2023 Minor League Roster Placements - Part 1 - 2022 Draftees - What Does 2023 Minor League Roster Placement Mean or Not Mean

The INITIAL minor league rosters for our full-season teams are now out.  Obviously things can change.  But using those rosters, what does it say about our 2022 draft?

This article will take a look at where our 2022 draftees have been placed.

What strikes me after looking at the placements this year is that only one of our 2022 draftees has been placed at high A (Lampe).  To be fair, our top 2 picks (DeLauter and Campbell) were not placed yet due to injuries (DeLauter is well known, Campbell was not throwing when I was at spring training so he may just be behind).  In comparison, 8 of our 2021 college draftees were placed at High A in their first full year.  Dylan DeLucia, our 6th round pick, was also not placed on a full-season roster and as polished as he is, I would guess it has to be due to injury.  But all the rest of our 2022 college draftees were placed at Lynchburg whereas 8 of our college draftees in 2021 started 2022 in Lake County.

Very surprisingly both Messick and Furman were placed at low A Lynchburg.  As college players picked in the early rounds of the 2022 draft, I would have guessed that both would have been placed at high A to challenge them.  Both will be older than the average player in low A.  As we saw with Will Dion last year, you don't tend to learn much about polished college players as they tend to dominate their league based on polish more than on talent.  By comparison, Connor Kokx, our 11th round college outfielder pick in 2021, started his first full season at Lake County and is now assigned to Akron this year.   If an 11th round position player could start at Lake County why couldn't a 5th round college second baseman start there.

Quite possibly, looking at Messck, there were no spots for 2022 college draftee pitchers at Lake County as 10 of the college pitchers we drafted in 2021 are on the Lake County staff.  But, still, he is a second round pick.  He shouldn't have started at Lynchburg.

The placement of Magnus Ellerts at Lynchburg is interesting as that shows he is further along than I thought. 

All-in-all the placement of our 2022 college draftees was very disappointing to me although, as I said above, this is kind of deceptive as 3 of our top 7 picks weren't even placed on a team due to injury.  Still, besides Ellerts, none of our 2022 draftees surprised me by being placed higher than I thought and, obviously, many of them were placed lower that I thought they should have been.

Nothing about these placements improved my confidence in the quality of our 2022 draft.  When your top two picks start the season on the IL due to a pre-existing foot condition (DeLauter) and an elbow issue (Campbell) and only one of the rest of the 2022 draftees are even good enough to start at High A, it doesn't say much about the quality of the 2022 draft.

OK, more about the placements of players on this year's minor league teams later.  

Heading Home!

 We have played two series.  We have won two series.

What we learned today:

• Tim Herrin is NOT the second coming of Sam Hentges.  He is a rookie.  He needs more experience.  Hopefully he recovers mentally from today.  The homerun-saving catch by Straw will go a long way towards allowing Herrin to flush and forget this performance.
• Myles Straw is good.   He saved the game in the 8th.  Drew a walk and scored the insurance run in the 10th.  He stole his 5th base.  If he doesn't get an extra base hit all season isn't important.  We he is batting in the bottom of the lineup he is more free to try to steal bases than any other player in our lineup.   If Kwan or Rosario steal it can take the bat out of Jose's hand.  Not so with Straw.  Singles or walks turn into de facto doubles with his speed.
• In my opinion, Andres Gimenez is the best defensive second baseman I have ever seen.  I know I said that previously but it is the way I feel...and I have watched many years of baseball. The play he made on the early game popup where Gonzalez couldn't see the ball and Gimenez caught that ball in middle deep right field may seem like nothing but how many second baseman can realize fast enough that their right fielder doesn't see it and get in position, running away from the infield, to make that catch, let alone make that catch look easy?  Plus, he hits and hits in the clutch.  I don't care if people say that this term is archaic.  The guy seems to hit whenever we need one badly.
• Hunter Gaddis can pitch.  I still think, against better lineups, he will get clobbered as his stuff is not dominant.  In my opinion he is better as a reliever but I hope we can get more good starts out of him until McKenzie comes back.  Certainly today's performance gives him more starts.  Glad he won't be facing the Marners this weekend.  
• Josh Bell.  Man, what can you say?  Did he juke us out of $17 million?  He certainly looks even worse now than when he played in San Diego, although it is close. I have trouble this franchise, among all franchises would kneejerk to spend all that money to sign their second choice after losing out on Jose Abreu.  Right now, however, that is not out of the question as to what happened.  I hope I am wrong but right now I see Carlos Baerga written all over this guy, given how precipitously his career has fallen off the table once he started playing for teams in contention.  Keep your fingers crossed he figures it out because the guy is supposedly a fast starter and he has been anything BUT that this year so far.  Maybe Cleveland cooking will get himn on track.
• Amed Rosario is not 'on' yet.  I still don't like him hitting second. l don't see him bringing anything to the table.  Problem is, we don't have a true #2 hitter on our roster or in our farm system.  Maybe it is time to try Straw at #2.
• Clase.  He got the job done but it wasn't perfect.   Against a rebuilding team like the A's he should be perfect.  Using that yardstick he fell short twice.  Playing against better teams he has to be that shutdown reliever.  For us to be successful he has to be.  
• Morgan is just a solid major league reliever.  When you see guys like Peyton Battenfield, Cody Morris, Xzavion Curry, even Mason Hickman, you can see how guys with borderline ML stuff can be solid if they just put their mind to it.  
• Gallagher with a clutch hit.  I would have hit Brennan in that spot but it all worked out.  
• Kwan is Kwan.  That's all you need to say.

So, coming home 5-2.  Last winter I projected we would be 4-3 at this point.  I don't care who you play, a 5-2 road trip is a good result at any time of the year, but moreso when you are coming out of the gate.

Next post will be on the minor league rosters.   Talk to you all later tonight and Go Guardians!

Where Do We Go From Here?

 It is totally impossible for me to predict what will happen next.  Shane Bieber has pitched twice, the only 2 games the Guardians have lost so far, and given up 3 runs in 12 innings, leaving each game with the score tied.   Between his starts we have seen Quantrill, Gaddis and Plesac give us poor performances and, along with Civale's excellent starts ended with the Guardians winning those 4 games.

Today is Gaddis again.  Friday it will be Civale.   Truth be told, after Quantrill on Saturday we should skip Plesac on Sunday and go back to Beiber again on 4 days rest.  But what happens from there is anyone's guess, both rotation and perfromance of the atarters.  

When will McKenzie come back?

Is Plesac really done?  I know a number of people want that to be the case but I just can't believe it.   He is not this bad of a pitcher.

Can Quantrill right the ship?  I think so.  I think it was just a blip but other pitchers have come back from the WBC and not been the same as their routine and preparation for the regular season was disrupted.

Plus, what will happen with the over-used bullpen?  How will we find ways to get them reinforcements and not have to DFA true prospects.  I don't want to hear how Palacios is not worth anything when guys like him could get us, at worst, another Ross Carver type or more, depending on his early season performance.  I would rather not, but would be OK with losing Lavastida as I think he is truly lost right now in terms of his prospect status as now I view him as an organizational player.

As far as the lineup, but are we to do with Josh Bell?  He is normally a fast starter but his start this year looks a lot like his end of last year.   Will he right the ship and give us the type of performance and leadership he gave Washington last year?  I think the offense ability to navigate the stormy seas created by uneven starting pitching and a taxed bullpen is dependent on him coming around.  

What is going on with Zunino's defense?  Is it his surgically reparied shoulder that isn't giving him the mobility to block balls?  We have to get him right or replace him as our starters have to be able to bury balls in the dirt.   If they feel they can't they are likely going to give up more hard contact which none of us should want.

These are all questions we have to answer.

We still have 156 games left and anything can happen.  This team has shown so far that it still has good bones.  It is a grind, a marathon.  But we know there were be more stormy seas ahead and it would be nice to know that there were lifeboats if we have more injuries and more uneven performances.

I have ultimate faith in our front office and our manager to work their magic again to keep bringing in the needed reinforcements.  Now we just have to have improved defense from Zunino, improved hitting from Bell, better performance overall from Gonzalez and an avoidance of situations that will result in short-term or long-term injuries.

All of what I said above are just platitudes and words without any substance of what to do.  I don't think they bring up Naylor now, although that is a play they must consdder.  I don't think they can continue with 5 catchers on the 40 man roster.  I think they need another hitter, either infielder or outfielder on their 26 man.

The rest of the season starts today.  Go Guardians!

Thoughts for a Tuesday

 If I had told you before the season started that two of our starting pitchers would have pitched 6+ innins of shutout ball each and we lost one of those games,  but that our other 3 starters would have gone 1 inning/6 runs, 3+ innings/4 runs and 4+ innings/5 runs, Ramirez and Bell didn't have an RBI through 5 games, what would you have thought our record was through 5 games.  Well, an optimist might have thought 3-2 but a pessimist would have thought 1-4.  I don't know if anyone would have thought 4-1 but that is where we are.  

The only problem after 5 games is that our bullpen has been taxed greatly.  Through 5 games Clase, Stephan, Morgan, De Los Santos and Karinchak have pitched 3 times and Sandlin and Herrin have pitched twice.  The other reliever, Curry, went 5 innings last night so he should, essentially, be treated as a starter and not be available for the next 5 days.    Remember that last year Clase pitched 77 times, less than 1/2 of the games...and he pitched more than anyone else (Stephan 66 games, De Los Santos 60 games (plus 4 in Columbus), Morgan 60 games.  Right now every reliever we have on the roster outside of Curry is on pace to come close to or exceed what Clase did last year.  

So, here is the problem, one that existed last winter and was not corrected.  We really should send Curry down unless we plan to have him start in Plesac's spot next time around.   However, there is no relief pitchers available on our 40-man to bring up.  If we wanted to add someone to the 40-man roster (like Daniel Norris) we have to DFA someone.  I am OK with DFAing Viloria and bringing up Freeman (or even Naylor) and then adding a guy who is not on the 40-man.  Last year we did this many times as we would bring a guy up for some short period and then DFA him and bring someone else we didn't worry about DFAing the next time.

But that is where we are at.  Only Sandlin and Herrin should really be pitching tonight and we currently have no one to go long relief if Beiber has a bad game.  That is, unless we tax people more than we already have.   It is a ticking time bomb and I don't see a reasonable way out of it for tonight.   

Plus, I don't want us to panic and DFA Palacios or Lavastida just for a short fix in the bullpen.

Finally, I don't want Francona to overtax Beiber just because we are short in the bullpen.  With his injury history I would rather overtax one of the relievers.  

So tonight if Beiber can give us 6 before he exceeds his pitch count limit than I go with Sandlin, Herrin and De Los Santos whether we have the lead or not.  Heck, if he gives us 5 innings I still go with the same relievers.

That's it for right now.  Time to finish the dishes and have my first MLB experience with a minor league game.  

Go Clippers!  Go Guardians!

After a weekend off the grid...

 1. The Guardians won their season-opening series against Seattle

The Guardians could have easily swept this series apart from Karinchak's implosion in the first game.  Still, a great series.  Let's look at the stats so far:

• Pitchers
• Civale and Beiber looked outstanding.  Gaddis looked as expected for a rookie trying to find his footing.  Quantrill had lots of problems.  Assuming he is not injured I am not worried about himself yet.  Remember his last outing in the spring was outstanding.
• Take away the first game outing by Karinchak and then bullpen has gone 14 innings (14.1 innings), given up 4 hits, 0 runs, walked 3 and struck out 22.   That is beyond outstanding.  It is almost other worldly.   This comes with a warning, though.  Two guys, De Los Santos and Stephan pitched in 3 of those 4 games and should not be available tonight.  Clase, Morgan, Sandlin and Karinchak pitched in 2 games a piece and Herrin pitched in one game, but in multiple innings.  If Plesac has an early exist today we are set up with Curry and Herrin to eat innings but, hopefully, none of the rest of the guys have to pitch in a blowout.  If it is a close game tonight it will tax our bullpen as some of Karinchak, Morgan, Morgan and Clase would be pitching in their third game in 5 days, which is not optimal.  Despite trying to win we don't want to burn out our bullpen this early in the season.
• Hitting
• No one except for Zunino has hit their stride yet.  
• Gonzalez looks really weak as he is not driving the ball with lift.  Just like in spring training he is not striking out much but isn't producing much hard contact.  Bell has gone all Juan Brito on us, making 6 times in 18 plate appearances.  Like Brito, however, he is not producing hard contact yet and is producing too many groundballs for being a power hitter.  Straw is also not showing much statistical improvement from last year but I like his approach at the plate better than the hitting-with-a-wet-noodle approach he employed last year.
• Everyone else has had his moments and, like the guys above it is hard to get a read using such a small sample size.  Let's just say that the production has not been exceptional by anyone so far and there is lots of room for guys to heat up as the season progresses.
• So far having one extra catcher has not come back to bite us but I am still afraid every game that it could.  We are walking a very fine line with 3 guys who have no other position than catcher.
• One final hitting note: Four games in and Bell, Gonzalez, Straw and Ramirez no RBIs in the first 4 games and we are STILL 3-1.  This bodes well for the future if these 4 guysjust  get to their career mean production.
• Defense
• Look, spring training can be a mirage on hitting as pitchers are 'working on stuff' or guys, in the middle innings, facing prospects instead of major league hitters.  It can be the same with pitching when the results are negative (yes, working on stuff) or positive (as teams clear their benches early to save their veterans).  However, the one place that, in my opinion, is a good measurement of what is real is catching the ball and throwing the ball.  Zunino looked really weak at blocking balls in spring training.  He looked very weak at throwing runners out trying to steal.  I don't think that is lost on Francona and two times already this season he has mentioned that he thinks Zunino will be better at blocking balls in the dirt and throwing out runners as the season progresses.  What we saw in spring training IS carrying over to the regular season.  
• Everything else in terms of fielding seems to be in line with what was going on in spring training and what we saw last year.

2. The Clippers got swept with a weird rotation

• The Guardians appear to be being very selective with their starting pitching prospects. 
• The first 3 starters were Konnor Pillington, bullpen game (Daniel Norris) and Adam Scott.  This has to be considered the weakest part of the rotation as the rotation for the next three games that are supposed to be played in warm weather, are Peyton Battenfield, Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee.  Looking at the current roster this looks like 'it' for the early season rotation.
• Due to injuries and the way guys were signed to minor league deals this off-season, the bullpen for Columbus is populated by minor league veterans.  Not to be all negatve but the two guys who were signed in the off-season who looked like they might have promise in the bullpen, Daniel Norris (pickup after being cut) and Touki Touissant have performed.  The rest of the AAAA bullpen should be solid during the season but I don't think any of those guys will ever see the majors.
• Looking forward to the first 3 games of the homestand with these 3 guys.  Given what saw from the first 3 games, not excited to see the pitching in the last 3 games of the series. Adam Scott was especially scary hitting 5 guys in less than 2 innings.  I just don't see, for the safety of the players on the other team, you can send Scott out there again if he has a second performance ANYTHING like the first one.  
• The hitting has been amazing.  
• Tyler Freeman looking like the prospect we all thought he would be all along
• Bo Naylor hitting the ground running in his second season in AAA, just like he did in his second season in AA last year.
• Micah Pries picking up wher he left off in ML spring training this year with a double and triple and a 1.050 OPS so far.
• Collins, though a AAAA guy, still being productive early with what he does best: hit.  Right now if Zunino, bite my tongue, goes on the 60-day DL, calling up Collins would not be the worst thing that could happen if we wanted to leave Bo Naylor at AAA to become more seasoned.
• On the downside
• Noel looks overmatched so far putting up a Bobby Bradley-esque 0-14 with 10 Ks.  I We will have to be patient with him as this is quite the push by the Guardians to start him at AAA this year.  I think he will really be challenged and, given that this is AAA, they should keep throwing him out there while be mindful to not let the kid bury himself mentally.
• Palacios, to me, looks like he is pressing.  I love the look of him as a right-handed leadoff hitter and giving him more reps there is a real positive not only for his value there but also his trade value ad #8 hitters in AAA don't generally have much value.
• Fry and Rocchio keeping their heads above water in this first series but expect improved production from each of these guys.
• Offense positioned well for the home opener on Tuesday as Columbus tends to be a hitters park.  Looking forward to seeing this 6-game homestand develop for the hitters

3. Looking forward to see what the minor league rosters look like and watching some Akron, Lake County and Lynchburg baseball coming this Thursday. Much more to conjecture on once we see the rosters and who the starting pitchers are.

Last Night's Opening Game

 Short post on this one.

Opening Lineup: Very interesting as Francona stacked his lineup in 3 lefties in order followed by two righties.  An examination of the Mariner's roster shows they have no lefties in their bullpen which makes, once again, Francona a genius.  

As far as the game:

• Very little offense.  
• Notable was Ramirez screwing himself into the ground trying to hit a pitch that almost hit him in the knee.  He is a great player but the fact that he keeps doing this year after year shows me that he is not maturing as a hitter.
• Bell hitting two weak groundballs before his hard groundball basehit which, last year, would have been an out.  So the lack of shift may help him.
• Castillo was tough.  Kwan worked the count in the first inning to the max but on the decisive pitch which Kwan excels at (last year .892 OPS with a full-count), Castillo got him to pop out in foul territory to third base.
• The rest of the lineup looked like they were facing a really tough pitcher.  Just one of those nights and not untypical for recent Cleveland teams on opening day.
• Pitching
• Bieber was supposed to be stronger this year.  Last night he looked like Bieber the 2022 version.  Struggling to get his velo over 91, working out of jams, looking like a great competitor.  And Frnacona kept his pitchcount reasonable.
• Stephan looked good
• De Los Santos looked great coming in in the middle of an inning.
• Karinchak sucked but, hopefully, that was an aberration and not a sign of things to come.

Tonight the rookie Gaddis pitching against the former Cy Young winner Robbie Ray.  Whenever things like that set up many times the result turns out to be the opposite of what you would expect.  Go Guardians!

Opening Day Roster, Options, 60-Day DL, 15-Day DL, 10-Day IL

As we approach the season, the terms in the title of this post become more important.  Here are some important details about each

1, Options 

All players, once on the 40-man roster, can be sent to the minors in 3 different years.  If they are sent to the minors in a 4th year they have to first be DFA'd meaning they could be lost to waivers.   Diving deeper into the rule a player can be optioned to the minors at any time but that option only takes effect on opening day and the player has to be in the minors for 20 days to burn that option year.  So, even though Xzavion Curry was optioned to the minors he did not stay in the minors for 20 days after being optioned and he was back on the roster at the start of the season.  For both reasons, Curry, who started the season with two options, still has those two options.  You can find those rules here: Minor League Options | Glossary .

For the Guardians, assuming the rest of the guys who were optioned to the minors STAY in the minors for the first 20 days after being optioned (includes spring training time after being optioned), here are the option years they have left after 2023 per the great article in "Covering the Corner" ( Guardians have plenty of options thanks to their plentiful options ) and adjusting their list for guys already optioned this year for guys currently on the 40-man roster are:

• Players with three options remaining: Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor, Oscar Gonzalez, Will Brennan, Zach Plesac, Emmanuel Clase, Trevor Stephan, Nick Sandlin, Tim Herrin, Cody Morris,
• Players with two options remaining: Juan Brito, Bo Naylor, Angel Martinez, Joey Cantillo, Andrés Giménez, Myles Straw, Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale, George Valera James Karinchak, Eli Morgan, Hunter Gaddis, Xzavion Curry
• Players with one option remaining: Richie Palacios, Bryan Lavastida, Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, Jose Tena, Jhonkensy Noel, Konnor Pilkington, Gabriel Arias and Triston McKenzie.
• Players with no options remaining or enough service time to become free agents: Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher, Meibrys Viloria, Enyel De Los Santos, Josh Bell, Jose Ramirez.

2. 60-Day DL, 15 Day DL, 10 Day IL

While a player can be placed on the 60 Day DL anytime after March 1st, the timeclock for that stay in the minors begins on opening day.  Unlike the 15 day (pitchers) and 10 Day (position players) lists, the 60 day DL is NOT retroactive to their last game played.  A player on the 60-day DL doesn't count against the active roster or the 40-man roster.  With Cody Morris, he won't be able to pitch in the majors until the beginning of June.  He can go the minors for rehab which, I think, can last from 2 weeks to 30 days at which time he either has to be placed ont he roster or optioned to the minors, if he has options left. 

Apparently McKenzie, Hentges and Valera are not being placed on the 60 day DL but are on the shorter lists, which explains why Valera still has two options left.  Once these three come off the DL they will have to, after going on a rehab assignment either be added to the major league roster or optioned to the minors.   This is why you don't use the 60-day DL unless you absolutely needs to.  If McKenzie, Valera and Hentges are suppposed to come back BEFORE 60 days then you lose their services for longer than necessary with a 60-day DL placement.   Players can be moved from the 15 or 10 Day lists to the 60 day list and the time served on the shorter lists does count against the 60 day limit so making that move on these two guys later, if necessary, makes more sense.

NOTE: Valera does not appear to be on the IL and has been sent to Columbus, essentially burning one of his options.  Probably a reason for this but I don't understand it as he remains on the 40-man (as opposed to being on the 60-day DL) in addition to burning an option.  

3. Opening Day Roster

The real drama here was how they would make space for Gallagher and Viloria.  As expected, Jason Bilous was DFA'd and the other spot came from a 60-Day DL, although I though it might be George Valera and not Cody Morris.  Obviously Hentges and Valera could still be transferred to the 60 day list depending on how their rehab is going.  My guess would be that Viloria would be DFA'd if we needed to bring up a pitcher from Columbus who is not on the 40-man right now (Battenfield?  Marman?).

OK, people.  Time to play ball for real.  Go Guardians!