Thoughts For A Monday Morning : Approaching September Edition

 1. Repeat after me: we are ALL going to the playoffs.  We...are...ALL...going...to...the...playoffs.

Lots of banter between Guardians, Twins and Royals fans on Twitter (X).  Much of it not very nice.   All these people forget is that all three teams should be in the playoffs.  Three teams...from the AL Central...n the playoffs.  People should be rejoicing that and rooting for each other rather than the sniping that is going on.   

Just sayin'!

2. Time For Some Changes

Why is Manzardo not back up?  Why is Martinez not up here? Why is Valera not getting a chance? Rocchio can't hit and his fielding is meh so why isn't Arias getting another chance? Why are some of our young RP not up here? 

These are the questions some fans are asking.  Here are my thoughts:

• General Thoughts - Manzardo and Martinez have outside shots at ROY next year if they maintain their rookie status.  Both are close to that but Martinez is likely not going to be a top 100 prospect so he would not qualify for a compensation draft pick if he would win ROY.    I doubt they bring up Manzardo as September time on the roster doesn't count against your rookie status but ABs do...and Manzardo is getting close to having too many ABs to be a rookie.  For Martinez, they WANT him to lose his rookie status so that if he somehow would do a Bibee and cost us a whole year service time even if he is in the top 3 in ROY.  So, when I look at players I want to bring up I have these criteria:  Would this player be a better option in the playoffs than Michael Martinez was in 2016?  Would I be more comfortable with the pitcher I bring up than I was with Brian Shaw in game 7 of that same WS?
• Valera  - It is time to give him a chance. In a week we can bring him up and should. There is a case to bring him up now, along with Martinez, sending Freeman and Schneeman to Columbus to get sharp with more regular playing time.
• Martinez - This, to me, is a no brainer.  Freeman isn't hitting.  Send him down to get regular ABs.  Although Martinez hasn't exactly lit it up since he was demoted, I love his switch-hitting and speed over Freeman's and everything else, at worst, is the same. No brainer here.  Martenez should be up at Freeman's expense come September 1st.
• Manzardo - Looking at his recent AAA numbers there is no reason to believe he will do any better this time around compared to his first trial earlier this year.  That, plus maintaining his rookie status, means he is an unlikely callup except for maybe after Columbus' season is over when we might sneak in some ABs and still stay under the limit of less than 130 ML ABs to maintain his rookie status.  Who we send out to bring Manzardo back up at the end of September is in question but I have a horrible, yet reasonable idea.  DFA Hedges.  He is dead weight in a playoff setting.  Hedges is simply not playable with our lineup in a situation where every game, every AB means something.  But there are a lot of 'ifs' here.  Fry's elbow has to be healthy enough for him to catch.  Bo Naylor has to be healthy, etc.  
• Arias - Having watched him extensively since his demotion my impression is that he is the same guy as when he was demoted.   He is just benefitting from the Columbus/AAAA player effect that helps him put up good numbers while still showing the same things I hate about him (lack of hustle, lack of good plate discipline, etc.  Let him play out the season in Columbus and then be available if disaster strikes at SS.
• Franco Aleman - Here is a guy I think they should bring up at some point in September.  He has spent a lot of time on the IL this year so his arm is not worn out.  If he was healthy I think he would have been brought up already.  Morgan, Strzelecki and Sandlin are not playoff relievers.  Is Aleman?  I don't know but I would give him most of September to show if he would be impactful in the playoffs.
• Andrew Walters - When you are the Guardians you have to protect the future.  So bringing up Walters MIGHT be a good short term play but it likely will cost you an option year next year as when Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak come back we won't likely have room for Walters for all of 2025, unless injuries occur.  The Guardians likely won't hurt their long-term future for a short-term bump in effectiveness.  As this team has more issues than in the bullpen, I think he stays in AAA as deep insurance in case of injuries.

3. KC Series

This is already a mess as we will use an opener in Game 1 followed by a starter coming out of the bullpen.  In game 2 we will start a guy we keep sending to the minors.  Not a good recipe but stuff happens.  Maybe it will all work out. 

From now on every series is important and I would have liked to see them bring up Valera and put him in the lineup for game 2 tonight.  The impact of a new, hot batter who the league doesn't know should have become readily apparent this year with both Schneeman and Noel performing well when the league didn't know them.  Valera is both new and hot and the Royals will start RHP in the last 3 games of this series.  So I vote for Freeman playing in Game 1 against Ragans and being sent out after that for Valera.

This is an important series and we want to keep winning and keep the pressure on the teams behind us to do the same.  

2024 Draftee Watch

So far the results have been terrible.  There is a reason that the Guardians tend not to throw their new draftees into the minors.   One is that the culture shock may lead to bad results.  So far Cozart looks pathetic on both sides of the ball.  Bazzana is way under-performing but his GW   yesterday produced another Oscar Mercado-like moment to give us hope (false hope?!?).  Most of the other college guys we drafted are/will be in Lynchburg where performance is hard to measure against younger competition.  The results this year are only for bragging rights of making the draft team look good.  But, still, c'mon guys.  These results don't give us any faith in you as evaluators of talent.

OK, off to watch some baseball.  Go Guardians!