How Does Rotation Check Out For Guardians in ’24?

Most of the focus in looking forward to 2024 for the Cleveland Guardians has centered around improving the hitting and rightly so. It is well documented that the Guards are 12th in the American League in runs scored, and make no mistake, in the regular season, if you can’t score you don’t win.

Of the teams scoring above the league average in runs per game, only the Red Sox and Angels are below the .500 mark. You have to put runs on the board.

But what about the pitching, which for years has been the strength of the Guardians’ franchise. The organization likes to refer to the “pitching factory”.

(Our comment has been to ask when the “hitting factory” will be built, and we get that is being snarky).

With the injuries to Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Cal Quantrill this season, a new core of young pitchers has emerged. Tanner Bibee (10-4, 2.98 ERA with 141 strikeouts in 142 innings), Gavin Williams (3-5, 3.29 ERA, 81 Ks in 82 IP), and Logan Allen (7-7, 3.60 ERA, 118 Ks in 122.1 IP) have certainly earned spots in next season’s rotation.

The biggest question mark has to be the health of McKenzie, who has made just two starts this season and with a strained ligament in his elbow, it wouldn’t be a shock if Tommy John surgery is in his future and that would put him out for the season.

That brings us to Bieber, who has missed significant parts of the season in two of the last three seasons and will be a free agent following the ’24 season. He isn’t the guy who won the Cy Young Award in 2020, but he still is a quality starter. Would he be interested in a short-term extension because of the injuries?

And you have Quantrill, who’s last three starts since coming back from a shoulder issue have been very good. Many people complain about him, but really, if he’s your fifth starter, you have a pretty solid rotation.

And you still have Hunter Gaddis, Xzavion Curry, and southpaw Joey Cantillo (6-4, 4.09 ERA, 142 Ks in 114 IP, but with 63 walks at AAA and AA this season).

Rotation depth is needed as we saw with the club this season.

It is doubtful that Cleveland can put together a package for Lucas Giolito this winter that would satisfy him and his agent this winter, so we would consider that a longshot.

But if the front office is doing their job (and we have confidence) they have to figure one of the young trio will fall off a bit from outstanding rookie seasons.

We would also consider moving Eli Morgan back into a starting role. Morgan had a 3.45 ERA in the second half of 2021 as a starter, striking out 49 hitters in 44.1 innings. We would do this because Morgan gives up too many long balls to flourish in the bullpen.

If Bieber is dealt and McKenzie cannot pitch in ’24, the front office will have to explore other options for the rotation, perhaps a large one-year contract for Giolito or rolling the dice with Gaddis, Curry, and Morgan.

The starting rotation is easily the strength of the team, but the organization cannot get complacent.

And remember one thing Terry Francona has always said: When you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more.

Guardians Deflecting On True Problems

We are not a psychologist or even an amateur one, but it seems like the people connected with the Cleveland Guardians are deflecting.

We have heard over the past few days that the reasons the Guards have struggled this season are the injuries to the starting rotation and the overall youth of the roster.

We respectfully say those are the easy reasons to point at, but we don’t believe they are true.

First, let’s look at the rotation. Yes, Cleveland is down three starters right now. Triston McKenzie has pretty much been out all season, making just two starts. Cal Quantrill, who soaked up a ton of innings a year ago, is out with a shoulder issue, and has missed roughly seven starts.

Shane Bieber is out with a forearm/elbow issue and has missed his last two starts, and Aaron Civale who is back now, but had to be replaced for about eight turns through the rotation earlier this season.

Blaming this for the Guardians inconsistent play would be valid if the pitchers who replaced the injured starters were not doing the job.

Here are the statistics for the primary starters who have filled in for those who have missed time on the injured list:

Tanner Bibee: 89.2 IP, 3.11 ERA, 91Ks, 31 BB in 16 starts
Logan Allen: 80.1 IP, 3.70 ERA, 80Ks, 28 BB in 15 starts
Gavin Williams: 33.2 IP, 3.74 ERA, 26Ks, 15 BB in 6 starts
Peyton Battenfield (as a starter): 32.2 IP, 4.68 ERA, 25 Ks, 8 BB in 6 starts

While perhaps Bieber and McKenzie might have done better, unless they were having a Cy Young type of year, it wouldn’t be greatly improved.

No, the pitching woes have more to do with the failure of the bullpen, particularly in the 8th inning, where the Guardians have struggled to get the game to Emmanuel Clase. Most of the relievers haven’t pitched as well as they did in 2022, which is what happens often to bullpens.

As for the youth of the team, the most disappointing members of the current roster in terms of offense were both veterans, Myles Straw and the recently dealt Amed Rosario. The only rookies the Guards have really used in high volume this season are Will Brennan and Bo Naylor.

We wish Brennan would get better plate discipline (40 Ks, 10 walks), but most fans would rather see Brennan move to centerfield in place of Straw. As for Naylor, the reason he was brought up was the terrible play of free agent Mike Zunino, and the rookie catcher has already hit one more homer and drove in as many runs as Zunino.

Straw is a great defender, but he and Rosario are among the worst offensive players in the game. And if the Guardians wanted to improve their run scoring ability, it would seem the easiest way to do it would be to change the roles of these two players.

There is no question the Guardians have been disappointing to date in 2023 coming off a division title last year. It seems like the organization is trying to put the blame in other places.

We are curious as to why.

The Weird Doings Of The ’23 Guardians

There is no getting around the inconsistency of the Cleveland Guardians season to date. Their longest winning streak to date has been four games. Their longest losing streak? Also, four games.

Fans are waiting for that hot streak, a week or so where the Guards rip off 10 wins in 12 games or win 14 of 18 contests. Just when you think the team can get some momentum, they stop it.

Last week, they blew out Pittsburgh in back-to-back games, and had a 4-0 lead in the series finale. They wound up dropping a 7-5 decision.

The inconsistency isn’t just on the field, it has extended off the field as well. Many of the decisions the front office and Terry Francona have made don’t seem to be logical, at least to the folks who follow the team.

First, we have the Myles Straw/Amed Rosario conundrum. The Guardians love Straw’s defense. He won the Gold Glove last season and justifiably so. He covers a lot of ground in the outfield and we are sure the pitchers love that.

Unfortunately, he is a terrible hitter, with an OPS of 617 (the league average is 724). To the organization though, his defense justifies his playing time.

But Rosario plays the most important defensive position on the diamond, and he is a poor defender. You might think he plays because he is a great offensive player, but he isn’t. His OPS is 657 (note the league average), and he doesn’t walk and doesn’t have a lot of pop.

So, our question if Straw plays because of his defense and Rosario plays essentially despite it, that doesn’t make sense, right?

Another puzzling thing is the handling of Xzavion Curry. Curry has done a very good job coming into games early when a starter has failed and soaking up innings to keep the rest of the bullpen rested.

He has a 2.87 ERA in 53 innings of work in 2023.

The Guardians also have a need for a 5th starter with the injuries to Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Cal Quantrill.

After Sunday’s game, Francona said he didn’t want Curry to pitch more than three innings so he wouldn’t lose him for 3-4 days. You mean like a starting pitcher?

Curry was a starter in the minor leagues and has thrown as many as 67 pitches this season, although that was early in the year. Over the last month, he has tossed a high of 45 pitches and threw 42 on Sunday. He threw 39 in his previous outing, so they could have had him go to around 55 against the Phillies.

Our question is instead of using Curry as a starter going forward, you would rather have him available in case a starting pitcher gets hit around? It would seem to us that you could have a pitcher like Hunter Gaddis serve that role and see if Curry can lend some stability to the rotation.

We know “openers” and “bullpen games” are part of the sport, but it is still better if you can put someone on the mound to start the game, and have that guy throw at least six effective innings.

Just two weird things the Guardians are doing this year. We could also include the penchant for letting Straw hit with the game on the line, giving up an out to move a runner into scoring position for hitters like Cam Gallagher, and continuing to carry three catchers on the big league roster.

When you aren’t winning on a regular basis, these things make people scratch their heads. And it’s not like these questions come out of left field (no pun intended).

Status Quo Should Be Over For Guardians, Time To Act That Way

Before the 2023 baseball season started, we thought it would be very difficult to evaluate what kind of season the Cleveland Guardians would have because most of the key players from last season had no proven track record.

We still thought the Guards would prevail in the AL Central, but our worst fears appear to have come true about the first- and second-year players who helped the team get to the playoffs in 2022.

Josh Naylor is the only Cleveland hitter performing better than they did a year ago. That’s a big reason why the team ranks 12th in the league in runs scored. The bullpen, so solid down the stretch last season, is springing leaks seemingly on a weekly basis.

The only statistic that says the Guardians are a contending team is the number we see every day in the standings. The column “GB”, games behind.

Despite all the problems the Guards have had this year, they are still just 1-1/2 games behind the first place Minnesota Twins as we near the end of July.

Which makes it all the more maddening that the organization seems to go with the status quo in terms of the everyday lineup. They have been forced to make changes in the starting rotation, but that’s due to the injuries suffered by Aaron Civale, Triston McKenzie, and now, Shane Bieber.

Over the weekend, The Plain Dealer ran an article about the hitting philosophy of the organization and Terry Pluto’s column discussed improving the offense. We aren’t a genius, but a good start to improving the hitting might be to stop giving the worst offensive player in the league three at bats per game.

We are talking about Myles Straw of course. It’s time to make him a defensive replacement. We would add pinch-runner as well, but Straw has stopped running for whatever reason. It has been two months since his last stolen base.

That’s absurd.

Another question is when will the front office and skipper give Tyler Freeman regular playing time so they can find out if he can be a major league regular, be it at SS or 2B? Perhaps you could give him more time at the expense of the second lowest OPS in the batting order, that being Amed Rosario.

Yes, we have officially entered the patience vs. stubbornness phase of the season.

Sunday, the Guards lost a three-run lead (thanks to David Fry, who should share time at catcher. Cam Gallagher is superfluous) because the bench refused to be at least a little uneasy about Trevor Stephan pitching the eighth.

Stephan has been shaky as of late, and as soon as he walked Marcus Semien with one out (AND A THREE RUN LEAD!), someone should have started warming up. We aren’t a pitching coach, but it certainly has looked like Stephan is aiming the ball lately instead of trusting his stuff.

That would mean it’s a confidence problem.

Instead, he walked a second hitter and then gave up three straight hits before he was removed. It’s almost like it was a spring training game and he had to get his work in.

As we said before, the only thing that makes this edition of the Guardians a contending team is the games behind column. That’s why the time to sit back and do nothing should be ended.

And we aren’t just talking about Terry Francona either. The front office had a bad off-season. The signings of Josh Bell and Mike Zunino haven’t panned out. But they have time to improve things over the next couple of weeks.

With Bieber injured, they really don’t have anything to sell, but again, get a starting pitcher, re-arrange the bullpen based on current results, and stop gifting playing time based on 2023.

A disappointing season to date can still be salvaged.

Hopefully Bieber Injury Doesn’t Deter Moves At Deadline

The Cleveland Guardians didn’t exactly provide a lot of good news for their fans coming out of the All-Star break.

First came the news that Shane Bieber is experiencing some soreness in his right forearm and was placed on the injured list yesterday. At the very least, the former Cy Young Award winner will miss two starts.

And then the bullpen was mollywhopped by Texas in the opening game of the three game series after Aaron Civale gave Cleveland five innings. The curious thing was he was removed after throwing just 79 pitches.

The bigger news is Bieber, obviously, since the rotation is already without Triston McKenzie and Cal Quantrill. Yes, the rookies, Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Logan Allen have done yeoman’s work so far this season, but as everyone reminds us, they will all be on innings restrictions this season.

We know many people will say this is a sign that the team should be sellers at the upcoming trade deadline, but isn’t the biggest potential trade chip the Guardians have Bieber?

Our fear is that Bieber’s injury will prevent the front office from making a move to help this year’s team, which is still just a game and a half out of first place in the AL Central Division.

Standing pat would be a terrible idea.

First, and this has nothing to do with the team on the field, but attendance is up at Progressive Field, and we fear doing nothing to improve the roster will damper any excitement created during the year.

The other issue is the organization’s bloated situation in the middle infield. Cleveland continues to use free agent to be Amed Rosario at shortstop, with Tyler Freeman and Gabriel Arias still on the big league roster and Brayan Rocchio in AAA.

They haven’t really found out much about any of those players, with perhaps the exception of Arias, who has a whopping total of 154 plate appearances this season. By the way, we agree that’s not enough.

At some point, they have to convert some of these players into pieces that can help the big club win some games.

Down three starters, why not move some pieces for a pitcher who can provide some quality innings down the stretch. They could use that even if Bieber is going to be back sooner than later.

A year ago, the Guardians had one of the top farm systems in baseball, but outside of last year’s first round pick OF Chase DeLauter and Rocchio, most of their prize prospects have graduated.

Southpaw Joey Cantillo is another top prospect, and he may be here soon if the injuries on the staff continue.

In the past week, Baseball Prospectus put out their mid-season top 50 prospects plus 10 other players. No Guardian was listed. Last season, the same publication had four Cleveland farmhands listed, including Bibee and Williams. Daniel Espino and George Valera were the others.

Prospects lose their value quickly in baseball. Valera was looked upon as a big time power bat, and he still may be, but he’s hitting .187 (545 OPS) at AAA, and in his time at the highest level of the minors over the past two seasons, his OPS is 698.

The next two weeks before the trade deadline will be key. If the Guardians continue to hang in the divisional race, will the front office help out the current roster?

Or will they point toward 2024. We aren’t asking the organization to move players like Williams, Bibee, and Allen. But they have some assets they can move. Now is the time.

Trading Bieber Might Be Inevitable, But There Are Consequences.

In a recent edition of The Plain Dealer, Terry Pluto wrote about why the Guardians need to trade pitcher Shane Bieber.

We understand that Pluto has good sources within the organization and when he writes about something, there is a pretty good likelihood that it is going to happen.

However, we could not disagree more with a Bieber deal unless one thing comes back in return, or is acquired in a separate deal, and that is a veteran starting pitcher to replace the former Cy Young Award winner.

We understand Bieber is not going to sign a long term contract here, so from that standpoint, the Guardians should not lose him in free agency, so a trade will be coming. We simply would wait until the off-season.

As we write this, the Cleveland Guardians lead the American League Central Division standings by a half game and despite all the jokes about the division, they are only 3-1/2 games out of a wild card spot.

It is pretty cavalier of an organization who hasn’t won a World Series in 75 years to toss away a chance to get in the playoffs, which they would likely be doing unless they don’t get another starter to replace their ace.

Cleveland is currently down two starters in Triston McKenzie (elbow) and Cal Quantrill (shoulder) and have three rookies in the rotation that they are managing innings with: Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Gavin Williams.

Bibee pitched 132 innings last year in A/AA, so conventional wisdom says the front office would like to keep him around 152 this year. He’s at 85. Allen threw the same number last season, and he’s currently at 79 in ’23.

Williams pitched 115 innings in 2022, so his limit is probably around 135 and he’s thrown 79 to date this season.

By the way, Bieber is currently third in the AL in innings pitched and by the time he is done pitching today, he will either be second or first. And the Guardians need someone to soak up innings.

Despite complaints about reduced velocity, Bieber is still a pretty effective starting pitcher. He’s allowed just 104 hits in the 110.1 innings he has thrown and has fanned 89 batters vs. just 33 walks. His ERA is 3.66.

If they don’t get a proven starter in another trade or one in a deal involving Bieber, just who is going to pitch for the Guardians after they trade him? Oh yes, they could also bring up another rookie in Joey Cantillo, who is pitching in the Futures Game this weekend, but he would be under the same innings restrictions.

And does anyone really want to see Daniel Norris taking the mound every fifth day for a team trying to get a post-season berth?

One issue though, Cleveland hasn’t traded for an established starting pitcher since Derek Lowe in 2012.

Unless this is going to be a move, like the trades of Trevor Bauer and Mike Clevinger, where the Guardians are going to kick the can down the road again. Besides the 75 years without a title thing, it’s a bold strategy for a team that won 92 games a year ago and their best player, who committed to the franchise, is 30 years old.

Another factor is how it plays in the clubhouse if they trade their best pitcher and don’t replace him. At some point, it has to wear on players when the front office keeps pointing toward next season.

That’s only if they don’t get someone who can be a relative facsimile of Bieber in terms of pitching a lot of effective innings. We know trading Bieber at some point is inevitable, but doing it while the Guardians very much have a chance to make the post-season seems to ring hollow to us.

Does The Guardians’ Front Office Succeed In “Big Trades”?

The other day we talked about the possible trade of Cleveland Guardians’ starting pitcher Shane Bieber. One of the reasons some folks say the Guards should deal Bieber is that they always do well in these types of trades.

Do they? Let’s take a look at the last three major transactions the Cleveland front office has made.

When evaluating the move, we aren’t going to focus on the performance of the player the Guardians traded away, simply going to talk about the return.

The latest move was dealing Francisco Lindor to the Mets along with Carlos Carrasco for Andres Gimenez, Amed Rosario, and two minor leaguers, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf. At the time of the deal, we said the key for Cleveland was Gimenez, who turned into an All-Star last season, and seems like a very good player at the least.

Rosario is a journeyman, likely playing his last season with the Guards. He’s a starter here, but there has been plenty of debate as to whether or not he should be.

We’d give Cleveland a slight edge, mostly because Gimenez has emerged as a potential star.

Then we have the Mike Clevinger deal, which considering he was probably Cleveland’s third starter (behind Bieber and Carrasco) at the time of the deal, was a tremendous haul.

Two of the pieces acquired, Austin Hedges and Owen Miller, have already moved on. Josh Naylor has been excellent, an everyday middle of the order bat, and a team leader. Cal Quantrill is currently out with a shoulder issue, but he’s a solid third or fourth starter on a good team.

We have our doubts about Gabriel Arias, tremendous with the glove, but struggles at the dish. Perhaps another solid piece is coming in lefty Joey Cantillo, currently at AAA, but at the AA level had a 2.13 ERA in 93 innings with 134 strikeouts.

This was a big win for the Guards. They got an impact bat, and solid starting pitcher and possibly more to come in Cantillo

The other trade was moving Trevor Bauer in a three team move to Cincinnati. The return was Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, and two minor leaguers, pitchers Scott Moss and Logan Allen (not the one currently with the Guards).

At the time, we thought the deal was made more for the following season than it was for 2019, a year Cleveland won 93 games and missed the playoffs.

Just four years later, there is nothing left from this deal.

Reyes provided pop for two and a half years here, but we are sure the organization wanted him to be the middle of the order slugger the Guardians are still looking for. He experienced a drastic fall off in production last year and is currently with Washington at the AAA level.

Puig finished the season with Cleveland and moved on. We don’t think Terry Francona and he hit it off. Although he didn’t hit for the power that was expected (slugged just .423), he did get on base to the tune of a .377 OBP.

Allen was a solid prospect but had a 5.45 ERA in 69.1 innings with the Guardians. He’s currently with the Rockies organization and has a 6.70 ERA in AAA. Moss isn’t pitching in professional baseball to date this season.

The Guards certainly didn’t win this one.

Our conclusion? The Guardians have done alright for themselves in these deals but haven’t “killed it”. Gimenez and Naylor are big parts of the current team, with the former having the possibility of being a multi-time all-star.

Make no mistake though, the Cleveland front office has done a solid job getting back good players for potential free agents they have no plans to sign. However, they still haven’t received the slugger they seem to have trouble developing, nor have they received a top-of-the-line starting pitcher.

Talking Through Trading Bieber

When the Cleveland Guardians fell to 21-28 after losing a series on the road to the Chicago White Sox, the baseball media immediately went to their default story when dealing with the Guards, the possibility of a trade of an established star for prospects.

In this case, the star is former Cy Young Award winner Shane Bieber. What kind of haul could Cleveland get for the ace of their staff?

First of all, let us be clear that we are in favor of any trade that makes the team better. However, we say that with a caveat. After winning the AL Central Division a year ago, we are not interested in deals that make the Guardians better in three to four years.

The other part of that equation is the 75 year gap since the last World Series the franchise won.

The real question is what numbers the front office are looking at, the win/loss record or the number of games behind the Guards are in the standings? If it’s the former, then they have to look at the prospect that Bieber will be a free agent after next season and has already likely turned down an extension offer.

If they believe this year’s team can still win the division and get back to the playoffs, then a trade at the deadline doesn’t make sense, particularly since Triston McKenzie is back on the injured list.

We all saw firsthand last week what happens when the starting pitchers don’t throw a good share of the innings on a nightly basis. Any team’s bullpen gets taxed, and Cleveland is no different.

This is a good time to bring up that Bieber leads the American League in innings pitched with 95. Granted, we aren’t seeing the dominant Bieber who made the All-Star team in 2019 (he was the game’s MVP) and was the best pitcher in the league in 2020.

But he still is great help to the Guardians because he can pitch deep into games and he still is effective, allowing less hits than innings and walking only 25 batters vs. 69 strikeouts. His ERA is in the mid-threes at 3.51.

With McKenzie and Cal Quantrill both down, and two rookies in Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee taking two rotation spots, Terry Francona and Carl Willis need guys who can give the bullpen a lighter load every few games.

And if the Guardians do fall off the pace in the division by the middle of July, then it would make sense to explore deals for the right-hander, but we feel the organization would be and should be looking for major league ready bats and/or arms in return.

Besides the whole 1948 issue, remember that Jose Ramirez will turn 31 in September, and we know he wants to win here. Pushing an opportunity to do so down the road a few years while Ramirez is still putting up all-star numbers would seem to be a bad move.

This isn’t a rebuilding team, they won 92 games a year ago with the youngest team in the sport. Before the season started, we looked at young teams and saw sometimes they had to take a step back before they moved forward.

That’s how the Guardians should view this season if they do fall off the pace.

One other issue about trading Bieber while the Guards are still very much in the race. How do you explain it to the fan base, who already look at the ownership with a jaundiced eye.

Guardians Failing In All Aspects Right Now

The Cleveland Guardians are close to reaching the 1/3rd point of the season, so claims that it is “still early” are ringing hollow. Right now, there are more negatives about certain facets of the ballclub than positives.

The offense has been abysmal, ranking last in the American League in runs scored, behind even to woeful Oakland A’s, and a quarter run per game behind the next lowest squad the Detroit Tigers.

The league average OPS is 721 and the Guards have exactly one player above average, their perennial all-star Jose Ramirez. The players who rank behind Ramirez(804) are Steven Kwan (678) and Josh Naylor (670).

That is, of course, unless you count Tyler Freeman in his 20 plate appearances. Freeman sits at 771 in a very, very small sample size.

As a team the Guardians are last in OPS and slugging percentage and are 13th in on base percentage. It doesn’t take a genius to tell anyone that if you don’t get players on base and once they are on, you cannot move them, you are going to have a problem scoring runs.

They pride themselves on making contact, but too often they aren’t very patient at the plate. Last night, Will Brennan’s first plate appearance involved Cardinals’ pitcher John Flaherty making five pitches to get him out, and not one was a strike.

The pitching staff is respectable, ranking 7th in the AL in staff ERA, but the bullpen has been a big issue as of late, and the signs tell us Terry Francona is losing a bit of faith in his relief corps.

Last Sunday, he allowed Shane Bieber to go the distance in spite of having a jam in the bottom of the 8th inning. Bieber also stayed in perhaps one hitter too long Friday, walking an extra hitter, before Trevor Stephan came on.

Stephan had to be relieved in the bottom of the 8th after getting into trouble, but thankfully, Enyel De Los Santos got a double play grounder.

James Karinchak has walked 16 in just 21.1 innings. So, he can’t be used in a close game unless there is absolutely no other option.

Closer Emmanuel Clase leads the league in saves with 17, and also he’s not walking people (5 in 25 IP) and not giving up the long ball (just 1 HR allowed), his strikeouts are down (18) and the balls put in play are finding holes.

Cleveland relievers are giving up the long ball in bunches, and last weekend’s series in New York was a microcosm, as home runs allowed changed the course of two games.

There is an old baseball axiom the says, you show me a bad bullpen and I will show you a bad team.

The defense also hasn’t been up to par. Amed Rosario has messed up some routine plays and the wild pitch epidemic continues, the Guardians were 11th in this category a year ago, and sixth this year.

And in trying to create time for Gabriel Arias, he’s playing rightfield and let’s just say the inexperience shows every so often.

Also, because the hitters cannot get on base, Cleveland cannot use the running game. The Guardians had two stolen bases twelve times in their first 27 games. In the last 23 contests, they’ve done it just once.

Right now, the Guardians are lacking in every aspect of the game. Yet, they are still just 4.5 games out of the division lead. We are getting to the point in the season where patience and stubbornness is becoming one.

Guards’ Last Week In Our View

We are sure he wasn’t the first to say it, but former Indians’ broadcaster, the late Mike Hegan used to say if a team can win three out of every five games, they will be doing just fine. If a baseball team plays at this pace, they win 96 games and now, with the expanded playoffs, will be playing in October.

The Cleveland Guardians have done just that after 10 games, winning six of them. The odd thing and probably a bit troubling is four of the six victories have come in extra innings.

The good thing is they still count.

If not for the extra-inning games, the bullpen would be rested after the second run through the rotation as all five starters gave Terry Francona at least five innings, with Zach Plesac giving the Guards seven on Sunday. The shortest outing was Cal Quantrill’s five on Saturday night.

Hunter Gaddis really helped out in this regard with six one-hit innings in the west coast trip finale in Oakland on Wednesday. He will get a bigger (and better) test tonight against the Yankees.

Offensively, the Guardians continue to put pressure on opposing pitchers because they get men on base, leading the AL in walks in the young season.

The middle game vs. Seattle was frustrating because the Guards only scored two runs, but they had nine hits and six walks in that game, and more often than not, if you put 15 men on base, you will score more than two runs. They just couldn’t come up with the big hit.

Sometimes the big hit is a home run, and the Guardians ranked second last in the American League in long balls last season, and unfortunately, that hasn’t changed through ten games this year. Cleveland is tied with Detroit for the least homers with just five.

No doubt part of that is the Guards haven’t exactly played in balmy weather this far, whether it be in Seattle, Oakland, or Progressive Field. Cleveland is fourth in doubles and lead the league in triples but are still fourth from the bottom in slugging percentage.

Part of that is Josh Bell’s slow start (3 for 35). Bell was signed to give the Guardians some much needed power, but right now, it hasn’t shown up. On the plus side, Bell has drawn eight walks, so hopefully the home runs and extra base hits are on the horizon.

One troubling area thus far is the lack of blocking pitches by the new catching trio. Hopefully, it is just a matter of the newcomers not working with the pitchers until spring training, but the Guardians lead the Junior Circuit in wild pitches with 11.

Last year, Shane Bieber had five all season. He has three in two starts in 2023. Emmanuel Clase had four in 2022, he has two already in ’23. We mention both of those hurlers because the wild pitches cost them both a run in the past week.

Bieber’s success is dependent on getting ahead in the count and then throwing a wicked breaking pitch in the dirt. If the catchers can’t block that pitch, it’s a big issue. Hopefully, as Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher, and Meibrys Viloria work with the staff more, this number will start to go down. And Zunino did do a much better job last night.

Cleveland pitchers aren’t wild. The leaders in walks allowed are both relief pitchers, with Clase and Enyel De Los Santos each issuing four.

When it starts costing the team runs, it gets magnified, and as we said two of the wild pitches came back to haunt the team this past week.