Will

Brennan

Manzardo will get his first start of the postseason after two appearances as a pinch-hitter in the first two series. The 24-year-old gets the start with David Fry moving to the bench. Will Brennan also gets the start in right field with Jhonkensy Noel moving to the bench after starting the first two games. The full lineup against Keider Montero and the Detroit bullpen: LF Steven Kwan, DH Manzardo, 3B Jose Ramirez, 1B Josh Naylor, Lane Thomas CF, 2B Andrés Giménez, RF Brennan, C Bo Naylor and SS Brayan Roccio.

This is the second straight start for Noel against a right-handed pitcher with Will Brennan seemingly starting to slide to a bench role. It’s an odd choice since Brennan has gone 10-for-29 (.345) in 11 games in September while Noel is hitting just .114 in 13 games in September and went 0-for-3 last night with two strikeouts. Perhaps the Guardians see something in the matchup with Simeon Woods Richardson that they feel favors Big Christmas.

The 29-year-old has gotten off to a terrible start in his Guardians career hitting .145/.233/.197 with 34 strikeouts in 25 games. That’s not the type of impact the team was hoping to get from him after acquiring him from the Nationals at the trade deadline. Will Brennan will start in center field with Jhonkensy Noel in right field, but the Guardians will certainly hope a day off here and there wakes up Thomas’ bat.

The 23-year-old slugger had started each of the team’s last four games. Noel has shown strong power production since joining the Guardians, slashing .250/.319/.577 with 10 homers and 19 RBI through his first 116 plate appearances. Will Brennan will start in his place in right field and bat fifth against Nathan Eovaldi and the Rangers on Friday night.

Breanna has started three straight games since being recalled, going 5-for-12 with one run scored and one RBI. However, with the Cubs throwing left-hander Shota Imanaga, the Guardians will go with their platoon lineup, which means Jhonkensy Noel will play right field, Tyler Freeman will play shortstop and both Brennan and Brayan Rocchio will head to the bench.

Brennan went 13-for-31 with a homer and four steals in eight Triple-A games, earning him a quick return to the majors. He’ll likely start against most righties going forward, giving him value in AL-only leagues.

Brennan is off the active roster to make room for Lane Thomas after the Guardians traded for Thomas on Monday. Brennan could be back as a bench bat or even a platoon role, but it may take an injury for him to rejoin the MLB roster in the foreseeable future.

The Guardians are definitely valuing Thomas as a quality regular by giving up this much for him, so while it’s arguable that he won’t help them against righties, we’d expect him to keep playing every day and maybe continue to hit second regularly. He probably won’t do as much running — he’s 28-for-40 there this year — but that could be countered by some extra runs and RBI while hitting in a better lineup. This might set up a Will Brennan-Angel Martinez platoon in center field, assuming that Martinez sticks. There’s the chance the Guardians could send him down and use Tyler Freeman in center against lefties. David Fry will probably lose some playing time, as Jhonkensy Noel could replace some of his right field starts by DHing instead.

We were skeptical a contender would meet the Nationals’ asking price for Thomas, who is pretty great against lefties but not really a quality starting option against righties. For the Guardians, though, he’s probably an upgrade in right field. Will Brennan will likely be asked to play more center alongside Angel Martínez. Since Thomas could well remain an everyday player and No. 2 hitter, this might wind up as a positive for his fantasy value.

With Will Brennan coming off the IL, the Guardians decided to move Arias back to the minors. It’s good news for Angel Martinez that he remains on the roster, but the team will likely continue to shuffle the hitters at the bottom of their roster for the remainder of the season.