Thoughts for a Sunday

 NON-ROSTER INVITEES

I have said this before and I am saying it again:  The Guardians made a big mistake in not signing more veteran minor league free agents during the early days of the lockout.   There was some information that guys like that would be locked out of spring training, too.   Well, seeing Sandy Leon in spring training shows that this is not true.   Other teams have, all along, been adding these guys.   Generally they are just AAA filler players, a few of whom likely will wind up on your roster at the beginning of the season but many will languish in AAA and even AA for the entire year.

However, this year imagine heading into your pre-season with a month of spring training already under your belt.  These veterans could have a huge impact in the first month of the season when the returning major leaguers are still shaking off the rust.  Whoever plays this signing game right could end up with 2-3 more wins in the first month of the season.

Now, you can argue that the Guardians will not have any roster room for these types of guys but wouldn't it be nice to have about a half dozen ML-ready guys stashed in the minors ready to help in that first month before being DFA'd for established guys a little later in the season?

CBA Negotiations

I am constantly amazed how fans think the Rule 5 draft is a good thing because it gives a couple of guys the ability to steal a spot on a ML roster before they are truly ready to play in the majors.  They haven't done the reaearch to show how neffective this draft is while, at the same time, costing teams a lot of money and angst in which prospects to protect.   Imagine if there was not ML Rule 5 draft.  I am pretty sure the Indians 40-man would look a lot different and a lot of the prospects who were added this winter would likely be in spring training right now.

I think an agreement will be reached soon but I don't think all issues will be hammered out by that time.  I think the 14-team playoff decision will be key and I think that will be finalized soon.  

Spring Training

Lots of videos coming out of spring training.   It will be interesting to see how fast the pitchers the Guardians drafted in 2021 progress. Gavin Williams is supposed to be hitting 100 mph.   Will they develop him slowly as a starter or will they send him to the bullpen?  I hope the Rule 5 is cancelled soon so the Cleveland minor leaguers can exhale and get down to serious work.   I am sure it weighs on some of them about who they will be playing for this year.  

Trades after the lockout

I still see the Indians turning some of that prospect capital into a star player after the lockout ends.   I am still hoping for Juan Soto with us taking on Strasburg's contract to keep the prospect loss down to a minimum.  I just hope we don't overpay with prospects for some average or a little better verteran.  We have the prospect capital.  Make a big splash that helps the team this year.

Free Agen Signings

In typical Indians fashion watch for them to sign Shaw and Parker out of the lockout.   Those guys should be in camp right now as mnor league free agents.  As I said above, just hope we don't overpay for free agents who don't really help that much and chew up our resources.

Basketball

Congrats and good luck to the Cleveland State basketball teams.   As a proud alumnus it is enjoyable to see basketball make a comeback at CSU.  The women looked strong in their last 5 quarters of basketball and the men still have so much potential they haven't tapped this year.   Let's hope this coming week brings NCAA tournament bids to their men's and women's teams.

The Cavs are struggling right now.  I hope they right the ship but, with all their injuries, they could easily crash.  Let's hope they get healthy quickly.

I don't know what to make of the OSU men's team.  They look like they could have an early exit from the Big Ten tournament and maybe get aced out of or have another first round exit from the NCAA tournament.   I know he will be retained for next year to see how his 2022 recruiting class pans out but what we see now might be all that we can expect from Holtman.   Then the OSU administration will have to decide if this is acceptable at a football-frst school or if they want a flashy new guy who can take the program to the next level, at least in terms of NCAA tourney performance. All I know is that this is a team kthat I wouldn't want to meet n the NCAAs because, for one game, this team can play with anyone in the country...if they show up.