Thoughts for a Sunday evening

 (1) Baseball at its purest:

I can only imagine how maddening it is for other teams with huge pockets in the AL East to have to compete with Tampa Bay.   I think when they beat the Guardians on Saturday they had something like 4 players who entered the game with sub .200 averages and another 4 under .250.  They are just well-managed and well-prepared.  They get more out of less than any other team in MLB.  

As I was watching the game today I saw the Guardians beat them at their own game.  Two of our sub .200 hitters (Hedges and Call) played instrumental roles in the victory.  We used the opener to close to perfection.  We got more for less with bunts, bloop hits, working counts and taking walks and, for the most part, playing good defense.  

We did all this with the youngest roster in the majors and one of the smallest payrolls.   

I hope that we can become the same kind of thorn in MLB and, in our case, the AL Central, that the Rays are in the AL East.   

However, I hope we can surpass them with the addition of proven star players and get back to makng the playoffs and, hopefully, winning WS championships in the not-to-distant future.  

(2) The trade deadline

I still haven't seen any proposed deal for any group of Guardians' prospects/major leaguers.  I hope that whatever deal we makes only hurts our farm system in ways in which we can easily recover AND where we don't get robbed.   Fair trades are great and, actually, necessary for teams like the Guardians.   Hopefully most fans should know be now that this team should never 'go for it'.

Trading prospects like Battenfield, Pilkington, Tena, Martinez, Noel, Planez, Palacios, Lavastida, Fox and most of the pitchers we drafted last year makes sense, tradng the rest of our top 30 doesn't make sense.  Trades like we should make should be made to remove excess prospects and clear the log jam in our 40-man roster that will continue with the guys we have to add this coming winter.   It will also allow us to add guys who can help us this season like Curry and Gaddis and even Bo Naylor, guys we SHOULD be protecting this winter, and give us chances to see and sort out guys like Brennan and Benson instead of trying to trade them before we truly know what we have.

I want us to make trade(s) between now and Tuesday but they need to be smart trades that help us in the present and in the future, keeping us from losing guys in the Rule 5 and helping us to get our minor leaguers reps in the majors to sort out what we have going forward.  B

But let's not overpay with prospects just because we have a bunch.  Use these resources judiciously to make our major league team better and don't be afraid to do multiple prospects for one uber prospect trade, if that trade gives us a star in the making.

(3) Whether we realize it right now or it hits us in the future, it is a golden age-like time to be a Guardans fan. Enjoy Francona, enjoy this team and wish the FO luck in what will come over the next two days..