It’s Crunch Time For The Guardians.

Here we go. The Cleveland Guardians have a single game lead in the AL Central with 30 games to play and we have a good ol’ fashioned race for the division title.

It started yesterday with a doubleheader sweep by the Royals, the first two of seven games between Kansas City and Cleveland over a ten-day stretch. And there is a quartet of games at Progressive Field against the Twins September 16th through the 19th.

Pennant race baseball is a lot of fun even though Cleveland fans haven’t experienced a lot of it since the franchise returned to prominence in 1994.

Since the three divisional set up, when Cleveland has won the division, they did it pretty comfortably: 30 game margin in 1995, 14.5 in ’96, 6 games in ’97, 9 in ’98, 21.5 in ’99, 6 games in 2001, 8 in 2007, 8 in 2016, 17 in ’17, 13 in ’19, and their last division title was won by 11 games in 2022.

Now this year, it may wind up the same, with the Guardians coasting into the title by going on a hot streak.

The most fun last month of the season might have been 2013, Terry Francona’s first year as Indians’ skipper. On Labor Day, Cleveland was in second place in the Central, 8.5 behind the first place Tigers. In terms of the wild card, and there were only two that year, the Tribe was 3.5 behind the Rays, who at the time held the last playoff spot.

By September 15th, they had trimmed that margin to just a half game and wound up hosting the Wild Card Game against Tampa by winning their last 11 games to cap off a 21-6 month.

By the way, they lost that one game playoff and the Rays’ starting pitcher was current Guardian Alex Cobb.

While it is likely (not guaranteed) that all three teams, the Guardians, Royals, and Twins will make the playoffs, winning the division takes added importance this season.

Right now, Cleveland has a five-game edge over AL West leading Houston, and the division winners with the two best records at the end of the season advance right to the Division Series. Keep in mind, the Astros and Guardians finish the regular season with a three-game set at Progressive Field.

After the second set of games against the Royals, the last three being in KC, the Guardians then have to travel to the west coast to take on the Dodgers, before heading to Chicago for a series with the Sox, now of course managed by former Cleveland standout, Grady Sizemore.

At the conclusion of that excursion pretty much ends the road season for Steven Vogt’s crew, with only a three-game set in St. Louis remaining away from the corner of Carnegie and Ontario.

As for the Royals, they have just 13 home games left and following these games in Cleveland, they head to Houston for four there. They also have road series at Yankee Stadium and Atlanta, the latter to finish the season.

The Twins play 19 more at Target Field and have 14 road contests. They are currently playing the Braves, and have three more in Kansas City while the Guards are in LA.

They end the year against the Orioles, who could also be fighting for playoff seeding.

While it may not be enjoyable to watch, especially if the Guardians’ hitting is struggling, meaningful September (and late August) baseball is supposed to be fun. Besides the Cleveland game, you also have the scoreboard watching.

Let’s hope there is more hope at the end of this stretch and not more questions.

Don’t Look Now, But Playoffs Aren’t A Sure Thing For Guardians

For the first two months of this baseball season, the Cleveland Guardians were on a magic carpet. After beating Washington 7-1 on May 31st, they were 38-19 and had a four-game lead in the AL Central Division.

Since that victory, the Guards are 36-36. Notice the number of games played in each segment we’ve talked about. They have been a “meh” team longer than they were great.

We remember in 1984 after the Detroit Tigers got off to a 35-5 start, someone asked manager Sparky Anderson about Toronto, who the interviewer told Anderson had the same record as Detroit since a specific date.

Anderson snapped back and told the media person something to the effect that it was too bad the season didn’t begin on the later date.

So, while the Guardians have been struggling for two and a half months, they’ve earned their spot on top of the division because of the fast start.

But that only lasts so long.

Their division lead is down to just two games over the Royals and Twins, but what is more disturbing is a playoff spot isn’t even guaranteed. Their lead over Boston, the first team out if you will is .5 games, and really is 7.5 because the Guards won the season series.

However, if you don’t get things straightened out soon, even that lead could dwindle. And there is still plenty of baseball to be played.

We have talked about the offense lately, and since the All-Star break, a period of 34 games, the offense has scored three runs or less 19 times! And in the last 17 games, dating back to the doubleheader loss to Arizona on August 7th, they have scored four or more runs in just five games.

One huge problem has been the production of two of the team’s three best offensive players since the break.

Jose Ramirez has been, well Jose Ramirez, hitting .273 with 9 homers in that time, but prior to last night, he was in a 1 for 20 slide over the last week, and during the past 14 days, he’s 9 for 42.

Josh Naylor is batting .214 with a 703 OPS after the break. Before last night’s 13-5 win over Texas, he was in a 1 for 22 slump, and 7 for 44 over the past two weeks.

As for Kwan, who batted .352 heading into the Midsummer Classic, he’s batted just .206 with a 603 OPS since. And he’s 3 for 24 over the past week, and 7 for 47 over the past 14 days.

That means over the last seven days, that trio, without a doubt the Guardians’ best hitters, have gone 4 for 46. And with the rest of the lineup not looking like the 1999 Indians, who scored over 1000 runs, it’s no wonder the Guardians cannot score runs.

Some Guardians’ broadcasters and supporters will point out that some other good teams have struggled lately. While that’s true, over the last 50 games, Cleveland’s record is worse than all of the contenders, and actually ranks with teams like the Angels, Nationals, and Rockies.

Those are teams you shouldn’t want to be associated with.

There are still 33 games to be played, and who knows, maybe one solid game, a walkoff win, Ramirez and Naylor get hot, Kwan has a four hit night, something turns it around for the Guardians and they go on a run.

But it’s fair to be concerned. We are sure Steven Vogt and the front office are, even if they don’t show it publicly. It would be a shame if this season, which started out as so much fun, didn’t wind up with baseball in October.

Anatomy Of Bullpen Usage For The Guardians

When the Cleveland Guardians recent five-game winning streak ended on August 3rd with a 7-4 loss to the Orioles, there were quite a few comments on social media (yes, we know) saying Steven Vogt and his staff didn’t really try to win that game.

That’s because when rookie Joey Cantillo left the game after four innings, trailing 3-2, Vogt went with Pedro Avila to pitch 1.2 innings, and Nick Sandlin for a third of an inning to get the Guardians through six innings.

Still losing at that point, Xzavion Curry came on and after a scoreless seventh, he gave up four runs in the eighth and the game was out of reach.

The social media managers couldn’t fathom why Vogt didn’t use one of his better relievers to keep the score at a one-run deficit.

First of all, we are sure when Vogt went to Curry for the 7th, he wanted him to keep the game right there at 3-2. We are doubly sure Curry did not want to give up runs either because his spot on the roster was tenuous at best.

He’s since been DFA’d and picked up by the Miami Marlins.

But to get to the 7th inning on August 3rd, we need to go back to the previous Sunday, when Vogt used his best relievers to score a series win in Philadelphia, a game which coincidentally, Cantillo also started. It was his first big league start.

Cantillo went 3.1 innings and with Kyle Schwarber, who had already hit two bombs off the rookie, coming up, Vogt went to Cade Smith, who struck him out.

That began a busy week for the bullpen. In the subsequent game, Tanner Bibee went six, and with a 7-0 lead, the skipper used Pedro Avila for 1.1, Scott Barlow for 2/3, and Hunter Gaddis to finish it off.

The only eyebrow raiser there was using Gaddis with a then 8-2 lead.

The following day, Gavin Williams shut out Detroit for five, but used 90 pitches in doing so, meaning the ‘pen had to cover four innings. Tim Herrin, Sandlin, Cade Smith, and Emmanuel Clase finished off the game, which until Cleveland scored in the 8th and 9th, was a 2-0 affair.

Following a day off, Cleveland beat Baltimore 10-3, but it was a 5-2 contest heading into the bottom of the 7th. Ben Lively gave the team six frames, so Vogt used Smith, Herrin, and Sandlin to finish.

The next night, Cleveland won 8-4, but it was 2-1 heading into the 5th, and the manager, clearly not totally confident in Carlos Carrasco, pulled him after 4.1, so again Smith was used for 1.2 IP, followed by Barlow (.1), Avila (.2), Gaddis and Clase (each an inning).

That game was on a Friday night, meaning in a six-game span, Smith pitched four times totaling 4.1 innings, while Barlow, Sandlin, Gaddis, Herrin, and Clase were all used three times.

The Guardians’ starters have had trouble eating innings all season long, and if the team is going to get where it wants to go this season, it is incumbent on Vogt and Carl Willis to take care of the relief corps, the strength of the team.

That means, sometimes, when the Guards are trailing the manager has to have “live to see another day” attitude. That means pitching Avila, Eli Morgan, and perhaps Peter Strzelecki in higher leverage situations.

It’s also those pitchers’ opportunity to earn the skipper’s trust. Smith began the year pitching in lower leverage situations, for example.

It does not mean the manager isn’t trying to win, but these guys aren’t Strat-O-Matic cards, you can’t run them out there every day. There will be a time to do just that. It’s called the playoffs.

Hopefully, all of these relievers will still have something in the tank when October comes around.

Guardians Struggles Are On Both Pitching And Offense

The Cleveland Guardians are in a mid-season malaise. Since June 25th, a period of 40 games, Steven Vogt’s crew has gone 17-23. And note that many games is a quarter of the season, so not really a small sample size.

Most teams go through a stretch like this during a season, so it is not a sign that Cleveland isn’t a good team, after all they still have the third best record in the American League, just a game behind the Orioles.

But the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals have gotten hot, trimming what was a nine game lead on that date (June 25th) to 2-1/2 games. Based on the recent past, it would have been crazy to think the Central Division would have three of the five best records in the AL, but here we are.

The Guards put together a five-game winning streak a little over a week ago, beating Philadelphia to end that series, taking two from the Tigers, and then winning the first two vs. Baltimore (yes, the team with the best record). Since then, they’ve lost seven of their last eight.

When your offense and pitching are both failing, you end up with a long losing streak.

Right now, the Guardians are having issues scoring runs. In the last four losses, they haven’t put up more than three runs a game. And it’s tough to win that way.

But the starting pitching woes, which isn’t a recent problem, has reared its ugly head once again. In the seven-game streak, the most innings pitched by a Cleveland starter was the 5.2 hurled by rookie Joey Cantillo.

Here are the innings pitched by starters over these seven games: 4, 4, 5, 5, 4.1, 5.2, 4.2. And for all the people out there who think Vogt is giving away games, you cannot have Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Emmanuel Clase, and the other primary bullpen pitchers covering five innings every game.

Another annoying habit is the lack of shutdown innings from the pitching staff. Every team the Guardians scrape up some offense and get a lead, the pitchers give it right back, and that goes for starters and relievers. Even Smith has done it.

At the trade deadline, although there weren’t many decent starters moved, we felt it was curious to have the Guards’ brass cast their lot with two pitchers who haven’t thrown a big-league inning this year in Alex Cobb and Matthew Boyd.

It’s now the 11th of August, and those two moves have netted the Guardians the 4.2 innings thrown by Cobb Friday night.

Meanwhile, Paul Blackburn, who the Mets traded for from Oakland at the deadline has given them two starts of six innings.

Perhaps Cobb and Boyd are mainstays during the last six weeks of the season for Cleveland, but so far, they haven’t cured the biggest problem the Guardians have had in 2024.

And when your rotation is shorthanded, and the reliable hurlers don’t succeed, you have a long losing streak. Cleveland’s rotation was built around Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Ben Lively. Bibee missed a start with shoulder inflammation, and Williams and Lively didn’t pitch well.

What Cleveland needs, despite the hitting issues, is a starting pitcher who will go out and put up zeros. Williams did that for the most part last night. Get a well-pitched game, a game where the pitching staff puts up a “0” after the Guardians score.

It isn’t time to panic, but it is time to turn things around. It’s a big advantage to have one of the two best division winning records once the season ends.

Another Injury Causes Vogt, Willis To Use A Tito Model

The Cleveland Guardians head into a huge four-game series this weekend at Minnesota with the starting rotation still very much in flux. Steven Vogt and his staff have done a masterful job working around this issue, and it will be interesting to see how he handles this upcoming series.

The latest starter to miss a start is Tanner Bibee, who didn’t pitch yesterday against Arizona, as Logan Allen was recalled taking his turn. The club is still hopeful Bibee will not have to be placed on the injured list.

Newcomer Alex Cobb pitched for Columbus on Saturday and should make his debut this week vs. the Twins, so hopefully that’s a big help. We know some are optimistic about Matthew Boyd too, but you have to remember he has a 4.94 lifetime ERA.

Perhaps the best news for the Guards this weekend was Triston McKenzie’s outing at AAA Saturday night when he pitched six shutout innings fanning 11. Having McKenzie find his command will also be a huge factor down the stretch.

Ben Lively continues to be consistent, beating Philadelphia and Baltimore in his last two starts, and for the most part, Vogt and Carl Willis are probably very confident he will give them five or six solid innings and Cleveland will be in the game when he leaves the game.

Because of these issues with the starting rotation, Vogt and Willis seem to have taken something from the way Terry Francona handled a similar problem during the 2016 playoffs. That is, if you don’t have a lot of confidence in your starter, see if you can get them two times through the batting order and then go to the bullpen.

It is fairly obvious to everyone that the bullpen is the strength of this team. Fox analyst John Smoltz pointed out in Saturday night’s broadcast that when you are playing Cleveland right now, there is pressure to have a lead after five innings. That’s how good the relief corps is.

It looks like the role of Andrew Miller is being played right now by rookie Cade Smith, who has struck out 75 hitters in 54 innings and has a 2.17 ERA. If the starter gets Vogt into the fourth inning, when Smith is available, he comes in and gets the Guardians through the fifth or sixth, depending on when he is brought in.

And Vogt is trying to save his primary relievers right now, so if they are trailing after five, fans should get used to seeing pitchers like Pedro Avila, who has done a real solid job in this role, Xzavion Curry, Eli Morgan, and even Connor Gillispie, who got called up prior to Sunday’s game and pitched three innings in his MLB debut.

That is totally a sound strategy. Do everything you can to win games when we have the lead. If you are trailing and Avila (or another long reliever) does a great job and shuts the opposition out, it gives the offense a chance to get a lead, but these guys can’t pitch every night.

People can’t be mad that the bullpen is overused and then be angry when Vogt pitches Curry when the Guards are losing 4-1 in the 7th inning. The manager is doing his best to protect his pitchers while still trying to win games in a post-season race.

And right now, he is threading a needle. Until Bibee’s shoulder is healthy, Cobb can make effective starts, and McKenzie is back to his normal pitching, the coaching staff is trying to squeeze out wins anyway they can.

They should get enormous credit for that.

It’s Been Frustrating For Guardians’ Fans At Times, But The Wins Keep Coming

The last month for the Cleveland Guardians has been fascinating to be sure. Prior to last night, the offense has struggled in most games, with a team batting average of .223 and an OPS of 625.

By comparison, here is their OPS for the first three months of the season–April: 719, May: 715, June: 756. It’s a stark drop off to be sure.

Despite this, they are still 12-12 for the month with one game remaining against the Tigers, who Cleveland will have played 10 times by the time the calendar turns to August.

There is no question that a lack of hitting is the most frustrating thing for a fan to watch, and seeing your favorite team being shut out six times in a month certainly heightens fan angst.

We are no exception. Seeing the Guardians getting blanked by Tyler Phillips, Ryan Pepiot, Taj Bradley or a host of Tigers’ relievers drives us crazy too.

However, the amazing bullpen has allowed Steven Vogt’s squad to tread water, to not go into a period where they lose 15 of 20 games because the offense cannot produce runs.

That is truly remarkable.

Again, we get the frustration level. We feel it as well. But the Guardians still have the best record in the American League and the second-best record in baseball at 63-42.

Since the all-star break, Cleveland has won games 5-4, 2-1, 3-1, and 4-3. Before the Mid-Summer Classic, the won back-to-back games against the Giants by identical 5-4 scores. They scored four runs in a three-game series in Tampa and managed to win one of the contests.

They are 7-3 in one-run games during July, meaning in games not decided by a single tally, they are 4-8. This means many of their games are either nail biters or ones a viewer can watch something else after the fifth inning.

It is true that many of the top teams in the AL have also been going through a tough spell, the Orioles and Mariners are 9-12 in July, the Yankees are 8-13. Boston is 11-10, but have lost seven of their last nine.

The Guards, who have been one of the highest scoring teams in the league over the first three months of the season, are now sitting in the middle of the pack, seventh, and are now behind their division rivals, Minnesota and Kansas City in generating runs.

And frankly, the ballclub needs Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Josh Naylor to produce first and foremost.

Before last night’s performance, Ramirez had a 632 OPS with just a single home run and just six extra base hits and the same number of RBIs for the month. Naylor has only two dingers and an OPS of 665 and just five non-singles, while Kwan’s numbers aren’t bad, he has come down from the unworldly pace he was at, with a .275 batting average and 730 OPS since July 1st.

It is quite evident the real star of this Guardians’ team is the bullpen. When Cleveland has the lead after six innings (and sometimes less), Cade Smith, Scott Barlow, Hunter Gaddis, and the game’s best closer, Emmanuel Clase will lock it down.

That doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be nice to ease the workload of those guys though. It would bode well for the rest of the year and the post-season (fingers crossed) if the starting rotation picked up more of the load.

Those guys have kept this team out of long losing streaks, and despite the frustration of watching a team struggle to score runs, the Guardians are holding their own in the pennant chase.

Guards Need To Remember How They Got Here Offensively

The post-All-Star part of the schedule did not treat the Cleveland Guardians any better than it did before the break came. Steven Vogt is going through something for the first time as a big-league manager. A streak where nothing is going right.

That’s how you have a period where your team has lost 14 of the last 22.

A couple of weeks ago, the Guards were scoring runs, but the starting pitching simply wasn’t giving the team a chance to win. Not enough length, which has been the case most of the season, and then they were giving up runs early, putting the offense in a tough spot.

A visit to Tampa cured the pitching staff. They still weren’t giving Vogt much length, but they were keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. But now the offense has taken a siesta, a deep sleep.

In their last 11 games, the Guardians have been shutout four times, and scored one run twice. In Friday’s win over San Diego to open the second half slate, Cleveland scored one run in the first seven innings before putting up six in the eighth to seal the game.

Even with that seven run effort and scoring nine in one of the games vs. Detroit, the Guardians have scored just 28 runs in those 11 contests, an average of 2.5 runs per night for the mathematically challenged.

It’s tough to win doing that.

The team seems to have gotten away from what made them successful early on. A lot of solid contact and aggressive base running.

Daniel Schneemann is getting a lot of playing time and has a 30% strikeout rate. Jhonkensy Noel was getting at bats (though that has tapered as of late) and he fans 40% of the time.

Note both players have limited at bats.

We would also note that Angel Martinez is been getting regular at bats and he whiffs just 14.9% of the time.

The players who seems to have lost at bats are Tyler Freeman (14.9% K rate) and Brayan Rocchio, who has a 19% strikeout rate. And the latter is by far the best glove the team has at shortstop.

Schneemann has been used there recently and has made a number of defensive mistakes.

They also have seemed to abandon the stolen base, pilfering only 8 during the month of July and five of those came in two games. We know, we know, it is difficult to steal first and that’s been a big problem as of late, not getting runners on, but when they do get on, it seems like there isn’t a lot of aggressiveness.

It’s only three games into post break play, but the Guardians need something to get them going again. Obviously, the offense centers around Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor, but literally, no one else is doing anything either.

Andres Gimenez has been in a hitting funk over the last month. Because of David Fry’s elbow issue, it has forced more at bats for Austin Hedges, and that’s not going to help the offense.

Maybe it’s time to go back to what got the Guardians in first place. Put the ball in play and put pressure on defenses to make plays.

It wasn’t broke, but the Guardians tried to fix it. Now is the time to get back to the roots of the ’24 season.

People On The Spot In Second Half For Guards

The All-Star Game is over, and the Guardians contributed to the American League’s victory with an RBI single from David Fry, and Emmanuel Clase’s save, his second in the Midsummer Classic.

It’s back to the regular season grind on Friday night with a seven game homestand against San Diego and Detroit. And we will see a lot of the Guardians at Progressive Field for the rest of the year with 40 of the remaining 69 games at home.

There are key figures for the team in the second half, some with names and others will come to light as the rest of the campaign plays out. Here are some key people and/or situations to watch for starting this weekend:

Gavin Williams is a big key for the starting rotation especially with Triston McKenzie and Logan Allen currently in AAA. Williams missed most of the season to date recovering from an elbow issue which occurred in spring training.

In his three starts so far, he’s pitched 14.1 innings compiling a 3.77 ERA. The first number isn’t good, but the second number is solid. Because he’s still building up from his late start, if he can start giving Steven Vogt at least six effective innings in each start, that will go a long way toward easing the burden off the bullpen.

He’s been throwing in the upper 90’s in his starts, it’s a matter of pounding the strike zone and being able to throw his breaking stuff for strikes.

If that happens, it will provide a huge boost to the starting rotation.

The offense has struggled lately, most because Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez haven’t hit like they have all year over the last week or so. That’s not a criticism, it’s just that they were putting up ridiculous number which probably weren’t sustainable.

Those two and Josh Naylor have been carrying the attack all year. Kwan leads the AL in hitting and Ramirez and Naylor are 2nd and 3rd in the league in RBIs.

Someone has to step up and help. In April and May, that was Fry, who was setting a blistering pace early and came up with big hit after big hit.

Who can emerge in the second half?

Perhaps it’s Angel Martinez. Martinez has made a big impact since being called up, playing several positions and putting up an 850 OPS in just 56 plate appearances. The thing we like about him? He has eight walks and seven strikeouts.

He seems to understand the strike zone and is willing to take walks. That’s a big help when the hits aren’t falling.

The front office is also among the people to watch. The Guardians currently have the best record in the American League. Right now, their path to the post-season is not winning the usually weak Central Division.

They have a chance to get a bye into the Division Series and avoid the best-of-three wild card round. To do that, the front office needs to improve the current roster.

The organization still has a plethora of middle infielders, and they upgraded their farm system by taking Travis Bazzana with the first overall pick in Sunday’s draft, making him the organization’s top prospect.

They did it in 2016 and it paid off with an American League pennant. This group deserves the same consideration especially if it rights itself after the break.

Evaluating The Guards First Half

The Cleveland Guardians have the best record in the American League at 58-37, but kind of limped into the All-Star break losing 11 of their last 18 games. While it’s true that many of the other teams with good records have struggled lately as well, that doesn’t mean all of those teams will rebound.

So, while we are not worried about the Guardians right now, we do have a level of concern. For example, the Mariners had a 10 game lead in the AL West a few weeks ago, and have lost 18 of their last 25, and now the lead is just one.

One of the troubling things is this stretch came against AL Central Division teams and a Tampa Bay squad that is treading around the .500 mark.

The offense, which has scored the 4th most runs per game in the AL this year at 4.78, an increase from 4.09 for all of 2023, hasn’t produced, averaging just 3.4 runs per contest in those 18 games. In that stretch, Cleveland has put up nine runs once, eight runs once, and seven runs twice.

Needless to say, that means there were some droughts, and the Guardians scored three runs or less in ten of the last 18 games. That makes it difficult to win.

The offense isn’t a huge concern because a big part of the problem is Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez aren’t hitting. Over the last 14 days, Kwan is batting .283 (well below his .352 season mark) and Ramirez is hitting .216 with no homers and just one run batted in.

Another all-star, David Fry, is not hitting either, going just 3 for 30 in that span. When one third of your lineup isn’t producing and they are your better offensive players, it’s going to be difficult to put runs on the board.

Steven Vogt has done a very good job in his first year, but let’s face it, things have been going swimmingly so far and this is the first rough patch for the Guardians. What does the skipper and his staff do to get the team righted?

There is an old basketball saying that if you never play your bench, you will never have a bench. We are reminded of this with Vogt’s use of the bullpen this season.

The Guardians need length out of the starting rotation, but Vogt has a quick hook with the starters, sometimes pulling them prematurely. The bullpen is so good it works out, but if you don’t allow the starters to go deeper into games, they are never going to be able to do so.

We would also like to see more stability in the lineup. We get the “beat today’s starter” philosophy, but it seems some of the players who got the Guardians off to their red-hot early pace have fallen by the wayside.

For example, Daniel Schneemann, who got off to a great start after coming up from Columbus is now in the lineup most days despite hitting .185 with a 676 OPS in the last 28 days with 23 strikeouts in 76 plate appearances (30.2% rate). And he’s played some at shortstop (to get his bat in the lineup), and he made two critical errors there over the weekend.

The one rookie who does continue to impress is Angel Martinez, who seems to have a great grasp of the strike zone so far (8 BB, 7 K), and looks very comfortable in the #2 hole. We would find an everyday spot for him right now.

As for Fry, it could be that he is overexposed a bit and needs to go back to a platoon role where he plays mostly against southpaws.

The influx of young players could be due to the front office wanting some extended looks at players before the trading deadline. So, the herd could be thinned when the calendar turns to August.

When the season resumes on Friday, the Guardians should have a bit of a sense of urgency to get things turned around quickly.

On the other hand, Cleveland has 40 of its remaining 67 games at Progressive Field, including 16 of the last 19 contests. That could be a big advantage down the stretch.

Guardians’ Rotation Had Quantity Issues, Now Have Quality Problems

The Cleveland Guardians have had starting pitching issues since pretty much the first week of the regular season. That’s when Shane Bieber went down after his second start in Seattle. After 12 scoreless innings and 20 strikeouts, he was done for the season.

However, until recently, it wasn’t quality that was the issue it was quantity. The starters simply could not pitch deep enough in games to assist a bullpen that although was performing yeoman work, was pitching a lot of innings.

Triston McKenzie, counted on to be one of the rotation’s stalwarts, had a 3.23 ERA after beating Minnesota on May 17th. The issue was he had one start of seven innings and two others were he went 6.2 frames.

The longest he has gone since? 5.1 in back-to-back starts in early June before he was sent to Columbus a couple of weeks ago.

Logan Allen went 6.2 shutout innings in his second start of the year in Seattle, and that was his longest outing of the season. He went six innings four times and was sent to AAA last week.

Staff surprise Ben Lively has gone seven innings once and pitched into the 7th just one other time. He has a 3.59 ERA on the season, so he’s been pretty effective.

However, since Tanner Bibee went six innings on June 29th in Kansas City allowing two runs in beating the Royals, the issue has been quality as well as quantity.

Since that start, a stretch of 13 games, the Guardians’ starters have compiled a 5.69 ERA , with one start of seven innings (by Bibee Wednesday night in Detroit) and two starts where the starter completed six.

In this period was Gavin Williams’ 5.1 IP scoreless outing against the Tigers, the best performance by a starter in the last two weeks. Removing that start from the equation raises the collective ERA by the rotation to an unsightly 6.41.

Teams with that high of an ERA from starters are largely non-competitive. They are behind early in games and it very difficult to come back and win. That the Guardians are 5-7 in these games speaks to the resolve of the players.

The last two games in Tampa have returned to the original problem, which is length by the rotation. Carlos Carrasco and Gavin Williams both pitched five innings, allowing two runs against the Rays, but that meant the relief corps had to cover seven innings because they lost Friday.

We have already seen Nick Sandlin go on the injured list and now Sam Hentges is out with a shoulder issue. It’s not a leap to think the arm problems are due to the overuse of the bullpen.

We know president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff are aware of the problems with the rotation and are working the phones for help before the trading deadline.

However, there are a week and a half worth or games before the deadline, and Steven Vogt has to have starters. We would assume Bibee, Williams, and Ben Lively would start the first three games out of the break, but what about after that?

Yes, there is Carrasco, but only the most optimistic Guardians’ fans feel good about that. He’s a fan favorite and his return has been a great story, but he still has a 5.02 ERA. Lefty Doug Nikhazy has been great in AAA in three starts, allowing no runs and six hits in 17 innings. Maybe he gets a shot?

Can the Guardians get enough out of the rotation for the rest of the season in terms of both quality and quantity? That might be the biggest question of the season.