2023 Guardians Spring Training Thread

[bob2the2nd]

So the answer is no?

 

[Benway]

So the answer is no?

That there's a meme-grade dusting.

 

[KluberSociety]

What team would want him for 3B? I'm struggling to think of one.

Mets, Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays... a lot of that depends on if some prospects flame out but there will likely be a hole somewhere. Then again there will also be free agents. But I think someone like Rosario is a good hole-plugger who you hope can play in a few other positions and provide some offense against lefties.

There is no real free agent class for 3B in 2024. Matt Chapman and everyone else.

 

[CDAV45]

Mets, Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays... a lot of that depends on if some prospects flame out but there will likely be a hole somewhere. Then again there will also be free agents. But I think someone like Rosario is a good hole-plugger who you hope can play in a few other positions and provide some offense against lefties.

There is no real free agent class for 3B in 2024. Matt Chapman and everyone else.

The Mets can sort through Baty, Vientos, Guillorme and Escobar for 3B. Donaldson, LeMahieu and Cabrera seem to be the Yankees' options unless they give Volpe some reps there. Chapman, Espinal and Biggio have 3B covered pretty good for the Blue Jays. The Rangers, who love big boppers wouldn't want Rosario if they needed a 3B. Jung will get most of the AB there and they could give some of those reps to Seager or Semien as well.

This is just my opinion, but the best fits for Amed are possible playoff teams looking for a short term SS and both the LA teams could be fits. I don't know how they actually feel about Amed though. I don't think his profile is very attractive to a large portion of the league. Especially playoff caliber teams. I can't express how badly I hope I'm wrong.

 

[KluberSociety]

The Mets can sort through Baty, Vientos, Guillorme and Escobar for 3B. Donaldson, LeMahieu and Cabrera seem to be the Yankees' options unless they give Volpe some reps there. Chapman, Espinal and Biggio have 3B covered pretty good for the Blue Jays. The Rangers, who love big boppers wouldn't want Rosario if they needed a 3B. Jung will get most of the AB there and they could give some of those reps to Seager or Semien as well.

This is just my opinion, but the best fits for Amed are possible playoff teams looking for a short term SS and both the LA teams could be fits. I don't know how they actually feel about Amed though. I don't think his profile is very attractive to a large portion of the league. Especially playoff caliber teams. I can't express how badly I hope I'm wrong.

I'm talking about 2024 season in the context of being signed for free agent money. Most of these names will either be seen as busts/semi-busts or FA by then.

If he were to be traded now or especially mid-season it would be likely to play SS as it doesn't make sense to try to teach someone a new position to play a season or less.

 

[Gson]

-Both LA teams (Dodgers and Angels) have at least two catchers in their minor league system at different degrees of readiness for ML action.
-Both LA teams' best or #1 prospects are catchers....
-Amed, alone, isn't enough to deal for either teams' best catching prospects...
-Amed, alone, is probably worth more than both teams next best catching prospect..

An argument can be made that:

-adding Amed to one of the Guardian's better prospects for one the LA teams best prospect catcher while moving one of the many middle infielders into Amed's vacated spot would make the Guardians better in 2023 and beyond than keeping Amed and one of the Guardians better prospects..

That is, it's not really much of an argument not to consider the deal given the current circumstances..

 

[CATS44]

Amed offers something that ownership values highly...consistency.

You have a strong idea of what you are gonna get, and you have a very good chance of getting it at least 150 games a year.

Owners value cost certainty for production certainty.

 

[PocketMonger]

Amed is the baseball equivalent of Alex Smith. Decent starter and finding a realistic, cost effective upgrade is a lot harder than you think. You can always do better than him but you can always do worse.

 

[Benway]

How many MLB Shortstops are guaranteed to:

a: be decent in the field
b: play every damned game
c: bat around .290
d: run the bases like a scalded dog
e: make everybody on the team love them
f: have lots of analytical drawbacks that make nerds So uncomfortable

 

[KluberSociety]

How many MLB Shortstops are guaranteed to:

a: be decent in the field
b: play every damned game
c: bat around .290
d: run the bases like a scalded dog
e: make everybody on the team love them
f: have lots of analytical drawbacks that make nerds So uncomfortable

Nobody on Cleveland's roster...

 

[CDAV45]

I'm ready to ride or die with Arias at SS and Brennan in CF. Neither are likely to happen at the beginning of the season so it is what it is.

 

[sportscoach]

I'm ready to ride or die with Arias at SS and Brennan in CF. Neither are likely to happen at the beginning of the season so it is what it is.

If Straw and Amed hit, neither is going to happen at all this season...

 

[Wham with the Right Hand]

I was just looking at mlb.com's Guardians' top 30 prospects list.

Guardians Top Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

www.mlb.com

What jumped out at me is that 9 of the top 11 show an arrival date of 2023. It's not like most of our best prospects are 2-4 years away. The only ones who will definitely not be an option this season are Angel Martinez (2024) and Chase DeLauter (2025). The rest are already at AAA or will be to start this year (assuming Espino, Williams, and Bibee start at AAA).

Not only is our roster set except for the backup catcher and last bullpen position, but we have a horde of excellent prospects who are just being finished off, or may be finished off already in the case of Brennan and Arias.

Freeman isn't even on the list and he's not on the Fangraphs list either. Do they consider him a major leaguer after just 77 at-bats last year? I consider him to be a prospect. If you include him in the top 10 somewhere it's 10 of our top 12 prospects who are either ready or almost there.

Fangraphs is less optimistic, showing just 5 of the top 10 arriving this year. They don't show Gavin Williams arriving until 2025. I wonder if they are basing their dates on anticipated openings in the Guardians' rotation as current starters reach free agency, or if they think Williams needs two more years in the minors.

In any event we're going to have a roster crunch coming soon as other posters have repeatedly pointed out. And the Clippers should be loaded this year.

Does this mean the Guardians may be less inclined to trade Rosario assuming they are in contention? Do they really need another prospect? They already have way more than they have spots for.

If Bo Naylor is struggling in Columbus and they can get a better catching prospect for Rosario and one of our blocked prospects then that deal would make sense, although you hate to bring in a rookie shortstop in mid-season when you're going for the World Series (or move Gimenez to short). But moving Gimenez up to the 2-hole would be a good move, IMO.

 

[sportscoach]

I was just looking at mlb.com's Guardians' top 30 prospects list.

Guardians Top Prospects

The Official Site of Major League Baseball

www.mlb.com

What jumped out at me is that 9 of the top 11 show an arrival date of 2023. It's not like most of our best prospects are 2-4 years away. The only ones who will definitely not be an option this season are Angel Martinez (2024) and Chase DeLauter (2025). The rest are already at AAA or will be to start this year (assuming Espino, Williams, and Bibee start at AAA).

Not only is our roster set except for the backup catcher and last bullpen position, but we have a horde of excellent prospects who are just being finished off, or may be finished off already in the case of Brennan and Arias.

Freeman isn't even on the list and he's not on the Fangraphs list either. Do they consider him a major leaguer after just 77 at-bats last year? I consider him to be a prospect. If you include him in the top 10 somewhere it's 10 of our top 12 prospects who are either ready or almost there.

Fangraphs is less optimistic, showing just 5 of the top 10 arriving this year. They don't show Gavin Williams arriving until 2025. I wonder if they are basing their dates on anticipated openings in the Guardians' rotation as current starters reach free agency, or if they think Williams needs two more years in the minors.

In any event we're going to have a roster crunch coming soon as other posters have repeatedly pointed out. And the Clippers should be loaded this year.

Does this mean the Guardians may be less inclined to trade Rosario assuming they are in contention? Do they really need another prospect? They already have way more than they have spots for.

If Bo Naylor is struggling in Columbus and they can get a better catching prospect for Rosario and one of our blocked prospects then that deal would make sense, although you hate to bring in a rookie shortstop in mid-season when you're going for the World Series (or move Gimenez to short). But moving Gimenez up to the 2-hole would be a good move, IMO.

Williams, Bibee and Espino will all start at AA and be there for like half the season. The team likes to get starters about 20ish starts there. All of them should have a 24 ETA, but could be sooner if injuries happen. Allen has a 23 ETA...

Freeman isn't considered a prospect anymore since he spent to much time on the big league club in 22. They go by days on the big league roster not innings...

 

[CATS44]

Out of 22 qualified shortstops in MLB last season, Amed was ranked....

FIRST in UZR.
10th in DRS.
10th in FP.

In spite of the insistence otherwise, that's decent.

Amed suffers the same way Peralta did. Just because they weren't/aren't the beloved defensive wizards that they followed doesn't mean they weren't/aren't solid defensive players themselves.