28 man roster predictions

 Remember, the key word here is predictions.   It was interesting that Francona said it would be hard to call up a 3rd catcher.   Currently our catchers are (a) familiar with the pitchers and (b) in the last month hitting at close or above the average level for catchers in MLB.

In any case, here goes:

Pitchers

 There is no reason to replace any of the current pitchers on the active roster with guys from the minors. Right nowthe logical person to replace would be Eli Morgan  However, no person on the 40-man roster is more deserving than Morgan who can fall into that long man/7th inning guy and has had some success this year.  The only addition would be Cody Morris who, truth be told, might actually have made the active roster out of spring training had he not been hurt.  So, not saying Morgan won't be sent down to get more work, just saying that I don't see anyone worthy to call up to replace Morgan.  If anyone is called up it and Morgan sent down than you could make a case for Curry (7th inning/long man) or McCarthy (long man) coming up.   However, if that happens I see it later in September if Morgan continues to struggle.

Summary: Castro is DFA'd, Morris goes back on the 40 man (from the 60 day DL) and comes up.  Potentially McCarthy is DFA'd if we need another roster spot (see below)

Catchers:

The obvious question is Naylor or no Naylor.   I think Tito has answered that question.  

Summary

Naylor stays down at AAA and gets regular ABs and experience.  While he is likely to start next year for Guardians there is likely no ABs for him right now outside of catching and we don't really need his bat as I don't think DHing him helps the ML team.

Infielders

Here is where it gets interesting.  Tito hinted and I had already considered, that there could be a shuttle between Columbus and Cleveland in the month of September to mix and match guys on the 40 man roster.as to who is hot, who is an injury replacement, who needs a break to get back on track.  That being said, Tyler Freeman looks expendable at this point if you want more experience (Clement) or just another young player with more positional flexibility (Arias).  There is a remote possibility, as well, that we move on from Clement to open up a 40-man roster spot for someone (Brennan?) who otherwise might not have a clear path to the majors.

Summary: Freeman goes down, Arias comes up. Clement may or may not be DFA'd if we need a roster spot.

Outfielders

The current list of outfielders on the active roster look pretty solid, especially with the defense Benson showed last night (what have you done for me lately philosophy).  The only issue is what do we do with Brennan.   We start cutting into the flesh of this team and it's backups if Brennan is added to the 40-man roster.  

Summary: I think the front office knows we need more offense and they will be willing to make a tough decision to get Brennan on the roster.   I see them DFAing Clement who I think they have moved on from as they have plenty of middle infielders in their system to put on their team next year.  So, Brennan added to the 40 man roster and brought up and Clement DFA'd.  Not the best situation as CLement is lost for nothing but I think McCarthy adds depth and is being groomed for a long relief roll that the Guardians may need if Morgan falters any more. So Brennan up, Clement DFA'd.

OVERALL SUMMARY

So, there you have it: Morris and Brennan added as the two September callups with Castro and Clement DFA and Arias up and Freeman down, but maybe not on September 1st.  Possibility of McCarthy up and Morgan downs if Morgan falters with Nolan Jones, Bo Naylor, Curry and Freeman coming back up as injury replacements.  Likely Clement and Castro are lost on waivers if they are DFA'd.

Brutal honesty

 I was really hoping that Owen Miller would get to 30 doubles and get his average back to .260 and not make any more defensive gaffes so we could trade him and Ernie Clement for a competitive balance pick right after the World Series.    I was even dreaming on getting 2022 draftees Jud Fabian and Silas Ardoin for Miller and Clement.   

While I am not blaming Miller the way the announcers are (I am pretty sure Manning has been done with Miller for some time) I am thinking that if you make mistakes you ought to be able to pick it up on offense.

Miller isn't terrible, in my opinion, but it just seems like he is not advancing at all at this point and he is not making any plays, offense or defense, that we could use him to make.   He is looking more and more like Mercado/Chang/Zimmer etc.

So, let's hope for some production from Miller but I am afraid they will send him down which will keep him from getting hot and certainly tank his trade value so much that we will have to DFA him to get him off the roster to clear a space for one of our Rule 5-eligible prospects.

Kind of a shame but he was always just kind of a middling prospect who we hoped would be better.  Maybe not.

Random Ramblings - Thursday Night Edition

 1. Guardians Prospective Twitter asked which two players would you bring up when the rosters expanded. While that is a loaded question as it might require more than a simple addition of two players currently on the active part of the 40-man roster (remember, we have 2 players currently on the 60-day IL who don't count against that roster).   So, with that proviso, the two players I would add on September 1st would be:

Bo Naylor (requires removal of one player, Anthony Castro, from the current 40-man roster)

Cody Morris (requires reinstatement from the 60 day IL and, in a parrallel move, removal of one player from the 40 man roster, which would likely be Kirk McCarthy, although it could be Ernie Clement).

We will have to add Morris to the active 40-man sometime soon as we can't continue to have him on the 60-day as his rehab stint is about to expire and that will likely require bumping someone off the 40-man anyway so it's not like doing what I think the Guardians would prefer to do (adding guys already active on the 40-man) would be possible anyway.  Naylor is an obvious add as he could bring some offense to the lineup and he would be added to the 40-man this winter, anyway.

I am not saying that either of these guys would make the playoff roster if we make it that far, but I just see Naylor and Morris, if their stars align and they can perform and stay healthy in September, making the biggest impact in leverage situations in September games and beyond.

This would leave Pilkington, Vargas, Curry and Gaddis as emergency pitcher callups in case of injury and Arias, Lavastida, Nolan Jones, Brayan Rocchio, Ernie Clement (if not DFA'd) and George Valera as emergency position player callups. 

Another thought: If we are trying to catch lightning in a bottle we might send down Palacios and bring up Valera or send down Miller and bring up Arias.  Those moves would still give us the flexibility to put Miller and Palacios on the playoff roster(s), should that be needed.

Unfortunately, at this point, I just don't see a path for Will Brennan to make his major league debut as I don't see who, at this moment, we could and would DFA from our current 40-man if we, indeed, plan to bring up Naylor (obviously the Morris activation will be, I think, mandatory even if he isn't recalled from Columbus and someone from the 40-man will have to be DFA'd in any case).

2. Today's start did not ease my concern about what is going on with Logan T. Allen.   Maybe he has just reached the wall after a long season as he is now being tested against better competition.  In any case, color me still concerned.

3. Just couldn't quite get the big hit today.   It doesn't get any easier the rest of the year so let's just keep rooting and hoping that we continue to play good ball and get a lot of wins.    It is good that Minnesota and the White Sox have been losing, though.  It keeps the pressure off us.  Still, I would like to go into the the day after Labor Day with a bigger lead than we have now.

4. Bibee and Burns looked good the last two nights.  I still worry about a loss of velocity for either of them and they don't show the velo on the screen for Akron home games so...I am not sure if anything is going on.

5. I saw Dylan Beavers and Jud Fabian and Dylan Beavers play for Delmarva the last couple of nights and it reminded me how nice it would have been to draft Fabian and made me, again, wonder if we made the right selections in the most recent draft.  Also saw Jackson Holliday in his pro debut and, as I said in a previous post, seeing your top draft picks do their intro cameos this year DOES raise the excitement level for next year.  Doesn't appear to be the Guardians MO, however.

6. Korey Holland broke the Mendoza line tonight.   I know this doesn't even make a glitch on the seismic prospect impact device but I hope it is a sign of things to come in future years.  Ditto for Aaron Bracho.

7. Nice to see Valera, Noel, Tena, Rocchio, Mace, Halpin, among our best prospects, have good days today.

8. Those of you who have read my posts over the past couple of years know that I have begged to have Mason Hickman transition to the bullpen.  Even though today he looked more like the hittable version we have seen of Hickman as a starter in the low minors and that his success at AA should be expected given his age and draft status (year and round), it is nice to see that the Guardians appear to be going all in on the experiment to convert Hickman into a leverage reliever.

9. Looking ahead to the Rule 5, it will be interesting to see which players the Guardians assign to the Arizona Fall League.  My early predictions would be Lavastida, Mikolajchak, Vargas and Arias (to work on first base and the outfield).  I think the Guardians will not put  alot of guys on this team who they don't think they will roster this fall.  Thus they only add one, Mikolajchak, who needs more innings this year than he has right now.  

10. Finally, I am so thankful that I got to see my favorite team on Tuesday and look forward to seeing them more next year if I can get to a game or two in San Diego.  Go Guardians!

A perfect night

 I was at a reception tonight where, among other people, I talked to a guy who was at Len Barker's perfect game.  I told him that it would be great to see another perfect game tonight.

Little did I know that my wish would come true...sort of.

Tonight was about as perfect a game as I have seen.  The Guardians got OK starting pitching from Civale and then followed it up with the smoking hot combo of Sandlin, Karinchak, Stephan and Clase.  That limited the Padres to one run. Cleveland scored just enough of their old teammate, Mike Clevinger, to beat him and added an insurance run off the bullpen to make me not have to faux sweat because, when you are in Southern California, in San Diego, it is cool enough that real sweating is usually avoided, especially at a night game.

Believe it or not this was my first game in person since the pandemic began and it was, for me, perfect.  With aga sometimes comes perspective and even though I wasn't there for Barker's perfecto, tonight was about as close to the nirvana of baseball as it gets, at least during the regular season.  

Gonzalez, Gimenez and Ramirez and those pitchers.   It really made a perfect weather evening baseball perfect.

On top of our game, the Twins and White Sox lost, making the evening even more perfect than perfect, I guess perfect squared, so to speak. 

Wish I could go to the game tomorrow but there are things that won't allow that to happen so I will root the old fashioned way, listening to the audio broadcast as, well, MLB TV doesn't carry Padres games live when you live in the area.

Loved watching the Guardians play.  Loved catching up with like-minded Guardians fans, one of whom was a college graduate, class of 1951.

Great evening and, with the perspective age gives you, one that I know I will cherish for the rest of my life.  

Good Night To Be A Fan Of The Guardians And Other Thoughts

(1) Great pitching by McKenzie.  Great clutch hitting by the team.  Great close out by Stephan and Clase.
The team played well...again...and came out with the win.

(2) Do you think that if Hedges has to go on the IL they would burn a roster spot on Bo Naylor?  Conventional Cleveland MO would say they would bring up Lavastida as the backup as he is on the roster already.   In theory this would be a short term thing as it doesn't look, right now, that Hedges would be on the IL long, if he even goes on it at all. As such, would you really want to burn one of Naylor's options to just have him up for a few games?  Hey, I get adding guys in September when the rosters expand by 2 and you don't have to worry about sending a guy down again.  But our catching duo is Hedges and Maile and I don't see that changing this year.  So, if anyone comes up and Cleveland operates as it has in the past, it will be Lavastida.  Now, if I am wrong, that will tell you something about the Guardians' philosophy and that they would be sending a consistent message to the minor leaguers: excel in the lower minors and get promoted.  Excel at AAA and, when a chance arises, get promoted.  Is THAT message worth losing one of Bo Naylor's option years?  Hmmmmm!?!?!?!

(3) I think Cody Morris has to come off the 60-day IL soon as his 30 days rehab assignment is about to expire.  I think we lose Castro or McCarthy at that point.  Interesting that the Guardians are saying that Morris could help later in the season if he continues to show he is ready.   Can you say adding him for the stretch run in September?

(4) Tito's comments about Gose makes you wonder if they keep him on the 60 day IL the rest of the season.  I don't know what the post-season rules are now but they used to be that the spot of a guy on the 60 day IL can be given to a minor leaguer even if he has never been added to the 40-man.  That could be how they bring Bo Naylor up.  Give him the who minor league season and then bring him up for the playoffs, if we get that far.

(5) I know that there are no mulligans in baseball but do we all realize that two bad pitches resulted in all the runs Hunter Gaddis has given up since he returned to Columbus after his start in Cleveland.   Gaddis still has a lot of helium with me.  More in the bullpen than in the rotation but I could see hm starting the season at AAA and be the first callup to the majors if we need an extra starter next year.

(6) Speaking of performing after seeing your dream brush by you (cue Burt Lancaster here), Battenfield pitched a vintage Battenfield game in Columbus tonight for Columbus.  I know his stuff is not overpowering but I would love to see if he could become more than Tully, Pilkington and McCarthy.  I see a Civale comp for him and that would be good for me.  Keep working, big guy.

(7) Speaking of pure stuff and velo, I thought Tanner Burns looked like his velo was down even more on Thursday than ever before (87-90 mph on his fastball)....until I watched Bibee pitch tonight.   Bibee is normally sitting at 94-96 while easily touching 97 and once in a while 98.  Today he was sitting at 90-93 which really worried me until I saw Ty Madden sitting at 91-94 and touching 95.  Either Madden, Bibee and Burns are suffering simultaneous arm fatigue or the radar gun in Erie needs to have some serious recalibration done.   Even saying that, Burns is looking very hittable right now and, to me, is quickly falling in the Guardians' prospect rankings.   

(8) I have to take back what I said about leaving Angel Martinez exposed to the Rule 5 draft this winter.  With the way he is closing out the season (disregarding tonight's game) I think he is putting himself in position for a team to draft him in the Rule 5.  Losing a top 10 prospect in the Rule 5 is not something a team like the Guardians should ever do.  Gabriel Rodriguez, while having a solid season, is a much better bet not to stick as a utility guy on a rebuilding team, thus likely being returned to the Guards even if he is drafted.  Ditto for Jonathon Rodriguez.  I just don't think he has the track record to be drafted in the Rule 5 this winter.  I think that next year he could go all Oscar Gonzalez on us but I don't see a team gambling on the second half of his 2022 season be anything more than a blip...unless he tears up Akron this last handful of games.  And he isn't doing that out of the gate since his promotion.  

(9) Most minor league prospects, even the good ones, wind up going back to the minors at least once before they stick for good.  I would like to see Will Benson get at least a week of steady play to see if he can stick.  I think that some of the signs with Nolan Jones are very encouraging but, recently, I don't know if he adds more than Benson would as a starter.  I think that both Benson and Jones will end up spending more time at AAA before they finally hit the majors for good, even though I think both of them will have significant major league careers.  Don't think I would have said that last year!

(10) Speaking of major league careers, the Guardians strategy has cost Will Brennan a callup, at least at this point.  He is in the same funk that Owen Miller was in when we called him up last spring.  None of us could believe how bad Miller looked at the plate last year and I think a lot of it was that you just don't want to call up a guy for his first big league experience when he is mired in a slump.  I think letting Brennan have a couple of days off would be good for him and then, starting Tuesday, fire him up for a mid-September callup if we need a spark.  Hope to see him this year makng an impct on whether we make and, if we do, do well in the playoffs.  Think Randy Arozarena, but with less power.

It's always nice going to sleep knowing that the Guardians are in first place!  Good night and get some rest.  We need to all be strong so that we can root for our team.  They'll need us for the rest of this wonderful, crazy ride that they (and we) are on this year.

Adversity and Other Wednesday Thoughts

 Adversity

I was fighting mad after last night's game.   

(a) blocking the plate call - just BS.  My mind goes back to last week when Scoop almost broke Luis Robertts' hand by kneeling in front of and totally blocking second base.  Firstbasemen do this all the time with guys dving back into first base. Where Hedges was was not blocking the plate.  Baez had a path.  Maybe not the path he thought he would have or wanted but a path.  BS call.

(b) Kwan's stolen base, uh, caught stealing - Clear replay evidence showing that he was safe.  More than enough to overturn the call unless there was an angle none of us saw.  Don't think so.

(c) Straw's third strike.  First, Straw is just pathetic.  A veteran like Straw should be able to get that runner home.    That being said, Straw was out.  Foul tip, catcher caught the ball.   But the plate umpire was emphatic,  Foul ball, ball hit the ground.   OK, so the call was wrong and the umpires meant to get the call right.  In any other situation I would have been OK with it.  Except that it occurred after (a) and (b).

(d) Ball one on Kwan - OK, looking at the replay the third base umpire screwed up.  He called time so that he could yell at and, I think, toss Straw.   But he screwed up.  Have some thickness to your skin, buddy.  And, if you are going to call time to make it all about you, then do it during a dead ball, not when the ball is in play.   Did it change the AB?  Who knows but it was just icing on the cake of a screwed up game by the umpires and the replay crew.

Summary: The umpires and the replay crew stole momentum and, very arguably, the game from the Guardians.  That being said, this is NOT the definition of adversity.  Adversity is having your whole starting rotation decimated by injury or having your star player being out a lot of the season.  Or just a bunch of injuries at the worst time (like the Guardians last year).   This is one game.  It doesn't really matter in the final standings and if it does it means that there were 20 other games the Guardians screwed up, any one of which could have offset yesterday's game.   As a coach once told me, if you don't let the game get close you take it out of the referee's hands.

Now let's put this behind us.  We have to get ready for tonight's game and the huge series we have with the White Sox this weekend.  We do not want Monday's first game of the Detroit series being our high water mark for the year.   I think last year this happened and we ended up at 80-82 and none of us wants to see that again.

Minors

Where is Daniel Espino.  First we heard knee, then we heard knee and shoulder, now we hear knee.  Why is it and where is he on getting back this season.

Gavin Williams - Wow, what a stud so far.   Still, seeing what Logan T. Allen is going through at AAA, there are more hurdles for Williams to get over.

Jose Tena vs Angel Martinez - Tena's on the roster.  If we take him off we definitely lose him on waivers and the team that claims him can send him to the minors for the next two years as he has two options left..  Martinez is not on the roster.  If we fail to put him on the roster and he is drafted in the Rule 5 then he has to stick in the majors next season or be offered back to the Guardians.    No brainer for me.  If you have to choose between Tena and Martinez on your roster this winter you choose Tena. Let's hope we don't have to choose and that we can trade one of them for a good player who is ML ready.

Xzavion Curry - His start Monday shows he is a 2-pitch guy right now.  Even with that he can and likely SHOULD help this team going forward in the bullpen.  

Hunter Gaddis - Do we all realize that he gave up a grand slam in his first minor league start back after being in Cleveland?  Without that we might have been talking about him in the same breath as Williams at this point.  I still see him as a viable option for the bullpen and maybe the rotation in the future.

Logan T. Allen - Any of you worried about him in his struggles at AAA?  I am, only in that his stuff is not overpowering and there is always the chance that a guy just gets to a level where his stuff is no longer effective (see Eli Morgan below)

Arizona Complex League - Anyone else frustrated that the ACL team appears to have become the DSL #3 team?   Ahh, in the good old days when draftees actually got to play in their first years.  Fox did it last year.   I think only Ventimiglia, the ultimate of ultimate lottery ticket draft picks from last year, is on the roster and his ERA is over 10 and he is walking more than a guy an inning.    Just totally boring and given that stats in this league don't really give any good indication of future sucess, really frustrating as far as getting a picture of future development.   It seems like when we all do our top prospects lists we don't even consider the ACL guys any more as they are treated like the DSL guys, so far away it's impossible to rate them.

More Changs and Logan Allen the elders?

Owen Miller looks just a little better than replacewment level.  Except for the first month or so of this season he looks totally AAAA to me.  Miller has a role now as Naylor's caddy.  However, he is not helping this team now and if we had another guy on the roster who could play 1B effectively, I sense Miller would be at AAA and Arias would be up as the backup infielder right now.

Eli Morgan - Look, this guy has exceeded expectations ever since he was drafted, with no greater evidence of that than his first two months of this season.  That being said, however, his warts that showed up clearly last year as a starting pitcher are now coming back to haunt him as a reliever.  Here is a typical guy who gets sent to the minors to either figure out how to be successful or drift off to become a AAAA player.  

Just like Chang, Logan Allen the elder, Oscar Mercado and others, Miller and Morgan need to help this team right now or be replaced, thus becoming the definition of replacement level talents.   They have both shown too much of a pattern of ineffective play that has extended over at least two seasons.  

Myles Straw - WTF???????

I don't get it.  Guys are not suddenly this bad.  Not very often.  So what is up with him.  He looks like he has given up at the plate, on the bases and even, to some extent, in the OF.  As far as the latter, Straw has, recently, given way to Kwan on a number of occasions when there were 50-50 balls in left-center.   As far as hitting, he looks like he has no physical strength in his swing like he has some kind of hand or arm injury that saps strength and quickness from his swing.  Just looks inept.  Still a Gold Glove caliber CFer but, man, he is worse than Hedges and Maile at the plate, making him the worst hitter in our lineup right now...and not by just a little.

Thoughts for Sunday August 14, 2022

 After I finished watching the Guardians' game today I just sat for a couple of minutes in silence.  I muted the TV and closed my eyes.  The thought that was running through my mind was that this was the way I always hoped it would be for the Guardians: a young, essentially homegrown team led by some somehat, at least, internally grown veteran players, playing baseball the right way. 

Tomorrow brings the first ML appearance for Xzavion Curry.  He'll start game 2 against Detroit.  Now, I think a short righthander like Curry will end up in the bullpen in the majors.  It just makes too much sense with all the other pitching prospects we have as well as the years of control we have over the current pitching staff.  But tomorrow he starts.  Along with that start is the likely promise that the Cleveland organization thinks highly enough of Curry to, for all practical purposes, give him a roster spot this winter.  They are just doing it 3 months early.    

First Gaddis and then Curry, two guys I said should be protected this winter, make their major league debuts.  Guys not currently on the 40-man, guys that didn't HAVE to be on that roster until November.   But they are getting their feet wet.

Now, I don't really think either Gaddis or Curry are finished enough as prospects to be successful in the majors right now.  Hopefully consistent success will come starting on opening day next year.   However, I would rather have them start a game than to see Tanner Tully or Kirk McCarthy start that same game.   Hey, Tully and McCarthy are warriors as, to a large extent, is Konnor Pilkington and Peyton Battenfield.  But the idea of seeing Gaddis and Curry get a few starts in is exciting, just like it would be to see Cody Morris up in the bullpen at some point this season and, maybe, even get a glimpse of Carlos Vargas.

We have already seen guys on the farm come up and be successful.  Now we are having the next wave of guys starting to break out.  Guys like Jonathon Rodriguez, who is having an almost unbelievable second half of the season, and Gabriel Rodriguez, looking every day like the prospect everyone thought he was when he signed.  Plus we have the usual starting pitching prospects from the '19, '20 and '21 drafts who we have heard about all year.

But it's the guys just starting to write their major league story: Kwan, Freeman, Benson, Jones, Gonzalez.  And the next wave, Gaddis, Curry, Morris, Vargas, Arias, Brennan, Valera, Allen, Battenfield, Pilkington, Palacios and Naylor.  And then the wave after that, Bibee, Espino, Williams, Noel, Jonathon Rodriguez, Rocchio, Tena and the rest of the 2021 draft class.   

This is how baseball needs to be in Cleveland.  

I could be totally wrong but it appears to me that the rest of baseball thinks that they can steal our prospects because, well, this is Cleveland and so they can try to rob us in trades.  We just found out how wrong that thought is as we didn't give up those prospects.   There is a way forward in which we don't have to give up any propsects and still protect all the ones who could help our ML team when they come up sometime in the next two years.  Do I think we will let it get that far?  No.  I think there will be trades for the right veteran or two and maybe some prospects will be traded, if we can get good value for them.   

As long as I don't have to hear fans say any more "What do you think we can get for a prospect like that.  You really overvalue our prospects."  I think this year has proved that, no, people who love our prospects don't necessarily overvalue them and YES, fans of other teams do think they can rob us as, well, its Cleveland and they are stupid enough to make a dumb trade.  

So, I hope this is not a dream and if it is, I hope it continues.   Looking at this lineup and pitching staff, how young they are (mostly) and how well they play and how well they are coached and, especially, managed.   That is incredibly fun to watch. 

I am opening my eyes now, looking forward not just to tomorrow but to the joy that this prospect-laden time will give us in the future and the renewed hope that this gives all Cleveland fans that the next waves of prospects speeding towards Cleveland are no just a mirage, they are, truly, the next wave of memory-makers for Guardian fans.

Early Look At The 2023 26- and 40-Man Rosters

 Never too soon to be planning ahead.  I am sure the Guardians brain trust is.  The asterisked players are predicted to be on the opening day, 26-man roster.  The roster below only has 39 players leavng room for one free agent.  It leaves off Rule 5-eligibles such as Angel Martinez, Micah Pries, Alexfri Planez, Aaron Bracho, Nick Mikolajchak, Lenny Torres, Nick Enright, Andrew Misiaszek and others. Note that I have added a few more guys (in parentheses) that will not have to be rostered this winter but could impact the major league team next year.

Starting Pitchers

Triston McKenzie*

Shane Bieber*

Cal Quantrill*

Zach Plesac*

Aaron Civale*

Peyton Battenfield

Hunter Gaddis

Konnor Pilkington

Joey Cantillo

(Logan T. Allen)

(Tanner Burns)

(Danel Espino)

(Tanner Bibee)

Relief Pitchers

Emmanuel Clase*

Trevor Stephan*

James Karinchak*

Sam Hentges*

Cody Morris*

Xzavion Curry*

Nick Sandlin*

Enyel De Los Santos*

Eli Morgan

Carlos Vargas

Catchers

Austin Hedges*

Bo Naylor*

Bryan Lavastida

Infielders

Jose Ramirez*

Andres Gimenez*

Amed Rosario*

Josh Naylor*

Nolan Jones*

Gabriel Arias*

Tyler Freeman*

Jose Tena

Gabriel Rodriguez

Jhonkensy Noel

Brayan Rocchio

Outfielders

Myles Straw*

Steven Kwan*

Oscar Gonzalez*

Will Benson*

Will Brennan

George Valera

Richie Palacios

SUMMARY THOUGHTS

As Antonnetti said recently, this roster is maturing.  Where you want to be as a 40-man roster in Cleveland is to have it young, have your guys not on the roster be able to come up to the majors next year.  With the exception of Noel and Rodriguez, I can see any of these guys impacting the major league team next year with Noel maybe sneaking into the majors on a September callup next year if he can make better contact.  All these guys were/are top-30 prospects, as well.  

New Guardians top 35 prospects

 Here is my current guess at the Guardians top 30 prospects.  Still not including DSL or ACL players on this list but am including our draft class this year.  

1. Daniel Espino - Still hoping to see him pitch this year but realize, if healthy, he could have been at Columbus by now and STILL wouldn't have been eligible for the Rule 5 this winter.  That is one definition of a top prospect, at least to me.

2. George Valera
3. Gavin William
4. Tanner Bibee
5. Bo Naylor
6. Brayan Rocchio
7. Tyler Freeman
8. Gabriel Arias
9.  Logan Allen
10. Nolan Jones
11. Will Benson
12. Jhonkensy Noel
13. Xzavion Curry
14. Cody Morris
15. Hunter Gaddis

16. Joey Cantillo

17. Will Brennan

18. Chase DeLauter
19. Jose Tena

20. Richie Palacios

21. Angel Martinez
22. Milan Tolentino

23. Jake Fox

24. Gabriel Rodriguez

25. Micah Pries

26. Alexfri Planez

27. Petey Halpin

28. Jack Leftwich

29. Jonathon Rodriguez

30. Peyton Battenfield

31. Bryan Lavastida

32. Doug Nikhazy

33. Justin Campbell

34. Carlos Vargas

35. Tanner Burns - Note that Burns was placed this low because his fastball has lost A LOT of zip during this season, sitting recently at 89-91.  Although he is pitching well when not on the IL, much like Battenfield, minor league success does not necessarily project to the majors if you a sub-standard fastball velocity, even if you have an exceptional off-speed pitch and good control (see Eli Morgan's struggles which were alleviated somewhat by the uptick in his fastball velocity to 92-93 mph but even that bump hasn't guaranteed lasting success for Eli).

Mustard = Franmil Reyes ?????????????

 Am I the only one who thought the timing of the spoof about the Guardians sending Mustard to the minors was in very bad taste given that we just DFA'd, and subsequently lost on waivers, Franmil Reyes. 

Any other time it would have been cute but I thought the 'press release' rang a little too true to what the Guardians were saying about Reyes.  

Hey, as I said before, I think there is more to the backstory than what we are hearing.  Franmil could have been sent to Columbus and left there for 1+ seasons at the cost of what his arbitration settlement would have been.  Yes, around $4.5 million is a lot to pay a guy who is ending up at AAA but the Guardians could have always released him next spring if he didn't do what they asked him to do or they could have just non-tendered him this winter.   Unless there was some reason they didn't want him around their AAA prospects.  Bad work ethic?  Bad-mouthing the organizaiton?   Don't know and, well, I really don't know.

But I think someone in the promotions department should probably understand what is going on with the team before they do something like this.   

I imagine, somewhere on the internet, someone else is asking whether the Guardians are saying that they think Franmil Reyes is only worth a container of mustard in trade.

Losing Reyes will obviously come back to bite the Guardians in the butt if he gets his act together, given how much control they still had before he became a free agent.   This charade is only going to rub salt the wound and might make him more determined to show the Guardains what they lost when they let him go.   As someone who has also become a Cardinals fan from living in St. Louis for almost 30 years, I don't really want to help the Cubs get better.

Franmil Reyes vs Gio Urshela vs Yand Diaz - Let the debate begin

 Gio Urshela -

It was May of 2018.  The Indians needed a roster spot and had to DFA Gio Urshela.  Essentially, they needed a roster and had given up on Urshela.   We all knew he was a great defender, maybe Gold Glove level at 3B and that he was an adequate SS.  But he couldn't hit.  He had an OPS for Cleveland of .587.  His war was -0.4.  He showed very little power, didn't walk much nor did he steal bases.  Essentially, he was a defensive replacement, which is what I argued at the time.  If you are going to have a defensive replacement why not have it be Urshela.  Homegrown.  Cheap.   But the Indians decided to let him go.  Not saying I was a fan of the move but only because I saw value in him as a 25th guy of the roster.  So he goes to Toronto and they give up after 3 months.  He goes to the Yankees and plays in the majors in 2019, hitting .314 with 34 doubles and 21 HRs.with an OPS of .889.

WTF?!?!?!?!

The rest is history.   He is a solid defender, clutch hitter and generally well-above average player, all things considered.   

What went wrong?   I don't know but something went wrong and the Indians (and Blue Jays) got nothing from him whereas the hated Yankees turned this toad to a prince with a single kiss.

Yandy Diaz - 

 In December of 2018 in a trade not worth unpacking here, the Indians sent Diaz and Cole Sulser to Tampa and got the infamous (or un-famous) Jake Bauers back.    It was thought we were buying low on Bauers.  Turns out we were selling low on Diaz.

The rap on Diaz was that he couldn't lift the ball.  Lots of exit velocity but most of it lost as he pounded ball after ball into the ground.  At the same time he was a poor defender without any speed who was relegated to play two power-hitting positions, 1B or 3B, or DH.  In 265 ABs with Cleveland he hit ONE homerun.

So he goes to Tampa and what happens?  Suddenly he lifts the ball and slugs .476 his first year.  While that is a wasted resource it stings even more when realizing that Bauers hit almost the same in Cleveland as he hit in Tampa.  Now it wasn't easy for Tampa to get him to lift the ball and, truth be told,  he is back to not hitting HRs (he has only 5 this year).  

Not the worst loss for the Indians in a trade even if you don't include that Bauers came back here and wasted our time for 2 seasons. But still a loss.  This one, the fans called at the time as Bauers was as advertised and Diaz became who the fans thought he could be.

Franmil Reyes -

The Indians/Guardians got Reyes at the deadline in 2019.in another complex trade not worth umpacking here.  He hit HRs from the time he came here, 58 in all, including 30 last year.  The Guardians DFA'd him when his pathetic hitting stretched out over 4 months of this season.  And it wasn't just that his stats eroded from previous years.   He swung repeatedly at pitches a foot off the plate. and would take fastballs right down the middle.  His ABs were so frustrating that I couldn't even watch sometimes and you could tell the frustration in Rick Manning's voice every time Reyes had another pathetic AB.  The advantage here was that, unlike Urshela, we had options remaining on Reyes that would have kept him in the minors this year and next year before we had to DFA him.   Instead, we DFA'd him.  The point was not that we brought up AAAA pitcher Jake Jewell to take his roster spot.  That was an incidental footnote of bringing up AAAA players to burn some innings to save the bullpen then DFAing them when a new player needed to be added to the roster.

The point was that we gave up on Reyes.   As I have said previously there has to be a back story here.    No way that a half season of baseball is enough, in and of itself, to want to erase from La Mole from the collective memory of the Guardians.

Well, as predicted, he landed with a rebuilding club willing to take a flyer on a guy who had 37 and 30 HRs in his only two full seasons in the majors.  A relatively young guy with 2 minor league options left (counting this year).

SUMMARY

So, what have we learned from all this.  The Guardians traded away 3 players and got nothing in return.  Yeah, teams do this all the time.  But the Guardians are in a unique situation.  They can't just buy their way out of a mistake by signing a high-priced free agent.  They have to hit on more trades than they miss on.   They missed on 3 big trades in the last 4 years here, dumping players for nothing, relatively young players at that, players they gave up on, only to have the first two, Urshela and Diaz, come back to bite them with the likelihood that Reyes will do the same.

The Guardians management should be asking themselves why were Urshela and Diaz so quickly developed after they left Cleveland?  Why couldn't they develop these guys who turned out to be above-average ML players.  Why, in my opinion, did they give up on these guys out of what appears to be frustration when they should have found a way to make this work.  

You can't have these kinds of failures when you are in Cleveland.  To paraphrase from a national pizza chain commercial:  EVERY...ASSET...MATTERS.  Here were three assets that were squandered and we are no better for it.

We simply need to do better!!!

Thoughts for a Monday

1.  In the off-season we should sign McKenzie, Quantrill and Beiber to extensions.   The first two should be relatively cheap due to their age.  Beiber's won't be cheap but his is as important as the other two as he is such a role model.   This will all have to be done delicately because, unless they are willing to take hometown discounts, I don't see us risking long term deals on Plesac or Civale at this point although I would love it if they were all locked in for a few more years.

2. George Valera promoted to AAA.  It's about time.

3. Alex Call was picked up off waivers. I hear the Vegas odds are now at a million to one of Reyes making it through waivers.  I am guessing Washington, also, for Reyes.

4. Speaking of Reyes, it will be interesting if the back story ever comes out.  You just don't DFA a guy with another option left when he is coming off as productive a career as he has had so far.  Not one real hiccup.   Something is going on here that basically told the Guardians this guy was NEVER getting any better while in Cleveland.  Such a shame.  I wish Franmil all the best but I think we will be looking at another Gio Urshela here with all of us gnashing our teeth for years to come that we let Reyes go for nothing.

5. When talking about our prospects I have this to say:

a. Valera - He oozes ability.  He clearly needs more refining as he s often fooled and it doesn't seem, to me, that he can outmuscle the times he is fooled.  He needs work on that.  I don't think he is on a steep trajectory right now but he is progressing well.

b. Rocchio - Again, oozes ability but I think he needs to spend time around Rosario and Jose.  I just don't see that overwhelming desire to play hard and get better that I would like to see.    Not that this dims his prospect star at all but it certainly doesn't add to possibility that he would be in the majors by mid-season of next year, if at all next year.

c. Tena - Ditto for Rocchio but Tena looks like he is doing it all on natural ability at this point.  And I have seen him get thrown out stealing on balls that I thought he should have been able to go in standing up.  

d. Payeton Battenfield - Wow, what do you say here?  The guy is dominating at AAA but they called Gaddis up instead.   Due to his lack of velocity I wonder if they his promotion to the 40-man this winter is as set in stone as I once thought it was.

e. Tanner Burns - Speaking of low velo, Burns was 91 mostly in his last start and sometime was only htting 89 mph.  No matter how good your command is, no way you can put away ML hitters with his stuff.  Something has to improve.

f. Tanner Bibee - The opposite side to the Burns coin, Bibee is 95-97 all the time.  I think, right now, he has passed every other pitching prospect n the organization except for Daniel Espino and Gavin Williams.  He just looks so dominant to me.   

g. Logan T. Allen - Shis struggles and low K numbers at AAA are a red flag to me.  I hope it improves as he adjusts to this level but he, like others, are no longer on a fast track to the majors, at least in my opinion.

h. Bo Naylor - Has stuff to learn but appears to be on a steeper path than all the other position players still in the minors.    I hope he makes the team out of spring training next year and, gven their aggressive promotions this year, I think that is really possible.

i. Cody Morris - I love him as a bullpen arm, starting this September.  

j. Hunter Gaddis - He is, to me, a bullpen arm.   Even though he was barely missing the zone in his first start which really dug him a hole, I think his stuff plays better out of the bullpen.  I know it sounds like blind optimism but I think he will be just fine and have an extended big league career.

k. Xzavt ion Curry - I see him as another bullpen arm.   He is so short and I just feel that the bullpen is where we can maximize his tools.

l. Joey Cantillo - If he could stay healthy he would be knocking on the major league door.  His numbers are eye-popping but his injury history makes it anything but a slam dunk he will be added to the 40 this winter.

m. Gabriel Rodriguez - If he finishes the season playing like he is right now, he makes this winter tougher.   Still, looking at what a (relative) disaster that putting Noel on the 40 man last winter is becoming, I wonder if the Guardians will ever be inclined to do this again.

n. Alexfri Planez - His HR numbers are eye-popping until you see how he screws himself into the ground because he is swinging so hard.   The talent is there but the learning curve is likely to be a long, bumpy one.  Think Akil Badoo if he had never been called to the majors.

Thoughts for a Saturday

 Paul Hoynes wrote this morning that the Guardians were obviously giving up on the season to play the young guys.  I scoffed a little as I thought that was a really bleak outlook.   

Then I saw the news today.   Bobby Bradley released and Franmil Reyes DFAd.  

When you get sent to the minors because you sucked in the majors (Bradley) and then you look as bad at AAA, it is sometimes good for a change in scenery.  Obviously even the most minor deal couldn't be had for Bradley so he was released.  Don't know whose fault it was, Bradley's or the Guardians but a guy with this much promise should not flame out this badly.

As far as Reyes, this was a shock.  My guess is, and it is only my guess, is that there are some attitude issues here.  Going all conspiracy theory on this one, a lot of Reyes' underperformance seemed to start when Jose Ramirez signed his extension.   I wonder if Reyes was hurt that he didn't get an extension, too, after his last couple of seasons and just went through the motions.  Only he and his teammates know for sure but if he had attitude when he went to Columbus, that certainly could have been the last straw for this organization.   Certainly he didn't tear it up when he went down to AAA even thosgh that sample size was ultra-small.  The math doesn't add up for them to DFA him so soon unless there was more there than a single season slump for a guy who has shown this much so recently in the majors.

For both these players it is just a waste, almost an insurmountable waste, that we will likely lose both these players and get nothing back.  Now, of course, Reyes could go unclaimed and, as this is the first time he has ever been DFAd I think he has to accept his assignment to Columbus.   If so, this is just a paperwork move to remove him from the 40-man.  If some team picks him up on waivers that team would be on the hook for almost $2 million of his remaining salary.  Even then, however, here you have a guy who hit 30 HRs last year and 37 in 2019 who has 1 option remaining heading into next year.   It think it is a fair guess to assume he will be snapped up by the Pirates or Reds in short order here.  If not, we have him at AAA and can bring him back up if he ever gets it together.

Hunter Gaddis was not awful last night.  He looked about the same as he did at AAA, factoring in that he knew throwing the ball down the middle would have been death in the majors.  Basically, he just wasn't ready.  Now he needs to go back to AAA and get ready.  I really, really believe that him starting this game is a good sign because I know he can't be considered a fungible (extemely expendable/replacement level) asset.  So Gaddis, who was on the bubble to be added to the 40 man this winter due to a numbers crunch, is now on the roster.  He made it, which is good for the future of the Guardians, in my opinon.

Jake Jewell up to the majors?  Fungible assets.  I doubt if Mikolajchak would have been called up if he had struck out 3 in a row the other night instead of giving up 5 hits in a row as he is a prospect who they wouldn't want to DFA to create roster space.  So they bring up Jewell and DFA him if they need his spot.   Just like they have with other guys this season.  No news here.  

Christmas in August

 Somewhere in my late teens through my 30s, as an Indians' fan I saw September as a second Christmas.

After months of agony watching my would-be heroes thrash around chasing mediocrity, I got to see what the future held., unwrapping newly minted major leaguers fresh off the legends they created in the mnors and the hope it brought that this group would turn the tide and make the Cleveland Indians more than mediocre.

Yes, September 1st, rosters expanding, and all the callups from AAA and even sometime from AA gave me hope for the future of my favorite baseball team.

Tonight felt a lot like Septembers of long ago.   A lineup filled with guys fresh from their conquest of AAAA competition in AAA.  

I am older and possibly a little wiser now.  I think I can tell the difference between a guy who hit .300 at AAA and a guy who had a solid-enough foundation to transfer those results to the majors. I know that 28 year old rookies end up as 29 year old AAA veterans soon thereafter.  Miracles seldom happen in baseball.

But there is always that hope that these new heroes will stand the test of time.

Still, tonight looked more like those Septembers of old than I would like. Benson, Jones and Freeman hanging up O-fers (albeit against one of the best teams and pitchers in baseball).  The word that Hunter Gaddis will be make his major league debut tomorrow.  The likelihood that someone else will be DFA'd (hopefully Castro).  It just sounds all too familiar to my memory.

So, while I really liked seeing these guys coming up and getting a chance to play with the idea that the guys they are bringing up now will be on the roster this winter, things still haunt me.

Benson looked a lot like the guy from previous years, not this year.

Jones is looking more like his former self, too.

Freeman, well, I worry about his low walk rate and ask myself if this warning track power, like Kwan's, will eventually catch up to him as outfielders start to squeeze him and pitchers challenge him with high fastballs knowing he can't jerk it to or over the outfield fences. 

I was 100% sure that Gaddis was going to be rostered this winter if he just finished the season like he has pitched so far.  I am far from 100% sure that he is ready for this.  

Then it occurred to me.  There was comfort in those July and August days of old.  Mediocrity was comforting.  It was always, well, mediocre.  Tully and McCarthy.  They were guys out of the 70s and 80s.  But these new guys.  Analytics say they have a good chance to succeed.  This should be different, right?

Now it gets real.  We saw who we didn't want to be (Chang, Mercado, Zimmer) but it haunts me whether, just like many of those September heroes of the past, these July and August heroes of 2022 will meet the same fate.

Then I start to dream on the Grady Sizemores, Manny Ramirezs, Albert Belles and even the Cory Snyders of the past and I hope.  I hope against my memory that this time it will be different.  This time it will be more like the 90s than the 70s and 80s.   

This sure is fun...until the polish wears off of the moment and it isn't fun, or real, any more.  

Go new Guardians...and the ancient 'veteran' Guardians of 1-4 seasons of experience, as well!  My mind has already built my WS roster of 2023 around all of you.

Post Deadline Hangover Post

 Well, not a hangover in terms of drinking.   Just that my brain hurt from thinking about this stuff.  Here are some thoughts.  I have broken the teams making trades down into groups.

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS 

I disagree with those of you who say we should have done more.  My guess it that it was like the Rockies' GM said.  They wanted our Range Rover and were only willng to give us their Subaru.  Look, Antonnetti hinted at it again today.   They couldn't find a deal that made sense for them as the deals they were presented would cost a lot in terms of prospects and would block guys we already have.  Sound like Sean Murphy/Bo Naylor to you?  It does to me.  So, you say, if it is our plan to compete while looking at which players will be here in the future, why are underperformers like Reyes and Clement still on this team.  Answer: They are not, sort of proving his point that he said later:  Last year our 40 man was clogged with guys like Chang, Mercado and others.  That won't be the case this winter so he thinks we won't have a serious roster crunch.  (Maybe, maybe not from my POV).  Plus, as he said, last winter was hard because the guys we protected HAD to be protected even though we knew not many of them were ready to help the team this year (what I have been saying for some time).  Next year he thinks those guys WILL be ready to help.  So, in that situation, why bring in rentals?  Our goal is different than some teams who are trying to squeeze into the playoffs.  It is obvious that teams like the Yankees and Astros would flat out kill us in the playoffs right now.  So you get in and get waxed.  So what?  Either miss the playoffs or go a one-and-done, not much different.  So the Guardians not making trades of prospects for veterans?  He said that time will come.  He also hinted that we are in a good position because we are not paying bloated contracts to underperforming or injured players, meaning, to me, that there is an increased likelihood that we could have money to spend.   In the end, if you are Cleveland you have to play the long game, even if it blows up in your face in the future if key guys don't perform or are lost due to injury.   I can see a path forward for the Guardians.  

As I have said, they key for me, is to work with this roster to not lose guys in the Rule 5 and turn our excess into useable pieces for a multi-year run...just like we did in the 90s and mid-2010s. Antonnetti still needs to prove he can do that and he needs to start this winter BEFORE he has to freeze the roster.

In the rest of this post I will look at selected teams to see what they did and how it fit their plan.  In my next post I will look at the veterans picked up by teams and see how they would have helped or not helped the Guardians and what the approximate cost would have been in terms of which prospects it would have cost us.

WIN THE WORLD SERIES

(1) San Diego Padres -This team decided to make a huge push to finally scale Mt. Dodger.  Even when they managed to beat the Dodgers they didn't make it to the WS.  They have put together a virtual all-MLB lineup.   Their goal was simple: collect all the best players available with AJ Preller's only mandate being, limit the damage to the farm system as much as possible...but not to the point a deal couldn't be done.  

(2) New York Yankees - Look, this team is set up to win the WS.   From where they are they actually solidified their chances of getting to the WS by adding Montas, Trivino, Benitendi, Effross and Bader.  This will help them not get upset as it tightens up their starting rotation, defense and bullpen.  

(3) Houston - Like the Yankees, they are just shoring up things.   They know what their competition (the Yankees) are doing so they keep up and help to avoid an early upset in the playoffs and position them to compete with the Yankees.

WIN THE DIVISION, SOLIDIFY THE WILD CARD

(1) Seattle - Look, they have to get past Houston or, at least get enough talent to compete with Toronto, Tampa Bay

(2) Minnesota - Look, they have the lead.  All, in theory, they had to do was to do more than Cleveland and the White Sox.  Mission accomplished.  They will NEVER be able to overtake the Yankees.  They may be able to sneak out a series from them if all things come together but we know the goal and it is important to remember as Cleveland falls in this same situation.

(3) Toronto _Noah Synegard, Rasel Iglesias, Whit Merrifield, Zach Pop, Jay ANthony Bass, Mitch White - Mission accomplished

DON'T UPSET THE LONG TERM PLAN

(1) Tampa Bay

(2) Baltimore

(3) White Sox

(4) Texas 

(5) Cleveland -see above

I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE HECK THEY ARE DOING

(1) Boston

(2) Detroit

(3) Kansas City

MAKE A NEW LONG-TERM PLAN

(1) Oakland - Pretty obvious

RESET AND CONTINUE ON 

(1) Los Angeles - Instead of pannicking they just dumped the guys they could or guys on expiring contracts they had no use for and, by keeping Ohtani, they bought themselves until the end of this off-season to see what direction they will be going, a lot of which could be determined by Mike Trout's back.

Final Thoughts - Trade Deadline

 I, for one, am glad we did not make a trade today.  People will say that we could have done this or that but, except for Soto I don't know if there were any guys I would have wanted today, even Sean Murphy.  Some of that is due to expiring contracts, some of that is that we have enough of whatever it is would have traded for.  But I would have used this opportunity to consolidate prospects to get great prospects for good prospects.

To be real, I don't know if any of prospect geeks like to part with prospects.  For those of us at a certain age, we lived for years on the hope of a confluence of prospects and veterans to give us a good enough mix to make the, at the time, Indians, a power in major league baseball.  

Many of us got to experience that in 1995 and continued to experience that most years since then.  Rooted in tthat, at least for me, was the knowledge that your tomatoes always taste better when you grow them in your own garden.   Thus, when one of our own prospects succeeded and, in so doing, helped my team to succeed, it made it all that much sweeter.

I never, ever, considered that this could be done in as homegrown a fashion as Antonnetti, Chernoff, and staff have done it.  

Yet, although some of the guys on this year's team came as young veterans or advanced minor leaguers, here we are with an essentially homegrown team.

In his press conference today Antonnetti stressed the importance of team chemistry.  None of us have the insider knowledge to know which players fit that chemistry and which don't.    What I think many of us can figure out, however, is the following:

(1) It is likely a waste of a year if you have to give significant numbers of starts to Tully, McCarthy, Pilkington and Bryan Shaw.  You just put yourself behind the 8 ball too much.  That was the beauty of 1995.  Yes, you had lots of homegrown young guys but you had Dennis Martinez and Orel Hersheiser, Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield.   

(2) It is not sustainable, from a maximization of resources perspective, to build a team on homegrown talent if you have any sort of vibrant farm system (and ours is REALLY vibrant right now).  By that I mean that if you have a good player development system and develop bunches of good players you are not going to be able to keep them all.  There just isn't room on your 40-man roster for all of them.  There has to be a balance of young players and older players who are obtained by trading our excess of young players.  You just can't lose the worst ones of them because you get to a point where the worst ones are Will Brennan, Oscar Gonzalez and Will Benson.  Losing guys like that for nothing cannot be acceptable in the model that Aontonnetti is trying to sell us on.

So, here are my comments directed towards the Guardians' management:

(1) To Antonnetti and Chernoff - Neither of you have shown the ability of take our excess of young players and parlay 3 good prospects into one great prospect, for example.  We are quickly reaching a point where our prospects, like those tomatoes, are going to rot on the vine if we can't 'pick' them, either by getting them playing time or trading them for proven assets that can help us win now.  It is a 'flaw' that I have pointed out repeatedly and today showed me, once again, that I have no evidence to support that you can do this.

(2) Today should have been not just about fit right now but about fit next year.   Look at our pitching prospects.   It is highly probable that next year ZERO of our top pitching prospects will be ready to pitch in the majors.  Look at Logan T. Allem, Daniel Espino and Gavin Williams.   It is likely that none of them helps us in the rotation next year.  These are great prospects but if they are not ready we may be forced to endure loss after loss when we throw guys like Tully, McCarthy and Pilkington to the wolves.  You just lose too many games to make up.   Ditto for Ernie Clement.  Just like Mercado, Zimmer and Chang before them, the time has past when you can afford to put these guys on the roster, let alone play them if you are forced to have them.  So Clement and even, possibly, Owen Miller, should be gone next year.   Clement has cost us games with his glove and he hasn't had an extra base hit since May 1st.  If there is one thing I don't like about our manager is that he will continue to throw guys out there who we know are very likely to fail.   This has to stop next year.  We need to stop giving him guys like this because he overuses them and it costs us games.

(3) Today we had a chance to free up spots for guys who are not on the 40-man to be placed there this season and/or this winter.  One thing I hope I heard wrong from Antonnetti today is him celebrating the contributions from Gonzalez and, maybe wishfully, Brenson going forward.   Gonzalez was a mistake that didn't happen to cost us because there was no Rule 5 last winter.   So we can celebrate our good fortune on that.  However, what we should be saying is "Never Again!!!"  Our lack of activity today DOES put us at risk of losing the next Gonzalez to the Rule 5 this winter.  By your inaction today you have lost the right, in my opinion, to ever say "Well, we can't protect everyone".  If you aren't going to trade them you HAVE to protect them.  You are out of free passes on these types of situations.  You have gone down this path, now make it work.

The clock is ticking.   You, Guardians' management, can keep threading the needle but you need to use a better quality of thread. You can't keep a Chang on the roster at the risk of losing a Gonzalez, or a Benson, or a Brennan or, for that matter, even a Gabriel Rodriguez and an Alexfri Planez.  You must find a role for Curry and Gaddis so both can be on the major league team next spring.

I agree with Antonnetti's comment today that there are some guys at AAA who can help us this year and some guys at AA who can help us next year.  It is just time to commit to every one of those guys and stop wasting any repetitions on guys like Clement, Bryan Shaw, Tobias Meyers, Chang, Zimmer, Mercado, Tully and McCarthy. The Franmil Reyes situation should be a shining light in that regard.  Whatever is wrong with Franmil he needs to fix it or get out of the way.  Happened with Bobby Bradley.  Needs to happen with Franmil.  

Hey, Chernoff and Antonnetti, be proud of how you juggled players to not lose any quality players to being DFA'd.  That has been wonderful and you can use it on a roster cantaining real prospects this winter and next year..   Just don't put yourselves in a position, by keeping 4A players on your roster,  where you have to do that again.  EVER.

Draft Deadline - Ongoing Blog Post

 OK, here is where I will be putting all my comments about trade deadline deals.  There may be separate posts about specific deals that involve the Guardians but most of my comments will be here.

1. Josh Hader to Padres - Wow, this is interesting.  The Brewers get a less superior closer, a former top prospect and two current prospects for 1+ years of Hader.  Makes the Padres a lot better but the Brewers are clearly playing the long game here., even though the closer they are getting back offers no more long term control than Hader.  Looking at the Castillo trade, I think the Padres got Hader on the cheap, relatively.

2. Scott Effross to Yankees - While this isn't a huge move it very interesting. Effross has LOTS of control left but is a gimmick guy, a side-arming righthander.  The Cubs get the Yankees #6 prospect (now slotted by MLB as the Cubs #8 prospect) who is at AAA and doing well as a starter.  Seems like a steep price for the Yankees to pay.

3. Luis Castillo to the Mariners - The Mariners traded their two best prospects and another of their top 10 prospects and a lower ceiling prospect for 1+ years of Castillo.   This really sets the bar high for what teams can ask for in return for these star players who have more than one year of control.  Imagine what Soto is worth in prospects if that is what Castillo is worth.

4. Minor trades - Edmundo Sosa, Chris Martn, David Peralta, Ehire Adrianza, these are all minor trades where the trading team didn't get much back and the team they were traded to might have gotten a small piece that can help them in certain situations win a couple of games down the stretch.  Nothing to talk about here except that the return was very small, in my opinion, compared to what the Cubs got for Effross.

5. OK, its Deadline Day and, in fact, we are 3 hours from the deadline.  Some amazing stuff has happened as San Diego has placed itself firmly in the WS championship driver's seatm although the Yankees helped themselves in the Montas trade.  The Twins have made themselves better and the White Sox are incrementally better.  Other teams who may impact the Guardians ability to make the playoffs have also helped themselves, especially the Mariners with their acquisition of Luis Castillo from the Reds.  The Rays think they have helped themselves by obtaining Jose Siri.

6. As of this hour the Guardians have not acquired anyone.  They have made a significant move that I suggested they make, sending Franmil Reyes to Columbus instead of DFAing him or giving him away for almost nothing in an addition-by-subtraction trade.   So there is that.   It is a catch 22.   The Guardians need to condense their good prospects into great prospects or young, controllable veterans at positions of need.  If they can't do that, why trade?  That is why the Sean Murphy trade talk is such an issue.   Bo Naylor is nearly ready and do you hold the fort and bring him up next spring or do you pull the trigger to that deal giving up prospects who could net you needed pieces.   This is really a problem that I have identified before with this front office.   They have been burned before (Yandy Diaz, for example) by giving up on prospects too soon and I don't think they want to get burned again.  I love a little analysis paralysis but you have to be able to make trades like this.  After this year's draft we have like 27 (exageraton) left-handed hitting outfielders with speed, good hitting ability and no power.  That plus the 2021 draft where we netted a bunch of college pitchers means that if everything works out we will be creating a logjam soon.   We need to find creative and efficient ways to use that excess to get to a place where we have a more balanced system.

7. We have our one trade: Sandy Leon for Ian Hamilton.  No, not Ian Happ, Ian Hamilton.

8. Noah Syn

Congratulations to Will Benson...and hmmmm?

 Posturing around the trade deadline is always interesting.  I used to think it was a combination of organizational pride and maybe bonuses to the scouts and FO personnel if a guy they drafted made it to the majors.  This was a reason that made sense to me because in my experience there were a number of times guys, not necessarily for the Guardians, were brought up to the majors only to be traded after only a short time.   

So when a guy is brought up to the majors for the first time or comes off the IL right before the trade deadline it always makes me go hmmmmm?   

So, when Will Benson was called up today (per Guardians Prospective on Twitter) it made me wonder what was up.  Benson is a former first round draft choice and while we all know that baseball people say the frst year player draft is a crapshoot (security blanket language in case draft gurus screw up a first round pick), it makes people think that you (scouts, FO, player development) aren't totally inept if you can at least get your first round picks to the majors.

So you get your cake and eat it too.  You bring a guy up who you are about to trade just so you can say he made his major league debut with your club.  Then you trade him.  

Sounds like conpiracy theory but I have seen it happen enough times for me to wonder if it really a coincidence.

So, welcome to the majors, Will Benson.  Watching you at AAA this year tells me you have really earned this promotion as you have put up huge numbers including raking against lefties.   Let's hope we get to watch you for at least the next 6 years mashing for the Guardians instead of being traded for some guy who is gone after this year or doesn't produce.