We should be watching or listening to a baseball game today. Mind you, not one that counts, but the thoughts of Opening Day would be dancing in the heads of any baseball fan.
Instead, the sport is still dealing with a lockout, not a strike, as many in the media have portrayed the absence of players in Florida and Arizona. The owners are causing this.
We do understand their reasoning, they lose leverage if the season started and the players decided to walk out let’s say, August 1st.
However, the lockout started in early December and the owners basically sat on their fat wallets and didn’t have any negotiations until the calendar turned to 2022.
So, fans of the grand ol’ game are left watching the snow fall or melt (hopefully) instead of seeing how the Cleveland Guardians will be answering the questions they have concerning the roster that starts the regular season, no matter when it starts.
By the way, we are sure there will be a flurry of trades and free agent signings (probably not by the Guardians) as soon as an agreement is reached. We are sure general managers have been talking to agents and other front office executives throughout the lockout.
What will Terry Francona do at the keystone positions? Amed Rosario hit well enough last season, but his defense was wanting. Does he move to second base, or is he traded? Does Andres Gimenez take over at short in ’22 with the battle taking place at second, between Owen Miller, Yu Chang, and Richie Palacios.
In the outfield, who plays the corner spots flanking Myles Straw? Veterans Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado would seem to have an edge because of experience but to us, most of that experience has not been pleasant for the fans because it has been filled with outs, and lots of them.
Where does Josh Naylor fit in? First, the Guardians have to determine if and when he can play, and once he can, does he stay in the outfield or does he become part of the first base competition.
How does the rest of the bullpen shake out? We are sure some arms will sign minor league deals to come to camp and compete for spots to join Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, and likely Anthony Gose, Nick Sandlin, and Trevor Stephan among the relief corps.
And who becomes the backup catcher behind Austin Hedges. Sandy Leon will be in camp, but hopefully another backstop is brought in as a non-roster invitee to compete.
The biggest thing we are missing is watching the top prospects in the Cleveland farm system getting opportunities in exhibition.
We would be keeping a particular eye on Palacios, OF Steven Kwan, SS Brayan Rocchio, and SS/2B Tyler Freeman.
In our opinion, Kwan and Palacios should get a real shot of not only making the team out of camp but getting some regular playing time.
And yes, we know typically that’s not how Francona and his staff operate, but we can always hope, right?
Instead, we aren’t watching any baseball and may not for the foreseeable future. And that’s a shame. With all that is going on in the world, we could use some diversion.
Unfortunately, we are held hostage by a bunch of people who don’t appear to even like baseball.
And that’s the saddest situation we can think of.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 