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2024 Guardians Regular Season Thread
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sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
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I'd say advantage Cleveland in that first series when it comes to starting pitching, but that's actually not a horrible rotation...
.gif "Celb (7) :celb (7):")
.gif "Celb (14) :celb (14):")
Its gonna be an interesting season, because this team could go one of two ways. It could pull a 2022 and be the talk of baseball. It also could take us back to pre Tito.
IF the starting five hold up for the entire season (highly doubtful, esp since one is already down), and IF the pen is healthy (even more doubtful, since several are already down), the Guards will win the division.
If those IFs don't materialize, its gonna be a long season with a lot of sell off.
Some things to consider...
1) There are always exceptions, but rookie managers don't win. Rookie managers of extremely young teams get clobbered.
2) For those that are looking forward to inserting kids, like Manzardo, Delauter, and Martinez, into the lineup, a lot of the kids you used to look forward to have to fail big time.
3) Position wise, we have six MLB players...
JRam
Gimenez
Nails
Kwan
Laureano
Hedges
With some variation, we know what they will provide. Everything else is a question mark.
We know who will be the catcher, but we don't know who will be the RF, CF, DH/1B, and SS...and we have no clue as to what we will get out of those positions.
The word of the day is versatility...but nobody cares about versatility if there is production. Versatility means the ability to shuffle deck chairs. Doesn't much matter where the chairs are, whether the boat is floating or going down. Does anybody really care Manny Ramirez was limited to corner outfield or that Lofton couldn't play 1B? Does anybody really care if Arias can play everywhere on the field if he doesn't learn to hit.
We have more holes in the dike than fingers to plug them.
4) If JRAM bats second...as many folks prefer...who bats 4th and 5th? Right now, it looks like Laureano/Fry as leading candidates for at least one of those spots. I like both of them, but not as middle of the order run producers. Since our lineup has more table setters than run producers, I'd rather see JRAM batting third and Nails fourth.
Here's to good health and a lot of luck.
IF the starting five hold up for the entire season (highly doubtful, esp since one is already down), and IF the pen is healthy (even more doubtful, since several are already down), the Guards will win the division.
If those IFs don't materialize, its gonna be a long season with a lot of sell off.
Some things to consider...
1) There are always exceptions, but rookie managers don't win. Rookie managers of extremely young teams get clobbered.
2) For those that are looking forward to inserting kids, like Manzardo, Delauter, and Martinez, into the lineup, a lot of the kids you used to look forward to have to fail big time.
3) Position wise, we have six MLB players...
JRam
Gimenez
Nails
Kwan
Laureano
Hedges
With some variation, we know what they will provide. Everything else is a question mark.
We know who will be the catcher, but we don't know who will be the RF, CF, DH/1B, and SS...and we have no clue as to what we will get out of those positions.
The word of the day is versatility...but nobody cares about versatility if there is production. Versatility means the ability to shuffle deck chairs. Doesn't much matter where the chairs are, whether the boat is floating or going down. Does anybody really care Manny Ramirez was limited to corner outfield or that Lofton couldn't play 1B? Does anybody really care if Arias can play everywhere on the field if he doesn't learn to hit.
We have more holes in the dike than fingers to plug them.
4) If JRAM bats second...as many folks prefer...who bats 4th and 5th? Right now, it looks like Laureano/Fry as leading candidates for at least one of those spots. I like both of them, but not as middle of the order run producers. Since our lineup has more table setters than run producers, I'd rather see JRAM batting third and Nails fourth.
Here's to good health and a lot of luck.
Criznit
Ack Ack
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A couple trades for pitching depth - not sure if these are starters or relievers, but I suspect the latter.
Edit. Kent is still a starter and Strzelecki is a major league reliever... Both are on the 40.
www.mlbtraderumors.com
Edit. Kent is still a starter and Strzelecki is a major league reliever... Both are on the 40.
Guardians Acquire Peter Strzelecki From D-backs, Zak Kent From Rangers
The Guardians announced this morning that they've completed a pair of trades for pitching depth. Cleveland acquired right-hander Peter Strzelecki …
www.mlbtraderumors.com
There is some early hope via the schedule...
We play 44 of our first 68 games vs teams projected to have losing records.
As for the added pitchers....the last pitcher we had whose name couldn't be spelled or pronounced was pretty darn good. Scrabble II.
We play 44 of our first 68 games vs teams projected to have losing records.
As for the added pitchers....the last pitcher we had whose name couldn't be spelled or pronounced was pretty darn good. Scrabble II.
sportscoach
RD's Guardians PR Man!
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Guardians aren't exactly done yet since Carrasco and Beede haven't been added to the roster yet they picked up two guys...
We still may have another external move happening...
We still may have another external move happening...
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Zac Meisel's season preview in The Athletic:
Perhaps no team in the league had a more obvious, glaring offseason need than the Guardians, whose lineup exhibited the horsepower of a faulty lawnmower in 2023. As the saying goes, if it’s broke, don’t fix it. The Guardians’ winter lineup additions: Austin Hedges, a guy who hasn’t cracked the Mendoza Line since 2018 and Estevan Florial, a guy on his last chance. That places a lot of pressure on a talented but fragile rotation and a bullpen that’s already leaking oil. Kyle Manzardo, Chase DeLauter and perhaps a middle infield prospect or two could bolster the offense this summer, but as things stand, this is a team with little to no margin for error. Instead of upgrading the roster to seize control of a weak division, the Guardians curiously remain stuck in neutral as they begin Year 1 of the Stephen Vogt era. — Zack Meisel
First of all, Hedges is the backup catcher and Florial probably won't see a lot of action since it appears Tyler Freeman will be starting most of the time in center.
What Meisel is not considering:
1. The starting pitching. Last year the Guardians got 19 starts from Quantrill (5.24 ERA with a bad arm), 6 starts from Giolito (7.04 ERA), 6 starts from Battenfield (5.09), 6 from Syndergaard (5.40), and 5 from Plesac (7.59). We also got 16 starts from Gaddis and Curry, who had ERA's of 5.17 and 5.24 as starters.
That's 58 starts from pitchers who A) had ERA's over 5.00 and in some cases much higher, and B) won't be starting any games this year (unless Gaddis or Curry are pressed into action due to injuries).
Those 58 starts will be taken by McKenzie (4 starts last year), Bieber (21), and Williams, Allen, and Bibee. To be fair, we also lost 13 starts by Civale (2.34 ERA), and Bieber could very well be traded. There's no guarantee the pitching will be better this year but if all five starters stay reasonably healthy it will be a lot better.
2. Bo Naylor took a while to get going but in the second half he hit .252/.893 and in September he absolutely terrorized AL pitchers at .304/1.052. I'm expecting something like the first numbers for this season which would be a huge improvement over what we got from Hedges, Maile, et al last year.
3. Replacing Straw, who was the second worst hitter in baseball last year, with Freeman and Florial or Laureano also will boost the offense. No way Freeman doesn't far exceed Straw's 2023 numbers.
4. Jose had an off year and Josh Naylor only played in 121 games, driving in 97 runs. I'm expecting more production out of both of them.
5. Clase had an off year, but I believe Vogt will give him more rest between appearances than Tito did and Clase will bounce back. He was also the victim of a lot of unusually bad luck on ground balls finding holes as Bimbo pointed out.
6. The wild card is the change in hitting philosophy that Valiaka has been working on which involves trying to drive the ball and "do damage" in favorable counts, even if it results in more swings-and-misses. We're already seeing some results; in spring training 5 of Kwan's 16 hits were for extra bases, for Jose it was an astonishing 8-of-11, for Brennan it was 6-of-15, Rocchio 6-for-12, and for Laureano 7-of-14.
Maybe the dry desert air helped the balls carry further. I don't expect to see a lot of home runs in April. But it sure looks like these guys are attacking the ball with more evil intention and getting the slap hitting Straw out of there only helps.
Obviously the Guardians are vulnerable, especially to injuries to the starters. But the offense should be much improved even without adding big name free agents. Last year they added Bell and Zunino to no effect.
The three positions that killed us offensively last year were catcher, center field, and right field. This year we have Bo catching, Freeman in center, and a more aggressive Laureano and Brennan in right, with DeLauter waiting in the wings. I think all these guys that are predicting a 72-78 win season are full of it.
The Guardians have jettisoned a lot of riffraff from the rotation and they've upgraded their three weakest positions offensively. I expect Jose and Giminez to bounce back from below average seasons and if both Naylors stay healthy the Guardians will be near the top offensively at both those positions.
Obviously Bieber and McKenzie are the keys. Bieber has regained most of his lost velocity and looked spectacular this spring. McKenzie says he has no discomfort and also looked very good. Bibee looked fantastic in his last tuneup. Williams only pitched 4.2 innings but struck out 9 of his 14 outs. If the starters stay healthy this division is there for the taking.
The Twins have five right-handed starters. Have you looked at these guys? The ace is very good, the next two are fine, but after that I don't know. The key is that we can put 8 left-handed hitters in the lineup when we play the Twins.
Perhaps no team in the league had a more obvious, glaring offseason need than the Guardians, whose lineup exhibited the horsepower of a faulty lawnmower in 2023. As the saying goes, if it’s broke, don’t fix it. The Guardians’ winter lineup additions: Austin Hedges, a guy who hasn’t cracked the Mendoza Line since 2018 and Estevan Florial, a guy on his last chance. That places a lot of pressure on a talented but fragile rotation and a bullpen that’s already leaking oil. Kyle Manzardo, Chase DeLauter and perhaps a middle infield prospect or two could bolster the offense this summer, but as things stand, this is a team with little to no margin for error. Instead of upgrading the roster to seize control of a weak division, the Guardians curiously remain stuck in neutral as they begin Year 1 of the Stephen Vogt era. — Zack Meisel
First of all, Hedges is the backup catcher and Florial probably won't see a lot of action since it appears Tyler Freeman will be starting most of the time in center.
What Meisel is not considering:
1. The starting pitching. Last year the Guardians got 19 starts from Quantrill (5.24 ERA with a bad arm), 6 starts from Giolito (7.04 ERA), 6 starts from Battenfield (5.09), 6 from Syndergaard (5.40), and 5 from Plesac (7.59). We also got 16 starts from Gaddis and Curry, who had ERA's of 5.17 and 5.24 as starters.
That's 58 starts from pitchers who A) had ERA's over 5.00 and in some cases much higher, and B) won't be starting any games this year (unless Gaddis or Curry are pressed into action due to injuries).
Those 58 starts will be taken by McKenzie (4 starts last year), Bieber (21), and Williams, Allen, and Bibee. To be fair, we also lost 13 starts by Civale (2.34 ERA), and Bieber could very well be traded. There's no guarantee the pitching will be better this year but if all five starters stay reasonably healthy it will be a lot better.
2. Bo Naylor took a while to get going but in the second half he hit .252/.893 and in September he absolutely terrorized AL pitchers at .304/1.052. I'm expecting something like the first numbers for this season which would be a huge improvement over what we got from Hedges, Maile, et al last year.
3. Replacing Straw, who was the second worst hitter in baseball last year, with Freeman and Florial or Laureano also will boost the offense. No way Freeman doesn't far exceed Straw's 2023 numbers.
4. Jose had an off year and Josh Naylor only played in 121 games, driving in 97 runs. I'm expecting more production out of both of them.
5. Clase had an off year, but I believe Vogt will give him more rest between appearances than Tito did and Clase will bounce back. He was also the victim of a lot of unusually bad luck on ground balls finding holes as Bimbo pointed out.
6. The wild card is the change in hitting philosophy that Valiaka has been working on which involves trying to drive the ball and "do damage" in favorable counts, even if it results in more swings-and-misses. We're already seeing some results; in spring training 5 of Kwan's 16 hits were for extra bases, for Jose it was an astonishing 8-of-11, for Brennan it was 6-of-15, Rocchio 6-for-12, and for Laureano 7-of-14.
Maybe the dry desert air helped the balls carry further. I don't expect to see a lot of home runs in April. But it sure looks like these guys are attacking the ball with more evil intention and getting the slap hitting Straw out of there only helps.
Obviously the Guardians are vulnerable, especially to injuries to the starters. But the offense should be much improved even without adding big name free agents. Last year they added Bell and Zunino to no effect.
The three positions that killed us offensively last year were catcher, center field, and right field. This year we have Bo catching, Freeman in center, and a more aggressive Laureano and Brennan in right, with DeLauter waiting in the wings. I think all these guys that are predicting a 72-78 win season are full of it.
The Guardians have jettisoned a lot of riffraff from the rotation and they've upgraded their three weakest positions offensively. I expect Jose and Giminez to bounce back from below average seasons and if both Naylors stay healthy the Guardians will be near the top offensively at both those positions.
Obviously Bieber and McKenzie are the keys. Bieber has regained most of his lost velocity and looked spectacular this spring. McKenzie says he has no discomfort and also looked very good. Bibee looked fantastic in his last tuneup. Williams only pitched 4.2 innings but struck out 9 of his 14 outs. If the starters stay healthy this division is there for the taking.
The Twins have five right-handed starters. Have you looked at these guys? The ace is very good, the next two are fine, but after that I don't know. The key is that we can put 8 left-handed hitters in the lineup when we play the Twins.
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That means we need to be above 500 come end of May or we just plain out suck.....
Wouldn't it be Stephan and Karinchak to the 60-day DL???? Or, am I missing something as I have been out of town the last few days and only checking in occasionally.
Yet, for me, instead of trading from our strengths in depths (MIF and such), we just get roster folder as these are easy cuts when guys come back or when we trade away a Bieber type for the right type of player.
mopete12
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Are Stephan and Karinchak already on the 60 day IL?