Cleveland Guardians

cjb5656 said:
Would the Sox be dumb enough to trade Robert?
Click to expand...
They can’t even come up with an agreement to move Cease, so no way will they be moving Luis Robert. I believe they have 3 or 4 more years of control for Robert. Their top SS prospect Colson Montgomery is likely to debut this year with a couple SP pitching prospects not far behind. The problem is what’s going to be around Robert, Montgomery, Andrew Vaughn and the couple young pitchers?
 
Wildcat97 said:
And no digital streaming rights in 2024 so no Prime for Guardians this year. The absurdity continues. Was so hopeful for Prime this year, albeit this off-season has been terrible
Click to expand...
The good news is that less people will have to watch a team struggle to win 75 games.
 
I know the Guardians’ quiet offseason isn’t leading to much optimism among fans, but the Guardians do have a legit shot to win the division this year. It’ll probably be a three-way race with the Twins and Tigers. Even though the Royals spent some actual money this winter, their roster still looks too mediocre unless some of their young guys take massive steps forward this year.

The Twins’ probable rotation of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani isn’t particularly intimidating. But their offense should be good, and possibly very good if Buxton and Correa can give them healthy, All-Star-caliber production to supplement the young guys like Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien.

The Tigers added some veteran names to their mix of young guys: Jack Flaherty, Kenta Maeda, Mark Canha. I suppose the rotation will be some combo of Flaherty, Maeda, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Reese Olson and Alex Faedo, depending on injury statuses — I am admittedly not up to speed at the moment on the Tigers’ seemingly snake-bitten rotation’s injuries. Can Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter carry an overall underwhelming offense? Will Canha add value? Will 3B/2B Colt Keith be an immediate contributor? Can they get anything out of Javy Baez?

As for the Guardians, where can they improve from 2023?

1. Getting healthy, productive seasons from Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie.

2. Positive regression to the mean for Andres Gimenez and whoever ends up playing shortstop.

3. The potential for immediate offensive contributions whenever Kyle Manzardo comes up, allowing Josh Naylor to mainly just be a DH.

4. Sitting Myles Straw more often (or DFA’ing him). Play Ramon Laureano over him if Laureano continues to show a pulse at the plate.

5. Addition of a veteran closer/late-inning guy in Scott Barlow.

6. Positive regression from other bullpen returnees.

Will most of these things happen? Who knows. But it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility!
 
AEW Champion said:
I know the Guardians’ quiet offseason isn’t leading to much optimism among fans, but the Guardians do have a legit shot to win the division this year. It’ll probably be a three-way race with the Twins and Tigers. Even though the Royals spent some actual money this winter, their roster still looks too mediocre unless some of their young guys take massive steps forward this year.

The Twins’ probable rotation of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani isn’t particularly intimidating. But their offense should be good, and possibly very good if Buxton and Correa can give them healthy, All-Star-caliber production to supplement the young guys like Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien.

The Tigers added some veteran names to their mix of young guys: Jack Flaherty, Kenta Maeda, Mark Canha. I suppose the rotation will be some combo of Flaherty, Maeda, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Reese Olson and Alex Faedo, depending on injury statuses — I am admittedly not up to speed at the moment on the Tigers’ seemingly snake-bitten rotation’s injuries. Can Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter carry an overall underwhelming offense? Will Canha add value? Will 3B/2B Colt Keith be an immediate contributor? Can they get anything out of Javy Baez?

As for the Guardians, where can they improve from 2023?

1. Getting healthy, productive seasons from Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie.

2. Positive regression to the mean for Andres Gimenez and whoever ends up playing shortstop.

3. The potential for immediate offensive contributions whenever Kyle Manzardo comes up, allowing Josh Naylor to mainly just be a DH.

4. Sitting Myles Straw more often (or DFA’ing him). Play Ramon Laureano over him if Laureano continues to show a pulse at the plate.

5. Addition of a veteran closer/late-inning guy in Scott Barlow.

6. Positive regression from other bullpen returnees.

Will most of these things happen? Who knows. But it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility!
Click to expand...
You are correct, though I would add that Jose Ramirez needs more protection in the lineup to be able to hit the numbers he’s capable of hitting.

I would feel more confident with Tito at the helm. Vogt is an unknown at this point.
 
cjb5656 said:
You are correct, though I would add that Jose Ramirez needs more protection in the lineup to be able to hit the numbers he’s capable of hitting.

I would feel more confident with Tito at the helm. Vogt is an unknown at this point.
Click to expand...
A righty power bat continues to be the Guardians’ white whale.

If they were willing to spend some cash, I’d consider trading Josh Naylor for some nice assets and sign Jorge Soler to be the DH to help solve the lefty-heavy lineup.
 
AEW Champion said:
I know the Guardians’ quiet offseason isn’t leading to much optimism among fans, but the Guardians do have a legit shot to win the division this year. It’ll probably be a three-way race with the Twins and Tigers. Even though the Royals spent some actual money this winter, their roster still looks too mediocre unless some of their young guys take massive steps forward this year.

The Twins’ probable rotation of Pablo Lopez, Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober, Chris Paddack and Anthony DeSclafani isn’t particularly intimidating. But their offense should be good, and possibly very good if Buxton and Correa can give them healthy, All-Star-caliber production to supplement the young guys like Royce Lewis, Matt Wallner and Edouard Julien.

The Tigers added some veteran names to their mix of young guys: Jack Flaherty, Kenta Maeda, Mark Canha. I suppose the rotation will be some combo of Flaherty, Maeda, Tarik Skubal, Casey Mize, Matt Manning, Reese Olson and Alex Faedo, depending on injury statuses — I am admittedly not up to speed at the moment on the Tigers’ seemingly snake-bitten rotation’s injuries. Can Spencer Torkelson, Riley Greene and Kerry Carpenter carry an overall underwhelming offense? Will Canha add value? Will 3B/2B Colt Keith be an immediate contributor? Can they get anything out of Javy Baez?

As for the Guardians, where can they improve from 2023?

1. Getting healthy, productive seasons from Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie.

2. Positive regression to the mean for Andres Gimenez and whoever ends up playing shortstop.

3. The potential for immediate offensive contributions whenever Kyle Manzardo comes up, allowing Josh Naylor to mainly just be a DH.

4. Sitting Myles Straw more often (or DFA’ing him). Play Ramon Laureano over him if Laureano continues to show a pulse at the plate.

5. Addition of a veteran closer/late-inning guy in Scott Barlow.

6. Positive regression from other bullpen returnees.

Will most of these things happen? Who knows. But it’s certainly not out of the realm of possibility!
Click to expand...
I might agree if the schedule was still weighted heavily in inter divisional games, but not so anymore.
 
Pitchers and catchers report on Thursday! Of all sports, no sports opening of camp pumps more optimism into fans than the opening of baseball spring training. Even fans of the crappiest teams have a weird optimism this will be a great season for them.
 
cjb5656 said:
Pitchers and catchers report on Thursday! Of all sports, no sports opening of camp pumps more optimism into fans than the opening of baseball spring training. Even fans of the crappiest teams have a weird optimism this will be a great season for them.
Click to expand...

You mean like us? :)

It does seem to be true though.
 
cjb5656 said:
Yes. Count me as a fan who believes the Guardians can win their weak division.
Click to expand...

I think they can win it also, mainly because the division is weak. Of course they have to stay healthy to do so. The injuries killed their chances last year.
 
YTOWN said:
I think they can win it also, mainly because the division is weak. Of course they have to stay healthy to do so. The injuries killed their chances last year.
Click to expand...
Of course I thought they could have won it last year, especially when they were a half game out of first place on the trade deadline day in August…when ownership decided to pull the plug on the season. Coincidentally, Tito decided it was time to go not long afterward.
 
cjb5656 said:
Of course I thought they could have won it last year, especially when they were a half game out of first place on the trade deadline day in August…when ownership decided to pull the plug on the season. Coincidentally, Tito decided it was time to go not long afterward.
Click to expand...
Tito can smell a rat....
 
cjb5656 said:
Of course I thought they could have won it last year, especially when they were a half game out of first place on the trade deadline day in August…when ownership decided to pull the plug on the season. Coincidentally, Tito decided it was time to go not long afterward.
Click to expand...
That team wasn’t going anywhere last year. The schedule the last two months was going to be brutal even if they hadn’t moved anyone. And of the three guys they moved, the only one who was playing well to that point in 2023 was Aaron Civale, who’s fragile and was pitching at an outlier level. It was smart to get good value for him at the peak of his worth.
 
AEW Champion said:
That team wasn’t going anywhere last year. The schedule the last two months was going to be brutal even if they hadn’t moved anyone. And of the three guys they moved, the only one who was playing well to that point in 2023 was Aaron Civale, who’s fragile and was pitching at an outlier level. It was smart to get good value for him at the peak of his worth.
Click to expand...
I understand that was your opinion at the time, and the results would seem to validate your opinion, but that was based on what the Guardians did. My view at the time was that I had no problem with any of their trades or the return on them. I believe they were all good trades. My issue was them choosing not to make any deals to reinforce the major league roster and attempt a legitimate run at the postseason…which was realistic on that fateful day. The Guardians are not a franchise that can afford to throw away a shot at a postseason appearance while still in contention that late in the season. It was an abdication of responsibility.
 
The beat goes on......... " We're not going to spend money on good free agents, because we want to see how our young players will do." Young players do well, but team lets them walk in free agency and says," We want to see how our young players will do." Any free agents added will be in the late November of their careers and the team will claim that they have added much needed experience.
And..........

 
Last edited:
Looking at this lineup for cactus league game 1....where is our offense coming from? We are really still going to roll Straw out there? My god
 
tom 48 said:
The beat goes on......... " We're not going to spend money on good free agents, because we want to see how our young players will do." Young players do well, but team lets them walk in free agency and says," We want to see how our young players will do." Any free agents added will be in the late November of their careers nd the team will claim that they have added much needed experience.
And..........

Click to expand...
MAKE THE OWNERSHIP CHANGE
 
I'm just posting this comment to put the Indians to the top of the board.

Since there's almost zero fan enthusiasm for this team this year.
 
Raymo said:
Someone please tell me how many games the Tribe will win this year?...BAM!
Click to expand...
I’ll say 84. They better win enough the first half of the year. Otherwise, you’re probably looking at Bieber, Josh Naylor, Scott Barlow and perhaps others being shopped in July.
 
I'll say 70 to 75 wins. Hope it's a lot more than that though. I love the Guardians and hope they take the Central, but they have a new manager and significant question marks that weren't really addressed in the offseason. I find my optimism for this team usually isn't rewarded by their winning more, so I will play it close to the vest and hope to be pleasantly surprised. I really just want them to recapture some of the passion that seemed to be lost last season.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top