A Third Of The Way Through, Guards Holding Their Own

With the ninth inning comeback 3-2 win over Oakland on Friday night, the Cleveland Guardians reached the one third pole in their schedule, and currently sit at 28-26 on the year, a pace to win 84 games.

Considering the overall youth on the roster, that’s pretty good. The Guards do have a rough stretch coming up until the fourth of July hits, playing at Colorado, Dodger Stadium, and Minneapolis before coming home for series against the Twins, Red Sox and Yankees.

We will know a lot more about this team after that stretch. If they come out of it still above the breakeven mark, then it would be fair to consider Terry Francona’s club a legitimate post-season contender.

So, we shall see.

The biggest surprise for the Guardians has been their hitting, currently sitting third in the AL in runs scored per game, behind just the Yankees and Red Sox. We felt all off-season the front office needed to get one or two experienced hitters who can get on base, but instead, the Guards have decided to go with youth.

Gone are the high strikeout, low walk players like Bradley Zimmer and Bobby Bradley. They have been replaced by rookies Steven Kwan (.366 on base percentage, 21 walks/13 strikeouts), Oscar Gonzalez (7 whiffs in 57 plate appearances), and Owen Miller, who had a fast start, but still has a 725 OPS.

By the way, Miller has six sacrifice flies this season to lead Cleveland. Last year, Jose Ramirez led the club for the full year with five.

Last year, Cleveland ranked 9th in the league in striking out, this season, they are dead last. They are walking more as well, going from 2.8 per game last season to 3.1 in 2022.

And it helps that they have the incomparable Jose Ramirez hitting in the #3 hole. If the Statues can stay in the playoff hunt all season long, the switch-hitter could get the league MVP award that has alluded him recently.

Ramirez has three top three finishes in the voting (3rd in 2017 and 2018, 2nd in 2020) and four top ten results (6th last year). With all those accolades, he is having his best year in ’22.

He leads baseball in RBIs, is 7th in the AL in OBP and 2nd in slugging. He is 4th in homers, seventh in doubles in the AL, and leads the league in triples.

We don’t want to short the pitching staff either. They’ve moved up to 4th in the league in team ERA. Shane Bieber has made 11 starts after missing a good portion of last year with the shoulder issue, and all but one has been very good.

Triston McKenzie has been prone to the gopher ball this season, he leads the staff allowing 11, but has allowed just 39 hits in 64 innings. And yes, you read that correctly. Cal Quantrill is solid, and hopefully Zach Plesac continues to get better.

They need Aaron Civale to be healthy and to be pitching like he has in the past.

Eli Morgan has been a huge surprise, emerging as a set-up man for closer Emmanuel Clase, who has all-star numbers. With all of the doubleheaders coming up because of the lovely northeast Ohio weather this spring, the depth of the starters will have to come into play.

It could fall on another rookie, Konnor Pilkington, to produce, but the big league club may need others to step up.

As we said before, we will know an awful lot more about this young Guardians group when the next summer holiday arrives. Hopefully, Francona’s club is ready for the upcoming task.

Ramirez’ Place In Cleveland Baseball History

A few years ago, we wrote a piece talking about Francisco Lindor’s place in Cleveland baseball history if he were to play his entire career here, or at least a sizeable portion of it.

Well, we had the wrong player. Jose Ramirez is one of the best players in the game, and he wants to spend his entire career in a Cleveland uniform.

So, let’s look at some of the all time Cleveland counting stats and see where Ramirez will wind up statistically for the franchise.

The franchise leader in games played is Terry Turner, who played 1619 games with Cleveland, the last in 1919. Ramirez has played in 1026 as of today, and if he averages 140 games through the end of 2028 when his contract ends, he will surpass that total easily.

Napoleon Lajoie is the club’s all time leader in hits with 2047 and he last wore a Cleveland uniform in 1914. Ramirez has 1038 currently. Assuming he gets 100 more hits this season, he would need to get about 150 hits per season to pass the man the team was once named after.

Jim Thome’s 337 home runs is the current standard and Ramirez has belted 176 as of now, averaging almost 28 per season in the last five full seasons. After this season, the switch-hitting third baseman will need slightly over 20 homers a year to break the franchise mark.

As for RBIs, the all-time leader is Earl Averill with 1084 and Ramirez has 591 to date, averaging 90 a year in the last five full seasons. At that pace, he will pass Averill, but as we know that depends on his teammates and other teams choosing to pitch to him.

Averill is also the leader in total bases (3200) with Ramirez currently at 1885. Jose has averaged 290 total bases in the last five full seasons, so he should pass the 2000 mark before the end of this season.

Keep in mind using the last five full seasons includes the 2016 season in which Ramirez only hit 11 homers and knocked in 76 runs. His power surge started the following season when he belted 29 dingers.

Ramirez has 256 career doubles and the franchise leader is also the all time in this department, Tris Speaker, who had 486 of his two-baggers in a Cleveland uniform. Ramirez gets a lot of hustle doubles because of his speed, but his total has dipped since he started belting balls over the fence.

He had a league leading 56 in 2017, but the past few seasons, he’s been around 30-35. At that pace, he gets in the top five all time, but no higher.

In terms of WAR, Ramirez is already in 10th place at 36.9, and at the pace his current season is on, he will likely be 9th by the end of this season, passing the aforementioned Turner. Being conservative, he will be in the top five in franchise history during the 2024 assuming he stays healthy.

Many of Cleveland’s all time leaders in these counting statistics come either from the 90’s teams (like Thome) or more than 80 years ago, so it will be refreshing to see Ramirez’ name at the top.

No doubt he will be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest player to ever wear a Cleveland baseball outfit.

You are witnessing one of the best ever here.

Guardians Proving An Old Baseball Adage

There is an old saying in baseball that momentum is today’s starting pitcher. There is no better example of that than the 2022 Cleveland Guardians.

On May 9th, the Guardians were trailing the White Sox 8-2 heading into the 9th inning. They scored six runs to tie the game, and then won it in 11 innings, with Josh Naylor being the hero. He belted a grand slam in the ninth to tie it and won it in the 11th with a three run blast.

It was Cleveland’s eighth victory in the last 10 games, and they headed into the Windy City after a very good series against Toronto, taking three out of four.

The next night, the Guards ran into a nemesis in Lucas Giolito, a pitcher the team has little success against, and they lost 4-1. That started a losing slide of nine losses in the last 13 games, and Cleveland now sits seven games out of first.

We are sure a lot of fans would have thought the huge comeback would be a springboard to more success for the Guardians, but after the loss to Giolito, the coaching staff came down with COVID, as did Naylor, the hottest Cleveland hitter at that point.

Naylor is back, but the offense has lost momentum and is the main culprit for the losing ways in the last twelve. In the nine losses, the Guardians have scored three runs or less in seven of them, the exceptions being a 12-8 loss at Minnesota in which the team was way down after the Twins scored nine in an inning, and 5-4 loss to the Reds at Progressive Field, in which they had just two going into the 9th until Owen Miller hit a two-run homer.

For the most part, the pitching staff has been fine. They’ve allowed more than four runs just three times, so the Guards have been in games, which makes the losing even more frustrating.

Adding to the angst is the schedule. Cleveland is in the midst of a period in which they play 20 of 23 games against the Reds, Tigers, Royals, Orioles, Rangers, and A’s. Not exactly a group of pennant contenders. The best record in that group is Texas’ 21-23 mark.

Unfortunately, the Guardians have started out 2-4 against this group, and they also lost two of three to Houston, one of the best teams in the AL.

Lately it seems the entire burden of the offense is on Jose Ramirez, who leads the American League with 48 RBIs. If the Guardians can climb back in the post-season race, Ramirez should be a leading candidate for the league MVP.

He’s had that kind of season.

However, if Terry Francona’s squad comes close to losing 90 games, we fear Ramirez’ season will lost in a statistical morass.

That would be a shame.

Naylor has stepped up in clutch spots and provided some pop at the plate, but frankly, that Franmil Reyes has been missing in action for much of the year, is a huge hinderance on the offense.

Reyes has just five extra base hits on the season, the same number as reserve catcher Luke Maile, and one less than starting catcher Austin Hedges. That’s simply mind boggling.

The Guardians need someone with some pop. Perhaps that player can be Oscar Gonzalez, who has started his big-league career with four hits in eight at bats, including two doubles.

If Cleveland can’t make some hay over the next three weeks, it figures to be a long season, If they can hit, they will be fine. Just hoping Ramirez gets some help.

Guardians Getting On Base More, Why Not Run More Too?

The hitting for the Cleveland Guardians has been a surprise this season, ranking third in the American League in runs scored to date. However, it has also sputtered at times.

The Guards have scored 10 runs or more five times this season, but they’ve also scored two runs or less 14 times, and it’s very tough to win doing that, and Cleveland is no different, going 1-13 when that occurs.

That’s not totally unusual. The league average per team is under four runs per game (3.97).

However, in the last week, the offense recently has reached a tough patch, with Josh Naylor out on the COVID list, and Jose Ramirez not being red hot.

We know the Guardians have embraced more of a contact approach this season. They have struck out less than any team in the AL, and rank 5th in the Junior Circuit in on base percentage.

One curious thing missing from the Cleveland offense is the stolen base, as the Guards rank just 10th in the league with 20 thefts. Tampa Bay, another low spending franchise, leads the league with 31.

Myles Straw has eight steals meaning he has 40% of the Guards’ stolen bases. But he is far from the only Cleveland player who can run.

They do use their speed in other ways. They are tied for the AL in triples as a team with 10 and are in the middle of the pack in doubles, ranking seventh with 62.

They need to have the stolen base arsenal in their back pocket when they aren’t getting doubles and triples. Otherwise, they need to get three singles or walks to push a run across.

As we said, they have very good team speed.

Amed Rosario has exceptional speed, although he isn’t an accomplished base stealer. He led the league in being caught stealing in 2019. Andres Gimenez, on the other hand, has only been caught once in his career, stealing 22 bases in 23 tries. He’s 14 for 14 in a Cleveland uniform.

We understand the organization may not want Jose Ramirez to run as much, but he’s stolen 20 bags or more in four different seasons.

We notice Ramirez has been more aggressive on the bases following the times he is pitched around by the opposition.

It doesn’t just have to be stolen bases either. With the contact rates of some of these players, why not use a play that most team eschew in today’s game: The “hit and run”.

Maybe Terry Francona will do more of that when he has more confidence in guys like Steven Kwan and Gimenez.

You don’t want to run into outs, but with the speed the Guardians’ have, it should serve to enhance the offense. Why not put more pressure on the opposition defense? Lately, the hitting hasn’t gotten into it early in games, but maybe running early would get the Guards on the scoreboard early.

The Guardians aren’t a team that can sit back and wait for the long ball, and to that end, they’ve embraced a more contact-oriented approach this season.

Why not take a further step and start stealing bases too. They have a roster that can pull it off.

Can Reyes Change? A Big Question For Guardians’ Offense.

When the Cleveland front office acquired Franmil Reyes during the 2019, no doubt they loved his raw power. He belted 37 home runs that season between his time here and in San Diego, hitting 10 long balls in 51 games with the Indians.

Yes, Reyes was prone to strikeouts, the same as most young power hitters. He fanned 156 times against 46 walks, a 28.5% whiff rate with an 8.6% walk rate.

He was just 23 years old at the time, and we are sure the organization felt it could work with him to improve the contact and they might have a middle of the batting order force.

The COVID shortened year of 2020 seemed to bear that out, as his walk rate increased to 10% and his batting average jumped to .275 with an on base percentage of .344. He was previously getting on base about 31% of the time.

Keep in mind, that was a 60 game season, and the big man had just 241 plate appearances.

Last season, Reyes pulled an oblique muscle early in the season, but his strikeout rate increased to 32% and the walk rate dropped back a bit to 9.2%. It is concerning in that you would like to see both ratios decreasing, but it still wasn’t a cause for concern.

While it is still early in 2022, Reyes’ strikeout numbers are getting near Joey Gallo and Mark Reynolds’ territory.

His strikeout percentage has jumped to 41.1% and while that is troubling enough, the walk rate has also dipped to 5.7%. Reyes had an 0 for 26 slump earlier this season in which he was basically swinging at everything and obviously has an affect on these numbers.

He has hit better since the calendar turned to May, going 14 for 42 (.333) and an 833 OPS, but he still has fanned 16 times, walking just four times.

He got out of the slump and into a nice hot streak but hitting the ball where it was pitched and used the entire field, usually a panacea for ending a dry spell at the plate. It wouldn’t hurt to stay with that approach going forward.

Reyes is a big man, and strong enough to hit homers the opposite way without a lot of difficulty, if he can make contact.

And if he can get back to where he was in the shortened 2020 season, he would be a great hitter to bat behind Jose Ramirez, someone who might make you think twice about pitching around the Guardians’ #3 hitter.

If he can’t, he’s a lower third of the order hitter, and more than likely doesn’t have a long future in Cleveland, particularly because the organization doesn’t have a lot of confidence using him defensively.

He’d be a threat in the 7-8-9 hole because if he connects, there’s a chance the ball will sail over the fence. But he can’t be counted on to hit in the middle of the order.

Terry Francona can’t afford to protect his best hitter with a guy who opposing pitchers know they can strikeout if they make their pitch.

The bigger question is can Reyes change his approach as a hitter. The two week stretch where he was red hot say he can, and we will see in the next couple of weeks whether or not he can sustain it.

Otherwise, Reyes might wind up on the list of all or nothing power guys. The Cleveland front office thought it was getting something better than that.

Credit For The Ramirez Deal Should Go Only To Jose

They have been a lot of stories written about the negotiations between the Cleveland Guardians and Jose Ramirez as spring training was ending, and the resulting contract extension for the all-star third baseman, which will keep him in town through the 2028 season.

First, let us say we are thrilled Ramirez is staying. He is one of the top ten players in the game, with a trio of top three finishes in the AL MVP voting over the last five seasons. Baseball fans around northeast Ohio deserve to see someone play the majority of a great career in a Cleveland uniform.

We have brought this up before, but the last player to spend 10 seasons in the big leagues and only wear an Indians/Guardian jersey was Al Rosen, and he retired in 1956.

Other smaller market teams have their icons: Milwaukee has Robin Yount, Kansas City has George Brett. Colorado has Todd Helton.

Jose Ramirez can be that guy for northeast Ohio baseball fans.

And the credit for this is all on one person, and that is Jose Ramirez.

There is no question in our mind Ramirez could have received much more on the open market, figure between $25 and $30 million per year for seven or eight seasons. Texas gave Marcus Semien, who is two years older and not as good as a player, $175 million over seven years. You have to estimate Ramirez would have received over $200 million on the open market.

But he wanted to stay.

According to the stories by national writers, had Ramirez wanted to be paid commensurate with other players with his resume, he would have returned to Progressive Field this past week as a member of either the San Diego Padres or Toronto Blue Jays. The front office was fully prepared to trade him now in order to get the best return.

The Guardians management learned from the Francisco Lindor situation that moving a potential free agent prior to his walk year doesn’t yield the same market value.

However, Ramirez took a “discount” and wanted to remain in a Cleveland uniform, stating he wanted to retire here, go into the Hall of Fame as a Guardian, and win a World Series with the organization.

That’s the perfect news fans want to hear.

Mark Shapiro’s father, Ron Shapiro, who was an agent, said he told the athletes he represented there was a value in playing your entire career in one city. You become a part of that city and can tie yourself into that community.

Even though Bernie Kosar finished up in Dallas and Miami, look at how many local businesses want Bernie speaking on their behalf.

It seems like Ramirez felt the same, and we would bet we will start seeing Ramirez used in advertisements around this area soon.

Unfortunately, this signing isn’t going to make us feel any better about the ownership of the team. They simply did what any owner would do, keep a great player who made it very clear he wanted to stay, even taking less money to do so.

If you can’t do that as an owner, why are you even involved in professional sports.

Fans here should be thankful for Jose Ramirez. He is the reason this deal got done. No one else.

Early Season For Guards? You Have To Be Encouraged

It seems like yesterday that the Cleveland Guardians opened the delayed 2022 season in Kansas City, but after yesterday’s doubleheader against Toronto, the Guards have hit the 1/6th point in the ’22 campaign.

What have we learned? The biggest takeaway is what we knew going into the year. This is a very young team and therefore prone to streakiness, so a close to .500 record (13-14) makes sense. Our guess is that will stabilize as the year goes on.

The offensive has improved, or has it? Cleveland ranks 2nd in the AL in runs scored per game at 4.68, trailing only the Yankees. However, remember the streakiness we discussed? Terry Francona’s squad has been held to two runs or less in 11 of the 27 games, and have scored 17 runs, 11 runs, 10 runs twice as well.

They are 1-10 when they score two or fewer, so when they get to three, their record is 12-4. Pretty good, eh?

In the off-season, we said the ability to get on base had to improve for Cleveland, and to date it has. The Guardians are 3rd in the league in on base percentage.

Last year, only Jose Ramirez and Myles Straw had OBPs of over .350. So far this season, there are five players with over 50 plate appearances (beside Ramirez and Straw, Owen Miller, Steven Kwan, and Andres Gimenez) who are getting on base 35% of the time or more.

Miller has already walked more this season than he did in all of the 2021 season.

And though we doubt Miller can continue to hit .353 or Kwan can hit .319, we also don’t think Franmil Reyes will continue to hit .204 even though his strikeout to walk ratio is an unsightly 43 to 3.

To be fair, we also don’t think Andres Gimenez will stay over .340 and Josh Naylor won’t hit over .300 either, but both should be in the lineup everyday.

The organization has shifted from the big swing players to guys who can put the ball in play, and we think that is a great move in the right direction.

They started scouting players with good contact rates in amateur ball a few years ago, figuring they can develop power easier than teaching players to make contact.

Surprisingly, the Guards’ team ERA is third last in the American League at 4.03. They have held opponents to three runs or less 11 times, going 8-3 in those games.

Part of the problem has been the slow start of Aaron Civale, who has a 9.45 ERA, but did turn in his best outing of the year Thursday night against Toronto. Zach Plesac has also struggled in his last two starts, allowing 10 ER in 8-2/3 innings.

The bullpen has stabilized. Emmanuel Clase had a bit of a struggle early but has looked like himself in the last week or so. Trevor Stephan and Nick Sandlin have emerged as the bridges from the starter to Clase.

Lefty Sam Hentges, pretty terrible last year as a starter, has thrived as a reliever, pitching 13 innings and allowing just one run. Most of his outings have been in low leverage situations, but that could change soon.

This is a fun team to watch for the most part, and we are intrigued to watch these young players develop. Also, there is no curious veteran playing for the most part, unless you are not an Amed Rosario fan (and we aren’t, really).

Hanging around .500 will keep you in the mix for a playoff spot for a while, and that’s what you want from the squad.

So far, so good for the Guardians.

Guardians: Walks Down, So Is The Run Count

Heading into the 2022 baseball season, our biggest concern about the offense of the Cleveland Guardians was the inability to get on base.

It looked like this improved in the first six games of the year, when the Guardians drew four or more walks in five of the first half dozen contests.

And the team scored seven or more runs in four of those games.

However, since then, Guards’ hitters have drawn four or more bases on balls just once (Monday night in Anaheim, they were shutout anyway), and have only scored more than five runs twice.

And one of those games was an 11-1 win over the White Sox in which the opponents committed four charged errors, and it could have been more.

After the initial six games, Guardian hitters have had a game with 15 strikeouts and no walks, 12 punchouts and one walk, and 10 K’s with two walks.

Cleveland currently sits fifth in the AL in on base percentage, mostly because they have the second highest batting average in the league (.253, my how the game has changed).

They are 11th in drawing walks, so really not that much improvement.

Myles Straw leads the Guards in walks with 10, followed by Steven Kwan with nine, and Jose Ramirez with seven. This trio has a little more than half the free passes Cleveland has received through the first 17 games of the season (26 out of 50).

The best strikeout to walk ratios belong to these players:

Batting average OPS
Kwan 6:9 .341 956
Ramirez 7:7 .353 1.151
Straw 14:10 .261 .669
Owen Miller 8:5 .450 1.300

As you can see, if you know the strike zone, you can be a better hitter. Compare those figures to these–

Batting average OPS
Oscar Mercado 14:0 .185 655
Franmil Reyes 30:3 .161 430
Austin Hedges 13:3 .125 405
Andres Gimenez 11:1 .286 804

Gimenez is the only Guardians’ hitter with a poor strikeout to walk ratio that is putting up good numbers.

On Monday, Reyes came to the plate with runners on first and second and no one out, and actually had a 3-0 count, before swinging at two pitches out of the strike zone. That’s probably the worst at bat by a Cleveland hitter this season to date.

Certainly, with Straw, Kwan, and Ramirez at the top of the lineup, for the most part, they are making opposing pitchers work to get outs. They see a lot of pitches in most plate appearances.

The rest of the lineup save for Miller? Not so much.

It is odd that notorious hacker Amed Rosario, is tied with Miller at five bases on balls, but he is usually up there swinging if a pitch is close, and that causes him to get himself out at times.

Meanwhile, the three players who have poor numbers at judging a ball from a strike, Mercado, Bobby Bradley, and Yu Chang have combined to strikeout 22 times without drawing a walk. Again, most of that has been done by Mercado.

For the offense to pick up again, the Guardians’ hitters have to be more selective and stop swinging at bad pitches. We know, easier said than done.

And Reyes has to be better. We know he can be streaky, and part of the reason is his idea of the strike zone. Teams have already started to pitch around Ramirez. The opponents have to pay for doing that.

Guardians Get Patient, Start Scoring.

What a turn around for the Cleveland Guardians, right?

That’s if you can use a two game sample size as the basis for any discussion, which of course a rational human being would not do.

Still, it is eye opening. After the first two games of the 2022 season, in which the Guardians played 19 innings and scored a lone run, Sunday’s game against the Royals featured Kansas City starting Kris Bubic, a left-hander.

Terry Francona gave Bobby Bradley the day off vs. the southpaw and curiously also gave Yu Chang the day off after the pair went 0 for 10 in games one and two with five strikeouts, four of them from Chang.

It was probably a coincidence on that day, but the Guards scored six in the first inning on their way to a 17-3 win, their first of the season.

They scored 10 runs the next two games as well.

It would not be fair to put the blame on the first two games on Bradley and Chang, and if you visit this site often, you know how we feel about both players as hitters. We were never fans of them, or really, anyone with bad strikeout to walk ratios.

However, in moving contact master Steven Kwan up to the #2 spot in the batting order, the first three hitters in the Cleveland lineup all make the opposing pitcher get the ball in the strike zone.

Leadoff man Myles Straw had the second best on base percentage on the squad last season, and the guy he trailed, Jose Ramirez hits third. It sets the tone in the first inning with this trio grinding out at bats and taking walks.

When Franmil Reyes starts hitting, he will no doubt have a boatload of RBI opportunities.

Another young player, Owen Miller has started the 2022 season like he did in AAA last season, that is to say, raking. He has fanned just twice on the season while compiling seven extra base hits (5 doubles and two home runs).

Amed Rosario has dropped into the #5 hole, not a traditional spot for a guy with little power, but he’s also putting the ball in play, fanning just once on the season.

And Ernie Clement hasn’t played much, but he’s walked twice and been hit by two pitches. He’s another guy with a contact profile in the minor leagues, despite striking out three times yesterday.

Some fans have speculated that Bradley and Chang’s future with the team is coming to an end, but we think it’s just about Tito going with the hot bats. It isn’t the organizations style to end a player’s tenure (especially ones that came up through the system) after a couple of games.

On the other hand, if this team keeps hitting, it will be hard for those two to get bigger opportunities.

Look, the first two teams the Guardians have played aren’t known for their pitching, so is the offensive explosion sustainable? That remains to be seen, and the next two series are against the Giants and White Sox, a step up in competition.

But the shift from all or nothing at bats by most of the batting order to a patient, put the ball in place approach seems like it should help score more runs, and that was a problem last year for Cleveland.

The first two series have spurred some interest in Cleveland baseball fans. That’s the best result.

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.