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.