Kudos For Signing Jose, But It Looks Like 3rd For Guards in ’22

After a pretty dreary winter for baseball fans in northeast Ohio, the sun peaked out a little yesterday.

First, today is the beginning of the baseball season, another sign that warmer weather will be here soon, and the Guardians will be home next week after six games, four in Kansas City and two in Cincinnati.

Second was the news baseball fans wanted to hear for a long time. Jose Ramirez, one of the best players in the game, signed a five year extension, keeping with the franchise through the 2028 season.

Ramirez could be the first great player to finish his career in a Cleveland uniform while spending every day of it in that uniform since the 1950’s.

We aren’t going to go overboard in praise of the current ownership because they simply did what any owner interested in winning would do. It’s a shame they couldn’t do it with Francisco Lindor a year ago so we could watch the duo of Ramirez and Lindor reach their prime in Cleveland.

It’s a great step in the right direction, but the Guardians’ payroll is still among the lowest in the sport, and the owners continue to put large profits in their pocket. So, forgive us for not sharing a virtual hug with Paul Dolan.

With the games starting to count today, what does the 2022 season hold in store for the newly minted Guardians? We would love to be more optimistic, but we see a third place finish for Terry Francona’s squad, behind Chicago and Minnesota in the AL Central.

Besides Ramirez, the Guardians have one other big thing going for them, and that’s an excellent starting rotation, providing everyone stays healthy. Last year, that did not happen.

Because of the injuries the rotation is probably deeper with the emergence of Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie in the second half of 2021. The five starters, including Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac, give the Guards a chance to win every night.

In today’s game, that’s a big thing.

However, beyond that, your guess is as good as ours.

The offense looks like it will struggle. Francona can really write in one great offensive player (Ramirez) and two decent ones (Myles Straw and Franmil Reyes) every day.

We are interested in seeing how Andres Gimenez does this year, but the organization seems hell bent on finding out for sure on players like Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, and Bobby Bradley.

We are pretty sure we know how that movie ends.

The quicker we see more of Josh Naylor and Steven Kwan among others, the better. And the hitting might get better too.

The bullpen is another area that is up in the air. Who will be the primary set up men for Emmanuel Clase? We are sure Bryan Shaw will start in the role, but who else? We like Nick Sandlin, but he was hurt at the end of the season, and has pitched in just 34 games in the majors.

Besides Anthony Gose, the relief corps right now is filled with pitchers who will be providing length rather than one inning stints.

We will see how that plays out.

Our guess is the Guardians will look a lot different in June and July than they will this afternoon, but did they have to? Last year, the team was very much in the race until Bieber, Plesac, and Civale went down.

If the rotation can avoid the injury bug, the Guardians could stay in the race, but more than likely the lack of offense will be the reason this will be another year outside of the post-season, even with an extra spot available.

Lots Of Young Players Need To Come Through For Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have had a curious off-season to be sure. They finished the 2021 season below the .500 mark at 80-82 but didn’t really make any moves to improve the major league roster.

They signed two free agents, catcher Luke Maile, who figures to back up Austin Hedges when he gets healthy, and also inked Bryan Shaw, who was on the roster last season.

Cleveland was 41-31 on June 24th and just two games out of first place after a 4-1 victory at Target Field against the Twins. However, by that point in time they had lost three members of the starting rotation to injury: Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac.

To that point in the season, Cleveland had 21 wins from that trio. They received eight victories the rest of the year, six of them by Plesac, and none from Bieber.

There should be some optimism from that. All three appear to be healthy heading into the season, and with the emergence of Cal Quantrill and the maturation of Triston McKenzie, the Guardians could have one of the best rotations in the sport.

The bullpen has a dominant closer in Emmanuel Clase, but very little other proven arms, save for Shaw.

In the regular season though, you have score runs to win, and therein lies the biggest question mark to the 2022 season. Can this team score enough runs to make a post-season push?

Cleveland ranked 9th in the American League in runs last season and 13th in the league in getting on base. They have a lot of players on the roster who make an awful lot of outs, and they did nothing this winter to address that.

So, the likely lineup that will start the season will feature players like Bradley Zimmer (career OBP of .310), Oscar Mercado (.296), Austin Hedges (.249), Amed Rosario (.307), and Bobby Bradley (.287).

There were players on the open market who could get on base, and young players like Steven Kwan and Richie Palacios have demonstrated the same ability in the minor leagues, but the organization decided to stand pat. Kwan did make the season opening roster, but we will see how much playing time he gets.

And by the way, talking about how close you came to making moves is meaningless. It’s the same as telling folks how close you came to winning the lottery. In the end, you didn’t get anything.

So, it doesn’t appear the Guardians have done anything to solve the problem other than hoping these guys get on base more often. That’s the Dusty Springfield (look her up) method: “Wishin’ and Hopin'”.

Once opposing pitchers get past the #3 hitter Jose Ramirez, and the clean up man, Franmil Reyes, there could be a lot of smooth sailing. Putting together a rally will be a stretch, there is a lot of feast or famine from #5 through #9.

Maybe Andres Gimenez will improve if he’s back to his regular position of shortstop. Maybe Yu Chang hits like he did the last two months (although his 69:11, K:BB ratio says otherwise). Maybe Owen Miller hits like his minor league numbers.

These aren’t things an organization should be basing their success on.

The Guardians are banking on several young players coming through this season. That sounds like a rebuilding team, not one interested in contending for a playoff spot.

Just Five Years Ago, Cleveland Baseball Was Riding High

In 2017 the Cleveland Indians completed a season in which they won a club record 102 games, but lost in disappointing fashion to the Yankees in the AL Division Series in five games. That after taking a 2-0 lead in the series.

They had two of the best players in the game in Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, and that duo was just 23 and 24 years old, respectively. The pitching staff was led by two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and another future Cy Young Award winner in Trevor Bauer.

The payroll for that season ranked 18th in all of baseball at $114 million (according to BaseballReference.com), and the Tribe drew slightly over 2 million fans, an increase from ’16. They were 3rd in the AL in runs scored.

Following a World Series appearance the year before, it certainly seemed like the franchise was headed for a long tenure at the top.

After that season, Carlos Santana, Jay Bruce (a late season pick up in ’17) and Bryan Shaw left via free agency, with Yonder Alonso signed to replace Santana. The payroll increased to $143 million, ranking 13th in baseball, and attendance dropped slightly to 1.9 million.

They remained 3rd in the AL in runs scored.

They did trade for former AL MVP Josh Donaldson to bolster the roster in September.

The team’s record fell to 91-71, understandable since they set a club record the year before. And they were swept in the ALDS by Houston.

After that season, many of the players well known to fans began to leave. Michael Brantley, Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, Josh Tomlin, and Brandon Guyer all were free agents.

Yan Gomes was traded for Daniel Johnson and Jefry Rodriguez. Edwin Encarnacion and Yandy Diaz were moved in a three way deal that brought back Santana and Jake Bauers.

The Gomes move hasn’t paid dividends, mostly because Johnson doesn’t seem to be in good favor with the front office. And while Diaz is a regular with Tampa, now a perennial contender, Bauers was a bust and was let go.

Santana did have a very good 2019, but then departed as a free agent after 2020.

In 2019, the team finished second in the AL Central with a 93-69 record, but missed the playoffs. The payroll ranked 11th at $151 million, but attendance dropped to 1.7 million. And they fell to 7th in scoring runs.

During the year, the front office moved Trevor Bauer in a three team deal which netted the Indians, Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig.

Reyes is a fixture in the shaky lineup today, providing power, but still isn’t a polished hitter, striking out a lot, but doesn’t get on base enough.

Kluber was moved after the season, but no one can complain about this one. Emmanuel Clase is the closer and last season had a tremendous year. Kluber is now on his fourth team since leaving Cleveland.

The 2020 season was shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Tribe did make the expanded playoffs, losing in a three game series to New York, 2-0, but the once potent offense dropped to 13th in the American League in scoring.

During that season, the front office dealt another mainstay in Mike Clevinger, and they hope that move sets the foundation of future success. They received starter Cal Quantrill, starting catcher Austin Hedges, and 1B/OF Josh Naylor, who is a regular, as well as prospects Gabriel Arias, Owen Miller, and LHP Joey Cantillo.

Even with the trades of Kluber, Bauer, and Clevinger, the starting pitching has still been solid. Shane Bieber won a Cy Young, and Quantrill and Triston McKenzie, a farm system product, show signs of being special.

And of course, Lindor was moved prior to last season (with another starting pitching mainstay, Carlos Carrasco) for four players, two of them deep in the minors, but also INF Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, who really don’t appear to be standouts for now.

It was only five years ago when the Cleveland baseball team had everything going for it. Right now, it seems like 50 years ago. If the Clevinger deal doesn’t work out like the front office thought, it could be awhile before the offense is good enough to contend.

Doing Something New Wouldn’t Be Bad For Guardians

It is pretty clear by now that the Cleveland Guardians aren’t making any major moves to improve the offense or the bullpen heading into the 2022 campaign.

There appeared to be some free agents to be had on affordable one year contracts, players like Tommy Pham (who signed with Cincinnati), Andrew McCutchen (Milwaukee), or even Anthony Rizzo (Yankees). The Guardians passed on all of them.

Since they made that decision, hopefully they understand that last season’s offense was not up to the levels a good major league should have, and they are willing to do something different.

For example, we hope beyond hope that Bradley Zimmer and/or Oscar Mercado are not going to be getting regular playing time. We really wonder if they should be on a major league roster at all.

Let’s hope Terry Francona and the decision makers are willing to try something different.

One huge question is who will flank Myles Straw in the outfield.

There has been talk about using Amed Rosario in left field as well as shortstop, but we hope this is just spring training discussions. Rosario is an average shortstop at best with the glove and we doubt moving him back and forth between two positions will make him better.

We aren’t enamored of Rosario’s hitting (no walks, little power) but if the front office wants him in the lineup every day, just put him in left field and be done with it.

Shortstop is the most important defensive position on the diamond, and we feel it would be better if the same person, hopefully a good defender played it day in and day out. Perhaps someone like Andres Gimenez or maybe even rookie Gabriel Arias.

We would like to see Steven Kwan get a chance right from game one in Kansas City on April 7th. A left-handed hitter, the 24-year-old has demonstrated an ability to get on base, a .380 on base percentage throughout his minor league career. And that’s the biggest need this team has offensively.

Why not find out about Oscar Gonzalez too? Also 24 years old, the right-handed hitter belted 31 home runs between Akron and Columbus last season. He doesn’t walk, and never really has in his minor league career, but he’s also batted .281 in the minors. He doesn’t appear to be an all or nothing swing for the fences guy.

And giving that duo time in the outfield would free Josh Naylor to move to first base, his natural position.

With the news that James Karinchak will miss the opener, the bullpen has to be considered a problem. Who will pitch the eighth inning in front of Emmanuel Clase?

We hope Francona doesn’t lean on his pitcher of comfort, newly signed Bryan Shaw. We don’t have a problem signing the veteran, but having him pitch the 8th, that seems a little ambitious.

Right now, we would guess it would be Trevor Stephan, who spent the entire season with Cleveland last year as a Rule 5 selection. Nick Sandlin would be in the mix, but he has not appeared in a game in Arizona just yet.

Flame throwing southpaw Anthony Gose likely has the team made, but there will be plenty of bullpen spots open, particularly with the extra roster spots granted to each team because of the shortened spring training.

There will be a lot of opportunity for young guys, unless the front office signs an available veteran.

There isn’t a benefit to trotting out the same players who couldn’t get it done last season with the hope they will improve greatly. Those guys have long enough track records to show improvement isn’t likely.

Embrace playing the young guys. Find out about them. And maybe, you’ll find some solid young players.

Guardians Inactivity Is Mind Boggling

When baseball locked out its players, fans were left to think about all the transactions that could be made to strengthen their favorite baseball team.

Now that spring training camps are open, and have been that way for a couple of weeks, supporters of the Cleveland Guardians are still feeling the same way.

Since the labor agreement was reached, the Guardians’ front office has added one player, catcher Luke Maile, another defensive oriented catcher with a lifetime OPS of 568.

It is evident to us that one of two things are in play here: Either Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff are completely satisfied by the current roster or ownership isn’t giving them any money to spend.

And if the latter is true, that still doesn’t preclude the brass from making trades.

In case you missed it, the Guardians didn’t win the World Series last season. In fact, they finished under .500 for the season at 80-82.

Their current offense features one hitter with a slugging percentage of over .450 and also an on base percentage of .350 (Jose Ramirez) and two hitters who above those figures in just one of the categories (Myles Straw in OBP and Franmil Reyes in slugging).

Cleveland ranked in the middle of the pack in the AL in slugging a year ago, but were third from the bottom in getting on base. We have written about this ad nauseum all off-season, and suggested several available candidates, such as Andrew McCutchen, Anthony Rizzo, and Tommy Pham.

Only Pham is still available, as is Michael Conforto, who has a career .356 OBP. To date, the Guardians have not been linked with any of them.

Yes, there is still time to make a move, but the season opens two weeks from Thursday.

The Guards’ roster make up is very strange. They have 13 players on the current 40 man roster without any big league experience. They have a glut of middle infielders, including four of their top ten prospects.

The assumption was the front office would deal from strength to bolster the team’s holes, which would be the outfield and the bullpen.

Now, if the Guardians are going to make a commitment to play their young outfielders, such as Steven Kwan (.380 OBP in the minors), Richie Palacios (.409), or even Oscar Gonzalez (871 OPS at AAA/AA last season), then we can get on board with that.

However, our fear is they will trot Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado out there for the first six weeks of the season, and wonder why they got off to a poor start.

Terry Francona has also said they are planning to use Amed Rosario at both LF and SS. This is another head scratcher. Shortstop is the key defensive position on the diamond, and Rosario is not very good at the position.

And it’s not as though Cleveland doesn’t need a left fielder. Just put Rosario out there and open up short for Andres Gimenez and/or Gabriel Arias.

Oh, and is Josh Naylor is ready for the opener, move him to first base and leave him there.

This organization seems to be terrified of making a mistake, and we believe that is why we continue to see Zimmer, Mercado, and even Bobby Bradley get chance after chance.

There is enough of a history with each of those players that most people can figure out what they will bring to a team. Unfortunately, the people in charge obviously cannot.

For years, people around the sport have praised the Guardians’ front office. Is it time to start judging them more harshly.

Baseball Is Back, Let’s Talk Some Guardians

Baseball is back, and the problems for individual franchises now shift from the meeting room to the playing field. The Cleveland Guardians are no exception.

The Guards have finished last season 13 games out of first place in the AL Central, and a dozen games out of the wild card spot. And the sixth best record in the league, and that will make the post-season this season, was Seattle and they won ten more contests than Terry Francona’s squad.

Cleveland finished ninth in the Junior Circuit in runs scored, and despite the strength of the organization being pitching, they were 10th in ERA, most due to a rash of injuries to the starting pitchers, mainly ace Shane Bieber, who made just 16 starts.

Still, with good health the rotation should be the backbone of the team. Cal Quantrill emerged to post a 2.89 ERA over 149-2/3 innings, and Triston McKenzie showed flashes, including a seven start stretch in the second half where he threw 46 innings and allowed just 9 runs, a 1.74 ERA.

And don’t forget that Aaron Civale was leading the league in wins when he went down with a finger injury, and although Zach Plesac, who also missed time, was spotty, he still allowed less hits than innings pitched.

Eli Morgan and Logan Allen will be available in Columbus to start the season if need by to provide depth.

The bullpen is another matter. Emmanuel Clase was tremendous and should have had more support for rookie of the year, posting a 1.29 ERA and 24 saves. Behind him are question marks.

James Karinchak struggled coming down the stretch and Nick Sandlin was injured at the end of last season. The hope is that Trevor Stephan and Anthony Gose can contribute, but if we know Francona, he will want some veteran experience in relief.

Offensively, this team needs a lot of help. There is really just one great offensive player, Jose Ramirez, and not much else.

If an excellent hitter is a guy with an on base percentage over .350 and a slugging percentage over .450, then Ramirez is it.

What’s worse is Myles Straw is the only other player with an OBP over .350 on the roster. And next best figure is Bradley Zimmer, who has huge holes in his swing, at .325 (he was hit by 15 pitches). Amed Rosario got on base at a .321 clip.

The number of players beside Ramirez who slugged better than .450 also numbers one–Franmil Reyes (.522). That leaves the Guardians one excellent bat, and two solid bats. That’s it. To be able to score enough runs, conventional wisdom says you need six good hitters.

That leaves the Guards about three short right now. So, the front office has some work to do before the regular season begins. The have to find some guys who can get on base and/or players who can accumulate some extra base hits.

And as of today, we would say there are only four positions written in stone: Ramirez at 3B, Straw in CF, Reyes at DH, and Austin Hedges behind the plate.

That’s an awful lot of uncertainty, particularly with a shortened spring training.

It is good to talk about the actual game and not labor issues. However, now we have to look at the holes on the Guardians’ roster. How quickly can these be resolved without some moves by president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff.

If the Guards want to get in the playoff chase, they need to score a lot more runs.

The Sadness Of Being A Baseball Fan.

It pains us to say it, but the sport of baseball is in trouble. The people who are supposed to be the stewards of what used to be known as “The National Pastime” simply are out of touch with not only reality, but also the people who buy tickets.

The negotiation of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement has simply been a joke. After locking the players out (let us repeat, the players are NOT on strike), they waited 43 days before sitting down and negotiating with the players. 43 days!

No sense of urgency at all.

The commissioner, Rob Manfred, who is hired by the owners, has revealed himself as a vindictive, petty man. He had one of the premier baseball writers ever, Ken Rosenthal, removed from the sport’s network because he dared to criticize the commish on his handling of the sport during the COVID year of 2020.

He also was laughing during a press conference the other day when he was announcing the cancellation of the first two series of the 2022 season. A somber mood would be more appropriate.

The owners continue to cry poor, when there is a whole lot of evidence to the contrary. Here in Cleveland, we have an owner that is always telling the fans how difficult it is to make ends meet, but meanwhile cuts payroll and leaves ticket prices the same.

Besides canceling games this season, think about what the leadership of the game has given fans over the past three years.

First, one of the things the MLB office does is constantly tell everyone how bad their sport is and how it needs fixing. No other professional sport does this. We aren’t saying baseball is perfect, but would you buy a car if the dealer told you what a lemon it was?

The owners panacea is to expand the playoffs to 14 teams, making it more like the NBA. Apparently, the players balked and they decided on 12 teams, which is still too many considering the regular season is 162 games, and the best team wins roughly 60% of its games.

It’s strictly a money grab for the owners, who have revalued the regular season already and this will continue with more teams in the playoffs.

The ownership group has also given fans a ghost runner in extra inning games and seven inning doubleheaders, and are proposing a rule limiting how a team can play defense (banning the shift). Our opinion on that is you are rewarding players who are not good hitters.

The owners always focus on the payroll discrepancy within the sport. But isn’t that more on the smaller payroll teams? There were only two teams that exceeding the tax threshold last season, the Dodgers and Padres. Meanwhile, there were eight teams with payrolls less than $75 million, including the Guardians/Indians.

We have heard several fans say at least the Dolans want to win. Do they? We think they like winning. Everyone does.

We will say the same thing about owners as we do about players. We’d rather have an owner that hates losing more than one that likes winning.

The owners on the lower end of the payrolls spectrum are happy spending little, and even happier if they happen to win while doing it.

Fans who love the sport say something has to change, and they are right. Someone with some common sense needs to be in charge. Until that happens, we are afraid the sport will continue to fade in the sports fan’s psyche.

That’s not good for the future of the “grand ol’ game”.

We’d Like To Be Watching Baseball, But…

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.

Guardians Should Buck The Trend And Embrace The Stolen Base

In the past couple of years, Cleveland professional sports teams have gone against the grain in their respective sports.

Today’s NFL is largely a passing league, but the Browns’ offense is based around the running game, featuring one of the best running backs in the sport in Nick Chubb, and another former NFL rushing champion in Kareem Hunt.

The Cavaliers have gone away from the current trend of guard oriented attacks and three point shooting, and J.B. Bickerstaff starts three players 6’11” or more on a nightly basis.

For the most part, those teams have had success being different.

We would like to propose the third professional team in town, the Guardians do something other teams are not doing as well.

Bring back the stolen base.

Most of the teams around the major leagues are talking long ball. Scoring runs with a few base hits are rare now. The collective batting average in the American League last season was .245. When the Indians were the American League champions in 2016, the league average was .256.

The Guardians can hit home runs, they were 7th in the AL last season. But they were third worst in the circuit in on base percentage.

They did rank 2nd in the league in stolen bases though. Why not go against the grain and have an homage to the way the sport was played in the 70’s and 80’s?

Myles Straw stole 30 bases last season, but he gets on base at a .349 clip. Could Straw steal twice that many if encouraged to do so? We believe he could.

Jose Ramirez belted 36 dingers last season, but he is one of the best baserunners in the game. He stole 27 bases last year and surely could do the same this season.

Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez, one of whom will likely be the Guards’ starting shortstop in ’22, combined to steal 24 bases without being caught. Both have excellent speed and whoever gets the bulk of the playing time should be able to swipe 30 bases.

The prevailing thought today is the fear of getting caught stealing, thus ending a rally or taking the bat out of a player like Ramirez’ hands.

So, to embrace the speed game, you must eliminate fear. If Straw gets on base and steals second leaving first base open with Ramirez coming up, let the opponents put him on. Then do a double steal, putting the runners on second and third.

We aren’t big fans of Bradley Zimmer and/or Oscar Mercado, but if they earn spots in the lineup, it just adds another speedster to the batting order. Zimmer in particular can fly.

Richie Palacios, who could make the Opening Day roster with a good spring, stole 20 bases between AAA and AA last season. If he’s on the roster, let him run.

Using the running game would also help with the excitement factor at the ballpark and give the newly named Guardians a new identity. And you would put pressure on the defense and the opposing pitcher knowing the team would be uber-aggressive on the basepaths.

We wouldn’t ask a slugger like Franmil Reyes to be running wild, but when you think about it, how many “sluggers” do the Guardians have? The team’s personnel kind of lends itself to a speed game.

The Guardians are aggressive already trying to take extra bases on hits, and we love that. But why not extend it to stolen bases?

Bring back the steal! The Guardians are the team to do it.

It’s Time To Start Thinking Baseball, But…

Baseball’s international signing period started this week and is getting all kinds of attention, more than normal.

The signings are very important, to be sure. It’s how the Guardians signed Jose Ramirez, and more recently several of their top prospects, OF George Valera, SS Brayan Rocchio, INF Jose Tena, and power hitter Jhonkensy Noel joined the organization in the same manner.

But it’s getting more publicity this year because it’s the only baseball we can talk about with the lockout imposed by the owners still in place. It doesn’t help that the two sides have met once since the calendar flipped to 2022 either.

Spring training should be starting in less than a month, with the sentence baseball fans love to hear, “Pitchers and catchers report on either February 12th or 13th”. It seems very unlikely that will happen as of today.

The first exhibition game for the Guardians is supposed to be February 26th, but unless negotiations speed up drastically, that’s unlikely as well.

This is the time of year Guards’ fans should be talking about the various position battles around the diamond and do any of the hard throwing young arms out of the bullpen have a shot at making the Opening Day roster.

Instead, the ray of hope that gets fans of the grand ol’ pastime through the winter isn’t there. The hot stove season has been turned off.

Fans should be discussing the make-up of the Guardians’ current 40-man roster, which includes 14 players who have never played even one inning of a major league game. Teams can keep 26 players, so does that mean all of the men who have big league experience are a lock to be at Progressive Field to open the season? We doubt that it does.

What does Terry Francona do about the middle infield? Amed Rosario did very well with the bat last season, but defensively, he’s not an everyday shortstop. So, what does the organization do?

They could move Andres Gimenez back there, and he should be better defensively, or do they give rookie Gabriel Arias, who spent all year at AAA a shot? And then what happens at second base?

Does Rosario go there? Or does the team look at Owen Miller, Yu Chang, or even Ernie Clement, who appears to be more of a utility man at this point.

Or does Rosario get traded to open up the spot for Gimenez or Arias. Or do two of this trio get moved to make room for Rocchio in 2023?

This is the speculation and discussion that aren’t at the forefront right now because there is nothing going on in the game.

We should be talking about the Cleveland outfield, and who will play in the corner spots surrounding Myles Straw? Will Tito lean on the retreads of Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado, or will he entrust the high on base percentages of rookies Steven Kwan and Richie Palacios. The latter had a strong Arizona Fall League season, and could figure in the mix at 2B too.

Will Josh Naylor be ready for Opening Day and will he return to the outfield, or will he move to first base and challenge Bobby Bradley and/or Chang?

Again, spring training is supposed to start very soon. Our guess is when (fingers crossed) an agreement is reached, a flurry of moves will be made by all teams. We don’t believe for a minute that discussions haven’t been going on.

Until then, all baseball fans can do is hope that some intelligence prevails, and baseball can start next month. For people who live in the northeast, it’s one way we use to get through the snow and cold of winter.