signed what, a four year, 120, $120 million deal with Boston and he had an opt out. So he opts out and now he turns that into a five year, $175 million deal with, with the Cubs. And Joe, I think, how much did he make last year? In one year, I think did he make 40 million? I don’t know, but I mean, he’s got a six year deal there. That’s really turned into that. That’s, that’s a huge get for not only for the Cubs, but for Bregman.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s, you know, nice, nice little turnaround. After opting out of the deal with Boston, really being able to sort of read the market
