Sit Back And Enjoy The ALCS. It’s Supposed To Be Highly Competitive

It’s funny when you try to apply football thinking to baseball. After the 7-3 Game 1 win in the American League Championship Series by the Cleveland Guardians over the Tampa Bay Rays, people were starting to make plans for the beginning of the World Series.

The Guardians may get there, but it’s not going to be easy. The Rays were the best team in the AL over the 162 game regular season and swept the Yankees in the Division Series. They are a very good baseball team. That doesn’t mean Steven Vogt’s squad cannot beat them, it simply means it will not be that easy.

What we are trying to say here is coming home with a split of the two games in St. Petersburg is a good thing, and we will go a step further by saying it is unlikely the Guardians will sweep the three games at Progressive Field.

Because the Rays are a good team.

Kevin Cash’s crew ranked 4th in the AL in runs scored at 4.54 per game, compared to the Guardians 4.19. Neither team hits a lot of home runs. The Rays ranked 11th despite having Junior Caminero, who was second in the league with 42 bombs.

Cleveland was 13th with no Guardian hitting more than Angel Martinez’ 18 dingers.

The difference was batting average (we know, it doesn’t mean anything). The Rays led the league in this category at .258, 19 points higher than the Cleveland. Of the nine players with over 300 plate appearances for Tampa Bay, only three (Cedric Mullins, Taylor Walls, and Richie Palacios) hit under .250.

Cleveland had eight players with over 300 times at the plate, and only four (Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter, Brayan Rocchio, and Angel Martinez) hit OVER .250.

However, the Guardians were 4th in the AL in walks, while Tampa was 11th.

As we wrote the other day, the Guardians scored just eight runs in the six regular season games vs. Tampa, a total they have matched in the first two games in the ALCS. We also note all six of those games were played before the trade deadline and Cleveland lengthened their lineup a bit.

It usually comes down to the offense for Vogt’s guys, and this series is no different. Can the Guardians scrape up enough runs to win? Jose Ramirez seems more like his usual self, so the top of the Cleveland batting order is kind of formidable, with DeLauter and Kwan doing their usual thing. With the top of the order getting on, it puts pressure on Jo Adell, who is 6 for 28 in the post-season, but without a homer and with 11 strikeouts.

Let’s face it, his at bat in the 7th in Game 2 with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two out was abysmal.

On the other hand, Patrick Bailey has been amazing thus far swinging the bat in the playoffs. His homer in Game three of the White Sox series jumpstarted the offense, and he tied Game 1 with a titanic blast. Overall, he’s 7 for 20 in the post-season, which no one could have seen coming.

The truth is these are two similar and pretty evenly matched teams, especially since the additions of Nathaniel Lowe and Adell, and the emergence of DeLauter.

The next three nights at Progressive Field should be electric. It’s October baseball after all.

Williams And Ramirez Propel The Guardians To The ALCS

We knew it was going to be tough, especially with Chicago going with Sean Burke, who has been very tough in his career against the Cleveland Guardians.

They needed a great pitching performance, and they got one from Gavin Williams, who pitched 5.2 one hit innings, striking out 12 White Sox hitters. It was utter dominance and filth from the American League leader in strikeouts.

We have believed all year that even though Parker Messick had a tremendous season, Williams is the Guardians’ ace and he showed it last night.

It was a disappointing regular season for the player who is perpetually in the mix for league MVP, Jose Ramirez, who broke his hamate box in June, and played in pain after he got back in the lineup.

But in games three and four, Ramirez started hitting. He put Cleveland on top in the penultimate game with a home run, and in the deciding game, he hit a two-run dinger in the fourth, off a pitch which was almost in the dirt and pulled it into the seats for the only runs Steven Vogt’s squad needed.

After Williams ran out of gas, the bullpen was excellent. Erik Sabrowski struck out Munetaka Murakami with the bases loaded and two out in the sixth.

We were a bit surprised the Vogt didn’t stay with Sabrowski to start the 7th, but we guess he wanted to avoid right-handed bats Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham, so he went with Hunter Gaddis, who struggled late in the year and earlier in the series.

Gaddis got four outs, all via the strikeout and got an extra out so Cade Smith didn’t have to go two full innings.

Then Cade Smith came on and got a huge out with two outs in the 8th, getting Miguel Vargas, the White Sox’ best hitter on a foul pop. Then he whiffed the side in the ninth to send the Guardians on to Tampa to take on the Rays in the League Championship Series for the second time in three seasons, and the 7th time in club history.

In total, Guardians’ pitchers struck out 21 Chicago hitters. You know there are only 27 outs in a game.

So, Cleveland is now four outs away from the World Series. They lost 5 of 6 against Tampa Bay in the regular season, scoring a grand total of 8 runs. The Rays only scored 20.

The Rays put the ball in play (unlike Chicago), they run, leading the league in stolen bases. The scores of the games during the regular season? 3-2, 1-0, 3-0, 1-0, with the outlier being an 11-3 Rays triumph. All of those game occurred before the trade deadline.

The Guardians will need to execute on offense, move runners, and maybe utilize the running game a bit more. And they will need Foster Griffin and Tanner Bibee, although the former did a great job in Game 3. It would not be a shock to see that pair start the first two games of the series.

The season continues for the Guardians. Baseball in mid-October. The only thing better is playing in late October.

How Can A 9-5 Game Be A Nail Biter? It’s Guards’ Ball!

After the Beatles broke up in 1970, one of the first singles produced by drummer Ringo Starr was a song called “It Don’t Come Easy” (written by George Harrison, by the way). That song perfectly describes Game 4 of the AL Division Series in Chicago last night.

The Guardians staved off elimination again with a seesaw 9-5 verdict to force a fifth and deciding game in Cleveland on Saturday night.

When pitchers show fatigue, it usually affects command and perhaps that’s why starter Parker Messick walked four hitters in his 2.1 innings, and that he couldn’t get through four or five innings set in motion in essence a bullpen game, and some questionable decisions by Steven Vogt.

Trailing 2-0, the Guardians bounced back on homers by Patrick Bailey and Jose Ramirez to take a 3-2 lead. So, Vogt brought in Tanner Bibee for the first relief appearance of his career. We understand the why, the skipper wanted length, but Bibee hasn’t had a good year, and didn’t pitch well in September.

He walked two of the three hitters he faced, including the leadoff man, and Vogt had to go to Tim Herrin, who gave up a hit to load the bases, and then hit a batter and gave up a sacrifice fly, and poof, the lead had disappeared and Cleveland trailed 4-3.

Eventually, Erik Sabrowski was summoned after another base on balls and got the third out.

Then, the Cleveland bats went to work. It started with Angel Martinez, who is 0 for 15 in the series getting hit by a pitch and then stealing second. Five hits and two walks later, the Guardians put six runs on the board to take a 9-4 lead. The big blows were the game tying double by Travis Bazzana, a single by Bailey to put them ahead, and a two run single by Jo Adell.

Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis, who has been shaky as of late, actually restored order.

We also didn’t like trying to use Cade Smith for two innings. These guys aren’t Strat-O-Matic cards, fatigue is a factor. At the time, we would have left Gaddis in to get one or two more outs. Which brings up another question.

If you don’t think Matt Festa can get three outs without giving up four runs, then why is he on the post-season roster?

The point is we would have limited Smith to one inning. And Vogt had to use Gavin Williams to close it out.

So, now it’s a winner take all game Saturday night. No doubt the Guardians will see Sean Burke, who pitched 5.1 innings of one hit ball in Game 2 and has a 2.56 ERA in his career against Cleveland with 46 Ks in 36.2 innings.

That’s a tough task.

Gavin Williams will start for the Guardians, but likely with a shorter rope since he pitched yesterday. But it would not be a surprise if everyone pitches, but that’s a deciding game for you.

After losing the first two at home, the Guardians fought back, and need to get that first win in front of the home folks.

Guardians Stay Alive. Can They Do It Again Today?

The Cleveland Guardians live to play another day. They staved off elimination in the AL Division Series with a 9-3 verdict over the White Sox and earn another chance to avoid being sent home, trailing the series two games to one.

Steven Vogt’s plan to use the opener/bulk combination of Daniel Espino and Joey Cantillo, which worked so well (at least for Cantillo) in September backfired as Espino walked the leadoff hitter and then gave up a hit, and with one out, a Kyle Teel double to put the Pale Hose on top 1-0.

Kudos to Foster Griffin coming in and restoring order, striking out Tristan Peters with men on 2nd and 3rd, and then he got eight out, seven of them via the strikeout and allowing just one run, giving the offense the chance to produce.

We said before the series because of all of the left-handers Chicago was going to use, Jo Adell needed to be a factor. Well, his bases loaded triple with the game tied at 1, gave the Guardians’ life and a three-run lead.

And after the Sox closed the lead to 4-2, Jose Ramirez manufactured a run, doubling, stealing third, and scoring on a ground ball by Chase DeLauter. That is vintage Ramirez.

The bullpen after Griffin did cause some anxious moments. When Cantillo did come into the game in the fifth (props to Shawn Armstrong getting two outs in the 4th), he immediately gave up a leadoff hit and a walk. He got Munetaka Murakami to ground out, before Teel hit a bullet to Travis Bazzana, who doubled off the runner on second.

After Cantillo retired the last two hitters in the sixth, he walked Braden Montgomery, and Vogt brought in Hunter Gaddis to face lefty killer Randal Grichuk. But Grichuk singled, and then Gaddis hit the next two batters to make it 5-3.

Miguel Vargas hit a rope to Ramirez, who threw him out at first.

We wonder how long the skipper keeps going to Gaddis, who hasn’t pitched well over the last few weeks. Perhaps Armstrong or maybe even Espino takes the late inning right-hander role for a bit.

Also wondering if the Guardians stay with Angel Martinez, who is coming out of the dugout swinging, and is now 0 for 12 with seven strikeouts. Martinez is streaky, so maybe today is the today he snaps out of it and gets a big hit, but the temptation has to be there to go with someone else, perhaps Petey Halpin or David Fry.

Cleveland now gets to start Parker Messick and Gavin Williams on their regular rest in the last two games, but that guarantees nothing. They have to put runs on the board and both pitchers need to be sharp.

Cade Smith pitched two innings, but only 20 pitches, so he will be good for Game 4.

We know this has been the mantra for the Guardians over the past few weeks, and it’s simple. Win today and bring the series back to Progressive Field.

Yesterday, it was Adell, Ramirez, and Griffin. Who will be the hero today?

Thoughts On Game 2, Backs Against The Wall For The Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians haven’t done much easy all season long, so why should the playoffs be any different. Steven Vogt’s team has there back firmly against the wall after dropping Game 2 of the Division Series at Progressive Field by a score of 4-3.

They now have to win the rest of the games of the series, or they will watch the upstart White Sox celebrate in front of them, and then cleaning out their lockers.

The Guardians got off to a quick start with a hit by Steven Kwan, a walk to Jose Ramirez, and Chase DeLauter moved them over on a groundball. After they scored two runs on an error, they have runners on 1st and 3rd with one out. A chance to add on without getting a hit.

Instead, Angel Martinez and Travis Bazzana whiffed. Martinez HAS to put the ball in play there. If you aren’t going to hit the long ball, you have to take advantage and execute when opportunities are available. Time and time again this season, the Guardians have failed to move runners with outs.

In the last week of the season, Nathaniel Lowe had three sacrifice flies and was heralded for having a professional at bat. It’s called a “sacrifice” fly for a reason. The hitter is deliberately giving himself up to get the run home.

Another big play was Erik Sabrowski’s wild pitch in the sixth which moved two Chicago runners into scoring position, and they scored on Braden Montgomery’s double to right. Sabrowski threw a bad pitch, but it was a fastball, and Patrick Bailey didn’t/couldn’t block it.

We know Bailey has won multiple Gold Gloves, but frankly, we don’t see why? Is it because of his pitch framing? We see a lot of balls get past him. Perhaps we are spoiled by catchers like Sandy Alomar Jr., Yan Gomes, and Roberto Perez, but we don’t see that kind of defensive prowess.

Lastly, only three runs scored in the two games for Cleveland. The Guardians had the worst offense of any team qualifying for the post-season, and the second worst, Boston, was eliminated in the wild card round. Conversely, four of the top five teams in scoring runs made the playoffs, and although the Cubs (1st) were knocked out, the Brewers, White Sox, and Dodgers are still alive.

It is difficult to go far without being able to produce runs no matter how good your pitching and defense is.

As for the Guardians, it’s not impossible to win three straight in the Division Series after losing the first two, but to go on the road makes it more difficult. Cleveland did have a better record on the road (44-37) than they did at Progressive Field (41-40) this season.

Perhaps there is an omen there.

Don’t Believe Everything The Guardians Tell You, And Stop Picking On Ramirez

In this new age of media coverage, the messenger is certainly controlling the narrative, and sports is no different. We watch the telecasts of the Cleveland Guardians and we and several others call it the “propagandcasts” because it you watch, you certainly get a skewed message.

The picture is rosier if Chris Gimenez is the game’s color analyst, but that’s another subject for another day.

One of the things the announcing team is pounding through our head is that the offense is much better since the trades for Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe were made. To an extent, it is true,

Cleveland has averaged 4.6 runs per game since August 1st, compared to 3.9 before that date. However, they still rank 27th in the sport in scoring ahead of just the Angels, Blue Jays, and Mariners. In addition, they’ve also been shutout six times since the trading deadline. So, the offense has become a bit “feast or famine”, in a sport where consistency is most important.

The major league average OPS is currently 718. Right now, the Guardians have two players over that figure and crazily they are both rookies, Chase DeLauter at 830 and Travis Bazzana at 721. Jo Adell has a 729 OPS with the Guardians, but including his time with the Angels, his figure is 696.

So, Steven Vogt gets to write just two better than average offensive players in his lineup every night. Keep in mind that before Bazzana’s big game on Tuesday, he was below average too. Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Angel Martinez are close, but still below the league average.

And of course, since the All-Star break, Kwan has a tremendous 856 OPS, a big number considering he doesn’t hit for power.

Certainly, Ramirez hasn’t had his usual great season, and we are sure he is not 100% healthy due to the surgery to remove the broken hamate bone. However, it’s not like he is dreadful and calls for him to be removed from the lineup and get ready for next year are just silly.

Even with him not being healthy, he is still one of the better hitters currently available. His 24 doubles are second on the team (DeLauter has 28) and his on base percentage is 5th best. In fact, we wish he would take more walks, particularly with his injured hand. He still goes out of the strike zone too often in our opinion to try to get runs home, although the home run pop isn’t there.

Meanwhile, the front office puts a guy like Petey Halpin or David Fry in the lineup and no one bats an eye. Neither is remotely close to being as productive as the seven-time all star, who also by the way, is fourth in the AL in stolen bases.

And note to the viewers of the telecasts, giving Halpin a nickname like “Speedy Petey” doesn’t make him a good hitter. It’s just another attempt to divert your attention that the team has given 173 plate appearances to someone with an OPS under 600.

For the season, the Guardians have given 689 plate appearances to hitters with an OPS under 600, Halpin actually doesn’t have the most, that honor (?) goes to Daniel Schneemann with 287.

We checked the Twins (at random), and they’ve given under 500 plate appearances to hitters in that category.

We guess our point is the offense is better for sure, but it’s a long way from being in the top half of the game.

The Patience Vs. Stubbornness Argument And The Cleveland Guardians

One of our sports beliefs is that there is a fine line between patience and stubbornness. We also understand front offices of professional sports teams have to error on the side of the latter. Fans want players replace after they have two poor weeks. Front offices have to make sure before cutting ties with a player.

And players who have put up with good numbers for a long time deserve and get a longer leash. For example, Jose Ramirez hasn’t had a good season, although his OPS is still over league average. And even though he is now 33, you have to think he will get to being the player he has always been, with maybe a bit of a regression to age.

We are trying to ascertain how the Cleveland Guardians approach this process and make no doubt we believe they skirt the line of stubbornness. We ask this because of the recent move to cut bait on Juan Brito and earlier this year with George Valera.

The question comes because both players seem to have had patient approaches while hitting. In AAA, Brito fanned 192 times and drew 163 walks in 1151 plate appearances. Valera’s ratio wasn’t as good, but he still walked 164 times in over 1200 plate appearances at the AAA level.

Let’s take a look at Daniel Schneemann. He got off to a great start, putting up a 955 OPS in April. However, in May he struggled going 11 for 74 (417 OPS). Steven Vogt and the organization gave him 63 more plate appearances in June, and the results were much the same (11 for 63, 498 OPS).

We are talking about someone with a career 632 OPS, so it’s not like he has a long track record of success. Despite that, Schneemann got 40 more at bats in July, producing just five hits and a 362 OPS. At some point, perhaps in the middle of June, someone should have said even though he’s a great defensive player, maybe we shouldn’t be giving him semi-regular at bats?

Look at the way the team uses Rhys Hoskins. He is used mostly as a platoon bat against southpaws. Over his career, he’s been great against them, compiling an 855 OPS. This season, in 113 PA, he’s batting .143. Now 33, you have to wonder if he’s about done. On the other hand, as a veteran, he should get more of the benefit of the doubt.

The unfortunate thing with Hoskins is the Guardians keep hitting him in the middle of the lineup against lefties, and as we said, the .143 average doesn’t help. If we were a fading veteran, we’d sign with the Guardians and be a leader in the clubhouse. We’d get every benefit of the doubt.

Look at how long it took to make a decision on Gabriel Arias, he of the career 635 OPS. Let us remind you, the average OPS hovers around 710 most seasons, so you can see, Arias is a below average bat.

Yet, he now has almost 1200 plate appearances in the bigs and has fanned in over 1/3rd of those times at the dish, and hardly ever draws a walk, meaning he makes an out 72.5% of the times he goes to the plate.

He is what is known as “toolsy”. He has a cannon for an arm and occasionally can hit the ball a long way. However, he is wildly inconsistent and doesn’t seem to have a good feel for the game. Despite his pop, he has never had a slugging percentage over .400.

All of these weaknesses have been on display for at least three years, but it took this long for the Guardians to cut bait.

Meanwhile, a guy like Brito, a switch-hitter gets 56 at bats and is cut loose. We understand Brito is borderline terrible with a glove but deserved more of a chance in the majors in our opinion.

It will be interesting to see if the Guardians’ impatience with him is merited.

As The Offense Plummets, The Front Office Plays The Fiddle

The Cleveland Guardians haven’t exactly taken off following the all-star break, going 3-7 and generally not playing good baseball. And the hitting hasn’t been good either, as they’ve scored either zero or one run in half of these games.

And of course, the spector of the trade deadline looms, now less than a week away.

This recent stretch has led a few people to suggest that the front office should be selling a week from now, but really, what do the Guardians have to sell? First, Cleveland is still one of the 10 youngest teams in baseball.

Do you really want the Guards’ front office to shop Gavin Williams or even Tanner Bibee? Cade Smith? They aren’t going to move Jose Ramirez obviously, and with the offense already challenged, do people want them to deal Chase DeLauter or Travis Bazzana? That would be ridiculous.

The Guardians have won the AL Central the past two seasons and if the season were to end today (we know, it doesn’t) they would be in the playoffs. Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff should be looking for ways to punch their ticket to the post-season for the third straight year.

And as an added bonus, with the way the AL West is shaking out right now, winning the Central would mean skipping the Wild Card Series and put the Guardians right into the Divison Series.

But they simply have to be better offensively.

As they were last season, Cleveland ranks near the bottom in the majors in runs scored. This has now been the case for a season and a half. Yet it doesn’t seem like any changes in terms of coaching are on the horizon, and we don’t like calling for people’s jobs, but whatever message Grant Fink is sending to his troops, it is not getting through.

But it shouldn’t just fall on Fink. Look at the roster the front office has put together. They have 13 position players on the big-league squad and how many of them are just not even decent hitters? We aren’t going to ignore Austin Hedges resurgence this season, but neither he nor Patrick Bailey are serious offensive threats.

Kyle Manzardo looks lost. David Fry hasn’t been effective since the post-season in 2024, some of that due to injury, but it is what it is. We liked the signing of Rhys Hoskins during training camp, but he was brought in to hit lefties, and he’s batted .129 vs. southpaws.

Petey Halpin simply doesn’t look like a major league hitter, and Gabriel Arias, despite being on a bit of a good streak right now, still has fanned 51 times in 117 plate appearances this season.

And although Angel Martinez has shown some pop, since May 1st, he’s hit .203 with just 12 extra base hits and a strikeout to walk ratio of 35:4.

What this means is out of the 13 position players on the current roster, eight of them simply aren’t even competent big-league hitters as of now. It is tough to put Manzardo in that group right now, but he looks like he could use the same thing the Guardians did with Rocchio a year ago. That is, send him back to AAA for a reset and see what happens.

Let’s see what Kody Huff can do. He’s batting .275 with a .388 on base percentage and a 912 OPS at Columbus. And he’s thriving away from the hitters’ park that is Huntington Bank Field. What about one of the Guards’ top prospects in Angel Genao, hitting .305 with a .389 OBP? We’d also bring back Cooper Ingle.

Could they be any worse than what is currently on the roster? That’s doubtful. But it makes you wonder why moves haven’t been made.

Can Guardians’ Front Office Make The Tough Decision?

With the trading deadline in Major League Baseball two weeks away, teams all around baseball have to make decisions. Are they a contender or a pretender? That’s the first thing executives around the game have to figure out, and we have seen it here and all around the sport, what the fans and even the players think is not the same as the GM.

For the Cleveland Guardians, that decision should be simple. They are currently one game out of first place in a weak AL Central Division, and they have won that division title each of the last two seasons. They should be in the business of strengthening their ballclub.

What president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to decide is what areas need improvement and how to accomplish getting better. Those answers should be obvious, the offense is now last in all of baseball in scoring runs and of course, everyone’s bullpen could be deeper.

Offensively, are the Guardians ready to move on from some of the players they have seemed to give umpteen chances to? We look at the position players on the roster currently and see many players who could easily be sent back to AAA or even DFA’d in order to score more runs.

And yes, yes, we know Jose Ramirez will be back, hopefully before the August 3rd deadline and Angel Martinez will return as well, and when both are in the lineup, the hitting will be better. We understand that. But again, the offense is currently last in baseball, so even with that pair returning, Cleveland’s offense isn’t anything to write home about.

The front office leaned into giving their young players a chance this off-season and have been rewarded to some extent by the performance of rookies Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana. Still, it hasn’t been enough because, and we know we are repeating ourselves, they still rank last in scoring runs per game.

Part of that is Steven Kwan’s struggles, but he seems to be getting back to the player we’ve seen in his career up to this point.

We are sure they didn’t anticipate Kyle Manzardo’s struggles and that the DH spot would basically become a gaping hole. But the question now is what they are willing to do about it.

Will they continue to hope young players like Cooper Ingle or Ralphy Velazquez will come up and hit the ground running, or that Kahlil Watson or Petey Halpin will figure out the puzzle that is the strike zone and become competent big league hitters?

There are rookies that take the league by storm and maybe that’s what will happen for the Guardians, but history shows it likely won’t happen. Heck, Bazzana is going through a tough stretch right now, hitting .169 with a 525 OPS over the last month.

To us, there are a number of players in the organization we would have no problem if the organization decided to move on, but that seems to be an issue with the Guardians. They have a tough time letting go. However, using assets to go out and get a proven hitter is the prudent move to make. Adding even one bat should make a difference.

With Trading Deadline Coming, We’d Get A Bat. What Is The Front Office Thinking?

The Cleveland Guardians resume their season Friday night against the Pittsburgh Pirates and when they start play, they will have a little over two weeks before the MLB trading deadline which ends on August 3rd.

We doubt the front office will do anything major and might not do anything at all. However, the offense still ranks 29th in the big leagues and has been in that area now for a year and a half.

Our guess is the brass will look at the return of Jose Ramirez as a major event (and it is), but we believe a good offense needs seven effective bats in a lineup, and the Guardians will still be well short of that. And remember, the front office should plan things based on a worst-case scenario mindset.

For sure, Cleveland should be in the relief pitcher market because right now Steven Vogt can only have confidence in Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, and Colin Holderman. Franco Aleman might be able to slide into the “circle of trust”, but in watching post-season baseball, a team can never have enough solid relief pitchers.

Back to the hitting, with Ramirez back, the Guardians have what we would consider three solid bats: Ramirez, Chase DeLauter, and Brayan Rocchio. We understand the optimistic fans will ask, what about Travis Bazzana, Angel Martinez, Kyle Manzardo, etc.?

Manzardo is suffering through a bad season. He’s hitting just .215 with an OPS of 669, a hundred points behind last year’s 768 figure. Can he have a much better second half? Of course, but over the last month, he’s hit just .165 and a 550 OPS.

Bazzana is hitting just .222 with a 685 OPS over the last 28 days. This could be the ups and downs a rookie experiences, but the front office should be a tad concerned, particularly over the 26 strikeouts in those 90 plate appearances.

And although Martinez adds some pop with 23 extra base hits and a .442 slugging percentage, he is very inconsistent at the plate, prone to hot streaks and deep slumps, mostly in our opinion because of a 53:7, strikeout to walk ratio.

It would help greatly if Steven Kwan’s resurgence over the past month (748 OPS) can continue. He could be a fourth solid hitter.

What we are saying is president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff should be looking for a hitter between now and August 3rd.

We understand the prospect lovers will say what about Ralphy Velazquez and Angel Genao at Columbus? Again, they are rookies and you don’t know what you will get. Cooper Ingle had great numbers at AAA, but he was overmatched when he came up. And we still have confidence he can be a solid hitter in the big leagues.

As for Genao, could he be a piece used to get a proven hitter, particularly one who hits right-handed? The best deals are made from depth, and it appears like the Guardians are set at the keystone spots with Rocchio and Bazzana.

That said, we know the front office is loath to give up prospects, so it likely won’t happen.

What is more likely is a deal for someone like a Lane Thomas giving up marginal prospects. Don’t forget the organization figures to do something with Bo Naylor too.

How much that moves the needle is up for debate.

Is the goal is to get a first-round bye and ultimately get to the World Series, the batting order needs to be more formidable. Can the management pull the trigger and help the team currently on the field?