Benway
Cultural Obstacle
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Flounder!The Whale?
Flounder!The Whale?
The reasons the Guardians are having to "punt" games is because 1) they had so many rainouts in the first half that they have no off days (they played four fewer games than the Twins by the break), and 2) Civale is out.Yeah, we need the pitching factory to really take their stride next year, the placeholders aren't keeping it up. Reason for our treadmill of mediocrity. I'm not shaming the entire organization. I think we are allowed to vent on the amount of punted games in a 1-2 game division race.
Owen Miller at 1B or DH is a WTF anymore too
Hoynes had this in his column this morning:Hopefully, it gets better with Quant and McK. I know some were being sarcastic (not really Globetrotters vs Generals) and it is only 2 games in a long season. But, it does show somethings I hope we all can agree on
1) We are extremely lucky to be in the Central and thus in competition for the division playoff slot (and outside chance at last slot of a 3rd WC but more competition for that)
Yes, we are 2-1 vs TB and Balt but now 1-4 vs Hous and 1-5 vs NY and 2-5 vs Bos (haven't played Seattle).
2) We were not 1-2 players away from being a real contender -- as many have said, window is open around 2024 (after some current guys get some seasoning) and we get more and better pitching like Espino, Williams, Bibee, Allen, Burns vs Gaddis (who can be a really good 2 pitch reliever with better FB placement vs 5th starter for other teams - one game does not define him but his 2 quality pitches now does).
3) Thus going after someone this year would have just wasted assets at the cost of getting a Mancini when we really have a shot. Even though some don't like rankings (as they are purely subjective), but for sake of an argument, let's say a real good rental costs 2 guys around 8th-14th slot (where Johnson and McDermott slotted in for Mancini). If you try to win for an extended window 5+ years, you can be giving up on maybe 10 or many more top 15 type prospects (where do they all come from in the end when you really have a shot)? Thus, reason Cle is focusing on a 2024-2026 type window
4) When we are in the window, the NY, LA, Sea, Hous, and others have shown, it is no longer get a Jay Bruce type guy to put you over the top but you need to fill 2 or more positions (Miller, EE and LuCroy if that trade happened)-- thus, you need to have the ammo stored in your farm system as we don't have $$$ to buy FAs like they do either.
5) As others have pointed out, we wanted to trade a Tena or others for a good player this year because we have too many prospects. Not really, if we lose anyone now in Rule 5 this year it will be a reliever like Miko, Misiaszek, Santos (I had a Gaddis/Benson as last one off before their addition to 40 man). Do these players/relievers have as much value as a Jones, Tena, Burns or others that we need for trades when the window really opens? I don't think so (a 30th rank prospect is less than 1/2 value of guys we would have traded this year in Tena/Burns/ect).
Yes, the rich got richer at trade deadline and we would have gotten poorer in farm talent without much hope other than beating Minni to get a 3-game playoff series vs a Tor or Sea.
The guys who are available now (McCarty, Pilkington, Gaddis) are not of the same quality as we got a couple of years ago and we hopefully have coming in a year or two. So for now we just have to hope for fewer rainouts and no injuries to the rotation.
Hoynes, like always is FULL OF SHIT..Hoynes had this in his column this morning:
[The Guardians] could have optioned Jones or Will Benson to the minors when Gonzalez was activated, but they optioned veteran DH Franmil Reyes instead. The message was clear. They’re going to evaluate their young players regardless of what impact it has on an AL Central race they clearly have a chance to win.
They need to find out a lot more about guys like Benson, Gonzalez, Palacios, and Jones since they have a crunch coming in the outfield. They already DFA'd Call, although I suppose he could be back if he clears waivers. They DFA'd Mercado and although he's back at Columbus I get the sense he is not in their plans. They are making decisions.
Moving Benson to first base would help, but that would push Naylor to DH and Franmil off the team. Are they ready to essentially swap Franmil for Benson?
I agree we won't be a contender until the next wave of starting pitchers arrives (and Bo Naylor and George Valera). I don't see this team being competitive with the Yankees and Astros with Civale, Plesac, and Quantrill in the rotation, unless Quantrill is the #5.
I don’t know how one say can they weren’t going to win the division or go anywhere in the playoffs. The 1997 team won 86 games and came within a double-play of winning the World Championship.Hoynes had this in his column this morning:
[The Guardians] could have optioned Jones or Will Benson to the minors when Gonzalez was activated, but they optioned veteran DH Franmil Reyes instead. The message was clear. They’re going to evaluate their young players regardless of what impact it has on an AL Central race they clearly have a chance to win.
They need to find out a lot more about guys like Benson, Gonzalez, Palacios, and Jones since they have a crunch coming in the outfield. They already DFA'd Call, although I suppose he could be back if he clears waivers. They DFA'd Mercado and although he's back at Columbus I get the sense he is not in their plans. They are making decisions.
Moving Benson to first base would help, but that would push Naylor to DH and Franmil off the team. Are they ready to essentially swap Franmil for Benson?
I agree we won't be a contender until the next wave of starting pitchers arrives (and Bo Naylor and George Valera). I don't see this team being competitive with the Yankees and Astros with Civale, Plesac, and Quantrill in the rotation, unless Quantrill is the #5.
Was just about to say the same thingHe’s not though.
Hoynes, like always is FULL OF SHIT..
Hard to know what you don't know......ya know.I find it odd that people blame the front office for not trading for players that weren't traded during the deadline, and insist that the price to acquire them would have been low.
Is it possible that, now hear me out, those teams didn't want to trade away those players? Or, maybe, that they entertained the phone call but the asking price was too high? It's crazy I know, but considering the leaks we have that the team was willing to move players for vets that would've helped this year, this idea that the front office was never willing to trade any prospects away seems foolish at best.
Trey Mancini would have been a nice pickup.I find it odd that people blame the front office for not trading for players that weren't traded during the deadline, and insist that the price to acquire them would have been low.
Is it possible that, now hear me out, those teams didn't want to trade away those players? Or, maybe, that they entertained the phone call but the asking price was too high? It's crazy I know, but considering the leaks we have that the team was willing to move players for vets that would've helped this year, this idea that the front office was never willing to trade any prospects away seems foolish at best.
Fangraphs has him swinging at pitches in the strike zone just 56.4% of the time. He's taking a ton of strikes.Too early, too, to tell about Jones. But if he is gonna try to make his living by waiting for MLB pitchers to walk him, he will be eaten alive. He started off with a bang, but it didn't last long, and he has been protected against lefties. In some ways, a Naquin comparison is fair. Naquin came up hot, in part because Tito protected him from lefties.