Guardians Good At Saving Cash, Now Need To Spend It.

The Cleveland Guardians made another logical move in shedding payroll trading some international pool money to the Toronto Blue Jays, who were trying to sign international free agent Roki Sasaki.

In order to make the transaction, the Jays had to take Myles Straw’s contract off their books. The veteran outfielder was designated off the 40-man roster at the end of spring training in 2024, received just four big league at bats, and the Guardians owed him $13.8 million over the next two years.

Including the deal of Josh Naylor, who was to be a free agent after the ’25 campaign, it was the third move based on saving money made by the front office after winning the division.

They also moved Andres Gimenez, owed almost $100 million over the next five seasons to Toronto.

Depending on what kind of deal Naylor would have settled for on a one-year basis, let’s say conservatively $10 million for him, the Guardians would have had to be this trio almost $27 million in 2025.

They moved that money out and signed veteran Carlos Santana to a $12 million deal for the upcoming season.

For the mathematically challenged, that’s a $15 million savings in payroll, and the biggest question for fans of the franchise is will the ownership put that saving back into the team?

And our question is this: After a season with a significant attendance boost and a run to the League Championship Series, we would say matching last year’s expense on payroll simply isn’t doing enough.

Again, we agree with the Straw and Gimenez moves. We have said several times in the past 12 months that the Guardians as an organization overpay for defense. Both of those players are very good defenders, Gimenez is without a doubt the best second baseman in the game, but neither are good enough with a bat in their hand.

Getting out of being on the hook for almost $100 million for a below average bat at 2B makes total sense, and as noted, Straw wasn’t even on the 40-man roster anymore.

The problem, as is always the issue with the Dolan ownership is they frequently make these smart moves to save payroll, but too often the cash saved goes into their pockets, not in order to help the ballclub.

The 2025 Guardians are not some rebuilding team. They won 92 games and once again were one of the four teams still playing at the end of the season.

The also have a superstar player who took a hometown discount to stay with the franchise who is getting older. Jose Ramirez is 32 years old and is no longer in him prime, and not to be maudlin, we don’t know if he is going to keep putting up MVP-like seasons.

It would be nice if the ownership would give the green light to spend some money to give Ramirez some help in winning a World Series, and by the way, Cleveland’s drought in this regard is 76 years, the longest of any current franchise.

Not only hasn’t the ownership not added payroll from last season, it seems they are going backwards.

Yes, we know…boo hoo, the local TV revenue, etc. The Guardians could have shopped for their own deal, and no doubt they will get money from somewhere. But let’s also remember that attendance is up, the 6th highest increase in the sport from 2023 to 2024.

There’s about a month to go before players start spring training. It would be nice to help the players who helped your fan base love your team.

Tribe & Jays Pretty Even Matchup

The American League Championship Series, which starts Friday night at Progressive Field figures to be pretty evenly matched.

The Blue Jays led the AL in ERA with the Indians ranking 2nd. In runs scored, Cleveland was 2nd while Toronto was 5th.

And while Canada’s team did not hit for a high average, they led the league in walks, so they ranked 3rd in on base percentage, just ahead of the Tribe.

With Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar missing, the Jays seem to have the edge in the starting rotation, but the Indians look to have the superior bullpen coming into the series.

Based on run differential, both teams should have won 91 games this season. That’s how even these two teams appear to be.

The Indians won the season series, four games to three, but keep in mind the first series in Toronto was skewed by the 19 inning victory which extended the Tribe’s winning streak to a club record 14 games.

Carrasco won the series opener with a 14 strikeout performance, and we all remember Trevor Bauer’s five scoreless innings on short rest in the aforementioned extra inning affair.

Terry Francona used Zack McAllister, who was struggling big time, to start the third game against Blue Jays’ game one starter Marco Estrada, and Cleveland led before the bullpen faltered late.

Corey Kluber had a rare horrible outing in the last game and Toronto dominated.

Keep in mind, the Indians did not see Jose Bautista all season. He was hurt both times the two teams met.

The Blue Jays big bats (Josh Donaldson, Edwin Encarnacion, Bautista, and Troy Tulowitzki) all function much better at Rogers Centre, with the exception of Bautista.

Russell Martin and former Indian, Ezequiel Carrera are two hitters who benefit greatly from playing at home, where the ball seems to take off. Martin’s OPS is almost 100 points higher at home, while Carrera’s is over 200 points higher.

The series in Cleveland was highlighted by late inning home runs for the Tribe. They tied and won the Friday night game on dingers by Jose Ramirez and the inside the park walk off job by Tyler Naquin, while the finale was decided by a two run shot by Ramirez in the bottom of the eighth.

So, based on the regular season, the two teams are pretty evenly matched. Is there anything the Tribe can take advantage of in the LCS?

The Blue Jays’ hitters strike out a lot. They rank 4th in the AL in this category. Besides the Carrasco game mentioned earlier, Bauer also had a start where he fanned more than 10 Toronto hitters.

So, the Indians’ pitchers need to get ahead in the count and expand the strike zone. Toronto hitter will chase pitches out of the zone when behind in the count.

The Tribe hurlers must get the Justin Smoaks, Kevin Pillars, Melvin Uptons of the team out, so if the big boppers do something the damage will be minimized.

Also, the Jays don’t do a good job controlling the running game, and the Indians lead the AL in stolen bases. It would not be a surprise to see Rajai Davis, Ramirez, Francisco Lindor, and Jason Kipnis trying to steal every time they get on base.

The Tribe has been aggressive on the basepaths all year, and now is not the time to change that.

Can the Indians win their sixth pennant in club history? Of course. But, as usual, it will not be easy. It is funny that this is the first time Cleveland has had the home field advantage in the five ALCS they have been involved with.

It would help the cause if Francona continued his hot streak in the manager’s chair.

Our View of Shapiro Based On What He Didn’t Do.

Well, the Indians made it official today as team president Mark Shapiro announced he would be leaving after the year to be the president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays.

There is no question that Shapiro is an exceptional human being. He has created a caring atmosphere with the front office employees and players alike. And all in all, no one can really complain about that.

However, as we wrote last week, baseball (really, all professional sports) is judged solely on wins and losses, and it is there that we find Shapiro’s record lacking.

In 14 seasons where the Princeton graduate has either been the GM or the president of the Indians, there has been only four winning seasons and two post-season appearances.

Our opinion of the executive is based more on what he didn’t do, rather that what he did.

You see, every GM who has been around a long time will make good trades and bad trades. And perhaps, Shapiro would be judged better if one of his earliest moves, trading Bartolo Colon for Grady Sizemore (all-star), Brandon Phillips (all-star, just not here), and Cliff Lee (Cy Young Award winner) wasn’t so successful.

And maybe he would have more support had he not followed John Hart as GM, and whether you like Hart or not, he was in charge during perhaps the greatest era of baseball in Cleveland history.

But when we said he will be judged here for what he didn’t do, we mean that when the Tribe was in the hunt, Shapiro never made the big splash move.

In 2005, the White Sox got off to a great start, but the Indians were in the wild card hunt at the All-Star break. The Indians made two in-season deals, the first moving Alex Cora to Boston for Ramon Vazquez, and the last was dealing Jody Gerut to the Cubs for Jason Dubois.

Not exactly blockbuster moves. The Tribe missed the playoffs by two games, and would have made the post-season by winning just one game during the last weekend of the season.

In 2007, Cleveland was a game out of first at the break, and 1-1/2 out on July 27th, when Shapiro acquired 40-year-old Kenny Lofton for minor league catching prospect Max Ramirez, who was well regarded at the time as a hitter.

Lofton did hit .283 the rest of the season, and contributed, but it was hardly a “going for it” move.

Contrast those moves with those made by Hart at the deadline, who traded for Ken Hill (’95), Kevin Seitzer (’96), John Smiley and Bip Roberts (’97), etc. Not all of those moves worked, but there was the feeling the front office was doing everything it could to bring a title to Cleveland.

To be fair, we don’t know what deals were available to Shapiro at the time. Perhaps teams were asking for way too much for marginal players. But with baseball being the sport that it is, if you get in the post-season, you pretty much have the same shot as anyone else does. Market size no longer matters.

We have said this in regards to Terry Francona, there is a fine line between patience and stubbornness and Shapiro’s patience toward some players has hurt the team at times. Eric Wedge was kept on as manager well after he became a cliché with his “grinding” mantra.

And the franchise kept playing guys like Aaron Boone and the David Dellucci/Jason Michaels platoon after it was proven not to work. That lack of urgency still permeates the franchise, with Michael Bourn and the non-promotion of Francisco Lindor this season as prime examples.

Perhaps it was lack of support by ownership or maybe overconfidence in his building of the franchise, but people can criticize Mark Shapiro on his trade record all they want. To us, it was the moves not made which make up his legacy.

Odd Facts on Tribe Stats

The second half of the season started Friday night with a 1-0 win over the Toronto Blue Jays ending a four-day stretch without the Indians playing. It gave us some time to examine some numbers for the Tribe.

Some of the numbers will surprise you and others will back up the need for improvements for the balance of the 2012 season.

With all of the fans complaining about 2B Jason Kipnis not making the All Star game, it was certainly a little odd to see to the great variance in the OPS for Kipnis and his double play partner Asdrubal Cabrera, because the two-time all-star has an 821 OPS compared to the second baseman’s 764.

Kipnis’ style of play has won over the paying customers, but his on base percentage and slugging average are both less than Cabrera’s, mostly because the latter has 10 more extra base hits.

That’s surprising because Kipnis has led the Tribe in home runs for much of the season, but now is tied with Cabrera for the club lead, one ahead of Shin-Soo Choo.

In fact, Kipnis ranks just fourth on the club in extra base hits behind the other two, and also behind Michael Brantley.

Kipnis is having a fine season and will be an all-star soon, perhaps next year, but there is no question here that Cabrera deserved the honor more in 2012.

Most everyone would agree that Shelley Duncan is having a mostly disappointing season with a .222 batting average, 8 HR and 21 RBI, correct? But did you know he has the same number of long balls and just four fewer runs batted in than Travis Hafner in just seven more at bats?

It’s another reminder that Hafner is not the same player he was up to 2007, but the management of the Indians treat him like a panacea for what is troubling the offense. He can still contribute, but is no longer a presence in the middle of the order.

Another player that takes a lot of criticism is Carlos Santana. Fans are understandably frustrated with him after he hit 27 homers last year, and the internet commentators want him traded, which is ridiculous. He’s having a down year.

Still, the catcher has as many extra base hits as Casey Kotchman, and a higher OPS than crowd favorite Jack Hannahan.

Other numbers to note:

Brantley is having a fine season, but his OPS (755) is over 100 points less than Choo’s (866). Choo has a higher on base percentage and a better slugging percentage. He’s given the Indians the best leadoff man since Grady Sizemore’s heyday.
Since the end of April, Hannahan has gone 20 for 97, with just 2 HR and 6 RBI, and since returning from his back and leg problems, he’s just 9 for 54 (.167).
Jose Lopez has 27 RBI in 161 at bats. He has more ribbies than Hafner, Duncan, Hannahan, and Johnny Damon.
It has been said a good starting pitcher allows fewer hits than innings pitched and strikes out twice as many as they walk. The Indians have one such pitcher: Justin Masterson. They also have one that does neither, and surprisingly it’s Derek Lowe.

Most of these stats talk about offense, but the most meaningful team number is 13. That’s the Indians’ rank in ERA in the American League. Unless they improve in that area, by getting a starter and another reliever, it will be tough to keep pace with the White Sox and Tigers in the AL Central.