2022 Cleveland Guardians Regular Season Thread

Mott the Hoople said:

Just thinking after watching an average AAA pitcher totally shut down the G's in his MLB debut.,,,,

Changes need to be made to the offense for sure. I'm not too worried about the pitching. The G's seem to find pitchers when they need them.

Most people would agree we are weak at C and OF right now. However, those positions might be filled next season by Valera and Bo Naylor. (But I don't expect them to come north right after next spring training).
But I also think we have a glaring need at 1B. I have never seen as many balls get passed our 1B as have gotten past this season. God bless Josh Naylor, but he's just not too agile over there. Josh would be a great DH.

I wonder what it would take to get Ryan Mountcastle from the Orioles. If you have to pay a heavy price, I might be more interested in Mountcastle than Reynolds. Wouldn't it be nice to have a 6'4" RH power hitting 1B? He can also play LF.

If they want young players - we've got 'em.

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I will answer this one in GM thread here in a second.... Orioles want pitching though...

Is that Chris Valaika guy still the hitting coach? Did he go on vacation?

Indians number one draft pick 2 years ago is now hitting 324 at triple A with several homers. The 3 pieces of shit they parade out there can't even smell the Mendoza line. Concerned about playing enough? You play Bo virtually every day. Problem solved. 21 year olds have no problem in coming up for Tampa, Detroit (saw 2 of them today), Seattle, Baltimore, Toronto and many other teams as well. And then you have another former number 1 pick hitting grand slams and batting 340 in triple A. Is he up here? Hell no. They resign Mercado and his buck ninety two shit. And then there is Brennan. How many teams in baseball would let him rot in triple A with those numbers? Not many. Instead die hard fans get to watch in horror as we hone in watching Ernie Clement in left field, or Mercado in left field and Myles Straw in center.. Over the past 15 games or so, this team is scoring 2.5 runs a game. The double A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. The triple A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. It's time for management to end the bullshit and start playing to win games.

So the front office went the cheap route during the off season except for signing Jose, who came at a bargain price. It was actually a successful strategy up to this point of the season. We've identified some young talent and those guys have gotten tons of playing time. But not everyone seems to be ready or up to the challenge.

Now the team is in contention at the start of July, but struggling badly in the batter's box.

Why can't they make one or 2 moves to bring in some hitters? They apparently have a lot of depth and talent in the minor league pipeline.

So for those who want to see a major overhaul in our roster, there are a few things to consider. First, it will happen, but not right now.

Right now, you have to think of roster flexibility with 5 next 40-man cuts are Leon, Mercado, Young, Clement and Castro in some order like this. And, at some point, they will need to add Morris, Vargas from 60-day DL and Battenfield/McCarty as 7th starter when needed (3 additions to 5 possible cuts).

But, why not add

1) Jones over Mercado -- maybe they see Oscar G injury as 10-day quick recovery where they are using Mercado as a place holder. Brennan would need a valuable 40-man slot (when we got a lot of shuffling as is). Jones may not be ready (or be pushed) due to his back to play everyday or DHs due to his back issues that delayed his start of season even though he is playing almost every day in Columbus (but Mondays) now.

2) Naylor over Leon -- again 40 man spot and 10-days for concussion is longer term than they probably thought. Plus, they may have done it with Lavastida, if healthy, but Naylor may need some more development (plus needs confidence this year w bat is giving him versus constant push and struggles before now).

3) Arias/Freeman over Clement -- we saw Arias struggles with recovery from broken hand, he needs more time. Freeman, would come into a crowded right side at 2nd with Gimenez and Miller in front of him. He needs regular time. Plus, Miller is only other 3B w/o Clement if Ramirez is still struggling with his thumb and needs time off during this long stretch of games. But, Miller has only done 4 inn there this year and 34 last year -- not even a short-term sub if needed.

4) Pen maybe getting over used. I have seen some start to struggle. Tito is constantly reshuffling guys back and forth from AAA. Kar/Sandlin/Young/Castro shuttle is going to be around for a bit with Gose on IL. Thus, it is hard to cut those spots as there is no other depth in AAA (other than Miko who will first be given the spot of Young or Castro (still need those 9th/10th pen spots whether young or Miko).

So, why not add Brennan, Benson, Tolman, Naylor .... because there are really only 2 flexible sports Leon and Mercado and we need them for Vargas, Morris and 7th starter (Battenfield/McCarty 4.0).

I hate these posts that are premised on the idea that roster spots are hard to come by. We've got 4 roster spots tied up in Luke Maile, Sandy Leon, Myles Straw, and Oscar Mercado. Are you kidding me? The idea that any decision we make must navigate a number crunch for roster spots is literally preposterous.

Every player I just named should have been waived yesterday. I'm sure you will tell me that Straw has 5 years guaranteed at $25 million. Before you tell me that, however, you have to admit that was the worst FA signing for this franchise since Nick Swisher. Because if you can't admit that first, you clearly aren't unbiased enough to discuss the issue further. Then, only once you have admitted that threshold point, you need to tell us how many of those 5 years we must endure before we simply admit the obvious--it was a mistake. That's OK. Everyone makes them. But don't compound this mistake by clinging to this JAG any longer than you have to. He is Leonys Martin. Buy Straw out, package him with one of our elite young players like a Nolan Jones to a team willing to take on the contract like they do in the NBA/NFL as a salary dump, DFA him. I don't care what you do. But he is atrocious.

Finally, I just hope this franchise isn't burden by this board's prevailing sentiment that what must be done eventually should not be done immediately. You don't need to wait 4 more weeks or 2 more weeks or 2 more games to promote Naylor or Benson/Brennan or Freeman/Jones. We were tied for the division lead like a week ago. Now we're 3.5 games back. Turn around this slide by injecting some life into this clubhouse (life it has sorely lacked since our last rookie to come up, OGOATZ got injured mind you) and purge the roster of the underperforming garbage while you still have a chance. We'll be out of the hunt by the time we wait until whatever BS arbitrary deadline you had in your mind for the next waive of rookies to be "ready."

DickyLeftridge said:

I hate these posts that are premised on the idea that roster spots are hard to come by. We've got 4 roster spots tied up in Luke Maile, Sandy Leon, Myles Straw, and Oscar Mercado. Are you kidding me? The idea that any decision we make must navigate a number crunch for roster spots is literally preposterous.

Every player I just named should have been waived yesterday. I'm sure you will tell me that Straw has 5 years guaranteed at $25 million. Before you tell me that, however, you have to admit that was the worst FA signing for this franchise since Nick Swisher. Because if you can't admit that first, you clearly aren't unbiased enough to discuss the issue further. Then, only once you have admitted that threshold point, you need to tell us how many of those 5 years we must endure before we simply admit the obvious--it was a mistake. That's OK. Everyone makes them. But don't compound this mistake by clinging to this JAG any longer than you have to. He is Leonys Martin. Buy Straw out, package him with one of our elite young players like a Nolan Jones to a team willing to take on the contract like they do in the NBA/NFL as a salary dump, DFA him. I don't care what you do. But he is atrocious.

Finally, I just hope this franchise isn't burden by this board's prevailing sentiment that what must be done eventually should not be done immediately. You don't need to wait 4 more weeks or 2 more weeks or 2 more games to promote Naylor or Benson/Brennan or Freeman/Jones. We were tied for the division lead like a week ago. Now we're 3.5 games back. Turn around this slide by injecting some life into this clubhouse (life it has sorely lacked since our last rookie to come up, OGOATZ got injured mind you) and purge the roster of the underperforming garbage while you still have a chance. We'll be out of the hunt by the time we wait until whatever BS arbitrary deadline you had in your mind for the next waive of rookies to be "ready."

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First off, a bit of an overreaction here...

Straw gets a long leash, for better or for worse, so let's see how he finishes the season/see if they give him a short minor league stint.

Though we are all ready for a change, Arias was sent down, which means they got to make some changes in the roster. I am hoping for Miller and Palacios down, while Freeman and Jones up. I want to see Jones and Freeman for the next couple weeks.

Also if Naylor actually has an injury, I think we have to DFA Mercado again... I am thinking we need to add Brooks to the 40 man to play 1B. He is more of a depth piece type, but has been good at taking walks and looks to be our best 1B defensively...

Remember the quote from Asst GM about the kids ... We wants to win ... but with them we think we can win in the playoffs too as they develop ..

They are not just going to promote any Dick or Jane because some anonymous poster wants them to. They want to win this year but not at the cost of rushing people up or over spending our prospect depth.

Mercado is who Mercado is ... a 10-day or so fill in that is just around to fill a spot and create roster flexibility till the real Oscar is healthy enough.

petes999 said:

Remember the quote from Asst GM about the kids ... We wants to win ... but with them we think we can win in the playoffs too as they develop ..

They are not just going to promote any Dick or Jane because some anonymous poster wants them to. They want to win this year but not at the cost of rushing people up or over spending our prospect depth.

Mercado is who Mercado is ... a 10-day or so fill in that is just around to fill a spot and create roster flexibility till the real Oscar is healthy enough.

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Who knew that our former first round picks, Will Benson, Bo Naylor, Nolan Jones, and our hottest hitter in the organization, Will Brennan, are still just "any Dick or Jane" to this organization while having their best career seasons for this organization. Very interesting information, bub. Thanks.

And it is not an overreaction at all to say that Straw is our worst signing since Nick Swisher and that he should be cut, traded, or otherwise moved off this roster ASAP. He never could hit. He was always just a Zimmer. But the org fell in love with him because they were able to trade a jag reliever for him and double-down on patting themselves on the back for that epic score by offering him $25 million guaranteed two weeks into his first full season with us. It was a horrible, horrible move. Are we really just supposed to deal with it for the next 5 years? If not all 5, then how many? 3 more years of this? 2 more years of this? What must be done eventually should be done immediately. Rip the bandaid off and move on. I am quite, quite confident we have enough of a prospect surplus that we could throw in a blocked MIF and a pitcher or two to make this guy someone else's problem. Nolan Jones or Tyler Freeman, XZavion Curry, and Straw's contract to the first team to say yes. I wouldn't lose a bit of sleep. And if you think that the value of Jones/Curry to this organization is more than the $20+ million they would save us in this scenario, I'd love you to explain to us how.

I'm right, as usual. Stop fighting it and just listen to some plain old common sense.

thestatman said:

Indians number one draft pick 2 years ago is now hitting 324 at triple A with several homers. The 3 pieces of shit they parade out there can't even smell the Mendoza line. Concerned about playing enough? You play Bo virtually every day. Problem solved. 21 year olds have no problem in coming up for Tampa, Detroit (saw 2 of them today), Seattle, Baltimore, Toronto and many other teams as well. And then you have another former number 1 pick hitting grand slams and batting 340 in triple A. Is he up here? Hell no. They resign Mercado and his buck ninety two shit. And then there is Brennan. How many teams in baseball would let him rot in triple A with those numbers? Not many. Instead die hard fans get to watch in horror as we hone in watching Ernie Clement in left field, or Mercado in left field and Myles Straw in center.. Over the past 15 games or so, this team is scoring 2.5 runs a game. The double A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. The triple A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. It's time for management to end the bullshit and start playing to win games.

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Our #1 draft pick 2 years ago has a .397 OPS in A ball right now.

thestatman said:

Indians number one draft pick 2 years ago is now hitting 324 at triple A with several homers. The 3 pieces of shit they parade out there can't even smell the Mendoza line. Concerned about playing enough? You play Bo virtually every day. Problem solved. 21 year olds have no problem in coming up for Tampa, Detroit (saw 2 of them today), Seattle, Baltimore, Toronto and many other teams as well. And then you have another former number 1 pick hitting grand slams and batting 340 in triple A. Is he up here? Hell no. They resign Mercado and his buck ninety two shit. And then there is Brennan. How many teams in baseball would let him rot in triple A with those numbers? Not many. Instead die hard fans get to watch in horror as we hone in watching Ernie Clement in left field, or Mercado in left field and Myles Straw in center.. Over the past 15 games or so, this team is scoring 2.5 runs a game. The double A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. The triple A team is 12 games over 500 for a reason. It's time for management to end the bullshit and start playing to win games.

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@thestatman

For the pedantic and condescending forum participants.. in future postings, you should identify the 324 hitting prospect in AAA ( Noah Bo Naylor)...

Otherwise you're going to get a response that can only show how shallow & important it is for other posters to show how smart they THINK they are.. they're not.. but that's another issue....

Straw probably starts for 3-4 teams in baseball, if that. The Astros traded him because they understood he can be easily replaced.

Straw ranks 29th at his position in obp

Buxton ranks 28th but he has 22 HRs to make up for it

There's literally nothing else he does in the box. We don't have hitting across the board to balance out his nothing on the table but defense play style.

Real Deal said:

Straw probably starts for 3-4 teams in baseball, if that. The Astros traded him because they understood he can be easily replaced.

Straw ranks 29th at his position in obp

Buxton ranks 28th but he has 22 HRs to make up for it

There's literally nothing else he does in the box. We don't have hitting across the board to balance out his nothing on the table but defense play style.

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He makes a good 4th OFer, defensive replacement, pinch runner.

He is literally the worst hitter in all of baseball. 5 years $25 million. And he promptly thanked us by pouting yesterday in Game 1. What was anyone thinking. Get this guy out of here.

DickyLeftridge said:

And he promptly thanked us by pouting yesterday in Game 1.

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lol

Emo ass fans.