Thoughts for a Saturday Morning

 Guardians

1. Even the wins are painful and nerve-wracking.  I envy my wife.  As a Cardinals' fan she waits for result to see if she wants to watch the game.  Me, I am like that moth drawn to the bug zapper.  I just can't look away and watch the Guardians from start to the very end.  As such, watching them get 3 runs on one hit (again) and then hold on to the end due to letting the starter go too long and then a shaky bullpen (except for De Los Santos) (again) and hoping against hope they can somehow find a way NOT to lose the game, is no way to make baseball and enjoyable watch.  

2. I saw a question to Hoynsie asking about trading Rosario, Straw and Beiber.  The issue with their tradeability is that the longer Rosario plays the worse he looks, lowering his trading value.  Ditto for Straw.  The more times Beiber goes above the 100 pitch mark the less his value becomes as who knows when his arm could just explode.  For me, the longer we wait to pull the trigger the less these guys will be worth because Francona player Rosario and Straw all the time and pitching Beiber too much is only lowering their trade value without, in my opinion, increasing our chances of winning.  

3. On the note of trading those guys, I am still in on the Dodgers but now my trade would be Beiber, Plesac, Rosario, Straw, Eli Morgan and Juan Brito for Bobby Miller, Michael Busch, Gavin Stone, Dalton Rushing, James Outman, Josue DePaula, Joendry Vargas, Logan Wagner and Chris Taylor.  We are substituting Taylor for Sheehan and, therefore, taking on the remainder of Taylor's salary to balance the books on this trade.  Outman looks like a flash in the pan but the core of Miller, Busch and Stone would be what makes this deal for me along with DePaula and Vargas who bring up the very low levels of the minors for us, giving us some hope for the future and Rushing and Wagner, who do the same but one rung higher.  Taylor, though not doing well over the past two seasons, adds versatility and a veteran presence to the locker room as well as playoff experience.   Would this trade be raising the white flag on this season.  I hope not but that depends on how McKenzie, Williams, Civale, Gaddis and Morris fit into our team and whether Francona can maximize the young players we have.  

4. Where is our PTBNL for Owen Miller?

Minors

1. It is good to see some movement in the farm system rosters this early.  Genao being able to play is good.  Putting Furman at his appropriate level is better than having him dominate at Lynchburg.  At least we can get a read on him when he is playing at LC.  I don't believe Brito has earned the promotion to Akron but in the same way we did with Noel last year, you almost have to have Brito at AA and hope he performs well.  As this is the first of his 3 option years, if he doesn't do well at Akron the rest of the way it almost guarantees he will be out of minor league options before he finally sticks in the majors.

2. Nothing in the performances over the last few days that gives me any more confidence in the farm system.  Still hoping for and seeing some glimmer of breakouts by Jo Rodriguez and Noel with hope for miraculous seasons from Holland, Bracho and Planez.   

3. Our bullpen is so solid we don't need to look at AAAA players like Toussaint and Kelly but I think each of them should be getting a chance in the majors on SOME team this year, especially with guys like Ian Gibault pitching for the Reds.  

4. Today's pitching in the minors looks like it could make for very exciting watching.  I hope to see Williams put in another good performance, Burns continuing to perform and convince the Guardians he is ready for AAA, Tommy Mace getting on track and Parker Messick cementing that it is time for him to transition to Lake County so we can start getting a read on him facing more age-appropriate batters.

5. June 5th is approaching.  I can't wait to see the ACL team play.

6. Also can't wait to get Boyd, Haffer and others integrated into our farm system.  Really ominous that we haven't heard anything about these guys.  Every time we wait for information (except for DeLauter) the information is devastating (Campbell and Zibin with arm surgeries).  Time for some good news, I hope.