I guess there's no expectation at this point about if or when Bieber and McKenzie return. If we are lucky enough that they do we will have too many top quality starters and someone among the kids or vets could be move out to the bullpen where we have quite a need for help.
but that's putting the cart far out in front of the horse.

Arias seems to play better when the competition has left the major league team.

Arias is a good example of why guys spend time in the minors for seasoning. Nice tools but wow his approach at the plate really needs some work!

I hope the front office has learned that they are guilty of continually short staffing this team's hitting. They cut it so close that if a guy or 2 has a below average season the whole bottom falls out.

And even Jose Ramirez applies here - he is having, for him, a below average season.

Definitely agree on Ramirez having a down year. Manning keeps making excuses based on no protection but he continues to swing at bad pitches.

I also agree on giving the young guys more time to develop or fail. I blame Francona but at the same time I recognize that we do not know the attitudes or work ethics of these players.

Noah Syndergaard



Guardians Perspective

Sunday, August 27, 2023

Guards win! Guards win! Guards win!

Wonderful comeback and showing a lot of guts today in the win (game, series, season series) over Toronto. But, like everything else this season, it seems like every time something really good happens it is accompanied by something (or two) this is bad. So, in a frustrating event today, while we had a great comeback so did Minnesota and we weren't able to gain ground on the Twins. I know, I know, the season is really over but I will fight until we are officially eliminated thinking we have a chance to get within 4 games by Labor Day and then have a miraculous September and steal the division at the end of the year and get back to the playoffs with an 84-78 record. Pipedream? Yeah, but a die hard fan can hope, right. So just when I though we would gain a game we had that exhilaration snatched out of our hands and ended the day treading water. Still, good comeback and way to go Guards.

I win! I win! I win!

... I thought the over/under for Syndergaard being DFA'd was September 1st and I was taking the under? Well, I was right. Yea, me!

So, after winning, why do I feel so angry? Well, it's because the FO made another stupid move. Unless someone is more stupid than us (see picking up Laureano's remaining salary by claiming him off waivers when we had already given up on the season) we will be eating Syndergaard's significant salary the rest of the year AND GET NOTHING FOR IT!!!!!!!

BTW, Rosario is slashing .282/.463/.744 for LA. Looks like a good deal for the Dodgers. They dump their trash and we pay for it with Rosario...and our cash. Perfect! ...

Posted by Dennis at 4:57 PM No comments:

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LUCAS GIOLITO



Guardians Perspective



Wednesday Night Thoughts: "Doctor, The Patient Still Has A Pulse". Waiver Claims...who knew? 2023 Draftees on Full Display.

The Patient Still Has A Pulse

Good, come-back-from-the-dead win today for the Guardians. Kept in there until the end with the save-blowing WP in the 9th by Duran (brings to mnd the phrase 'Speed Kills').

The road doesn't get any easier the rest of the way but at least, at this point, the road doesn't have a "Dead End" sign at the end of it. Which brings us to the next point:

Waiver Claims...Who Knew?

Teams are putting veterans on waivers in droves right now, led by the Angels. All you have to do is have a bad record, have a need and be willing to spend a little cash.

Waiver claims used to be getting Ramon Laureno or Kole Calhoun with the thought that they might provide minor league insurance.

But this year it has taken a whole new turn. I was very much against picking up Laureano because he was a 4th outfielder/AAAA player who was going to cost us as much as Civale would have the rest of the way. There was no need to pick up a veteran like that. In fact, except for the exceptional performance, there was no need to pick up Calhoun but that went well and it didn't cost NEARLY as much as Laureano.

But teams are putting frontline starters, top relievers and even some run-producing outfielders on waivers.

And all you have to do is spend a little money to get them.

The waiver process is perfect for the Guardians. You put in a claim for a player and after a certain time, the team with the worst record gets that claim. There is no bidding, no player choice. If they want their salary they go to the team that claims them.

So, let's think. Only teams with hopes of making the playoffs will put in a claim for an expensive player. And the worst team still with a chance of making the playoffs is.....wait for it...the Cleveland Guardians.

So here we are. All we have to do is have Dolan put up with some money and our team can be instantly better. So if Antonetti tells us 'No, we're happy with what we have' we know he is an idiot. If we choose not to dip our toe in this water we know that Dolan is cheap.

C'mon people. We will win every waiver claim we place and be sure of one thing. If we are not playing this game, the Twins will be making waiver claims in the next day and any chance we have of competing with them will disappear.. We need to be doing the same thing. It is stupid simple. Let's make some claims and bring in Lucas Gioloto, LHRP Matt Moore, OFer Hunter Renfroe or Randal Grichuk or even Mike Clevinger or Carlos Carrasco on waivers.

And it will really resonate with fans that we are putting our money, albeit limited money, where our mouths are in terms of competing. Talk about the low cost, short term grab of the brass ring. This is it people. Let's go!

2023 Draftees on Full Display Today

Saw the Lynchburg game today. Pretty comical how bad Kayfus and Mooney looked. Totally overmatched playing at A ball against guys who were 2 years younger, on average. Hope this draft turns out well but, damn, if Dolan saw this someone WILL lose their job.

BTW, Jackson Humphries looked MOSTLY really sharp with his stuff. Fastball was a little light (90-92, touching 94) but the command of the pitch was great as was his curveball. 9 Ks in 4 IP. Gave up some traffic in the first and a 2 run dinger in the 4th but the talent can't be denied when you consider he is a 19 year old who is actually PERFORMING in low A. (Hear that Kayfus and Mooney...and our draft team).

Posted by Dennis at 4:32 PM

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Just listened to Paul Hoynes on Antonetti's media call. Hoynes did not have an idea how the waiver system worked and Antonetti suggested he would talk to Hoynes off the call or Hoynes could call a friend. Hoynes is terrible.

Hoynes actually said, Chris it is like these players fell from heaven. How does this work ?

Chris, did you claim other players that you did not get ? Chris said Paul if you look at where the other players were selected it will tell you whether we claimed other players. Paul, all you need is a little detective work or you can call a friend.

Hoynes needs to retire soon.

TANNER BIBEE



Guardians Perspective

Thursday Thoughts: Waiver Claims and DFAs; PPI, ROY and Tanner Bibee; Bell and His Player Option; September 1st Callups;

Thursday, August 31, 2023

WAIVER CLAIMS AND DFAs TODAY

I was begging for the Guardians to pounce on LAA's sell-off and they did, somewhat, so I have to like the waiver claims today. These were low-cost additions who stand a chance to help us down the stretch. Adding Gioloto (replacing Syndergaard), Lopez and Moore (over Herrin) are good additions. They should help our pitching staff and save our young arms. Will that be enough to propel us to the playoffs? I don't know if they will but it certainly points us in the right direction. However, we did not address the offense at all and any team that has Kole Calhoun batting 3rd and Ramon Laureano hitting 4th is in trouble, offensively. Fortunately Calhoun came to us on fire and has offered some protection for Ramirez. When Naylor comes back it should help, too. I still would have rather have Renfro or Grichuk, although we might still have a chance for Grichuk now that he has cleared waivers if he is released.

We needed two roster spots right now and I would have DFA'd Gallagher and Kelly and kept Battenfield and Haase. Battenfield at least was ML rotation depth. Kelly wasn't even bullpen depth at CBus, truth be told. Regarding Hasse vs Gallagher, who would you rather have to PH or to bat in late innings or extra innings? So, I don't know why we did what we did as these weren't post-season decisions, IMO. I guess if Beiber comes back Gallagher is his personal catcher this season so there is that. I do know if Battenfield and Haase go unclaimed they could stay with Cleveland and would be eligible for the post-season if added back to the 40 man. I think Haase can choose to be a FA after the season, having been DFA'd twice but Battenfield would still be in our system this winter if he goes unclaimed.

SEPTEMBER 1st CALLUPS: 28-MAN ROSTER PREDICTIONS FOR TOMORROW

Starting Pitchers (5)

Allen
Bibee
Giolito
Williams
Quantrill

[ NOTE: If Williams goes on the IL
, Curry slides back into the rotation and Karinchak stays up in the ML bullpen, although Morris is more of a fit as a long man. ]

Bullpen (9)

Curry
Clase
De Los Santos
Hentges (L)
Lopez
Moore (L)
Morgan
Sandlin
Stephan

Sent To Columbus

Morris
Gaddis
Karinchak

[ NOTE: I absolutely hate this for Karinchak and I think it sends him the wrong message but, procedurally, it makes the most sense, seeing he has already used up his option this year and sending anyone else down burns a minor league option for them for a whole season for only one month. Karinchak, Gaddis and Morris are still eligible for post-season. ]

Catcher (3)

Fry
Gallagher
Naylor

[ NOTE: I would have kept Haase and dumped Gallagher. The latter has no use other than being someone's (Beiber?) caddy. Can't go with Fry and Naylor as your only catchers, unfortunately, although I would like to. Plus, even if we DFA Gallagher, we can't add another pitcher. It would have to be a position player like Rocchio or, less likely, Jonathon Rodriguez which would cause us to have to send down Gonzalez or DFA Laureano. ]

Infielders (5)

Naylor
Gimenez
Arias
Ramirez
Freeman

[ NOTE: Four starters and a backup. All you need here. ]

Outfielders (6)

Kwan
Straw
Calhoun
Brennan
Laureano
Gonzalez

[ NOTE: We don't need all these outfielders but we have them. You could send Gonzalez down and bring up Rocchio again but I just don't see it happening. Again, Gonzalez is the only one of this group to have burned a minor league option this year and so it wouldn't impact his long term future in Cleveland if we sent him down. If fwe would have gotten Renfroe or if we sign Grichuk, Gonzalez is the logical one to go down. ]

PROSPECT PROMOTION INCENTIVE< ROY AND TANNER BIBEE

Looking at Tanner Bibee's record going into his start last night it occured to me that his production might put him in ROY comversations. That being said, I remembered that the new CBA has provisions that incentivized teams that brought their rookies up early. Essentially, the way the original rule read on what constituted a full season, if a team had a player up for 172 days (187 is the number of days in the regular season) that player was considered to have played a full season which moved them one year closer to free agency and arbitration than if a team (wink, wink) brought the player up at the beginning of May (or later, to avoid super 2 considerations that would give the player one more year of arbitration and one less year for the team to pay him a cheap salary. cough! Bo Naylor. cough!).

So, in the new CBA, they created a Prospect Promotion Incentive (PPI). If a player is active for more than 171 days during the regular season AND wins the ROY in his league the team will get an extra draft choice the next year. If he finishes 2nd or 3rd in ROY voting or in the top 3 of MVP or Cy Young voting than the same thing applies. Besides having been on the active roster for 172 or more days (this year, April 15th or earlier) the player would also have to have been listed in the pre-season top 100 prospects in the game by two of the three (BA, ESPN, MLB Pipeline) rating services.

While Gavin Williams and Logan Allen have been solid, it is Tanner Bibee that has stood out, at leaset record-wise.

Unfortunately, although Bibee made the cut in all 3 rating services top 100s, he was brought up to the active roster on April 26th, meaning he does not qualify for the PPI.

There is one more point here, though. The rule states that if a player wins the ROY voting he is guaranteed to get one full year of service time, no matter when he was brought up. So if Bibee DOES win ROY honors he will get a full year of service time and the Guardians will get nothing except a headache knowing if they had brought him up two weeks earlier they would have gotten an extra draft pick.

I will continue to roof for Bibee to have a great rookie season and if he wins ROY I will be happy for him and the Guardians' organization that developed him. But if he just falls short, I won't be as disappointed as I would have been in previous years.

BELL AND HIS PLAYER OPTION

Disgruntled fans have been talking about how Josh Bell started to really hit after he was traded to Miami. What is lost in that angst are the details of that trade and the impact on the organization going forward.

To make this deal happen, Cleveland took on Jean Segura and the rest of his contract in 2023 plus his contract in 2024 plus his buyout in 2025. Miami took on the remainder of Bell's contract in 2023 and his salary in 2024 IF Bell exercised his player option for 2024. When he was hitting in the low .230s with marginal power this seemed like a lock as no way was he going to do better than $16.5 million in 2024 with those stats. So, the Guardians stood to save $8.36 million, according to MLB Trade Rumors.

However, in Miami Bell has hit for an OPS of .881 putting him 36% above average for a major league hitter.

If Bell continues to hit well for the rest of the season it is within the realm of possibility that he might gamble that he would be able to make more than $16.5 million next year in free agency.

The reason for mentioning this is that I did not see any stipulation for this deal for this eventuality. If the Guardians did not write something into the deal language that protected them from this eventuality, e.g., that the Marlins would pick up half of Segura's salary in 2024 and half of his buyout in 2025, then the Guardians are stupidly short-sighted. They may end up, instead of saving $8+ million, paying $8+ million for the right to have enigmatic prospect Khalil Watson while the Marlins get to have Bell's great production for the last part of the season AND save $8 million while also exorcising the pain in the butt Watson from their system.

Someone needs to ask Antonetti what happens in this deal if Bell decides to not pick up his player option. Are the Guardians just screwed or what? If he says yes, the next question should be: What in the f*** were you thinking?

Posted by Dennis at 3:50 PM

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Cleveland Guardians activated RHP Cal Quantrill from the 15-day injured list.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians activated RHP Reynaldo López.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians activated LHP Matt Moore.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians activated C David Fry from the 10-day injured list.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians optioned RHP Cody Morris to Columbus Clippers.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians recalled SS José Tena from Columbus Clippers.
09/01/23 Cleveland Guardians optioned RHP Hunter Gaddis to Columbus Clippers.

What's Tena doing here? I can say he has had a great time at bat since he went down to Columbus.
I

Jose Tena is the real deal and should be a top prospect. (So is Brito) Thrilled that the organization must feel the same way since they are bringing him up now with Freeman still here.

I note that Giolito is not yet activated leaving room for one more that's Tena. I suppose he departs when Giolito arrives.
Then they'll still need to make a move to bring back Josh Naylor

There are 2 expanded roster spots starting today. Tena might be here to pinch run. Would not be surprised to see Oscar sent down when they need a spot. When they activate Naylor then Calhoun or Naylor will be the DH. Probably Calhoun will still play first so Naylor does not reinjure himself.

Thinking about it Fry might play first and Calhoun go to right.

I don't know. Martinez move might mean that Tena may be here for awhile. Tena just has a very active bat.


GuardsInsider
@GuardsInsider
One move today with Tena moving to the Big League club
+INF Angel Martinez promoted from AKR to

@CLBClippers
5:15 PM · Sep 1, 2023
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