"Don't Swing...NO"

 When Chicken Little comes to bat in the 9th inning of the championship game his coach and the players urge him no to swing...especially with the team's star player coming up next. 

Although this post could be a follow-on to the previous one about keeping the line moving it is not.

This post has to do with the trade deadline.  

Our FO should not 'swing' at all.  They should stand there, through the trade deadline, with their bats on their shoulders.

You see, just like Chicken Little, they haven't earned the right to swing their bat.  

Doing something out of desperation is not doins somethng positive.  How many times has history proven that with deadline deals?  

Yes, just like Chicken Little, you can close your eyes and swing and sometimes you will even get a hit.  But the smart play is to play to your strengths.

And trading prospects is not a strength of this organization.

Yandy Diaz, Junior Caminiero, Nolan Jones, Will Benson.  The list goes on and on..

And, right now, the stage has been set.  Brayan Rocchio (who, BTW, fits the contact-over-power approach that the Guardians draft gurus covet!!!!) has not been recalled even though we could use more offense.  Ditto for Oscar Gonzalez and James Karinchak, both of whom appear to be in the club's doghouse.  Tyler Freeman is playing sporadically even though he is hitting well and plays solid defense.

Four prospects/young major leaguers who are being dissed by the organization for supposed faults in their game while Gabriel Arias is still on the ML roster.  Are they just keeping these prospects down in the minors while they work on their game?  Or have they already made a decision that these guys are not Cleveland Guardians and that it is best to trade them for whatever they can get?  

I am not sure but, with the ineptitude of this FO, if I am Dolan I am calling for a moratorium on trading, except, of course, for short-timer Amed Rosario.

Help your offense from within: send down Arias and bring up Rocchio.  DFA Cam Gallagher, bite the bullet with David Fry as your backup catcher and bring up Oscar Gonzalez.  Yes, under most managers this would mean that Fry would play less often but, as the 26th man, I think he is being overused right now as Francona tries to ride the hot hand...as opposed to not playing Fry over his first month with the team. Reminded me of Wilfred Brimley in that first month.  'I have to take him, but it don't mean I have to play him...ever.'

So, no, don't swing for the fences, literally or figuratively, at the trade deadline.  Don't trade veterans (except for Rosario) for prospects and don't, under any circumstances, trade prospects for veterans.  You guys are a great FO but you suck at two things: trading prospects for veterans and, in the last two years, drafting.