Prediction For Guardians? We Just Don’t Know…

Today is the real Opening Day for Major League Baseball, and the Cleveland Guardians open their defense of the AL Central Division title against Kansas City. Because of the renovations to Progressive Field, it will be a week and a half before the Guards play in Cleveland.

Can they defend the title and get back to the post-season in 2025? Much like many players on the roster, we say “we just don’t know”.

While the influencers will tell you the Guardians had a solid off-season, we disagree. Their biggest question marks following the season were an offense that was shaky, and ahead of only Detroit among playoff squads in the AL and a starting rotation that had only one proven starter in Tanner Bibee.

During the winter, they traded their second-best home run hitter in Josh Naylor and replaced him with a player who was not good vs. right-handed pitching. They did add a starting pitcher, although one who has just 34 starts at the major league level.

They say if you want to know about a player’s performance, most likely it is reflected on the back of their baseball card, meaning once a player is established, he will likely do what he usually does. And that’s our issue with the 2025 Cleveland Guardians.

We look around and simply have no idea what to expect about of several players projected to be starters for Cleveland.

We like the potential of Kyle Manzardo, Brayan Rocchio, Bo Naylor, and a rightfield platoon of Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel, but if you asked us to place a substantial wager on how successful they will perform this season, we would decline.

Same goes for the rotation. We have confidence in Bibee, and Gavin Williams appears to be back to the guy he was in 2023 when he came up, but figuring out what Ben Lively, Logan Allen, and Ortiz will do?

The biggest strength Cleveland had a year ago was the bullpen, and veteran baseball people will tell anyone that listens it is the most volatile area on any team. Think about it, last year at this time, no one had any clue that Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith, and Tim Herrin would be as dominant as they were.

To think they will all repeat those seasons again is foolish. Maybe Paul Sewald regains his form and someone like Andrew Walters pitches great or Trevor Stephan returns during the year and picks up the slack.

Because of the way the Guardians do their business, it is likely this will be the case for the Guardians every year going forward, particularly under the Dolan ownership. What we mean is perhaps there will never be more than a couple of players who have track records.

However, on this basis, we don’t feel the Guardians will repeat as division champions. Of course, if three or four of the question marks turn out to be productive, Steven Vogt’s crew could win 90 games and make the post-season yet again.

So, what will the 2025 season hold for the Cleveland Guardians? We just don’t know. If we have to guess, let’s say 85 wins and second place in the AL Central.

Will Guards Be Active This Winter? History Says No

The hot stove league is under way in baseball and the Cleveland Guardians had to do some tweaking to the roster to prepare for the winter meetings, which will take place in two weeks.

The most notable moves were the trade of Eli Morgan to the Cubs and that the DFA’d former top prospect George Valera. Valera suffered a ruptured patella tendon near the end of the season and probably won’t be playing baseball until well into the 2025 season, and we were not surprised to see the Guardians sign him to a minor league contract yesterday.

The Morgan deal was a bit of a surprise, but the team did deal from strength. The relief corps is strong and will hopefully be getting Trevor Stephan back from elbow surgery.

And they added Franco Aleman (1.99 ERA in 22.2 innings at AAA) and Nic Enright (1.06 ERA and 31 Ks in 17 IP at Columbus) to the 40-man roster.

For Morgan, the Guardians dealt for a lottery ticket, a Class A outfielder with some pop in Alfonsin Rosario. The downside of Rosario is there is a lot of swing and miss, as he fanned 32% of his at bats at the low A level. He did hit 16 homers and is only 20 years old. But we aren’t as excited about the return as some of the prospect enjoyers.

What will the Guardians do this winter? Despite the crazy rumors on other sites, mostly figments of someone’s imagination (i.e. it would be a shock if the Guardians’ signed Max Scherzer as a free agent), based on past experience, it won’t be an active winter for the front office.

We still see a need to add an impact bat in the outfield, and the starting rotation is also short at least one starter, maybe two. Will the Guardians be willing to get involved in the free agent market? Unlikely, unless there are some bargains out there as spring training gets closer.

Should Cleveland increase their payroll? Of course, they rank in the bottom five of the sport with the Tigers, Reds, Pirates, and A’s. On the other hand, the Guardians and the Pirates rank as in the top five youngest teams in the game, and Detroit 7th youngest.

Cleveland is 20th in attendance this past season, right behind the Orioles, who spend $23 million more in payroll. And they outdraw the Royals by about a half million fans, and KC spends almost $30 million more.

But reality says something different, so we don’t expect any big deals.

However, we would still like to see the front office clean up the glut of middle infielders still on the 40-man roster. The keystone starters will likely be Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio, but you still have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Angel Martinez, and Juan Brito on the roster.

The Guards have used their versatility to make them useful, such as using Freeman and Martinez in the OF, and Brito started playing the outfield and first base at AAA this season.

Brito should be bidding for a big league gig this season, so you would think a couple of others need to be moved to make room for him.

And don’t forget the overall first pick in the ’24 draft, Travis Bazzana, will be involved in this mix sooner than later.

The winter meetings used to be exciting because of the wheeling and dealing, but it hasn’t been that way for years. In our opinion, that excitement is needed. It’s sad that some agents hold up the off-season process.

Guardians Still In This Series, But Need A Win Tonight

Former Browns’ coach Marty Schottenheimer used to say no game was “must win” unless if you lose you are eliminated from playoff consideration. On that basis, today’s game three of the American League Championship Series isn’t that, but it’s pretty darn close.

The Guardians are down two games to none in the series, but it’s a best-of-seven series, so they aren’t dead yet, but you can get out the shovels if they can’t win tonight at home.

The big weaknesses that plagued the regular season, starting pitching and the offensive are again the culprits in dropping the first two games of the series.

In the post-season, the Guardians are 3-0 when they scored four runs or more and 0-4 when they tally three runs or less. They’ve put up just five runs in the first two games of the ALCS.

As for the starters, we knew Steven Vogt would rely heavily on the bullpen throughout the playoffs, but in game one, Alex Cobb pitched just 2.2 innings and Tanner Bibee went just 1.1 in the second game. That has caused the skipper to use guys in higher leverage situations than he wanted too.

That has caused some hiccups. Rookie Joey Cantillo came in game one and threw four wild pitches. For those questioning Vogt for going to Cantillo that early (and we were one of those people) understand he likely would have had to bring Cantillo in at some point. He used his best four relievers to the max in the last two games of the Tigers’ series, and no doubt they needed an extra day off.

And in game two, the bullpen was forced to cover 6.2 frames, and it could’ve been 7.2 if the Guards had taken the lead. He correctly used Cade Smith with the bases loaded trailing by two in the second to get out of the jam, which he did allowing just one more run to score.

The point is if either starter could get through four innings, it’s a much better situation for the bullpen. It’s that simple.

As for the offense, Cleveland has just three players with more than one hit in the two games: Brayan Rocchio, who continues to have a tremendous playoff, Steven Kwan, and Josh Naylor. New York has five.

The Yankees have seven extra base hits, the Guardians have just two, the home runs by Rocchio and Jose Ramirez. Cleveland hitters have struck out 21 times, New York hitters just 16.

The Guardians have problems in right field, where Jhonkensy Noel and Will Brennan have combined to go 2 for 25 with one walk in the seven games. And at catcher, Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges have combined to go 0 for 23.

We know Bo Naylor is struggling but pinch hitting for him early in a game just means more at bats for Hedges, who is on the roster for defense and leadership, but is a terrible hitter.

It’s not that the offense hasn’t had opportunities, they were 0 for 7 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on in game two. Someone, anyone, needs to come through with a big hit.

Let’s be clear. Right now, this series is not over. A win in game three put the Guardians right back in it. There is pressure on Matthew Boyd to provide some innings and with four days off, no doubt, Emmanuel Clase is prepared to get Vogt at least five outs.

The Guards need a spark offensively. Kwan and Rocchio have gotten on base. They need someone to step up and drive them in.

Guardians Survive And Advance

It had been since 1997 that the Cleveland baseball team won an elimination game when they beat the Florida Marlins in Game 6 of the World Series.

But they won two this week. Trailing the Detroit Tigers, two game to one Thursday night, they won 5-4 to force a deciding game five, and then won at home yesterday, 7-3 to advance to the League Championship Series for a sixth time, the third time against the New York Yankees.

They have lost the previous two matchups against the Bronx Bombers, but defeated Seattle in 1995, Baltimore in 1997, and Toronto in 2016.

So many heroes in this series, primarily their big acquisition at the trade deadline, Lane Thomas, who went 6 for 19 in the series, driving in nine runs. His three-run shot in Game 1 got the Guards off on the right foot, and the grand slam in the deciding game was ultimately the deciding blow.

Steven Kwan went back to first half Kwan, going 11 for 21 with two walks. He had a trio of three hit games in the series.

David Fry sent the series back home in game four, with a go ahead two run homer and a squeeze bunt to score an important insurance run.

And of course, as it has been all season long, the bullpen was unbelievable. We said before the series it was likely Cleveland only needed four innings from the starters, and out of 132 outs recorded by the pitching staff, 60 of them came from Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin, and of course, Emmanuel Clase.

But there were unsung heroes as well.

Brayan Rocchio had a tremendous series, going 6 for 16, and was sparking with the glove. So much for those wanting others to handle the position in the playoffs.

Andres Gimenez was having a terrible series but started the five-run rally yesterday with a single and then scored an insurance run in the ninth inning.

And what about Eli Morgan. Because Steven Vogt went to the bullpen after two innings, he was running out of relievers. Gaddis was gassed after throwing 32 pitches Thursday and 30 more in the fifth game, so Morgan, who didn’t pitch in high leverage situations often, came in the 7th and got two big strikeouts.

The other three teams in the championship series are Major League Baseball’s dream, coming from the mega-markets of New York and Los Angeles. And then there are the Guardians, whose payroll is less than half of each of the other three franchises in baseball’s final four.

The Yankees are the American League’s highest scoring team at 5.03 runs per contest, over a half a run over the Guardians’ 4.4 figure. Pitching wise, New York is fourth, behind Seattle, Detroit, and Cleveland.

The key for Cleveland pitching will be to handle the dynamic duo of Juan Soto and Aaron Judge. If you can control them, you have a fighting chance. It’s a bit complicated because Giancarlo Stanton got hot in the Division Series, going 6 for 16 with a big home run.

And can the Guardians defeat Gerrit Cole, who looks like he is back to his Cy Young form in the KC series.

But remember, the Yanks won only two more regular season games than the Guardians, and although we are sure at least in the beginning of the series he will limit the usage of his four main relievers to just one inning, that of course means, the starters still only have to give the skipper about 15 outs.

As usual, where will the runs come for the Guards? Can Kwan, Thomas, and Rocchio continue their hot hitting? Can the Naylors provide some pop? And what to do with rightfield?

In a seven-game series, there is a little less pressure in game one. All the Guardians have to do is win four out of seven. If they do, a seventh American League pennant will be flying over Progressive Field.

Guardians’ Struggling Due To Struggling Offense

The old adage in baseball is “you win with pitching”, and certainly that is true. The less runs you allow your opponent to score the better. It’s particularly true in the post-season, where every run scored should be precious.

However, in the regular season, you have to score to be successful. A look at the six highest scoring teams in the American League shows five teams which should make the post-season: New York, Baltimore, Boston, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Houston.

The Guardians are just outside that group, averaging 4.47 runs per game whereas the Astros are at 4.62.

And just when the Guards need to string some wins and hopefully clinch a division title and a first-round bye in the playoffs, their hitting is taking another ill-timed snooze.

Yes, they did come home after a sweep over the Chicago White Sox, but the Pale Hose will likely have the worst record in the history of modern baseball, on track to lose more than 120 games in 2024, and frankly, it is not as though the offense was clicking in the Windy City, scoring just 16 runs in the three games.

In the six contests prior to last night not played against a terrible team, the Guardians have scored 1, 3, 2, 0, 2, and 1 runs, a total of 9 runs for an average of 1.5 runs per game.

And as with the “slump” that occurred in August, the Guardians’ best three hitters aren’t producing. This isn’t to put blame on Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Steven Kwan, but it shows how much Steven Vogt’s roster depends on them for offense. Here are the numbers over the last 28 days:

Ramirez: .228 BA, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 683 OPS.
J. Naylor: .232, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 663 OPS
Kwan: .165, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 496 OPS and 309 on base percentage.

And it’s not as though their teammates are picking them up. Yes, Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio have done better the past couple of weeks, but make no mistake, this is still a team with major offensive issues.

The league average on base percentage is .309. The Guardians have four players over that threshold on the team, the three players mentioned previously plus David Fry (.357).

As a team, Cleveland is tenth in the AL in drawing walks and ninth in batting average. They have hit a lot more home runs this season, ranking 7th, up from last in 2023. Since the All-Star break, their on base percentage is .295.

Last night’s three-run rally? It started with a walk to Angel Martinez, who demonstrated some patience at the plate in his first tenure with the big club.

No one is asking this group to be the 1999 Cleveland Indians which scored over 1000 runs, the last MLB team to do so. But they can’t have periods like Thursday night, when they scored two runs on four hits in the first two innings, and then get one hit the rest of the way.

In short, good hitters draw walks. Take a look at the AL leaders in drawing bases on balls. You see names like Judge, Soto, Henderson, Guerrero, and Devers. What you won’t see is the name of anyone on the Guardians.

That’s something to take a look at this off-season for sure.

Guards Biggest Needs: Starting Pitching (Duh) And???

The Major League Baseball trading deadline is Tuesday afternoon and there is a lot of speculation on what the Cleveland Guardians will do before then.

Of course, there are the callous fans who think they will do nothing, it will be status quo for the front office, after all, the Guardians have the best record in the American League and one of the best records in baseball with the current group of players.

But we know the other competitors for post-season spots will make moves to get better, so president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to seek to make the roster better in order to “keep up with the Joneses”.

In terms of WAR (wins over the replacement), the Guardians chief need is no surprise, it’s starting pitching. A few years ago, Cleveland had a rotation of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, and Shane Bieber, and with that, you knew they had a chance to win every night.

Those guys were that good.

These days, you can only have confidence when Tanner Bibee and the surprising Ben Lively take the hill. Gavin Williams is still working his way back from an elbow issue, and his last few starts have been hit or miss. Hopefully, that improves going forward.

Carlos Carrasco was a nice story coming out of spring training, but he’s allowed 106 hits in 95 innings and has an ERA of 5.68. Pitching five innings and giving up three runs is not a good outing.

And the fifth spot is a revolving door right now.

We hear a lot of talk about upgrading at SS, and surprisingly, the other positions where the Guardians are getting the worst production are catcher and right field, not shortstop.

We doubt catcher is considered an area of need by the organization and we agree with that. Now that David Fry’s elbow is allowing him to play the position, we think the Guardians are satisfied with him, Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges, although with Fry back, the latter’s at bats can be few and farther between.

Perhaps that’s where Angel Martinez and Jhonkensy Noel should be getting their at bats? Will Brennan has received the bulk of the playing time there, but he provides neither power (.379 slugging percentage) or the ability to get on base (.291 on base percentage) walking just 16 times in 247 plate appearances.

That’s a bad combination particularly for someone who plays a corner outfield spot.

We agree that it would be nice if Brayan Rocchio hit more. But he is the best defensive shortstop option on the squad, and we have always said you need seven solid bats in your lineup to have a good offense.

Anyone else the team plays at short now that Gabriel Arias was sent down seems to have issues with the glove. And if your pitching staff, particularly the starters, are struggling, you have to put solid defenders behind them.

Actually, the best way the offense can be helped would be for their best hitters to start producing again. If Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor started swinging the bats again at their career norms, that would go a long way in straightening out the offense.

Guards Need To Remember How They Got Here Offensively

The post-All-Star part of the schedule did not treat the Cleveland Guardians any better than it did before the break came. Steven Vogt is going through something for the first time as a big-league manager. A streak where nothing is going right.

That’s how you have a period where your team has lost 14 of the last 22.

A couple of weeks ago, the Guards were scoring runs, but the starting pitching simply wasn’t giving the team a chance to win. Not enough length, which has been the case most of the season, and then they were giving up runs early, putting the offense in a tough spot.

A visit to Tampa cured the pitching staff. They still weren’t giving Vogt much length, but they were keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. But now the offense has taken a siesta, a deep sleep.

In their last 11 games, the Guardians have been shutout four times, and scored one run twice. In Friday’s win over San Diego to open the second half slate, Cleveland scored one run in the first seven innings before putting up six in the eighth to seal the game.

Even with that seven run effort and scoring nine in one of the games vs. Detroit, the Guardians have scored just 28 runs in those 11 contests, an average of 2.5 runs per night for the mathematically challenged.

It’s tough to win doing that.

The team seems to have gotten away from what made them successful early on. A lot of solid contact and aggressive base running.

Daniel Schneemann is getting a lot of playing time and has a 30% strikeout rate. Jhonkensy Noel was getting at bats (though that has tapered as of late) and he fans 40% of the time.

Note both players have limited at bats.

We would also note that Angel Martinez is been getting regular at bats and he whiffs just 14.9% of the time.

The players who seems to have lost at bats are Tyler Freeman (14.9% K rate) and Brayan Rocchio, who has a 19% strikeout rate. And the latter is by far the best glove the team has at shortstop.

Schneemann has been used there recently and has made a number of defensive mistakes.

They also have seemed to abandon the stolen base, pilfering only 8 during the month of July and five of those came in two games. We know, we know, it is difficult to steal first and that’s been a big problem as of late, not getting runners on, but when they do get on, it seems like there isn’t a lot of aggressiveness.

It’s only three games into post break play, but the Guardians need something to get them going again. Obviously, the offense centers around Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor, but literally, no one else is doing anything either.

Andres Gimenez has been in a hitting funk over the last month. Because of David Fry’s elbow issue, it has forced more at bats for Austin Hedges, and that’s not going to help the offense.

Maybe it’s time to go back to what got the Guardians in first place. Put the ball in play and put pressure on defenses to make plays.

It wasn’t broke, but the Guardians tried to fix it. Now is the time to get back to the roots of the ’24 season.

Do Guardians Really Need A Shortstop? Not So Fast

As the calendar turns to June, the Major League Baseball trading deadline is now less than two months away. And with the Cleveland Guardians off to a tremendous start, speculation has started as to what the front office will be targeting at the July 30th deadline.

It doesn’t take in depth analysis to realize the Guardians need starting rotation help, although you could say that with most contending teams.

Obviously, losing Shane Bieber after two starts was a huge blow, and not having Gavin Williams to date, has really wiped out 40% of the rotation. Williams is making progress, making a rehab start last week, and perhaps he can be back before July 1st.

Still, although Tanner Bibee has been very good (4-1, 3.74 ERA) he is averaging less than 6 innings per start. The same is true of the other rotation pieces, Triston McKenzie and Ben Lively.

This is put a heavy toll on the bullpen, which has been the strength of the team. The list of the top ten in the American League in appearances features four pitchers wearing Cleveland uniforms: Emmanuel Clase is tied for the league lead with 30. Hunter Gaddis and Nick Sandlin are tied for fourth at 29, and Scott Barlow is tied for 7th at 28.

Add in Tim Herrin with 27 games and rookie Cade Smith with 25. So far, no one has lost effectiveness, but you would hate to get into August and have the relief corps suffer a downturn.

The other position that comes up is shortstop. However, if you look at WAR, the Guardians’ weakest positions have been RF and catcher. The rightfield issue may sort itself out as we wouldn’t be surprised if David Fry starts getting more playing time there now that Stephan Kwan has returned.

We have written about Fry before, and when you are hitting .355 with an OPS of 1128, your manager is going to figure out how to get you in the lineup.

Brayan Rocchio doesn’t have a lot of pop, and we are sure people look at his .203 batting average and say he has to be replaced. But looking inside the numbers, you see that Rocchio is tied for second on the team in walks with 23, behind only Fry with 24.

So is on base percentage is .308, which is the American League average. And Rocchio has been more than adequate defensively, which is important because first and foremost, shortstop is a defensive position.

Let’s not overlook the Guardians’ excellent start and the way the hitting has produced runs certainly buys Rocchio more time.

And we have always said this. If Cleveland was having problems producing offense, then Rocchio would certainly be under more scrutiny. But they are winning and scoring.

We have also always felt that good lineups need seven solid bats in the batting order to be productive. The league average OPS is 699 right now, and the Guards have five hitters over that figure, but over the last month, Tyler Freeman is close at 694.

We are willing to give Rocchio more time, especially because he has an acceptable strikeout/walk ratio, meaning he is not getting dominated by opposing pitchers.

If you are asking, we would add pitching first and foremost, because we agree with former skipper Terry Francona, when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more.

We would rank the trade targets this way: 1). Starter 2). Reliever 3). Starter…….4). shortstop.

Six weeks from now, we may sing a different tune.

Fry Gets A Chance And Makes The Most Of It

In sports, like life, sometimes you only get one opportunity to do something to change everything. You can take advantage of the change or fail to do so, and it makes all the difference.

Every year, sports fans want players to get opportunities and if they don’t succeed right away, they want the teams involved to continue to give the player a shot, but most franchises need and want to win, so it is tough to give someone who isn’t getting the job done more chances.

There is no doubt that if the team is winning, young, struggling players get more of a shot. For example, Brayan Rocchio isn’t hitting right now (565 OPS), but the Guardians are winning, so there isn’t pressure on Steven Vogt and the front office to make a change at shortstop.

And other times, the player simply isn’t ready. There are Cavs’ fans clamoring for rookie Emoni Bates because he is supposed to be a good three-point shooter, but Bates doesn’t do much of anything else right now, so no coach of a playoff team is going to put him on the court.

Back to the Guards, no one has taken advantage of his opportunity more than David Fry, who is working on getting more and more playing time the old-fashioned way. By earning it.

Fry has 103 plate appearances on the season, ranking in a tie for 9th on the team, but he has a 1010 OPS with 4 homers, 16 RBIs, and 18 walks for the season. Frankly, his production is forcing Vogt to put him in the lineup more often, which the skipper is doing.

It helps that Fry can play a number of positions. He can catch, and has seen time at 1B, LF, and 3B.

He didn’t get a call up until last season at age 27, but his minor league numbers are pretty good. He has an 815 OPS in AAA, getting on base at a .347 clip and slugging .468. His first year in the Cleveland organization (2022), he had a 779 OPS and raised that a year ago before his call up to 946.

Fry was in the Opening Day lineup because a southpaw was on the mound for Oakland and he went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, and started the next day and went 1 for 2 with two walks. In his next start a week later, he belted a three run HR to beat the Twins.

Had he gone 0 for 9 in those games with five strikeouts, would Vogt have given him more chances? Ultimately, of course, but it was easier to find him at bats because he was getting hits.

He has destroyed lefties, hitting .424 and a 1426 OPS, but has held his own against righties, batting .300 with an 819 OPS.

No doubt a good deal of his success has been predicated on controlling the strike zone. Fry is second on the team in walks despite his relatively few at-bats, so by and large, he isn’t swinging at bad pitches, in effect, getting himself out.

That’s how you do it. You get a chance and do something with it. Many, many years ago, there was a young player put into the lineup because a veteran player needed a day off. The young player didn’t come out for over 2000 games.

We aren’t suggesting David Fry is Lou Gehrig. But he is taking advantage of his opportunity. And that’s the way it should be.

Moving On From Straw Is A New Direction From Guards?

Probably nothing signals a new era for Cleveland Guardians’ baseball than Myles Straw being put on waivers and outrighted to AAA.

Straw is kind of the poster child for the question of how important is being an elite defender to play on an everyday basis? Straw won the Gold Glove in 2022 and was certainly a tremendous glove in patrolling centerfield during his tenure in Cleveland, but frankly, he was one of the worst hitters in the sport.

For a team that finished 12th in the American League in runs scored a year ago, his bat was no longer a luxury they could afford.

In Ozzie Smith’s second season, he batted .211 with a 522 OPS. As good as Smith was with the glove, if he didn’t provide better offense, we would have been a bench player for a while, and then would have been released.

And he’s probably the greatest defensive shortstop ever.

Smith gradually got better with a bat in his hands. Perhaps Straw will at some point, but if he doesn’t, we would guess he won’t be a regular in the major leagues again.

Not to get bogged down with Straw, but the curious thing about him is he never changed his offensive approach in games. He never learned or improved his bunting skills. He also stopped running when he did reach base, which was even more curious.

As for the rest of the roster, it does look like Straw’s replacement in center might be converted shortstop Tyler Freeman. We have long wondered what Freeman would do if he was getting regular playing time, and we guess we will know find out.

The pedigree is there as far as his minor league numbers go. He slashed 393/387/780 in AAA and overall, 382/430/812. Now, it’s up to him to prove those numbers can translate to the big leagues.

We were also happy to learn Brayan Rocchio will be the primary shortstop over Gabriel Arias, because we think the former is the better offensive player.

We aren’t saying the organization should ignore the defense, especially when you’ve built everything around your pitching staff, but to us, if it comes down to playing a pretty good fielder who can hit vs. a great glove who cannot, we go with the first option every time.

Estevan Florial made the team despite a lackluster camp, and it will be interesting to see how Steven Vogt uses him. Our thought with him is if he doesn’t do anything with the bat, there is the logical spot for Kyle Manzardo to come in and replace him on the roster.

The pitching staff is very much in flux because of injuries and the virus which affected the team all spring. Gavin Williams and Sam Hentges will start on the injured list, and we already know Trevor Stephan is out for the season.

So, Carlos Carrasco will open as the fifth starter, and Tyler Beede, a non-roster invitee who pitched in Japan last season also will be on hand. Hunter Gaddis is now a reliever, and was very good in Arizona, fanning 17 in 11-2/3 innings.

Rookie Cade Smith could also make the big club after striking out 11 in eight frames in spring training, coming off whiffing 95 in 62-2/3 innings in the minors last season, albeit with a 4.45 ERA.

How will this group of Guardians perform once the games count for real in Oakland on Thursday night? We will talk about that in a couple of days.