2024 Guardians Regular Season Thread

[MattyFos.]

Brennan is every bit as good defensively as Kwan and maybe slightly better. I'm not at all concerned with Will being in LF and I'm anxious for him to get more consistent AB. I still have a lot of faith that Brennan becomes a very good ML hitter.

It's not a good thing Kwan is out though, but maybe he'll get back quickly and this team will be for the better by then.

Yeah I Stan Chill Will too. Idk if I agree he's better than Kwan in the OF. But I'm interested to see how he performs out there.

 

[KluberSociety]

Brennan is every bit as good defensively as Kwan and maybe slightly better. I'm not at all concerned with Will being in LF and I'm anxious for him to get more consistent AB. I still have a lot of faith that Brennan becomes a very good ML hitter.

It's not a good thing Kwan is out though, but maybe he'll get back quickly and this team will be for the better by then.

I don't expect Brennan to be every bit as good in LF, or even close really.

Brennan does have +4 OAA in RF (his best position) over 994.2 innings. Kwan has +22 OAA in 2654.2 innings of LF, his best position. Neither have put up good numbers in the other OF positions they have played, probably mainly because they are settled into their sections in the OF so they are not perfectly calibrated to jump into other fields and play those positions as well.

I do think Kwan is a slightly better OF than Brennan but if I am to have concerns it's more going to be that Brennan just hasn't had much chance to take on a new position (AFAIK he's almost entirely been a CF/RF in his career). So if he's only to play the position for a few weeks I don't expect it to go extremely well, just like Kwan didn't do well in RF for reasons outside of his weaker arm.

No need to panic, sure, just I do expect a downgrade and a pretty significant one with the gap gradually closing over time but no I don't think Brennan will ever be equal.

 

[Lee]

I always thought you admired the feet Rex Ryan style....live and learn I guess

Not a foot guy, just not my thing

 

[LL3]

Brennan is every bit as good defensively as Kwan and maybe slightly better. I'm not at all concerned with Will being in LF and I'm anxious for him to get more consistent AB. I still have a lot of faith that Brennan becomes a very good ML hitter.

It's not a good thing Kwan is out though, but maybe he'll get back quickly and this team will be for the better by then.

This would not be my take as to defensive prowess, but I am open to being pleasantly surprised!!! That said, I think Will should be fine in LF.
Kwan is a loss, but I agree with the sentiment that there is no need for panic.

 

[Mott the Hoople]

I hope Manzardo can hit the ground running.
It's tough to break in while playing DH. But he will get major league scouting reports on the pitchers, and how to attack them.

Hell, keep a bourbon handy for his 1st hit. At his ceiling, he's a game changer for this franchise.

 

[CDAV45]

I hope Manzardo can hit the ground running.
It's tough to break in while playing DH. But he will get major league scouting reports on the pitchers, and how to attack them.

Hell, keep a bourbon handy for his 1st hit. At his ceiling, he's a game changer for this franchise.

I'm not sure he'll be the DH much. His defense is supposed to be better than Josh's so I expect that they'll share the duties at the least. I could be wrong though.

 

[CDAV45]

I don't expect Brennan to be every bit as good in LF, or even close really.

Brennan does have +4 OAA in RF (his best position) over 994.2 innings. Kwan has +22 OAA in 2654.2 innings of LF, his best position. Neither have put up good numbers in the other OF positions they have played, probably mainly because they are settled into their sections in the OF so they are not perfectly calibrated to jump into other fields and play those positions as well.

I do think Kwan is a slightly better OF than Brennan but if I am to have concerns it's more going to be that Brennan just hasn't had much chance to take on a new position (AFAIK he's almost entirely been a CF/RF in his career). So if he's only to play the position for a few weeks I don't expect it to go extremely well, just like Kwan didn't do well in RF for reasons outside of his weaker arm.

No need to panic, sure, just I do expect a downgrade and a pretty significant one with the gap gradually closing over time but no I don't think Brennan will ever be equal.

We can agree to disagree on this. Brennan plays a very good, GG caliber RF which is more difficult than LF in Cleveland. He's a bit faster and has a better arm. This is only my opinion based off of what I've seen, but Brennan is better at the wall than Kwan too.

I don't want this to come across as an argument. I'm just saying that we'll be just fine defensively. Can Will pick up his offense a bit while Kwan's out is the bigger question that needs to be answered IMO. We need someone to be that spark at the top of the order and this is a good opportunity for Brennan to prove himself. No it won't be the end all, be all determination, but it could go a long way for Brennan's stock should he play well.

 

[CDAV45]

How long is Freeman's leash? He only has 93 AB this season, but man he's struggling. I expected him to have a little more success than he's having.

 

[MattyFos.]

How long is Freeman's leash? He only has 93 AB this season, but man he's struggling. I expected him to have a little more success than he's having.

There aren't a lot of options in CF. I imagine Freeman is the guy for another couple months.

Who do they play in CF instead of Freeman? Kwan would be the easy answer. But he's out for now. I don't think Brennan has the range in CF. But I'd be willing to try him out there. Florial and Laureano aren't doing enough at the plate to warrant moving them to RF and Brennan to CF.

Perhaps the ideal OF would be Brennan, Kwan and Fry. But that seems like a downgrade in the corners,, defensively at least.

Edit. Like Bimbo says. We have known GG at LF and 2B. Hard to imagine moving them to make room for another player. Can Kwan play CF. Yes. But he's a guarantee best LF in baseball. Similar to Andres. Can he play SS. Yeah probably. And it would make rook for Britos bat. But is it worth losing the GG at 2nd? Probably not right now.

 

[CDAV45]

There aren't a lot of options in CF. I imagine Freeman is the guy for another couple months.

Who do they play in CF instead of Freeman? Kwan would be the easy answer. But he's out for now. I don't think Brennan has the range in CF. But I'd be willing to try him out there. Florial and Laureano aren't doing enough at the plate to warrant moving them to RF and Brennan to CF.

Perhaps the ideal OF would be Brennan, Kwan and Fry. But that seems like a downgrade in the corners,, defensively at least.

Edit. Like Bimbo says. We have known GG at LF and 2B. Hard to imagine moving them to make room for another player. Can Kwan play CF. Yes. But he's a guarantee best LF in baseball. Similar to Andres. Can he play SS. Yeah probably. And it would make rook for Britos bat. But is it worth losing the GG at 2nd? Probably not right now.

I'm pretty sure Brennan has more range than Kwan and he'd be my choice, but Florial is plenty capable as well.

Yeah there's a balance that needs to occur. What good is a marginal gain offensively with a significant downgrade defensively.

I really don't know what the hell my ideal OF would be at this time. I'd like to see Rodriguez get the call, but not to play occasionally. I want to see more Florial and more Brennan. Rodriguez would possibly be that big RH bat to mix in, but that's not a given. I guess with Kwan out I'd like the OF to be Brennan, Florial and Rodriguez.

 

[Beanie4Heisman]

 

[KluberSociety]

@CDAV45 Kwan has demonstrated higher range on average.

This is just objective, first Kwan, 2022-2024:


Then Brennan, 2023-2024:


Kwan has just showed better coverage. I think it's got to be more of a consistency thing than a maximum thing. At his best, Brennan could match Kwan I am sure because he's got the foot speed, but if he's just not as consistent with taking optimal routes his success rate at getting to borderline catches is going to be lower.

Nobody's going to argue the arm angle but that matters a lot more in RF anyway.

How long is Freeman's leash? He only has 93 AB this season, but man he's struggling. I expected him to have a little more success than he's having.

93 AB is a terrible sample size. His xStats are fine though, nothing amazing but significantly better than Bo, Laureano, Arias, and Rocchio, and basically tied with Brennan and Gimenez despite getting exposure to both sides of the platoon.

Simply put, if anyone is on the hot seat, it's not him.

 

[southernflyer]

In honor of the Manzardo arriving to the show.. the path to get here required sacrificing a starting pitcher to the Rays.. Aaron Civale.. Civale started the year for Tampa with three good outings.. He's hit the wall since.. making three more starts while not making it out of the fifth inning on any of them while giving up 5, 6, and 7 earned runs respectively... To say the Tampa Rays would be inclined to pass on redoing the deal would be an understatement... We'll get to see "The Manz" starting tomorrow..

Thoughts?

Civale has always seemed to have a good run of good month/bad month, a good handful of starts then bad handful of starts. Throw in that Civale hasn't reached 125 innings pitched in a season yet due to injuries.

Hopefully Manzardo has a long and storied career with the G's that we consider the Civale and Caminero trades a wash with the Rays.

I wonder with Valera back this weekend with the Clippers why Johnathan Rodriguez wasn't brought up for a cup of coffee. He's played 80+ games in LF since 2022 and is already on the 40 man roster. Unless Manzardo is here to stay I would have thought about keeping his service time clock from starting and Rodriguez would be replacing Kwan's same position on the field to cut the chatter of service time manipulation for super two.

 

[MattyFos.]

Civale has always seemed to have a good run of good month/bad month, a good handful of starts then bad handful of starts. Throw in that Civale hasn't reached 125 innings pitched in a season yet due to injuries.

Hopefully Manzardo has a long and storied career with the G's that we consider the Civale and Caminero trades a wash with the Rays.

I wonder with Valera back this weekend with the Clippers why Johnathan Rodriguez wasn't brought up for a cup of coffee. He's played 80+ games in LF since 2022 and is already on the 40 man roster. Unless Manzardo is here to stay I would have thought about keeping his service time clock from starting and Rodriguez would be replacing Kwan's same position on the field to cut the chatter of service time manipulation for super two.

Yeah it does feel like Manzardo is out of the blue because of their history with service time and not being on the 40. Wonder who gets replaced on the 40 for him.

 

[thestatman]

Civale has always seemed to have a good run of good month/bad month, a good handful of starts then bad handful of starts. Throw in that Civale hasn't reached 125 innings pitched in a season yet due to injuries.

Hopefully Manzardo has a long and storied career with the G's that we consider the Civale and Caminero trades a wash with the Rays.

I wonder with Valera back this weekend with the Clippers why Johnathan Rodriguez wasn't brought up for a cup of coffee. He's played 80+ games in LF since 2022 and is already on the 40 man roster. Unless Manzardo is here to stay I would have thought about keeping his service time clock from starting and Rodriguez would be replacing Kwan's same position on the field to cut the chatter of service time manipulation for super two.

They should definitely bring up JRod. The simple solution is DFA RL.