Official End of the 2023 Season Post

 Some people are baseball fans.  I am simply a fan of the Cleveland Guardians and their minor leaguers.

That being said I won't be watching any playoff baseball so my baseball season ended today...unless they show the AFL games on TV...hey, why don't they show all of them for the fans of those 18 teams whose seasons ended today?

So, since my season is over, here is my official end-of-the-baseball-season post.

Tito

Thanks for everything you have done for this franchise.  It is not easy to be a major league manager but it is almost impossible to be a major league manager in Cleveland.  You have done almost unbelievable things to make this franchise a winner over the last 11 years.  I don't know how many fans know that very few, if any, managers in baseball today or in the last 20 years could have done what you did with this franchise.  You were amazing.  Thanks again.  Enjoy your retirement and if you ever think of managing again, please consider Cleveland.

Lucas Giolito

Thanks for doing your part to help Cleveland get a good draft slot for the 2024 draft.  In addition to your work of being primarily responsible for losses in 6 of your 7 starts here you ate a lot of innings to save the arms of pitchers who will probably be here in 2024.  While you will not be missed by any in Cleveland, rest assured that your performance here will have a lasting, positive impact on this franchise that will likely be felt long after your retirement.

Chris Antonetti and Mke Chernoff

Well, you two have had quite a last 12 months.  For that matter, since the Clevinger trade, you can extend that to really 38 months, the last time you two made a good transaction, unless you want to count getting David Fry for JC Mejia.

The gifts you have provided to us will keep on giving this winter if Josh Bell opts out of the 2nd year of his deal as we will end up paying 8 million for no service (Segura's salary and buy out) than saving 8 million for no service (Bell if he exercised his option, which looks much less likely now).  

You made a bad move signing Josh Bell as a FA and then followed that on with another bad move in letting him go for Khalil Watson, who was not traded by Miami but exorcised FROM Miami.  BTW, Bell was a very big part in Miami squeaking through to the last wild card spot.  Without him, I don't think that happens.  I am sure you are really proud of your work in helping Miami get to the playoffs.

To the Guardians:

Thanks for a lot of great memories this year.  Keep up the hard work and the hope.  Texas went from 68-94 last year to a 90 win season in 2023.  It can be done and you are just the guys to do it.  

To the fans of the Guardians, please keep your hope:

• that the FO doesn't whiff on picking the next manager.  He won't be Francona but maybe he will be better at working with and getting the best out of young players.
• that the manager hires a new hitting coach and hitting development staff because the ones they have now suck.  You have 3 power hitters at AAA none of whom they can develop with all of them looking like clones of each other.  We need new blood at all our hitting-related positions and need to hire someone who can develop young players even if that means he never speaks to Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor except to say "Hey, how are you doing today?"
• that the FO does not trade any of their prospects or young major leaguers this winter as the suppression of their talents this year has rendered them almost valueless in trades compared to their immense value if they are kept and developed by non-inept hitting coaches.   Maximize your resources and that means keeping all the young guys until their value has increased to the levels that it should have, had they been given proper coaching.
• that William, Allen and Bibee are and remain healthy.
• that Shane Bieber is not traded.  You have 6 currently-ready ML starters: Bieber, McKenzie, Quantrill, Williams, Bibee and Allen.  Bieber would be considered damaged goods and so would have much less value in a trade than he does to us.  Besides the general ineptness at this FO in making trades, the lack of ML starting pitching is going to kill us if we deal away any more than we already have.  And that assumes every one of those 6 guys are healthy next year and 5 of them have been hurt at some point this year. 
• that your FO sees that we have 3 RF candidates in Columbus (JRod, Noel and the recently promoted Gonzalez) in addition to George Valera. We don't need to bring anyone in from the weak  2023/2024 FA class or by overpaying in prospects in a trade for a guy with considerable warts in his game.
• that the FO gets their heads out of their butts and actually find creative ways to bring quality players onto our roster and into our minor league system
• that Ramirez, Josh Naylor, Kwan and Bo Naylor remain healthy.  In fact, that all of our players enter spring training next year healthy and that they remain that way next year.
• that they keep JRod and put him on the 40 man and sign Reynaldo Lopez before he goes out the door at the end of the WS.
• that we survive unscathed the Rule 5 and come into ST whole next year as an organization adn that we pick up an OF power hitter out of that draft who can make an impact next year for us.
• that we, as fans, all stay healthy and are, ourselves, ready for spring training next year

Thank you, to all my readers.  I will hopefully continue to post on the Guardians.  They always have been and always will be my favorite team in all of sports.

Now on to the off-season!