Thoughts for a Thursday Night - Pre Texas Rangers Visit Version

• Congratulations to Kole Calhoun on getting to 10 years of service.  I am pretty sure that raised his pension by $5000 a year over us having DFA'd him a week ago and bringing up a prospect.   Now that he has reached this milestone, though, it is ridiculous that he is still on this roster. 

• As a reminder, if we do not roster Jonathon Rodriguez before the end of the minor league season he is, technically, a 6-year minor league free agent immediately.  This is what happened to Oscar Gonzalez a couple of years ago and we re-signed him pretty quickly but that is NOT guaranteed.  I think the stats and the open roster positions we will have this winter means that rostering Rodriguez is a no-brainer. He should be up here now and Ramon Laureano should be DFA'd

• In fact, with the off-day today we should have DFA'd Laureano, Calhoun and Gallagher.  We should have brought up Rodriguez, Noel and Lavastida.  There is nothing to be gained by playing AAAA guys the rest of the way and there is nothing to be lost by bringing these 3 guys up.   The problem I see is if Antonetti is leaving as is rumored (see below) I think he could just be mailing it in the last two weeks or so and trying to avoid doing anything (like dissing AAAA veterans) that will screw up his ability to sign free agents at his next job.  If he, in fact, knows he is leaving, why would he give a crap about what was best for the future of this franchise?  

• Rumors are starting to circulate that Antonetti is going to desert the sinking ship that he created and run off for more money and a larger salary budget than what he has here.  If he was leaving a healthy situation (majors and minors) behind I would hate that he was leaving but be OK with it.  But between him and Chernoff they have squandered a lot of assets.  Hey, guys get traded all the time but their record, since the Clevinger trade, has really hurt our organization's viability.  They have traded away so many guys for so little return and have had two really bad drafts in the last two years, all of which will hamstring this organization for years to come.  You don't just get to walk away from this pathetic mess that was 100% your fault for greener pastures.  You stay and clean up the mess until you are told to get the hell out if you can't or have brought the organization back to health.  And, believe me, if Antonetti can't clean up the mess he has created there is much less likelihood that the next person hired or promoted will be able to do it.  We were extremely lucky that Shapiro built a strong organization from which to pick his successor.  My sense is that Antonetti, among his other shortcomings, has not done the same thing.  So, Chris, don't take the coward's way out, stay and clean up your mess.

• Both McKenzie and Bieber looked stronger than I expected in their rehab outings (See Spencer Turnbull tonight for Toledo as a representation of how I thought their rehab starts would go).  I am still concerned that these guys will have to undergo surgery either this off-season or next spring that would put them out all of next year but there is nothing any of us can do about that except to hope that their arms hold together and we can have them both at their career bests for all of 2024.

• On an upbeat note, both Manzardo (HR) and DeLauter (2-run single) had key hits tonight against lefties.  It is crucially important to the future of this franchise that these two are NOT just platoon players.  Heaven knows, we likely have too many of those guys in Cleveland and the minors already.

• I saw somebody write that Tena should play more the last couple of weeks.  Hey, he is here to get experience.  Next year Rocchio or Arias should be the starting SS and the other one should be a utility player.  Tena should spend all year next year at AAA.  The reason, as I have posited before, that he is up instead of Rocchio is that they don't want to exhaust Rocchio's rookie eligibility for player control and PPI reasons.  In the meantime, Arias should be getting all the reps at SS that Freeman isn't getting.  In reality, Tena should not even be in Cleveland with how bad his season at AA was going before a hot streak that led to his promotion.  

• I will have a whole article about this coming up but looking back over the Guardian's history and looking at our history with Francona, there is no reason to believe that no other manager we could have hired here would have had anywhere near the success we had.  I mean, it is entirely possible that we could have looking at some KC and Detroit-type records over the past 10 years instead of what we had with Francona.  Most people just don't realize how bad it likely would have been without him.  Replacing him with someone who can do so much with so little is almost beyond the realm of reasonableness.  Hopefully it is not outside the realm of possibility.

• Even though we hopefully get Bieber and McKenzie back before the end of the year, all we have to do is look at Joey Cantillo's performance today to see how bare the cupboard is in terms of next-man-up starters in the minors.  While he struck out 8 guys he also gave up 4 hits, including two bombs to just OK prospect Ryan Kriedler, and 4 walks in 5.2 innings.  Hey, the stuff is there and with a little more polishing he might be ready by next July but he ain't ready right now.  After Cantillo, as you scroll down the Guardians top 30 prospects on MLB Pipeline, the next one you come to is Parker Messick at #17, and Messick is not really a prospect in my opinion.  Yes, you have Daniel Espino but his return is still questionable in terms of both timing and whether he will be the pitcher he was before his latest injury.  There are also journeymen types like Hunter Gaddis and future jouneymen like Will Dion, Tanner Burns and maybe Tommy Mace, Doug Nikhazy and Justin Campbell.  But, really, there are no other real pitching prospects in this organization.  We tapped that out when we brought up Bibee, Williams and Logan Allen in the same year.  With the loss of Civale, we are razor thin where one injury or trade would make us to the point that we would be having Gaddis or Curry, guys who are unproven to be ML starters, as the next men up starting next April.  That is not a good place to be in terms of pitching depth.

• Just to clarify, I don't think Richie Palacios will ever be a ML starter.  I just question how much better Will Brennan will be than Palacios.  Is Palacios' current stretch for St. Louis an aberration?  Likely so, but that doesn't mean Brennan is any better and the fact that, even in an aberrational stretch, Palacios can, in 45 AB almost match Brennan's 400 AB HR total, is really a red flag, especially with Brennan's poor walk rate.  I mean we have dumped Nolan Jones, Will Benson and Palacios because we thought some combination of Brennan and Oscar Gonzalez was going to be the answer in RF.  Unless some major changes occur in their games before or during next year we are looking at the next coming of Oscar Mercado for these two while Jones, Benson and Palacios go on the have successful ML careers.  You just can't continue to do crap like that and have a successful small market club.

• Lucas Giolito on the bump Friday.  Let's hope he either figures it out or has another disastrous start so we can dump him.  It is just too embarrassing to have to have a veteran like this guy pitch like crap when I could give the innings to Gaddis or even just give Cantillo a cup of coffee even thought I know he isn't ready.   No need to embarrass this franchise by throwing Gioloto out there and watch him get shelled.  He doesn't seem to have any motivation to succeed right now which, like Syndergaard, doesn't make any sense in a FA season.

Richie Palacios - Another Nightmare PR Scenario Just Piling On To The Others This Year!

 As I have said a number of times on this blog, I am a Guardians fan for life by birthplace and choice.  On the other hand I am a Cardinals fan by both marriage and residence for half my life.  

So, my wife and I are watching the Cardinals the last couple of nights I happen to see Richie Palacios go deep THREE TIMES.  

The nightmare PR scenario here is that Palacios, who is a left-handed slap hitter, has now hit 4 HRs in 45 ABs this season.  In June, to clear a roster spot for Cody Morris coming off the 60-day DL, we 'traded' Palacios to St. Louis for cash after DFAing him.   Seemingly minor transaction with little repercussions, right?

Well, Palacios, who the Cardinals have deployed at all three outfield positions and second base, a position the Guardians decided he could not play, has almost as many HRs (4) in 45 ABs as Will Brennan has in 400 (5).   In addition, in the 2023 draft the Guardians drafted SIX college slap hitters, 5 of whom hit left-handed.   That comes after a 2022 draft where the Guardians drafted 3 college, LH hitting slap hitters in the first 6 rounds of the draft, none of whom has had a good year this year and traded for a RH slap hitter in the Benson deal who hit .150 in A ball before he was shut down for the season.

So they gave Palacios away for nothing and brought in a bunch of draftees and made trades for guys with the same profile who are much less talented and keep guys like Brennan who don't perform well.

This is after giving away Nolan Jones, Will Benson and Owen Miller for:

• Juan Brito, a guy who has one above average tool, his eye at the plate
• Justin Boyd, who hit .150 this year and Steven Hajjar, who is walking a guy an inning this year, both of them, as college players, failing in A+ ball, where, as college players, they should dominate.

So, in summary, they gave up three guys, Palacios, Jones and Benson and kept a guy, Brennan, who is putting up replacement level numbers.

They followed that by signing Josh Bell and Mike Zunino to fat FA contracts and watching them both fail and then getting rid of them for:

• Zunino - nothing
• Bell - Khalil Watson, a failed Miami prospect and some cash savings IF Bell accepts his player option for 2024.

Well, Bell has been hitting much better in Miami (.815 OPS vs .701 for Cleveland) which lessens the chance of him accepting his player option meaning, instead of saving about $9 million they would wind up LOSING $9 million by having to pay off Jean Segura's 2024 salary and 2025 buyout.   Meanwhile, Bell is helping Miami in their playoff run and Watson may never see AAA if his A+ performance this year and his checkered history for the Miami organization don't change in future years.

They also traded Amed Rosario for Noah Syndergaard in a salary neutral trade which immediately blew up in their face as they DFA'd Syndergaard less than a month later while Rosario, although not a star, is still providing the Dodgers some backup veteran depth as a piece on their run to another NL West title and WS run.  There is a chance he gets hot in the playoffs like Eddie Rosario did for the Braves when we traded him a couple of years ago about the same time of year.  This while we get nothing out of Syndergaard.

Palacios, just another in a long line of screw ups by the FO who haven't made a single good transaction since the Clevinger trade unless you want to count the trade for David Fry and the signing of De Los Santos.

ACL Recap

Let's take a look at the top prospects on the Guardians Arizona Complex League team this year.  This was not a team deep with prospects with only the top 4 what I would consider real prospects at this point.  Still, there is enough to dream on with the rest of the guys that maybe 1 or, at the outside, 2 of the other top 11 could eventually make the majors.  There are a number of other guys (e.g., Matt Wilkinson, Tommy Hawke) who played so little in their draft year that it is hard to get a read on them).  Note that the new CBA rules mean that college guys like this have one less year of player control before they are minor league free agents, meaning they only really get 5 seasons after their draft year to either make the 40-man or gain the ability to leave the organization as free agents.

So, without further adieu , is my top 11 prospects from this year's ACL team.  [NOTE: This list was compiled based on season stats, player's age and scouting reports.  There may be good prospects from the ACL team who did not make this list due to poor performance or, frankly, because I didn't know that much about them masking their positive attributes based on bad stats and maybe an older age for the league].

(1) Jason Chourio =  Churio did not disappoint in his first year playing in the US.  I rated him as the #23 prospect in the Guardians system prior to 2023, Baseball America had him at #32, Fangraphs had him at #16 and MLB Pipeline had him at #21.  After the ACL season was over he moved into the Guardoams top 10 of all of those ranking services.  He hit .349/.476/.463/.939 in the ACL and, after that season was over, went up to Lynchburg to finish the season.  While he only hit .200 in his 35 AB in low A his talent stll shined through.  He ended the season with 20 stolen bases and 47 runs scored in 48 total games.  

(2) Ralph Velazquez - Our top 2023 draftee, Velazquez did not disappoint in his small sample size cameo, hitting .348/.393/.739/1.132 in his 23 AB introduction to professional baseball.  Playing almost exclusively at DH (1 game at catcher) didn't give fans or scouts a long look at his catching abilities but I am sure they are working on that in the instructs.  It would be a success if he started 2024 in Lynchburg and had success there.  I don't want to get too excited because Bobby Bradley dominated the ACL in his first professional season, winning the triple crown, and we all know how that turned out.  Still, given how some of our other high 2022 and 2023 draft choices have done in their first pro experiences, I'll take this performance and wish on it for the future.

(3) Rafael Ramirez, Jr. - Ramirez raked at an .879 OPS rate in his first year in the US, opening some eyes and separating himself from fellow DSL players from 2022.  He looks like, with a good year at Lynchburg next year, he might be in the Guardians MLB Pipeline top 30 prospects by mid-year in 2024.  Especially crazy, but maybe a concern, was his 50 BB and 54 K in only 136 AB this year.  At higher levels he won't be able to just stand there with the bat on his shoulder.  Still, a .426 SLG (13 XBH among his 34 hits in 2023) on a .250 BA shows that when he hits the ball he is hitting it with authority. 

(4) Jackson Humphries - His stats as an 18/19 year old in the ACL and after his promotion to Lynchburg in A ball don't jump out you except for one, 72 Ks in 57.1 IP.  He needs some work on his command and control (29 BB in those 57.1 IP) but has shown enough with his breaking balls and his fastball velo, especially with his young age, to become a serious prospect.  Hopefully he advances enough to go to Lake County at the beginning of next season.  If he does it signals that to me that the Guardians have him on the fast track.  However, if he returns to A ball it will only mean that the Guardians feel he needs more seasoning before he can pitch successfully in A+ ball.

(5) Evelio Hernandez - Hernandez throws hard and burst onto the scene this year, prompting a mid-year promotion from the DSL to the ACL.  He struggled in the US but still has some helium as a prospect going forward.

(6) Victor Izturis - Izturis came in with a lot of hype and showed a good walk rate (.389 OBP on a .264 BA) but not a lot of power (.306 SLG).  Still, for a catcher with his hype, this is good enough to make this top 10.

(7) Estaban Gonzalez - Considering that Gonzalez will be eligible for the Rule 5 this year, shows that he is not really the typical ACL prospect, especially at 20.5 years old.  Still, his .979 OPS speaks volumes for his performance.  

(8) Jose Cedeno - Injuries derailed his ACL season so we don't know what he would have done if healthy.  He is a work in progress but, with a 2005 birth year, he still has a good future in front of him, baseball-wise.

(9) Logun Clark - A very raw prospect, Clark had some good moments this year which, along with great pop times, puts him on this list.  Still needs a lot of work on his catching skills but I think there is a spark of a prospect in there.

(10) Jacob Bresnahan - A later round pick similar to Jackson Humphries from the previous year, Bresnahan has a chance to follow Humphries path.

(11) Austin Aldeano - Like Jose Cedeno, Aldeano's season was derailed by injuries.  Still, I have a good feeling about him and Lynchburg next year, thinking he could be the Alonzo Richardson (with more strikeouts) of 2024 and, if things break right, he could be at the bottom of the Guardians' top 30 by the end of 2024.  

A Not-So-Early Look: Who Should Be Added To The 40-Man Roster This Winter?

 Thanks to Todd Pauette over at Guardians Prospective we have the complete list of the Rule 5 eligibles for this winter.

From this list I can see the following players in contention for being added to the 40 man roster:

Locks

Daniel Espino

Jonathon Rodriguez

Likely To Be Added

Ethan Hankins

May Be Added If Space Permits

Dayan Frias

Tanner Burns

Cade Smith

Bryan Lavastida

Unlikely To Be Added

Jose Devers,

Lenny Torres, Jr.

Daniel Schneeman

Aaron Bracho

Ray Delgado

Korey Holland

Juan Benjamin

Wuilfredo Antunez

Estaban Gonzalez

Alexfri Planez

Anyone else on Todd's list

Summary:

Looking over our 40 man roster I see us having 34 locks to be on the roster this winter unless they are traded:

Pitchers (17): Allen, Bibee, Bieber, Cantillo, Clase, Curry, De Los Santos, Hentges, Herrin, Karinchak,

McKenzie, Morgan, Morris, Quantrill, Sandlin, Stephan, Williams.

Catchers (2): Bo Naylor, Fry

Infielders (10): Arias, Brito, Freeman, Gimenez, Martinez, Josh Naylor, Noel, Ramirez, Rocchio, Tena

Outfielders (5): Brennan, Gonzalez, Kwan, Straw, Valera

Removed from the roster: Laureano, Gallagher, Calhoun, Kelly, Lopez, Moore, Gaddis

Without talking about free agents or trade acquistions, this means we room for 6 players to be added.

From the list above I would likely use 5 of those open spots and add: Espino, Rodriguez, Hankins, Frias and Burns. I am afraid I might lose Smith/Lavastida in the Rule 5 and wonder if Smith and Lavastida are on the upswing or just had their highwater marks this season.  I would rather have Lavastida as my backup catcher going into ST than another Cam Gallagher, however.  Cade Smith is interesting as his stats are eye-popping but I just don't see him as better than Sandlin, although I believe Sandlin is replaceable.   You can't protect everyone but if teams aren't on Smith you leave him exposed.  If they are on him (Tim Herrin last year) you protect him and fill your 40-man.  Clearly you don't want to go into ST with 10 infielders and 6 (counting Rodriguez) outfielders of the quality listed above.  So something needs to shake out over the wnter, to be sure.

Who Should go To The Arizona Fall League?

 The AFL begins its season on October 2nd this year.  

Last year the Guardians sent David Fry, Angel Martinez, Connor Kokx, Mason Hickman, Cade Smith, Lenny Torres, Jr., and Hunter Stanley to the AFL.  If you follow the Guardians' minor leaguers closely you will see that most of these guys had prominent roles this year.  Fry made his ML debut, Martinez remained at top 10 prospect, Kokx held in own in his second full year in AA, Smith showed himself to be a priority relief prospect for the Guardians who might even be added to the 40-man roster this winter, Stanley was a starting pitcher this entire season at Akron, two steps from the majors, in only his second season, Torres, Jr., finally healthy, made a name for himself as a closer in A ball.  Only Mason Hickman seemed to tread water this year at Akron as his development seemed to me to stall out.    But you can see how beneficial the AFL can be for most players.  

In many cases teams will send players who are significant prospects who missed time that year due to injury and need the reps against good competition that simply going to the instructs won't give them.  Sometimes, especially with catchers, teams will send a guy who is might not be an organizational priority prospect but may be needed to balance a roster in the AFL.  As I said, catchers seem to be at a premium in the AFL which Fry used to his advantage last year...and you can see where that got him this year.

So, all that being said, who do I think the Guardians should send to the AFL this fall?

(1) Chase DeLauter - Normally teams are discouraged from sending inexperienced, A ball players to the AFL.  It is more of a finishing school for prospects rather than just a place for a guy to get ABs or IPs against better competition.  So why should DeLauter be there?  He has shown incredible bat-to-ball skills at Lake County and needs to be challenged with better competition.  If the goal is to get hm ML-ready by next August/September it is crucial he gets a leg up on playing against higher level competition, 

(2) Kyle Manzardo - This may sound like overkill, but he could use the extra ABs that he missed with his shoulder injury this year.  Still, the Guardians may believe it better for him to rehab that shoulder further and get into his off-season routine.  But it's a thought to have him go to the AFL if the plan is for him to play in the majors sometime next year.

(3) Franco Aleman - Following the same path as Cade Smith did last year, Aleman started the year in Lake County and then moved up to Akron.  Like Smith Aleman pitched a full, injury-free season and, like Smith, he would not be eligible for the Rule 5 this year so him getting innings in won't impact him being exposed as a good prospect and us, as a result, having to roster him this fall.

(4) Tyler Freeman - Here me out. We are looking for versatility, right.  What better place to practice that but in the AFL.  Freeman goes there to practice playing in the OF and playing 1B, as well as some 2B.  Plus he gets to make up some ABs that he didn't get sitting on the end of Francona's bench.  Don't know if someone who has exhausted their rookie eligibility can play in the AFL but, if so, this could help Freeman.

(5) Ryan Webb - Webb has missed so much time that maybe he could benefit from pitching against better competition.  That bein said, maybe they are trying to cap his innings this year and so this would be a bad idea but maybe not.  This would be an easier sell to the AFL people if Webb finishes the season with Akron this coming week.  As I mentioned in a previous blog I hope that happens as it would give him one more start before the end of the AA season next weekend.

(6) Bryan Lavastida - Hey, as I said catchers are a valuable commodity and Lavastida could get more work on his defense here.  I would roster him this winter and, if so, more catching reps have to help, right?

(7) George Valera - Hey, two of the criteria for a guy to play in the AFL is that he is a good prospect and he missed reps during the regular season.  Check and check.

(8) Dayan Frias - The guy has helium right now and plays the middle infield.  Although he has not played higher than A ball he did play in the WBC so it's not like he doesn't have high level experience.

So, here is my 'dream team' of guys for Cleveland's contribution to the AFL roster.  If we need another pitcher we could look at Tanner Burns or Cody Morris to get some extra work in as a reliever.

Interested to see what the Guardians do.

I Have Officially Disengaged

 For those of you old enough to remember, I ask you to go back to 1984.  The Guardians finished 75-87 and 1984 was sandwiched between 1983 (70-92) and 1985 (60-102).

On that team were the following guys:

• Mike Hargrove, 1B
• Julio Franco SS
• Brook Jacoby 3B
• Brett Butler CF
• Andre Thornton DH
• Pat Tabler - UT
• Joe Carter LF
• Bert Blyleven SP
• Rick Sutcliffe SP
• Ernie Camacho Closer

That was the season that we got Mel Hall and Joe Carter for Rick Sutcliffe, George Frazier and Ron Hassey.  Five mostly pathetic seasons later, Carter was traded to San Diego for Sandy Alomar, Carlos Baerga and Chris James, starting the San Diego to Cleveland express train that has fueled a number of winning seasons in Cleveland...but I digress.  

In 1986 was the start of Cory Snyder and Greg Swindell years and we finished 84-78...only to revert back to 61-101 the next year, followed by 6 more losing seasons that ended in the 1994...and the rest is mostly pleasant history.

The point of this history lesson is that, in the 80s, as a Cleveland fan you had to focus on the players more than the team result.  

And so, I learned in the 1980s to disengage from the baseball season and how bad my team was finishing in the standings.    There was no hint that we would ever make it to the World Series.  How could that not drive you crazy?  I mean, we traded Sutcliffe that year and he went 16-1 for the Cubs AFTER the trade.  Today that would have driven us all crazy, considering I am losing my mind that Tampa has won 5 of the first 6 starts Civale has made for them after the trade.   Even worse, if we all acted then like we are now as fans, we would have all lost our minds.  I mean, we had Bert Blyleven going 19-7 and we ended up 75-87 with the lineup above.  And the rest of the guys weren't really bad players, just not great ones, but each of them was better than Kole Calhoun, Ramon Laureano, Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher and the current versions of Noah Syndergaard and Lucas Giolito.   We had Joe Carter, Julio Franco and Cory Snyder and guys like Tabler and Hargrove and Bernazard and Jacoby and we were losing 100 games in a season.  How could any of us have focused on what was going wrong WITHOUT losing our minds?  So, at least for me, in the 80s I disconnected rooting for a win and cheering for our team.

There was just the game within the game within the season.  Listening to my heroes and rooting for my team.  Not to win a championship but to win each game they played...until they didn't...and then rooting for them to win the next one.

So, after tonight's game I officially disengaged from the standings, the season and the disappointment.  I can tell the TV announcers have not gotten to that point yet, with the constant disappointment in Matt Underwood's voice about every thing each player did wrong to keep us from winning being as evident as the precise, crotchety old man comments from Rick Manning, each of which could begin with when I was playing..." but they don't.  The silence and non-connected joking of Andre Knott as he dosen't know quite what to say as he watches this season go down the drain after getting so used to quality seasons, September comebacks and October magic happen year after year under Francona.  But I can hear a twinkle in Manning's voice when one of the young guys does something good and I remember.  He lived through those times, too.  He knows. He knows it can happen again.  If these guys just continue to learn and grow...and we disengage from the game results and focus on the individual results.

So, I am past all that disappointment of this season.  I still think the FO has put us on a bad path that will impact this franchise for years.  Bad trades, bad drafts, all those things that we will have to live with when we don't have enough good players in years to come.  But I can root for my guys.  I can hope against hope that they will dump the AAAA guys tomorrow and bring up some of my future heroes.  I can hope that the younger players already in the majors will play well through the end of the season and when they get their chance next year will become the next Albert Belle, Carlos Baerga, Omar Vizquel, Manny Ramirez and Sandy Alomar.   

Waiting for our new heroes to emerge.  Let's hope they do and, until they do, I will cheer for each of them in each game hoping that they do become what I hope they can...without worrying that the scoreboard may have us behind, sometimes embarrassingly so, at the end of some of the games.   Because, back in the 80s, if you lost 13-6 and 2 or 3 of your heroes had great offensive games, that was cause to celebrate. 

That is what I am going to do now...and I think I will feel a lot better about rooting for my hometown team if I do.  Heck, it worked before.

Saturday Thoughts - Sunny California version

 First, still would rather watch a losing Guardians' team than Ohio State, the Browns or the Cavs.  Baseball is just my jam.  

Second, Cantillo looked off last night, meaning the likelihood of him coming up if we DFA Giolito after tonight are less likely.  I didn't think he was quite ready for MLB before last night but was hoping he would be able to at least appear to be ready.  Still think it is not out of the question that we turn to him if Giolito continues to struggle but last night didn't give my much confidence that he would be successful, even factoring in that he might be effective just because people don't have a book on him yet.  

Third, Kyle Manzardo should NOT be brought up this year.  He is a 2021 college draftee and doesn't need to be rostered until after the 2024 season.  So adding him to the roster this year just needlessly clogs up our 40-man situation this winter.  Hey, he looks good as a non-roster invitee next spring?  Maybe then.  But my opinion is if we bring him up before next June he will end up going up and down a few times before he finally sticks.  That never helps a team that loads its 40-man with prospects as it increases the chances they may have to DFA a true prospect who is on the 40 or not roster a guy this winter because they have no roster spot.

Fourth, it is Saturday and why are Calhoun, Laureano and Gallagher still on this rostegr?  Rodriguez and Lavastida are not particularly hot right now but they make more sense than these two and bringing up Noel, while he is clearly not ready, might catch lightning in a bottle for the rest of the season due to that lack of familiarity effect as mentioned with Cantillo.  Teams tend to make these changes after a series or after a road trip but these veterans are, predictably, not producing over a long time.

Fifth, while I will cover this in more depth in my minor league season review in October, I think the surprise players in our system this year are Franco Aleman, Aaron Bracho, Daniel Schneeman, Raynel Delgado and Cade Smith.  It is hard to tell if any of these guys have become true prospects (Aleman's stuff and results favor him not being a one-year wonder) but it is exciting to see their results.  Remember that Bracho and Valera were the highest bonus players of our 2017 international draft class.  Rocchio and Noel was just guys in that class.   So maybe Bracho is just a late bloomer.  I doubt that Smith, Bracho or Delgado, who are all eligible for the Rule 5, will be rostered this winter as we just don't have the roster space and their tools and overall career results imply their contribution will be as fringe major leaguers if they even get to the majors.  Aleman does not have to be rostered until after the 2024 season.

Sixth, I have stopped looking at the stats for Jones, Bell, Benson, Civale and Rosario.  It is just too depressing to think about how little we got back in those trades.

Go Guardians!