As we approach the game on Sunday where a loss to Detroit will (unofficially) end the Guardians chances to make the playoffs, some things come to mind.
BATTLE OF OHIO
The Reds just called up Noelvi Marte (#24 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline) who is like the millionth top 100 prospect in baseball that they have already called up this year. They still have Rhett Lowder (#44), Edwin Arroyo (#61) and Connor Phillips (#71) who they have yet to call up.
From what I can see the Reds are looking more and more like the Guardians of the early/md-90s where they have exactly the set of prospects that they need to have to be competitive for a long time. They only need to add a few veterans through free agency who pan out (sort of like Dennis Martinez and Orel Hersheiser did) and sprinkle in a few relievers and they could be the NL Central team to beat for years to come.
So what does that mean for the Guardians? Well, the Guardians are a shipwreck. They have wasted talented prospects and gambled on free agents and gotten little, if nothing, in return. They have bet on certain prospects (Will Brennan) while deciding to let other ones (Jones, Benson) go with disastrous results.
Look at the Reds transactions in the past 2 years. They have not wasted money on failed FAs. They have not had bad drafts (2022 grade A-, 2022 grade for Guardians B-; 2023 draft grade A). They made great trades (Luis Castillo, Tyler Maile) with guys who they likely couldn't sign and got guys back who are top prospects in baseball and already in the major leagues and, finally, when faced with bringing in veterans or giving their young guys a chance IN THE MIDDLE OF A PENNANT RACE, they chose the young guys.
Right now the Guardians' FO sucks and not only are they costing us a playoff spot, they are making it so we can't even win the battle of Ohio, for gosh sakes.
IS IT JONATHON RODRIGUEZ TIME?
Interestingly, when the Reds called up Marte there was an interesting note that his AAA OPS of .820 was just slightly above average in AAA this year. That means Jhonkensy Noel's .710 OPS gives him a wRC+ of 74, which is utility infielder like. Wow!
Which brings us to Jonathon Rodriguez. With the failure of Will Brennan, the failure of Juan Gonzalez and the failure of Gabriel Arias, to say nothing about the semi-failures of Tyler Freeman and Brayan Rocchio this year (not that these are real long term failures) fans are asking why we haven't brought up Jonathon Rodriguez. It's a fair question and one that I think that will be addressed on September 1st. Right now don't expect to see any other roster movement as they aren't going to DFA Laureano or Calhoun, DFA someone else or blow a minor league option on anyone for two weeks of production when we can't even beat the rebuilding Tigers when we are playing them at home.
So, on September 1st when the rosters expand expect them to promote Rodriguez and Cody Morris and, unless someone else goes on the IL, that will be it. Too bad as Daniel Schneeman deserves and congratulatory promotion and, like so many other times, the Guardians missed the boat on a feel good story.
One more point. If, at some point, we DFA Laureano and he is not picked up on waivers we will have thrown away about $1 million...and for what? At least if we had brought someone up from the minors we would have saved that money. More on this below when I talk about veteran presence.
VETERAN PRESENCE
Look, it is just a fact. Every young team needs veteran presence to show the young guys the way to play in the majors and to provide a leveling influence by providing steady production in the face of highs and lows that young players can have.
Manny Ramirez spoke of this yesterday in his interview when he said, as a young player, he watched and learned from Dave Winfield.
While that's great, Kole Calhoun and Ramon Laureano are NOT those players right now. Potentially Calhoun is one of those players next year but this year, if we lose to Detroit on Sunday, we need to give ABs to young players, not some grizzled veteran trying to get enough service time for him pension.
The reason for this is simple. Who gives a flying flip if we lose every one of the games for the rest of the season if we weren't going to make the playoffs anyway? I mean, freakin' Texas was like 68-94 last year and they are 72-51 this season. If you have the talent a one year negative blip means nothing. If you DON'T have the talent you need to find out what your talent is like.
Last year, based on a few ABs, the Guardians chose Will Brennan over Will Benson and Nolan Jones. That has turned out to be a devastatingly stupid mistake when you look at the production for all three this year. Going into next year we have ZERO RFers. ZERO.
So we need to find out, at every position, who can play and you don't do that by giving ABs to Cam Gallagher, Kole Calhoun, Ramon Laureano and Zack Collins. Give the young guys the ABs. Screw the record for this year. The worse you are, the better the draft picks next year...as if our draft people can ever do anything well with their heads firmly implanted up their butts. But, at least they have a better chance with higher slots.
If the season is essentially over after today, we need to fill this roster with all the young people we are going to roster this winter and maybe even some we are unsure of and give those guys some play. There is really no place on this roster for guys who we know are not going to be part of this team next year, 'veteran presence' be damned.
Suck it up Tito and manage your rear end off.
And, FO. Stop screwing up and wasting valuable resources and get us some freaking studs next year WiTHOUT overspending your farm system assets. THAT, like 1994 and 1995, is how you supplement a good, young nucleus and provide APPROPRIATE veteran leadership!
Geez, people, let's go!
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