GUARDIANS
I love baseball and I love watching the Guardians play, win or lose. In fact, the run this organization has had with Francona and then one year of Vogt as manager has started to ruin that enjoyment. Now people can't accept this as their golden years and want that brass ring of a WS championship. But I have had enough of that and want to enjoy what we have been given and not get greeedy. So, win or lose, I am going to get back to how I was in the 70s and 80s: thankful for every win and cheering on my heroes.
That being said, at the beginning of the season I predicted the following about their record:
84-78 - Most likely result if some things went right and some things went wrong.
70-92 - If most things went wrong
92-70 - If almost everything went right.
Well, after today's game we stand at 70-70.
This means that EVERYTHING hasn't gone wrong but, as we know now, many things have not gone right (Santana, Bazzana, DeLauter, Clase, Ortiz, Naylor, Lively, Thomas) but some things have (Manzardo, Cecconi (to a small degree)), Williams, Allen, Schneeman), meaning the sum tells us that the pipe dream of 92-70 is no longer possible but the total meltdown of 70-92 hasn't happened either.
So, all that's left now is to determine how many wins the Guardians will end up with and whether it will be enough to sneak into the playoffs as the 3rd wildcard. The path is there but it's the journey I will enjoy, not worrying about the finish line. Go Guardians!
PROSPECTS
The prospect story has not yet been completely told for 2025 as there are still a couple of weeks left in the regular season, plus playoffs, plus Arizona Fall League but here are some guys I think are making their way up (or down) the prospect rankings since my post-deadline, post-draft list that I posted at the beginning of August:
Joey Oakie
Hey, it's only two games, but I have witnessed this kid carving up two different teams including some top 2025 draftees. Maybe this is just the classic flash-in-the-pan performance but when you see a 19-year old with a 96-100 mph fastball having this success just after a promotion for the first time to a full-season team, it hits different. This may be the start of something huge for this kid and, man, what a two-game ride it has been, 9.2 ip, 1 hit, 5 BB and 22 Ks. He will be the starting pitcher for Lynchburg in the playoffs. No way any of us had that on our bingo cards at the beginning of 2025! Stay healthy, kid. It looks like your future is bright.
Ralph Velasquez
This is a kid who has grown up before our eyes. Las year the Guardians pushed him aggressively to Lynchburg as a 19 year old. He had some good moments and the promise was clearly there. After a late season promotion to Lake County in 2024 he was aggressively pushed to there to start 2025. As the season progressed we saw him gain in confidence and find his routine in the batter's box. They promoted him to Akron and he has exploded since then with an approach at the plate that looks like it will stand the test of time. It's less than 100 ABs but with an OPS of over 1.100 it looks like more than just a heater that will level out. I think this kid appears on some top 100 lists this winter, and deservedly so, IMO.
Yorman Gomez
Small sample size notwithstanding, Gomez has looked impressive this year, especially after his promotion to AA. He is not physically imposing but has, in my opinion, put himself on the 'map' of guys who might debut in 2026. He is, for the most part, dominating the strike zone at AA with stuff that should play even better as he moves up the ladder and has better fielders behind him.
Travis Bazzana
Really, I have no idea how this is going to turn out. But Bazzana is at AAA and has had some limited success recently. Look, EVERY Guardians fan want Bazzana to suddenly turn into the 1-1 we drafted. When you consider the success of guys drafted after him in 2024 you can see how I am impatient and have trepidation that he may be that rare flop at 1-1, something this organization can really not have. We need Bazzana to be a KEY contributor in the Jose, Kwan, Williams, Bibee, Smith, Manzardo years.
MINOR LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
While we still have some regular season minor league games left, for the Guardians minor league teams the playoffs have been set. Our DSL and ACL teams did not make the playoffs, Columbus and Akron aren't going to the playoffs and Lynchburg and Lake County are.
Lynchburg, if the revamped roster can gel they have a chance to win their league and the Captains are on a heater right now and have solid pitching with a no-quit attitude on offense.
So both these teams can 'win it all' if things break their way.
One final note on the minor league playoffs: It was especially satisfying that Lake County won their playoff spot head to head with a Great Lakes team (Dodgers) that had great players, some of whom Cleveland fans begged for in prospects-for-Kwan trade proposals that I argued against. Looking at how DePaula and Hope played in this series and how they their seasons have gone, I am re-assured that trading Kwan for one of them plus other, lesser pieces, would have been a huge mistake.
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