2022 Cleveland Guardians Regular Season Thread

[Urban]

If he were here back in 2018, you know exactly what his take would've been during Jose's slump.

Best to just ignore the reactionaries and let them continue to show us all how stupid they are with each increasingly asinine post.

Yes, I thought about making that comparison but didn't think it was totally fair since Jose is on another level. I do remember one particular poster who was adamant that Jose would never return to form and oddly enough we haven't seen or heard from him since Jose returned to form.

With all this said, with the benefit of hindsight, I think it's fair to second guess the extension considering Straw was still under contract for 4 more seasons and hits for little to no power. However, to call a 5 yr $25m contract an albatross is certainly one way to look at it.

With all this said, to reiterate from my last post "Great defense, great speed, walks at a 10%+ rate, strikeouts out at a <20% rate. I think he'll end up being fine." Setting the bar low, the guy can hit .220 going forward he'll still be a 2+ WAR player because he does everything else pretty well.

 

[daddywags]

"If he can hit .220 going forward" could be said about Clement, Miller, and any one of our catchers. Sadly.

But I agree with Urban re: Straw.

 

[Urban]

"If he can hit .220 going forward" could be said about Clement, Miller, and any one of our catchers. Sadly.

But I agree with Urban re: Straw.

Yeah but none of those guys have all of these 4 attributes. The guys you mention only have 1. 2 tops.

10%+ walk rate
<20% strikeout rate
elite defense at a premium position
elite speed/baserunning (ignoring yesterday)

Straw can still be very valuable to this team producing at a below average rate at the plate. He's currently in the gutter.

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Yes, I thought about making that comparison but didn't think it was totally fair since Jose is on another level. I do remember one particular poster who was adamant that Jose would never return to form and oddly enough we haven't seen or heard from him since Jose returned to form.

With all this said, with the benefit of hindsight, I think it's fair to second guess the extension considering Straw was still under contract for 4 more seasons and hits for little to no power. However, to call a 5 yr $25m contract an albatross is certainly one way to look at it.

With all this said, to reiterate from my last post "Great defense, great speed, walks at a 10%+ rate, strikeouts out at a <20% rate. I think he'll end up being fine." Setting the bar low, the guy can hit .220 going forward he'll still be a 2+ WAR player because he does everything else pretty well.

I just want Straw to get on base over a third of the time. If he can combine that with his elite defense and great speed, he's well worth the money and a nice 9 hole hitter who can set the table for the top of the order.

I think going Straw in CF makes a defensive specialist catcher difficult to stomach. As much as I appreciate the defense historically from guys like Hedges, it's difficult to stomach those bats back to back at the bottom of the order.

 

[PPark]

Club is 4-8 since Austin Hedges went down

 

[CDAV45]

Why did they claim Mercado?

 

[thestatman]

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."

As good as this front office is at drafting, trading and developing, they are really bad at admitting mistakes when they make them to a point that it is beyond painful. It took them over 3 years to realize Bourn and Swisher were mistakes. It took them 3 years to finally realize Jake Bauers was a horrible mistake. It took them 4 years to figure out that Zimmer was a horrible mistake. Apparently they can't accept that the Mercado trade was a horrible mistake. There are many other examples I could cite. Now we have Straw here for 5 million per year and you can bank on him blocking real players for several years to come.

 

[Real Deal]

Club is 4-8 since Austin Hedges went down

But we are 4-15 in the last 19

 

[sportscoach]

Why did they claim Mercado?

I was hoping to platoon with Jones... Maybe just have a RH OF bat until OGonz is back?

 

[Out of the Rafters at the Q]

Why did they claim Mercado?

I was hoping to platoon with Jones... Maybe just have a RH OF bat until OGonz is back?

Because Gonzalez went down? Like, how is this even a question? It's pretty freaking obvious for anyone who is paying even the slightest bit of attention. Cmon man.

If it weren't for Mercado, who else would be our everyday Oscar?

 

[CDAV45]

Because Gonzalez went down? Like, how is this even a question? It's pretty freaking obvious for anyone who is paying even the slightest bit of attention. Cmon man.

If it weren't for Mercado, who else would be our everyday Oscar?

I guess I should have thought about that ahead of time. You can't replace Oscar with someone not named Oscar. WTF was I thinking?

 

[PPark]

But we are 4-15 in the last 19

7-12 over the last 19 games.

18-10 in June
1-5 in July

 

[Gson]

I guess I should have thought about that ahead of time. You can't replace Oscar with someone not named Oscar. WTF was I thinking?

You were thinking?.. when did this malady begin?.. are you seeing a doctor ?...

 

[CDAV45]

You were thinking?.. when did this malady begin?.. are you seeing a doctor ?...

Grinding gears baby!

 

[buzzdog]

Slumps will happen, that's always been part of baseball and it always will be. But for a team constructed the way the Guardians are the margin for error is real slim. Hitting slumps can be weathered out if pitching and defense are immaculate, just as great hitting can overcome some pitching defects.

Right now we have a problem with focus, and it's across the board. Bonehead fielding, baserunning, and throwing errors are coming from different players at different times and many of those mental/focus errors make the difference between winning and losing. We're slumping at the plate so we can't overcome a few runs here and a few runs there that could have been prevented with solid execution of fundamentals.

I get it, our schedule is absolutely brutal right now. We have the youngest roster in MLB by a lot, and these players have never had to go through this kind of a grind. Tito doesn't have any rabbits he can pull out of a hat to shake things up, that has to come from the front office IMO.

You can call it whining if you want, I don't think it's unreasonable to expect some action by the front office to inject a little offensive talent into this roster without sacrificing the future. This team has over-performed beyond any and all expectations and so far the front office's plan for the season has been an incredible success. But now is the time when they either show confidence in this current group, or sit on their hands and punt away the second half of the season.

Anything the front office can do to show they have expectations of competing for a playoff berth would have a pretty strong psychological effect on the roster. Players aren't stupid. Just like the fans, they notice when the lineup sends up one weak batter after another, game after game. You can see hopelessness set in with the overall body language, even with someone like Jose. But just as fast as hopelessness sets in, it can turn around as well. A spark can set off a fire, and good hitters can break out of slumps as a group. I'd like to see the front office do something, anything, to try to provide any kind of a spark. That's all.