Might Have To Move Clase To Get A Needed Bat

Whether or not the Cleveland Guardians’ front office will add at the trading deadline is up for debate, but one thing is for certain, the best trades are made from a position of strength.

That means there is one chip to keep an eye on as the end of July approaches, whether the Guardians are in contention or not. And that would be all-star closer Emmanuel Clase.

Clase might be the only player Cleveland can move and get a bat, probably a prospect in return. And the one area the Guardians have any depth is in the bullpen.

This thought has nothing to do with Clase not having a “Clase” type of season, the kind of years he had in 2022 (42 saves, 1.36 ERA and 43 hits allowed in 72.2 innings) or in 2024 (47 saves, 0.61 ERA, 39 hits allowed in 74.1 frames).

This season, he got off to a tough start, and even though he has 18 saves and the complete trust of Steven Vogt and Carl Willis, and he’s earned that, he has allowed 40 hits in 33.2 innings.

One thing Clase does, and this cannot be minimized, is keep the ball in the park. The most home runs he has allowed in a single season is four. And frankly, we are still shocked when anyone takes him deep. He’s only allowed one this season.

Clase is still an excellent closer. He doesn’t walk hitters and keeps the ball in the park. And despite the post-season in 2024, we still feel he has respect throughout the sport.

So, why consider dealing him?

Again, the best trades are made from strength. The Guardians have another high leverage dominant relief pitcher in Cade Smith. In 34.1 innings this season, he has fanned 53 batters and has a 2.36 ERA. When Clase was struggling earlier this season, he saved three games.

Vogt uses him as the ultimate fireman, bringing him in to face the toughest hitters in the lineup before the 9th inning.

Now, the questions would be if you make Smith the closer, who takes his spot? Hunter Gaddis has been solid for two years, including this season if he starts the inning clean.

He has fanned 38 in 30.1 innings and has a 2.08 ERA. He has struggled this year allowing inherited runners to score, and frankly we wish he would use his fastball more often.

Andrew Walters looked to be someone who can help this year until he was injured, but the Guards still have Nic Enright and Franco Aleman who had a 1.99 ERA at AAA last season but has struggled to date this year. He has a power arm though.

Don’t forget Trevor Stephan is nearing being ready after Tommy John surgery and he has fanned 232 hitters in 195.1 innings in his career. Another lefty, Erik Sabrowski, who pitched well in September and the playoffs in 2024 should be ready soon as well.

It’s not like the Guardians have a ton of trade chips on the big-league roster. They could always move some minor leagues, particularly in the lower classifications, but no one is giving you anything for Lane Thomas or Carlos Santana, right?

We have said this before, but the front office doesn’t seem to make trades to stay in a race, but maybe this year is different. The offense has to get better, and it seems the most valuable piece the Guardians have to get some hitting is to move their all-time saves leader.

Will Guards Be Active This Winter? History Says No

The hot stove league is under way in baseball and the Cleveland Guardians had to do some tweaking to the roster to prepare for the winter meetings, which will take place in two weeks.

The most notable moves were the trade of Eli Morgan to the Cubs and that the DFA’d former top prospect George Valera. Valera suffered a ruptured patella tendon near the end of the season and probably won’t be playing baseball until well into the 2025 season, and we were not surprised to see the Guardians sign him to a minor league contract yesterday.

The Morgan deal was a bit of a surprise, but the team did deal from strength. The relief corps is strong and will hopefully be getting Trevor Stephan back from elbow surgery.

And they added Franco Aleman (1.99 ERA in 22.2 innings at AAA) and Nic Enright (1.06 ERA and 31 Ks in 17 IP at Columbus) to the 40-man roster.

For Morgan, the Guardians dealt for a lottery ticket, a Class A outfielder with some pop in Alfonsin Rosario. The downside of Rosario is there is a lot of swing and miss, as he fanned 32% of his at bats at the low A level. He did hit 16 homers and is only 20 years old. But we aren’t as excited about the return as some of the prospect enjoyers.

What will the Guardians do this winter? Despite the crazy rumors on other sites, mostly figments of someone’s imagination (i.e. it would be a shock if the Guardians’ signed Max Scherzer as a free agent), based on past experience, it won’t be an active winter for the front office.

We still see a need to add an impact bat in the outfield, and the starting rotation is also short at least one starter, maybe two. Will the Guardians be willing to get involved in the free agent market? Unlikely, unless there are some bargains out there as spring training gets closer.

Should Cleveland increase their payroll? Of course, they rank in the bottom five of the sport with the Tigers, Reds, Pirates, and A’s. On the other hand, the Guardians and the Pirates rank as in the top five youngest teams in the game, and Detroit 7th youngest.

Cleveland is 20th in attendance this past season, right behind the Orioles, who spend $23 million more in payroll. And they outdraw the Royals by about a half million fans, and KC spends almost $30 million more.

But reality says something different, so we don’t expect any big deals.

However, we would still like to see the front office clean up the glut of middle infielders still on the 40-man roster. The keystone starters will likely be Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio, but you still have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Angel Martinez, and Juan Brito on the roster.

The Guards have used their versatility to make them useful, such as using Freeman and Martinez in the OF, and Brito started playing the outfield and first base at AAA this season.

Brito should be bidding for a big league gig this season, so you would think a couple of others need to be moved to make room for him.

And don’t forget the overall first pick in the ’24 draft, Travis Bazzana, will be involved in this mix sooner than later.

The winter meetings used to be exciting because of the wheeling and dealing, but it hasn’t been that way for years. In our opinion, that excitement is needed. It’s sad that some agents hold up the off-season process.

Guards Need Bullpen To Be Reliable Now

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. That’s the story of the Cleveland Guardians’ bullpen this season.

On first glance, the Guardians bullpen has good numbers. They rank 6th in the major leagues in ERA at 3.60. They haven’t thrown a ton of innings either, despite claims they have been overworked.

They are 23rd in innings pitched, but even though it seems they’ve allowed a ton of homers this season, they rank 24th in that category.

Now, we understand that teams using “openers” skew numbers a bit.

However, since July 1st it has been a different story. Let’s look at the statistics since that date–

Sam Hentges: 12.1 IP, 13 ER, 9.49 ERA, 5 BB, 13 SO
Eli Morgan: 15.2 IP, 11 ER, 6.32 ERA, 9 BB, 20 SO
Nick Sandlin: 15.1 IP, 8 ER, 4.70 ERA, 6 BB, 22Ks, and 4 home runs allowed
Enyel De Los Santos: 17.1 IP, 6 ER, 3.12 ERA, 6 BB, 16 Ks
Trevor Stephan: 17.1 IP, 7 ER, 3.63 ERA, 4 BB, 17Ks
Emmanuel Clase: 15.2 IP, 8 ER, 4.60 ERA, 3 BB, 16 Ks

De Los Santos has been the best of the group, but he has had two appearances since the first of August where he gave up two runs each.

Stephan’s numbers are pretty good, but he hasn’t been the same guy he was last season when he fanned 82 hitters in 63.2 innings. This year, those numbers are down to 56 punch outs in 52.1 frames.

And if Earl Weaver were still around, Stephan would likely be the new “full pack”, the terms he used to describe reliever Don Stanhouse, who seemed always to be in trouble. Stephan falls behind hitters too often and seems to be working out of trouble constantly.

Until Saturday’s meltdown in Toronto, Clase has been pretty good, although not the dominant pitcher he was a year ago. Before that, he had a 2.10 ERA in 25.2 innings with 30 strikeouts.

Overall though, his number aren’t what they were a year ago. He allowed just 43 hits in 72.2 innings. This season, he’s already given up 52 hits in just 54.1 frames.

One of our tenets of relief pitching is they can’t give up walks and they have to keep the ball in the park.

In the numbers listed above, Morgan and Sandlin have allowed the most walks and Sandlin has the double whammy of not being able to keep the ball in the yard.

During this season, Guardians’ relievers have seemed prone to the home run. Here are the leaders–

Sandlin 8
Stephan 6
Morgan 6
Karinchak 6

Which is why we like Clase in the closer role besides his 100 MPH cutter. He’s allowed just 2 home runs and has only walked 13 hitters.

The walk/home run combo is probably why the Guards haven’t tried Morgan as a late inning reliever, preferring to keep him in the 6th or 7th innings. Same for Sandlin.

Hentges has been the disappointment because the lefty has dominant stuff. He had an ERA of 2.91 after his appearance against the Cubs, when he came in a struck out two in a 1-2-3 10th inning.

He then gave up seven runs in the next three appearances, covering 1.2 innings, and later in the month had a two-game implosion giving up six runs in an inning and a third.

He’s been better lately and the Guardians need him to be.

There is no doubt the Guardians need better hitting, but without a good bullpen, the great job by the starting pitchers goes to waste way too many times.

Inconsistent Guardians’ Bullpen Makes Everyone Worried

Show me a bad bullpen and I’ll show you a bad team. That’s the old baseball adage. We would guess the corollary to that would be, show me an inconsistent bullpen and I’ll show you an inconsistent team.

Which brings us to the Cleveland Guardians.

The other day, Terry Francona said his bullpen had gone through a rough patch over the last week. We hope that manager speak, because the truth is the Guardians’ relievers have been hit or miss for about the last month.

The organization will tell you the bullpen ERA ranks second in all of baseball, and it does, ranking behind only the Yankees with a 3.48 ERA.

Detractors will tell you the relief corps is gassed, but they rank 18th in the majors in innings pitched.

They do have the 4th best batting average against at .223.

There are two issues at work here. The first is because the Guardians are currently leaning on four rookie starters, Francona and pitching coach Carl Willis are leaning on the relievers quite a bit. Having the cover sometimes four or even five innings, not only put a great burden on the crew, but also the more relievers used, the greater chance one of them doesn’t have it that night.

The second thing is Francona, like most managers, likes to have a pecking order with his relievers, so they know when they can expect to get into a game.

We know Emmanuel Clase has the ninth, but he would like to have one or two pitchers who know they will go in the 8th, and so on down the line.

It hasn’t worked that way lately.

Trevor Stephan is the preferred guy to pitch the 8th, but since June 1st, he’s been in 19 games, and allowed runs in six of them. He also has pitched just six innings where he has retired the side in order.

Last Sunday, he came into a game with a three-run lead, and after retiring the first hitter, he walked the next two. That led to a four-run inning, and an eventual loss for Cleveland.

By the way, we have (and most people have) two rules for relief pitchers: Don’t walk hitters and don’t allow the long ball.

Friday night was the kind of thing that makes you wonder how you can figure this game out.

After Gavin Williams had to leave after four innings, Eli Morgan pitched the fifth and faced two batters in the 6th, allowing a single to one of them.

The Guards went to Tim Herrin, a lefty, because Sam Hentges has been scuffling lately, and Herrin over the last month had pitched 8.2 innings, allowing just two runs, striking out 10 and walking just two.

The rookie walked the next three hitters, forcing in a run.

So, Francona went to Nick Sandlin, who got out of the inning. Sandlin over the last month had fired 9.1 frames allowing just one run, and fanning 13, walking just three.

He gave up two homers in the 7th. They were the first he’d allowed since June 17th.

Stephan relieved and you could feel fans wincing at the move.

He put down all five batters he faced.

The point is right now, the Guardians really need the bullpen crew to step up because of the inning restrictions put on the rookie starters, but Francona can’t feel too confident in bringing anyone in, because he just doesn’t know what will happen.

If this is a slump, eventually everyone will return to form and Cleveland’s bullpen will be one of the best in the game. If they continue to fail, then the season could go south in a hurry.

It’s not easy at times to manage a major league baseball team.

Some Things We Would Like To See In Second Half For Guardians

Baseball’s All Star break is upon us, and the Cleveland Guardians somehow go into their mini-vacation (except for Jose Ramirez) with a half game lead in the American League Central Division despite a .500 record.

To be fair, since they fell to their low point of the season on May24th at 21-28, the Guardians have gone 24-17 and not all of the games were against the A’s and Royals.

The offense has improved a bit, moving up to 12th in the league in runs scored per game, and the pitching is still 6th in the AL in ERA, despite having three rookies in the rotation for much of the year.

One problem for the Guardians is that the Twins have an easier schedule the rest of the way, but Cleveland has played better than Minnesota in games vs. teams above the .500 mark, going 17-20, while the Twins are just 21-28.

So, maybe the tougher slate isn’t the disadvantage it seems to be.

After all that, here are some things we would like to see for the Guardians in the second half (besides a long winning streak that would salt away another division title):

More playing time for Tyler Freeman. Freeman had 72 plate appearances in the first half, collecting 20 hits for a batting average of .308 and an on base average of .352. We understand that Terry Francona feels incumbent shortstop Amed Rosario is a culture setter, but why can’t Freeman be as well?

It was only a few weeks ago that Freeman went from first to third on the wild pitch, so he’s seems to be an aggressive baserunner like Rosario. And he might be a better hitter and a better glove. It feels like the organization needs to find a way to pencil him in the batting order more often.

Flexibility With Myles Straw. We aren’t going to bash Straw here. He’s a tremendous defensive centerfielder, perhaps the best currently in the sport. But both the organization and Straw himself both have to make some changes.

When the Guardians take the field Friday night in Texas, they will be just a few days shy of the last stolen base for a player who swiped 30 bags in 2021 and 21 bases a year ago being two months ago. He simply has to run more often. He has great wheels.

And the organization has to change and stop letting him hit in situation with the game on the line and other options available. Do they think they will hurt the centerfielder’s feelings if the pinch hit for him?

There have been at least three games this year where the highest leverage at bat in the game was taken by Straw, who has an OPS under 600 over the last two years. That shouldn’t happen.

Figure Out The 8th. For all of the hand wringing around Emmanuel Clase, who is second in the AL in saves and has allowed just two homers on the season, the biggest problem for the Cleveland relief corps in the 8th.

The latest problem was Saturday, when a three run lead was a great relay away from being coughed up by Sam Hentges and Enyel De Los Santos.

The two relievers who started the year primarily in that role were Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak, and both gave up six homers. Stephan still in used in the 8th and is still falling behind a lot of hitters.

Hentges rescued Clase in the Cubs’ series and we felt he was poised to take over the 8th, but he’s allowed four runs in his last 1.2 frames. Maybe go back to De Los Santos more often? Eli Morgan has been pretty good, but he’s prone to the long ball.

The bullpen has to get back to the point where having a lead after seven means the game is in the bag. That will be a big factor if the Guards want to go on a hot streak in the second half this year.

Guardians Can’t Get Traction, And Know When To Question Tito

Treading water. Two steps forward, one step back. Stagnant.

These are all words that can be used to describe the Cleveland Guardians’ season to date. They are 28-33 after 61 games, and almost half of their games have been decided by one run, 29 of them, and they are 12-17.

By the way, winning one run games is pretty much luck. Bad teams can do well in them. The Kansas City Royals are 18-43 for the season. They are 7-6 in one run games. The Oakland A’s are 8-11 in these contests, and they are 13-50.

Sixty games into the season, and the Guards haven’t swept a series, and they’ve only been swept in a series once, that by the New York Mets.

Because of all of the close games, the decisions made by Terry Francona become magnified by fans, and most of the second guessing comes from emotion. Never forget that the word “fan” is derived from fanatic.

And we understand the frustration. We have said many, many times that Francona is not infallible, he makes mistakes. All managers do, but we don’t watch every game of other teams, so people don’t see the mistakes.

When a team’s bullpen isn’t going well, particularly the back end of it, the failures get magnified. While Emmanuel Clase hasn’t been as dominant as last year, he still leads the league in saves, and he’s only allowed one home run and walked just seven batters.

Getting to Clase has been the issue. The two primary set up men starting the year, James Karinchak and Trevor Stephan, have been prone to the long ball, and giving up dingers turn around games in a hurry. Enyel De Los Santos has been getting the job done, but he coughed up a lead on in the opener vs. Boston.

So, what does the skipper do? Our guess is he will go back to Karinchak and Stephan, with some Sam Hentges mixed in. We’ll see how that works out.

To us, the more concerning thing is the continued playing of guys who simply aren’t producing. We understand it’s a long season, but 61 games have been played, and while we are not saying to release anyone, the continuation of writing their names in the lineup every day is an organizational problem.

The Guardians’ best position playing prospect is Bo Naylor, and he is playing at the highest level of the minor leagues. The current Cleveland catchers rank last in the American League in WAR (wins above replacement player).

Is the organization really telling us Naylor couldn’t help the big league club? We have noted that Naylor has walked 46 times at Columbus. Mike Zunino and Cam Gallagher have combined to walk 16 times. At the very least, Naylor would make less outs than the catchers in Cleveland.

The second lowest rank in WAR among positions is shortstop. The Guardians’ roster and minor league system are loaded with highly ranked middle infielders. Do the Guards need to play Amed Rosario each night or could we look at possible alternatives that possibly could do better.

If you want to question Francona or the front office about something, these latter two issues would be better things to complain about.

Keep in mind though, that usually their patience gets rewarded, like the use of Josh Naylor vs. left-handed pitching.

The easiest thing to second guess is bullpen usage, because if the pitcher who comes in doesn’t do their job, the Guardians lose. The problem is everything is magnified because the offense hasn’t been doing its job and every other game is decided by one run.

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.

Close Games Equals More Burden On Guardians’ Bullpen

The Cleveland Guardians have played 36 games this season and a whopping 22 of them have been decided by two runs or less.

Cleveland is 8-9 in games decided by a single tally, and 5-2 in those decided by a couple of runs. Overall, the Guardians are 13-11 in these games and 4-8 in the other contests.

First, all of these close games are going to give a collective ulcer to the die-hard fans of the team.

Second, playing this many close games means it will be interesting to see what kind of toll it will take on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen.

We know that Terry Francona has sort of the “caste system” for his relief pitchers. When the Guards are in the lead, he prefers to use James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan, and now that he is back, Sam Hentges to set up closer Emmanuel Clase.

He uses Eli Morgan with a lead if one of the above needs a day off. He will use Nick Sandlin and/or Enyel De Los Santos after that group. That’s his current arrangement.

But in checking the American League leaders in appearances, you will see that Clase leads the league pitching in 20 of Cleveland’s 36 games and Karinchak is tied for second at 19.

Stephan is 21st appearing in 16 contests.

With the Guardians treading just below the .500 mark early in the season, we understand their need to put as many games in the win column as they can, so Francona wants to use his best guys, and maybe the best closer in the league to lock down a W.

And despite Clase’s “struggles” this year, this shows how good he is. He hasn’t pitched at the dominant level he did a year ago so far, but he still has a 1.86 ERA, allowing just 15 hits and five walks in 19-1/3 innings. Oh, and he leads the AL in saves with 13.

Clase led the junior circuit in games pitched a year ago with 77, but right now, he’s on a pace to pitch in 90 of them. Now, we know that’s not going to happen, and Clase is also pretty economical in the number of pitches he throws. In his last five appearances, he’s thrown no more than 13 pitches.

Two things need to happen if the Guardians keep winning. First, it would be a huge help if they could win games by four or five runs over the next few weeks. That would enable Francona to lessen the workload of his primary bullpen guys, using them just enough to keep them fresh.

Adding Hentges to the mix has helped lately.

Or the skipper may have to expand the late game usage for pitchers like Sandlin and De Los Santos. We understand though they have to earn the confidence of the manager. Sandlin, in particular needs to command the strike zone and throw quality pitches.

The starting rotation seems to have picked it up over the last couple of weeks, covering at least six innings on most nights. But playing this many close games will take a toll on the Guardians’ relief pitching.

Just another reason to hope the offense comes out of the collective funk it has been in over the last four weeks.

More On Guardians’ Bullpen And Arias

The good news for the Cleveland Guardians last week was when they played one game in a day, they were undefeated, going 2-0.

However, because of our beautiful springtime weather, the Guards were forced to play two doubleheaders and were swept in Detroit by the Tigers and at home by the Marlins.

The offense was the main culprit as in the five games played prior to Sunday’s 7-4 win over Miami, Cleveland scored a total of nine runs. It’s hard to win averaging less than two runs per contest, but the Guardians did it once, winning the series finale in Motown, 3-2.

The pitching hasn’t been bad, allowing 20 runs in the six games, just a shade over three per game. So, as has been the case in pretty much every game in 2023 thus far, the result of the game was in doubt all the way to the bitter end. Only the 6-1 loss in game one Saturday was not in doubt when the ninth inning started.

Home runs continue to be a problem for the bullpen crew, as both Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak gave up solo shots in the win over the Tigers and the latter served up a three-run bomb on Sunday to make what was a commanding 6-1 advantage into a close game.

Cleveland pitchers have allowed 21 homers this year, and a dozen of those have been served up by the relievers. The only bullpen members who have been unscathed by the long ball are Eli Morgan and Enyel De La Santos.

There was some good news as southpaw Sam Hentges made two rehab appearances in Akron last week and is getting closer to returning to the big league roster. That’s needed as rookie Tim Herrin hasn’t been effective, allowing two dingers and four walks in his eight innings of work. He has a 7.45 ERA.

Karinchak has allowed four bombs in 12 innings of work, and probably will not be used in the eighth inning until he cures that issue.

Here’s our current bullpen confidence rankings–

Clase
Stephan
De Los Santos
Morgan
Karinchak
Sandlin
Curry
Herrin

Sandlin gets ranked lower because he still has control issues, walking five in 9-2/3 innings and he seems to fall behind in the count an awful lot.

Hopefully, the offense will continue to come out of the doldrums, but one player who worries us right now is infielder Gabriel Arias.

Arias has always had strike zone judgment issues in the minors, his career numbers in 494 minor league games are 539 strikeouts vs. 145 walks, and he wasn’t outstanding at AAA, a 768 OPS.

However, thus far this season, he’s made 40 plate appearances and has struck out in 18 of them, drawing four walks. He’s batting .167 (6 for 36) with a home run and a double.

We understand it is difficult for a young player to adjust to not getting regular playing time, but that’s the lot he drew with the Guardians. Terry Francona has tried to spot him vs. lefties, but he is just 4 for 24 with 13 Ks against them.

If he was hammering southpaws, we are sure Francona would be more anxious to put him in there against left-handers, particularly because Josh Naylor is a career .202 hitter (544 OPS) against them.

It will be interesting to see if Tyler Freeman, who was up for a handful of games last week (2 for 7 with a walk), starts getting some time at 1B in Columbus to see if he can take Arias’ spot on the roster.

A tough gauntlet is coming up for the Guards, a weekend series in Boston and then a trip to Yankee Stadium before coming home for a clash with the division contending Twins.

We will learn a lot about this year’s group in those nine games.

Close Games For Guardians Mean Added Pressure For Bullpen

At the end of last season, the Cleveland Guardians knew if they had a lead after six innings, the game was effectively over. Their bullpen was dominant, led by closer Emmanuel Clase. Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak combined to take care of the seventh and eighth, and Terry Francona had Sam Hentges, Enyel De Los Santos, and Nick Sandlin if needed to bridge from the starter to the set up men and closer.

It is also said the most volatile part of any team is the relief pitching, and just because it happened a year ago doesn’t mean it will happen again.

It’s still early, so Francona and Carl Willis are still trying to decide how to use some of the pieces of the ‘pen and integrate a couple of new hurlers into the mix.

Last season, Cleveland relievers threw the fifth least innings of any bullpen, the third least in the American League behind only Houston and Seattle. The non-starters pitched 37.7% of the innings played by the Guardians.

So far this season, that number is up to 43%. There are several reasons for the high total, and one of them is the Guards have played four extra-inning games to date, which is 25% of their schedule.

Another reason is right now, Cleveland has two inexperienced starting pitchers in the rotation. Hunter Gaddis has made three starts and pitched into the sixth inning just once, while Peyton Battenfield made his first career start last week and threw just 4-2/3 frames.

Add in Zach Plesac’s one inning outing in his season debut, and Cal Quantrill getting into the sixth for the first time in three starts in his last outing, and the relievers have had to soak up a lot of the workload.

We have always maintained there are two things a relief pitcher cannot do: Walk people and give up home runs. Cleveland pitchers in total have walked 44 batters in 2023, 25 of them have come from the bullpen.

Clase, who walked just 10 hitters all last season, has already issued four in nine innings this season. De Los Santos has issued four free passes in ’23, after allowing only 17 all of 2022.

The home run numbers are similar. Guardians’ hurlers have allowed only 14 homers this season, a total that ranks tied for 5th in the AL for the fewest coughed up. Unfortunately, the relievers have allowed eight of the blasts, with Sandlin and rookie Tim Herrin each giving up a pair.

We think De Los Santos should be the secondary set up man if the normal three who close out games (Clase, Karinchak, and Stephan) are unavailable because any of them have worked two days in a row. We have the most confidence in him out of everyone else.

Sandlin still falls behind too many hitters and Herrin is a rookie, but he does have electric stuff.

Another thing that magnifies the results of the bullpen is that the Guardians have only won one game this year by more than two runs, the 9-4 victory against Seattle on the second day of the season. There isn’t much room for error for a guy like Herrin to work with.

It takes time to develop a bullpen and having all the close games means the growing pains that go along with it get closer looks.

In the meantime, mixing in a few 6-1 or 7-2 victories would really help the principal relievers get some needed rest.