Thoughts for a Saturday - 1000 Blog Posts and Still Cranking - Now Let's Talk Baseball

 To all of you who have read this blog site over the years, thank you for listening to an old guy talking about Guardians baseball.

I just noted the stats on this site and realized that this is the 1000th post I have on this blog.  

Fanfare, cue the fireworks and party noisemakers.  

OK, now that we are done with the festivities, let's talk baseball.

• Todd Paquette (thanks for all your great work, Todd) posted a video of Jose Cedeno hitting a HR off the Dodgers in an extended ST game.  The pitcher he hit it off was, I think, Hyun-Il Choi, a Korean prospect who is a relatively highly-regarded prospect in the Dodgers system who is in extended ST rehabbing an injury.    So, while it is just extended, it means a little more to me if the guy he hit the HR against was not just another guy coming over from the Dominican for his first taste of Complex League baseball this summer.
• Hankins going to start today.  Still waiting for the debuts of Boyd, Haffer, Planez, DeLucia, Genao, Tucker, Valera, Misiaszek, Campbell, DeLauter and the recoveries of Morris and McKenzie.
• Note that small ball doesn't always work,k even in the low minors: Lynchburg under .500 while having great OB and SB totals but very little power (7 HR at last glance).  The Guardians need to set some more power hitting.
• Rocchio with his first HR.  Still giving him the next chance and sending Arias down.  Freeman still getting cheap hits and slapping the ball the other way.  He gets his chance this season, just not now.
• Bobby Miller (one of the headlines in "The Trade" with the Dodgers), gives up 4 runs in 1 2/3 innings in his second start of the year.  Still looks rusty.  Hope he's not hurt again.
• Looking at today's pitchers in the minors, Zach Plesac, Will Dion (tandem), Ethan Hankins, Hunter Stanley (prospect or suspect), Tommy Mace (control or no control) and Alonzo Richardson (currently not many Ks and more BB than Ks, prospect or gimmick guy/suspect), all stand out as guys who are worth watching today.  Some on the fence (Stanley, Richardson, Mace), some recovering from injury (Hankins), some trying to keep up beating the odds (Dion) and some still searching for their mojo to kick in (Plesac). 
• Furman needs to be promoted.  He doesn't belong at low A, he is a polished college bat for gosh sakes!
• Kelly and Barager look like guys on the train to/from Cleveland if we ever clear up a roster spot and need to go on the merry-go-round we had last year when we needed an extra arm for a couple of days.
• Give David Fry a chance, please!  He should have batted against the Yankees in the 3-2 victory.  He can help at least a lttle.  Whitey Herzog would have found a way to work him in and have him have success doing it. The White Rat was a genius at that.
• De Los Santos, unsung hero of the bullpen so far...Morgan not far behind although he scares me like Bob Wickman used to.  It's not really a save unless you load the bases was Wickman's motto.