Bullpen Hiccups Causing Guardians Concern

With the All-Star break starting tomorrow, hopefully the bullpen of the Cleveland Guardians can get plenty of rest because they seem to be running on fumes as of late and that gives Steven Vogt less options he can depend on.

First, two of our rules for relievers are don’t walk people and don’t give up home runs. In other words, make hitters earn their way on base, and in addition, make them score runs by bunching hits together, particularly tough in today’s game.

Right now, Vogt has three relievers who challenge the first of those rules–

Shawn Armstrong: 28.2 IP, 16 BB
Erik Sabrowski: 27.1 IP, 20 BB
Tim Herrin: 32.1 IP, 19 BB

The lowest point of the relief corps’ season came Wednesday night in Minnesota, when Armstrong entered the game with a 5-3 lead and walked two batters. He was relieved by Sabrowski, who walked the three batters he faced before Hunter Gaddis rescued him.

Minnesota tied the game without swinging the bat. The quintet of free passes allowed them to tie the game.

Right now, Vogt probably trusts three pitches when the Guardians have the lead. Obviously, one is All-Star Cade Smith, who leads the AL is saves with 28 and has fanned 61 hitters in 43.1 innings. He’s also allowed just three long balls, two of them coming in one game.

Hunter Gaddis started the year on the injured list and then struggled a bit when he joined the team, but has been solid for the most part. Since May 1st, he has a 1.85 ERA with 21 Ks in 24.1 frames, allowing just one HR in that span.

The third pitcher is the surprise, Colin Holderman, signed as a free agent over the winter. We always like Holderman when he was in Pittsburgh, where he had two solid years in 2023 and 2024 and struck out over a hitter per inning.

But last season, he had a 7.01 ERA with the Pirates and his walk numbers went up and the strikeouts went down.

He started with year with the big-league club but was sent back to AAA after allowing two runs in his first two games. Since returning in late April, he’s posted a 1.43 ERA with 36 punchouts in 32.1 innings and hasn’t allowed a round tripper.

Herrin is currently on the IL after taking a line drive off the elbow and Sabrowski had elbow problems earlier and they are the only lefties at Vogt’s disposal. And both have a tendency to put people on base. The latter was very good early on, but since his elbow started giving him a problem, it’s been dicey bringing him into games.

Matt Festa has a rubber arm and Vogt likes him, but the problem is he doesn’t have dominant stuff, allowing six dingers in 38 innings. As noted, Armstrong has problems locating the strike zone.

Maybe the answer is Franco Aleman, a rookie, but the manager doesn’t trust him yet. He’s pitched in four games since his recall but hasn’t been put into any high leverage situations until yesterday when he pitched the 8th in a 4-1 Guardians’ win.

Vogt needs more options he can trust as the season goes on or he risks exhausting his three best options and perhaps watching them falter in late August and September. So, either a pitcher like Armstrong has to rediscover throwing strikes or the lefties start pitching better or the front office is going to have to find more options.

And if the Guardians get to the post-season, no doubt a good relief corps is a must.

Looking At The Guardians, Halfway Through.

The Cleveland Guardians reached the halfway point of their season prior to the weekend series against Seattle with a record of 42-39, respectable considering only four teams in the American League are over the break-even mark.

They’ve done this despite a month-long hitting slump, as they have tread water during this period where they have not been able to score runs, going 10-13 in June to date. Steven Vogt’s crew will likely be without their best player, Jose Ramirez, for another month (hopefully less), so can they sustain their place in the standings without him?

After a decent start offensively to the season, the offense has returned to the bottom of the AL, and remember, for the most part, teams that score runs in the regular season make the post-season. They rank last in OPS, last in slugging, and 14th (second last) in on base percentage. And we’ve documented in past posts, that the “slump” started in the middle of May, not when Ramirez, Angel Martinez, and Chase DeLauter went down with injuries in the same game.

Once again, the outfield has been a problem. While first base is the lowest position ranking according to WAR in the AL, the next two spots belong to leftfield and centerfield. Part of this is the poor year Steven Kwan is having. The two-time all-star is arguably the worst hitter in the league this season, with an OPS under 600 (575), a batting average of .210 and a slugging average less than his on base percentage (.319 OBP and .256 slugging).

How have the Guardians remained above the .500 mark? As usual, the answer is pitching. Cleveland has still only used five starters this season, remarkable in today’s game. They rank 4th in the AL in ERA, and they have the league leader in saves in Cade Smith, who has 26.

Parker Messick has emerged as a potential all-star, with a 2.67 ERA and 101 strikeouts in 94.1 innings. One thing to watch with him is his innings. The most he’s thrown in any season is 133, so no doubt the front office will try to control that in the second half.

And while Gavin Williams hasn’t had a good June, he’s been picked up by Tanner Bibee, who has been outstanding in his four starts, putting up a 1.71 ERA.

The bullpen has to develop some depth though. Hunter Gaddis looks like he is back after a slow start with an IL stint to start the year. Colin Holderman has been a find, with a 1.55 ERA in 28 games, allowing just one homer and 13 hits in 29 frames.

Erik Sabrowski missed some time with elbow inflammation, and he’s been fine too with 42 Ks in 22.1 innings. But the rest of the ‘pen has had issues.

Matt Festa, everyone’s favorite, has allowed six long balls in 34 innings. Shawn Armstrong, the Guardians’ main free agent, has given up three dingers and walked 12 in 23.2 frames. And Tim Herrin, the other southpaw wias Sabrowski, has struggled to throw strikes, walking 19 in 28.2 innings.

Daniel Espino might be an option down the road, but right now he’s showing he’s not ready to pitch in the big leagues. Which leaves the question as to why Franco Aleman, with an 0.33 ERA at AAA isn’t with the big club.

However, to win a third straight Central Division title, and with the AL West struggled, a bye into the Division Series, the Guardians are going to need to put more runs on the board. They have had a bottom of the league offense now for a season and a half.

Getting DeLauter back help, but hopefully the front office can get a solid bat at the trade deadline. It would certainly save the fingernails of Guardians’ fans everywhere.

Don’t Discount The Guardians’ Pitching Either

Our concerns about the pitching staff of the Cleveland Guardians were based on a lack of depth. And it could be a problem down the road.

Right now, the Guardians are the only Major League team to have used just five starters, so having pitchers at the AAA level to pick up the slack hasn’t been needed.

The front office should be looking to improve in that area though. Cleveland just called up Logan Allen, who would seem to be the primary depth piece, from Columbus, but Allen hasn’t pitched well at AAA, he sported a 5.45 ERA when he was sent to Cleveland in a weird move on Sunday, and after throwing four innings last night, he will likely be sent back today.

Early in the season, it seemed like the “pitching factory” had a bit of a malfunction. Tanner Bibee had a few bad starts, including last night, and Slade Cecconi was getting hit hard, but as usual, Carl Willis and his staff righted the ship and since May 11th, the Guards have allowed more than four runs in a game just once.

Cecconi is the only starter with an ERA over 5 (5.15), but in his last three starts, he’s allowed just five runs in 16.1 innings and in his last five starts, he has a 4.00 ERA.

Steven Vogt’s team apparently refuses to score with Bibee is on the hill and that’s why he is 0-6 on the season, but with a respectable 3.75 ERA.

Gavin Williams and Parker Messick have emerged as aces. Williams, after his phenomenal performance Friday night vs. the Phillies, is 7-3 with a 3.25 ERA and leads the AL in innings with 69.1 and is second in strikeouts with 84. Better yet, in his last eight starts, he was walked two or fewer hitters. That’s been the issue with him, throwing strikes, and he seems to have taken care of that.

Messick, still a rookie, came close to a no-hitter early in the season against the Orioles, and is 6-1 and his 2.24 ERA ranks 4th in the American League. He has fanned 70 hitters, good for 6th in the AL.

And the fifth member of the rotation, Joey Cantillo ranks 10th in punching hitters out with 51 Ks in 56 innings.

Don’t forget the bullpen, which took a little while to sort out. Cade Smith has a couple of shaky outings to begin the season but has been dominant recently and leads the league in saves with 18 and has whiffed 37 in 25.1 innings.

Hunter Gaddis began the year on the IL, but over the last couple of weeks, he’s looked like the pitcher fans are accustomed to seeing. Eric Sabrowski has allowed just seven hits in 21 innings, striking out an incredible 39 batters. Unfortunately, he had to go on the IL with elbow inflammation. Colin Holderman, a free agent signee in the off-season, is being used more and succeeding in high-leverage situations.

As for the rotation depth, keep your eye on Rorik Maltrud in Columbus. Maltrud is a 26-year-old right-hander and has a 2.82 ERA in eight starts with the Clippers. He’s never been an innings eater though, his high in innings in any season has been 104.

We aren’t saying he’s the next guy, but it wouldn’t be a shock to see him making a couple of spot starts with the big club.

As the summer starts, it looks like the Cleveland Guardians’ pitching is in a good spot. We still worry about the depth in the rotation, but the strength of the organization is still just that.

Watching The Guardians’ Bullpen

A potential problem for the Cleveland Guardians raised its ugly head last week when the bullpen had a couple of meltdowns, blowing a three-run lead against St. Louis, and then losing a four-run lead against the Orioles on Friday night.

The last two seasons, the relief corps was perhaps the strength of the team, and even with the loss of Emmanuel Clase, it was great down the stretch a year ago, led by Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Erik Sabrowski.

But the bullpen is always the most volatile part of any baseball team, and even if you think you have it covered, it can always go the other way. That’s just baseball.

In the off-season, the Cleveland front office tried to add to the group, signing Shawn Armstrong, who had a solid year with Texas last season, finishing with a 2.31 ERA and fanning 74 hitters in 74 innings.

They also added Connor Brogdon (5.55 ERA for the Angels), Colin Holderman (7.01 ERA for Pittsburgh), and Codi Heuer, last effective in the majors with the Cubs in 2021. Obviously, they saw something they could work with that trio, and to be fair, they had poor seasons a year ago.

We always say the worst things a relief pitcher can do is walk people and give up home runs. And that’s exactly been the problem lately for the Cleveland firemen.

In the loss to the Cardinals, Sabrowski, who has been great all year, allowed a two-run homer to cut a three-run lead to just one. Then, in the ninth, an error opened the order, but a wild pitch by Smith moved the runner to second and he scored on a hit.

In the Baltimore game, Armstrong came in with a four-run lead and walked two hitters and hit another. After a sacrifice fly and a double to make it 4-3, Brogdon gave up a long ball and turned the game into a loss.

Look, every team has some games when they blow late leads, and maybe Steven Vogt’s squad got them out of the way in April. However, there are other warning signs.

Two relievers, Matt Festa and Armstrong have already allowed two home runs in less than 10 innings pitched for each pitcher, and Brogdon has given up three gopher balls. Overall, not counting Koby Allard, the bullpen has allowed 12 dingers in the team’s 24 games played. That’s way too many.

In terms of walks, Armstrong is the chief culprit to date with seven in 9.2 innings, but as effective as Sabrowski has generally been, he’s issued five free passes in 10.2 frames. In total, the ‘pen has walked 27 hitters this season.

Vogt already seems hesitant to use Tim Herrin in high leverage situations because of his inability to throw strikes. After a great ’24 season in which he fanned 68 and walked just 25 in 65.2 innings, last year, he walked 30 with 45 Ks in 42.2 innings and this year has walked four in five innings of work.

The skipper used Rule 5 pick Peyton Pallette on Sunday for two innings, and he did a good job. Maybe he gets bumped up in the food chain going forward.

Fortunately, there is some depth at AAA. Heuer has thrown seven scoreless innings in Columbus, and Holderman is there as well, albeit with a 10.80 ERA.

Franco Aleman has eight punchouts (three walks though) in 5.2 innings and Andrew Walters, who pitched with the Guardians in ’24 and briefly in ’25 before a lat injury should be close to being ready. And maybe the big club with take a look at Will Dion, a 26-year-old southpaw, who has thrown 11 innings in seven relief appearances, with 13 Ks and just four walks.

Hopefully, last week is a blip on the radar, but a contending team can’t let bullpen issues fester too long. Something to watch for Vogt and how the bullpen is used.

An Incredible Stretch That Needs To Last One More Week

It wasn’t even a month ago. It was August 25th, and the Cleveland Guardians were shutout by Tampa Bay, 9-0, their ninth defeat in their last 10 games.

They were a below .500 team at 64-66 and they were six games behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League, and more to the point, they would have to climb over Kansas City and Texas to challenge the Mariners.

Oh, and by the way, they were 12.5 behind Detroit in the Central Division.

Just three days later, the defeated those Mariners in one of those games they had no business winning, falling behind 4-0 in the first inning and being no-hit by George Kirby through five.

Kyle Manzardo broke up the no-no with a homer, and Nolan Jones, of all people, hit another. A seeing eye base hit by Angel Martinez drew the Guardians within one, and the won it in the ninth thanks to another big hit from Jones to start the rally.

They were back above .500 and within four of Seattle.

A three-game losing streak followed capped by a night in Boston where Cleveland hit three homers in a six run sixth off Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet, and skipper Steven Vogt took Hunter Gaddis out of the game in the bottom of the 8th with a man on first and two out. Cade Smith gave up four straight hits and the Guardians were back under .500 on September 2nd.

They were four behind for the last wild card spot and now, Tampa Bay was ahead of them as well.

Since then, the Guards’ pitching staff has allowed more than three runs just three times. They’ve won 16 of 18, playing their best baseball of the season and as of today, they are tied with Houston, passed in the standings by Seattle, for that last playoff spot, and they own the tie-breaker with the Astros.

And incredibly, they are just a game behind Detroit for the AL Central lead.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense, but who cares. We have all heard about what the Guardians record would be based on runs scored and runs against, but the only thing that matters is the win loss record.

In 1995, the Cleveland Indians were the best team in baseball. We think even the world champion Braves would admit that. In 2005, the Indians were 55-51 at the end of July, and then went on a roll, winning 37 of their next 49 and were sitting with the second-best record in the AL heading into the last week of the season.

They lost six of the last seven and missed the playoffs. They won the “team no one wanted to face” award, but no one had to play them.

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.

In the last week, Steven Vogt has gotten big hits from Jhonkensy Noel and George Valera and had key pitching performances from Kolby Allard and Jakob Junis. Just like everyone expected.

Every good winning streak is based on getting good pitching and this is no different. In those 17 contests, Guardians’ pitchers have allowed two runs or less in 14 of them. The offense doesn’t have to be good when the other team doesn’t score.

The good play has to last another week for the Guardians to pull this off. Keep winning and the odds are pretty good this team will be in the post-season once again.

Less than a month ago, that would have seemed crazy.

And Now, The Guards’ Bullpen Is Leaking Oil

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. That’s the story of the Cleveland Guardians this season.

The offensive troubles are well documented. The Guards have fallen to 13th in the American League in runs scored. They don’t get on base, now 13th in the league in on base percentage, and they have no pop, ranking 14th in slugging percentage.

They are particularly awful against left-handed pitchers, and there isn’t any help on the horizon from the minor leagues perhaps the best hitters in Columbus, Chase DeLauter and C.J. Kayfus, both swing from the left side of the plate.

Again, by now every fan of the team is aware of that.

However, over the past few weeks the mainstay of last year’s squad, the relief pitching has started to spring a leak. It’s not surprising because of the workload put on the bullpen a year ago, but it seems to have happened.

We know Emmanuel Clase struggled early in the year, but since Steven Vogt gave him a little break and used Cade Smith to close at the end of April, he’s been pretty much back to being that guy.

Since May 1st, Clase has pitched 22.1 innings and has put up a 1.21 ERA. He has allowed 18 hits, a little high for him in that span, but has fanned 24 and one of Clase’s biggest strengths, hasn’t allowed a home run.

Smith has been solid as well, appearing in 36 games with 53 Ks in 34.1 innings and a 2.36 ERA. But he’s been down over the last few days with a back injury.

The rest of the relievers seem to be sucking wind at this point. Hunter Gaddis was so good last season, but over his last three appearances has allowed eight runs in 2.2 innings. And even before that, he allowed 10 of his 17 inherited runners to cross the plate.

Last season, Tim Herrin allowed just 39 hits and 25 walks in 65.2 innings. To date this season, he’s walked 17 and allowed 22 hits in 27.2 frames.

Because of these struggles, and an injury to free agent signee Paul Sewald, Vogt has been using journeyman Matt Festa in higher leverage situations. He has a 5.48 ERA in his 25 appearances.

Jakob Junis is another free agent signed this winter, and although his numbers are decent (3.96 ERA in 33 games), he’s allowed 42 hits and 12 walks in 36.1 innings. It seems like every time he comes in, he allows a hit or two and/or a walk, and is immediately in trouble.

Erik Sabrowski has been activated from the injured list and should be able to help Herrin against left-handed hitters. Koby Allard is another lefty, but he seems best suited to giving the Guardians some length if the starter gets knocked out early.

The point is this team doesn’t get leads often because of the hitting, but unlike last year, when Vogt goes to the bullpen, it’s no longer automatic.

The front office tried to get some help for the bullpen in Sewald and Junis, with the former having closer experience. He should be back soon and hopefully can take some of the responsibility from Gaddis until he gets back to form.

If it’s not one thing, it’s something else for the 2025 Guardians.

Might Have To Move Clase To Get A Needed Bat

Whether or not the Cleveland Guardians’ front office will add at the trading deadline is up for debate, but one thing is for certain, the best trades are made from a position of strength.

That means there is one chip to keep an eye on as the end of July approaches, whether the Guardians are in contention or not. And that would be all-star closer Emmanuel Clase.

Clase might be the only player Cleveland can move and get a bat, probably a prospect in return. And the one area the Guardians have any depth is in the bullpen.

This thought has nothing to do with Clase not having a “Clase” type of season, the kind of years he had in 2022 (42 saves, 1.36 ERA and 43 hits allowed in 72.2 innings) or in 2024 (47 saves, 0.61 ERA, 39 hits allowed in 74.1 frames).

This season, he got off to a tough start, and even though he has 18 saves and the complete trust of Steven Vogt and Carl Willis, and he’s earned that, he has allowed 40 hits in 33.2 innings.

One thing Clase does, and this cannot be minimized, is keep the ball in the park. The most home runs he has allowed in a single season is four. And frankly, we are still shocked when anyone takes him deep. He’s only allowed one this season.

Clase is still an excellent closer. He doesn’t walk hitters and keeps the ball in the park. And despite the post-season in 2024, we still feel he has respect throughout the sport.

So, why consider dealing him?

Again, the best trades are made from strength. The Guardians have another high leverage dominant relief pitcher in Cade Smith. In 34.1 innings this season, he has fanned 53 batters and has a 2.36 ERA. When Clase was struggling earlier this season, he saved three games.

Vogt uses him as the ultimate fireman, bringing him in to face the toughest hitters in the lineup before the 9th inning.

Now, the questions would be if you make Smith the closer, who takes his spot? Hunter Gaddis has been solid for two years, including this season if he starts the inning clean.

He has fanned 38 in 30.1 innings and has a 2.08 ERA. He has struggled this year allowing inherited runners to score, and frankly we wish he would use his fastball more often.

Andrew Walters looked to be someone who can help this year until he was injured, but the Guards still have Nic Enright and Franco Aleman who had a 1.99 ERA at AAA last season but has struggled to date this year. He has a power arm though.

Don’t forget Trevor Stephan is nearing being ready after Tommy John surgery and he has fanned 232 hitters in 195.1 innings in his career. Another lefty, Erik Sabrowski, who pitched well in September and the playoffs in 2024 should be ready soon as well.

It’s not like the Guardians have a ton of trade chips on the big-league roster. They could always move some minor leagues, particularly in the lower classifications, but no one is giving you anything for Lane Thomas or Carlos Santana, right?

We have said this before, but the front office doesn’t seem to make trades to stay in a race, but maybe this year is different. The offense has to get better, and it seems the most valuable piece the Guardians have to get some hitting is to move their all-time saves leader.

…As For The Guardians’ Pitching Staff

Over the last two weeks, we have written a lot about the Cleveland Guardians’ lack of offense, but the pitching staff hasn’t done very well either.

The Guardians, much renowned for their pitching factory, currently rank 10th in the American League in ERA at 3.99, and Carl Willis’ philosophy of throwing strikes has also fallen on deaf ears, with Cleveland ranking fourth in the league, issuing 3.7 walks per game.

Last season, they ranked 8th in the AL.

The bullpen, the dominating unit of last year’s division champions, has also sprung leaks. Emmanuel Clase struggled to open the year, but has righted himself as of late, Saturday’s blown save notwithstanding.

The closer has allowed just 12 hits in 16.1 innings since the beginning of May, allowing just five runs (2.76 ERA) with 18 punchouts.

But outside of Cade Smith, the balance of the bullpen has not performed up to last year’s standards, and pretty much anyone with a brain would have expected that. Hunter Gaddis has a 1.93 ERA, but is allowing inherited runners to score at an above 60% rate.

Tim Herrin is another reliever whose numbers are way off compared to last season, he’s allowed 20 hits and 16 walks in 23.2 innings.

But the real issue has been the starting pitching, which for the most part has not been able to soak up innings to keep the bullpen fresh.

This was highlighted over the weekend against Seattle when Gavin Williams went just four innings, Tanner Bibee went five, and although Luis Ortiz pitched six frames, he allowed a grand slam homer in the second and allowed six runs.

Bibee leads the staff averaging 5.8 innings per start, followed by Ortiz at 5.4, Logan Allen (5.1), Slade Cecconi (5.0) and the inconsistent Gavin Williams at 4.95.

The latter continues to be maddening, although to be fair, this is his first full season in the big leagues. He has pitched well in games, but his longest start in 6.2 (twice). He went five scoreless against the Phillies but threw 98 pitches in doing so. He pitched six allowing one run against the Twins, 6.2 vs. the Angels allowing no earned runs.

He also has given up five runs in 6.2 frames against the Orioles, four runs in two innings against the Twins.

Again, he’s a young pitcher and has good stuff, but is still figuring how to pitch.

As we said earlier, walks are plaguing the starters. Williams is walking 5.1 hitters per nine innings, last year he was at 3.8; Ortiz is at 4.6 (2.8 last season) and Allen is at 4.1. Besides putting runners on base, it is also raising the pitch counts.

Bibee is also up in walk rate, 2.9 this season vs. 2.3 a year ago.

Last season, the starting pitching wasn’t up to Cleveland standards either, but the bullpen made up for it. The weakness did show up in the post-season though.

Perhaps Shane Bieber is back by the All-Star break to shore up the rotation a bit, and maybe Cecconi will be trusted to go deep into games. And maybe Williams figures it out and starts giving Steven Vogt six innings on a regular basis.

The offense has been the weak spot of the team, but the pitching hasn’t been up to standard either. If the season is going to be salvageable, this is another area that has to improve.

Despite A Lot Of Issues, Guardians Are Hanging Tough

The Cleveland Guardians have hit May on a bit of a hot streak. They came into Saturday night’s game against the Phillies having won eight of their last ten. We understand this doesn’t sound good, but to his credit, Steven Vogt seems to be doing it with smoke and mirrors.

Based on the number of runs they have scored and allowed, the Guardians’ record should be 19-22, which would put them fourth in the AL Central Division.

Their offense is below average, scoring 4.1 runs per game (the AL average is 4.2). Their pitching ranks 10th in the league in ERA at 4.13, higher than the average of 3.96.

This could mean two things. First, they could get much better pitching starting this week and stopping other teams from scoring would cause a continued streak of good play. Or a losing streak is in the balance.

Part of the problem with the pitching staff has been the inability of the starters to throw strikes. We were at the game Friday night when Gavin Williams labored through five innings, throwing 98 pitches. Yes, he held them off the scoreboard and that’s great, but it puts a strain on the bullpen.

Here are the walk rates per nine innings for the Guardians’ starters this season–

Williams 5.6
Logan Allen 4.8
Luis Ortiz 4.4
Tanner Bibee 3.2
Ben Lively 3.0

And Lively will likely miss some time after leaving last night’s start with forearm tightness.

The latter two are acceptable. The first three have had issues getting through five innings and again, that affects the relief corps. Last year, the bullpen was dominant. This year, we’ve already seen Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith go through some struggles.

And the last two games against Philadelphia saw a pair of 1-0 games get expanded leads because the bullpen allowed runs.

The Guardians simply need Williams, Allen, and Ortiz to throw more strikes.

Offensively, the hitting has been buoyed by the recent hot streak of Daniel Schneemann, who has a .344 on base percentage and an 857 OPS. But mostly, the offense is overly reliant on Steven Kwan (.390/.453/843), Jose Ramirez (.356/.472/828) and Kyle Manzardo (.315/.476/791).

Reports are Lane Thomas should be back soon, and it will be interesting to see where he fits in. Angel Martinez has done a decent job in centerfield and rightfield continues to be a vortex of suck, so logically, putting Thomas in right should be the play.

We say this knowing the exit velocity police are championing Nolan Jones and Jhonkensy Noel, who are both hitting under .164 and have OPS under 600. Jones is out of options, and we know the Guardians’ front office goes to the end of the earth for those guys, but it has to be tough to keep putting him in the lineup.

Sunday night, Vogt pinch hit Will Wilson for Jones, and we have said this before, but whether or not Wilson should be on a big-league roster should be the question, not should he be pinch hitting in a close game in the late innings.

Brayan Rocchio was sent down yesterday with his .165 batting average and 433 OPS, and Will Brennan was called up. We know what Brennan is at this point, he’s a singles hitter who doesn’t walk and also doesn’t handle left-handed pitching. Such is the state of things as the upper level of the farm system.

Later this week, the Guards hit the road and take on the red-hot Twins and Tigers on the trip. Vogt needs some of these issues to have worked themselves out by then.

That they have the second-best record in the AL is kind of a minor miracle.

Guards Need To Get Clase Back To Being Clase

We are sure many Cleveland Guardians’ fans are concerned about Emmanuel Clase’s struggles to begin the season. He has made 11 appearances to date in 2025, and probably the most concerning statistic is he has allowed 20 hits in 10.1 innings.

Look, every closer has stretches where things aren’t clicking. We went back to 2007, when the Yankees’ closer started the year with four straight scoreless appearances. The rest of the month, the great Mariano Rivera pitched five times.

In those five games, he pitched 3.2 frames and allowed 10 hits and nine runs, striking out four and walking two. He allowed just one homer. After that stretch, Rivera allowed 16 runs the rest of the season, finishing with a 3.15 ERA and 30 saves.

We aren’t concerned about the All-Star closer, mostly because he is still throwing around 100 MPH. However, we aren’t sure Steven Vogt should bring him into a one run game in the ninth for his next appearance. We’d use him in a lower leverage situation the next couple of times out.

It doesn’t mean we are running away from Clase, nor does it mean we advocated trading him. One of the complaints about the man who has led the American League in saves each of the last three years is he doesn’t strikeout a lot of hitters despite his ungodly stuff.

The last two seasons, he has fanned less batters than innings pitched, and in the two years prior, he fanned five more than his inning total in those years.

One popular theory is that hitters swing early in the count and take their chance because if Clase gets ahead 0-2 or 1-2, his stuff is so electric, batters have no chance. That seems plausible to us.

On the other hand, when the ball is put into play, there is a chance for a base hit to happen. But what doesn’t usually occur to Clase is giving up home runs. In his career, totaling 329 appearances and 323 innings, the right-hander has allowed only 14 homers.

To put that in perspective, Tanner Bibee has allowed seven dingers. This year!

It appears this year that many of Clase’s deliveries are winding up in the middle of the plate, and 100 MPH or not, hitters are going to put solid swings on pitches right down the middle.

The great thing for Steven Vogt is he has options to close games. We are sure both Cade Smith and/or Hunter Gaddis can close until Clase gets his location better. And Paul Sewald has 85 career saves. We would imagine the Guardians’ pitching coaches can find something relatively quick.

Unfortunately, using those pitchers as closers opens up a slot in the bullpen.

For a team like the Guardians, these games in April and May are just as important as the ones down the stretch. Every game you can put in the win column is important, so if you have the lead after eight innings, you have to put it away.

Guardians’ fans have been spoiled by Emmanuel Clase. He’s been so good for four years, three of those seasons with an ERA of under 2.00. And it is important for the staff to get him back to where he has been since arriving in Cleveland.