Tag: angel martinez

Can Guardians Manage Their Glut At Certain Spots?

The Cleveland Guardians have had problems making decisions on players, particularly their prospects. For example, before the 2022 season, Cleveland had four shortstops listed in their top 10 prospects: Tyler Freeman (#2), Brayan Rocchio (#4), Gabriel Arias (#5), and Angel Martinez (#10). 

Two years later, what do we know about these four young players? The one with the most at-bats is Arias, who has 362 in his career. Martinez is still considered a prospect, ranking #6 in the 2024 rankings, but now is considered a second baseman. 

We understand the philosophy of drafting shortstops. They are generally the best athletes on the field, and therefore you can move them to other positions. For example, Mickey Mantle was signed as a shortstop. Current Guardian broadcaster Rick Manning was drafted #2 overall as one. 

Both eventually became outfielders. 

On the other hand, in today’s baseball, top prospects are like currency, that is to say, they can lose value over time. Freeman as we noted was the club’s #2 prospect just two years ago. We doubt he would bring back much in a trade right now. 

He’s become stale. He’s not putting up gaudy numbers in the minors, he spent all of 2023 in Cleveland, getting just 168 plate appearances. 

By the way, we have said many times over the past couple of years is we believe ultimately, Rocchio will wind up being the everyday shortstop and his play this winter season (.377 batting average, 998 OPS) hopefully caught the eye of the decision makers in the front office. 

Now, it looks like the same thing is happening in the outfield, where the team is collecting CF and RFs. New manager Steven Vogt has hinted the Guards would like to take a good luck at former Yankee prospect Estevan Florial, but where? 

Myles Straw, who was arguably the worst offensive player in the game last season, is still on the roster, and they resigned Ramon Laureano, who had a 724 OPS with Cleveland after being claimed on waivers in August. 

And they still have Will Brennan, as well as rookies Johnathan Rodriguez and seemingly perpetual prospect George Valera on the 40-man roster. 

Also, their #5 prospect, Juan Brito is listed as a second baseman, but doesn’t profile well there defensively, and last season, we suggested a shift to the outfield. 

Freeman has also been working in the outfield this winter, in an effort to get more at bats with the big club in 2024. 

Remember the football adage if you have two quarterbacks, then you don’t really have one? The same is true for the Guardians. If you have four shortstops, do you really have one? If you have five CF/RF, do you have those positions covered? 

Once again, it seems like the organization doesn’t want to make a mistake, so in their cautiousness, they also don’t make a decision. A sort of “paralysis by analysis” thing. 

Frankly, any decision they make should be based on hitting first. That’s the area of need for the 2024 Guardians. Their offense bordered on woeful a year ago. 

We say all the time, if you can’t hit, you can’t play. Over the past few years, there seems to be an overemphasis on the glove. We aren’t saying put a bunch of terrible defenders on the field, but you also don’t need a Gold Glove at every spot.

Hopefully, decisions will finally be made early this year, meaning spring training or early in the regular season. And even better, it would be nice if whatever is decided is the right move.

Talking About The Glut At 2B/SS For The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have been collecting middle infield prospects for the past few seasons. They either signed or drafted Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio, Jose Tena, Angel Martinez, and Milan Tolentino.

They traded for Andres Gimenez, Gabriel Arias, and Juan Brito. And this is all in the six or seven years.

Plus, they acquired Amed Rosario in the Francisco Lindor trade.

The theory is sound. Middle infielders are usually great athletes and in high school the best player is usually the shortstop unless he throws left-handed. Because they are great athletes, they are equipped to move around the diamond and play other positions.

For example, we have seen Cleveland move Arias to first base and to right field, when help was needed at both spots.

The problem for the organization is the last time we checked, you can only play two people in a game at the middle infield spots, one at second base and one at shortstop.

So, decisions have to be made, but so far, they haven’t.

After the trade of Rosario to Los Angeles, the Guardians called up Rocchio from AAA, giving them Arias, Rocchio, Freeman, as well as Gimenez, the starting second baseman, on the big league roster.

As we noted, they have used Arias at 1B and RF, and Rocchio has played third as well as shortstop, and Freeman has been used at 2B, SS, and 3B, the latter position usually manned by the team’s resident superstar, Jose Ramirez.

We believe the organization feels (again, opinion) Rocchio is the heir apparent at some point, perhaps next season. He’s probably the best mix or glove and bat.

So, that leads us to ask what should be done with the others? There is no question the Guardians need hitting. They rank 12th in the American League in runs scored.

Freeman, who just turned 24, can hit. He’s a .311 hitter in the minor leagues with a 813 OPS, and at AAA, he batted .289 with a 782 OPS. In the big leagues on a limited basis, he’s batted .267 in 181 plate appearances.

That may not be great, but outside of Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Steven Kwan, no one else on the current roster is doing it.

Why do we like him? To quote Peter Brand in “Moneyball”, he gets on base.

Brito, who will soon be 22 and he has shown to be a very good hitter in the minor leagues, batting .286 with an 877 OPS last season in the Rockies’ organization and batting .293 with an 847 OPS between Lake County and Akron this year.

Our question is why not find spots for these two to play? The Guardians have a gaping hole in the outfield, and they already tried Arias there, so why not Freeman and Brito?

Add in the organization’s philosophy of finding hitters who have good contact rates and teaching them to drive the ball. Both Freeman and Brito put the ball in play.

Robin Yount was an excellent SS who moved to CF later in his career. Rick Manning started as a SS and became a Gold Glove centerfielder. Why not start using Freeman out there to get his bat in the lineup.

As for Brito, we have read scouting reports that say he’s limited to 2B defensively, so why not start moving him to the outfield.

The minor league people will say the players lose value once you move them off the dirt, but are the Guardians trying to have the “most valuable” farm system, or is their goal to win games?

Besides, they have plenty of middle infielders capable of playing the positions at the AAA and AA levels.

Hopefully, when Freeman comes off the IL this week, his name is in the lineup on a daily basis. The organization needs to see if his bat can play at the major league level.

And if Brito is as good a hitter as scouts think, the Guardians need to figure out a way to find him a place to play in Cleveland.