After the Guardians incredibly sluggish play after the All-Star Break I feared the worst. I did not expect any moves (or any major ones), and felt the Guardians may take advantage of a seller’s market to move some players of our own. I never felt selling made much sense. The Guardians do not have much to sell…unless they really wanted to bite into their core players. But thankfully the Guardians surprised me and made several moves this deadline, acquiring four noteworthy players this deadline (five if we include Patrick Bailey) without giving up too much. Taken together these moves meaningfully improve the club as they attempt to win their third consecutive division title, and make the playoffs.

The Guardians Trade for Jo Adell: the Power Hitting Bench Bat

The first player Cleveland acquired is right handed outfielder Jo Adell. At first blush: Adell does not make much sense. He did not even make my list from last week. Looking at the ‘big picture’ and you may get puzzled: Adell’s slash line is .239/.287/.395 (OPS+ 93), although his 16 homers would lead the team. When you consider his mediocre defense and baserunning and Baseball-Reference reckons he’s worth less than a replacement player. So why did the Guards trade for him? Simple: he mashes lefties.

Jo Adell looks bad overall, but he crushes lefties batting .303/.339/.571 against southpaws on the season. This continues a career trend where he hits well against lefties (career .793 OPS against lefties) while struggles against righties (.654). While I personally think the Guardians should care less about platooning (no team gets the platoon advantage more than Cleveland in Major League Baseball) and more about just playing good hitters. However, the Guardians’ lineup is quite left handed heavy, although the three switch hitting starters: Patrick Bailey, Jose Ramirez and Brayan Rocchio certainly help.

Adell replaces David Fry on this roster who has disappointed dramatically this season. Fry has played in 71 games this season, 42 of them in the outfield and he’s struggled mightily with the bat. For the season he’s batted a terrible .182/.304/.336 (OPS+ 81). He’s actually posting a reverse platoon split, which will simply not cut it for this team. Adell should assume all of those at-bats, and likely play more often than Fry has (especially lately).

The skinny here is simple: the Guardians are the 28th worst hitting team against lefties, and their only true starters in the outfield (Kwan and DeLauter) are both lefties. Adell gives Vogt an actual bat who can mash lefties, improving a true weakness for the team. Adell is a role player who fills a role, and he’s under team control for 2027. His 2027 salary of $5.2M is quite reasonable, and the Guardians can offer him arbitration next season. If they don’t think he’s worth it they can non-tender him at no cost.

In exchange the Guardians sent catcher Jacob Cozart to the Angels. Cozart found himself in a similar spot that Bo Naylor did: completely blocked at the Major League level. The Guards already have their starting catcher for the next 3 seasons with Patrick Bailey, and Austin Hedges is the backup for as long as he wants. To make matters worse for Cozart we also have Kody Huff and Cooper Ingle as well. There was no room for Cozart, and the Guardians turned a player that did not fit on the roster into a useful player who makes our offense better.

The Guardians Trade for Foster Griffin: the Rotation Upgrade

I did not have the Guardians trading for an All-Star starting pitcher on my bingo card at the deadline. In fact: the Guardians have used the same five starters all season, the only team to do so this year. But Foster Griffin is one of this year’s breakout players, returning to the United States from three strong years in Japan. The Nat’s were shrewd to take a chance on him, and the 30 year old rewarded them with a great start to the season: 3.06 ERA 22 starts (129.1 IP).

I think there’s some room for regression in store for Griffin who’s out performing both his FIP (4.09) and xFIP (3.73), but even if he regresses to his FIP he’s still a better pitcher than Slade Cecconi, who he will likely replace in the rotation. Slade so far has posted a 4.78 ERA which is much closer to his 4.54 FIP and 4.41 xFIP, and in either case: Griffin out performs him in all those metrics anyway. More blatantly: Griffin is likely benefiting from a very favorable BABIP of .256. I don’t think Griffin is an ace, but he’s clearly a strong starter.

I really like this trade. I feel incredibly confident in Gavin, Bibee and Messick but I am less confident in Cantillo and Cecconi. I would have no issue giving Griffin the ball in a playoff start, if needed, and he’s a clear upgrade on Cecconi for the remainder of the year. Griffin also gives the team options if they want to rest Parker Messick, who has never pitched more than 133.2 IP in his career (Messick is at 129.2 so far this season). This is a great move for the team.

The Guards sent four players to Washington: RHP Will Dion (who’s been up and down several times in our bullpen), RHP Josh Hartle, OF Nick Mitchell and RHP Kendeglys Virguez. Interestingly: both Hartle and Mitchell were acquired as part of the 3 team trade sending Andres Gimenez to Toronto. I am curious if the Guardians targeted both players with the idea of sending him to Washington. The Guards have connected with Washington before in trades: they got Lane Thomas from Washington in 2024.

Overall, only Josh Hartle was listed as a top 30 prospect for Cleveland and while Will Dion did debut for us this year: the fact he had been optioned several times tells me he’s a throw-in for the trade. The Guardians acquired a serious starting rotation upgrade for four minor prospects, and Foster Griffin is only making $5.5M this season, but he is also a free agent at year end.

The Guardians Trade for Nathaniel Lowe: a Starting First Baseman

The final big move is the trade for Nathaniel Lowe. Like Rhys Hoskins: Lowe signed a minor league deal with the Reds before the season, and is making a pittance. Unlike Hoskins Lowe has been a boon offensively for the Reds, a rare bright spot on a struggling team. Lowe is batting .266/.341/.480 (OPS+ 122) on the season.

Let’s be real: both Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Manzardo have been massive disappointments this year, Manzo in particular. Manzardo is batting .215/.306/.378 (OPS+ 92) on the year while Hoskins is batting .179/.312/.383 (OPS+ 97). The Guards needed better production at first, and Lowe is a clear upgrade on both. To make room for Lowe the Guardians are optioning Kyle Manzardo to AAA Columbus. This tells me the Guards intend to keep Hoskins to protect Lowe against lefties, which Lowe has been awful against this year. In a small sample (25 PAs) Lowe has batted .083 with no extra-base hits this season, although for his career Lowe only has mild platoon splits.

This makes sense to me. I have long felt Hoskins has at least some value as a bench bat, and pairing him with Lowe makes some sense.

The Guardians parted with Alejandro Rivera, a 19 year old outfielder in the low minors, to get Lowe. This is another upgrade the Guardians made at an incredibly low cost. Lowe only makes $1.75M this year, and is a free agent at the end of the season.

The Guardians DFA, and Trade, Juan Brito

To make room for Jo Adell the Guards DFA’d Juan Brito, and then traded him to Cincinnati for cash. I am surprised the Guardians made this move, I would have expected the team to try to hang onto Brito a bit longer. It seems to me that the Guardians realized they had no place for Brito, who lacked a good defensive position, and he wasn’t performing in AAA anyway. This closes the book on the Nolan Jones trade saga.

Taking it All Together

None of these moves on their own are massive, but overall the Guardians made a meaningful improvement to their roster consider that since May they:

Replaced Bo Naylor with Patrick Bailey

This swaps a mediocre catcher with the best defensive catcher in the game. Bailey has also improved on Bo Naylor’s anemic bat, even if Patrick is not a good hitter himself. This turned a 23 OPS+ with a middling glove into a, 84 OPS+ with a stellar one.

Replaced RHP Will Dion with RHP Craig Yoho

Will Dion is a replaceable pitcher, meaning someone the team only pitches when they just need a body to chew up innings. Yoho is a meaningful improvement on that, and has some upside.

Replaced David Fry with Jo Adell

We have not seen Adell in a Cleveland uniform yet but this turns a bench player who couldn’t hit (OPS+ 81) into a serious threat against lefties.

Replaced RHP Slade Cecconi with LHP Foster Griffin

This improves the back of our rotation with a strong, middle of the rotation starter. A pitcher who we would not feel bad about giving the ball to in a playoff start.

Replaced Kyle Manzardo with Nathaniel Lowe

The Guardians replaced arguably the worst regular first baseman in baseball with a middle of the road one, and are making better use of Rhys Hoskins who can spell Lowe against tough lefties and limit his exposure.

None of these moves, on their own, are huge difference makers. But this does, on the margins, improve several parts of the roster that were complete misses. This also does not address the serious long term concerns the club has with the offense. But, as I wrote last week: there weren’t many true difference makers available at the deadline, so the fact the Guardians went out and acquired several small upgrades during a tough deadline is meaningful to me.

This is the first time, in a long time, I have been truly impressed by the Front Office. It does not change my view that they have largely squandered the best years of Jose Ramirez. I do think we will still regret not pushing more chips in during the 2022, 2024 and 2025 seasons. But, the Front Office put its money where its mouth was and did what they could to make one of baseball’s worst offenses better. Given what was available: they did a great job, and they saved a lot of prospect capital for the offseason where better options are, hopefully, available for them.

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Now the team on the field has to turn this aggressiveness into wins. I hope a more active deadline inspires the players to play harder too.

Go Guards!

It cannot be said the Guardians sat on their laurels this deadline they at least made one trade (besides the Patrick Bailey trade months ago). The Guardians sent Bo Naylor and right handed pitcher (RHP) Codi Heuer to the Milwaukee Brewers for RHP Craig Yoho (who debuted today in Cleveland) and outfielder Blake Perkins. It’s a small move, but finishes off the Bo Naylor era which started with such promise in 2023 and ended ignominiously this season. There is not that much going on with this trade but it can easily get both overblown and underblown by the fanbase. Let’s break it down in parts so we can parse it easily.

What We Gave Away

The Guardians parted with catcher Bo Naylor, who in parts of five seasons in Cleveland batted .199/.279/.372 (OPS+ 81). Outside of a brief stretch in 2023: Bo was always a below average hitter. Defensively Bo was up and down, but he never graded as a superior defensive catcher. This caused problems for Cleveland because the team leans heavily on its pitching staff and the team values catcher defense dramatically (hence why Austin Hedges stuck on the team for so long despite a bad bat, 2026 notwithstanding). Overall in 346 games and 1,131 PAs: Bo was only worth 2.9 bWAR and at catcher that’s simply not impressive.

Furthermore the reality is that when the Guards acquired Patrick Bailey Bo’s tenure in Cleveland was over. Patrick Bailey is not a great hitter, but he’s arguably the best defensive backstop in the game (and, again, the Guardians value catcher defense perhaps more than any franchise in baseball) and since his acquisition: Bailey received the lion’s share of the reps at catcher. Bailey has also hit better in Cleveland than in San Francisco, a middling 78 OPS+ which, while not great, is about 50 points better than Bo, and together with his defense makes him a valuable player. So the starting job was out.

The backup job is also out. Austin Hedges is 33, but is having a career renaissance offensively this season. He clearly loves it here, and the team loves him. So long as he wants the job I expect Hedges to remain on as the de facto captain of the Guardians until he retires. But even if Hedges retired tomorrow I still think the backup job is out of reach for Naylor. The Guardians also have Cooper Ingle, a top prospect, and Kody Huff playing well at AAA. The Guards have even more depth in the lower minors.

There’s just no way Bo was ever going to come back to Cleveland. So the Guardians had a distressed asset in Bo, with nowhere to put him.

They also gave up Codi Heuer, a right hander who’s pitched a bit here and there for the Guards as a swingman. Codi recently turned 30, and is a filler pitcher. The Guardians are not likely giving up anything of value in Heuer (he’s pitching behind Will Dion for a reason). So in summary the Guardians traded a catcher they had no place for, and a filler pitcher who only pitches when absolutely necessary.

What We Got Back

In return Cleveland received Craig Yoho and Blake Perkins. Yoho is the primary return, a right handed reliever, he’s spent most of the season in middle relief for Milwaukee where he’s been fine. He’s posted a 3.15 ERA in 20 innings for the Brewers, in what is his first full season of work at the Major League level. The big thing to note is his elite extension, 93rd percentile by Baseball Savant. The Guardians love pitchers with extension (it’s why they targeted Ben Lively for example). Most notably in my mind: whenever the Guardians acquire a pitcher we should take note. The Guardians are poor at offensive development, but great at developing pitchers. Yoho may only be a middle reliever: but he’s cost controlled (we will control him for the next 6 seasons at near the minimum) with a profile the team likes. That’s a useful player, even if he’s not an incredibly valuable one.

The Guardians also took a flier on Blake Perkins, a light hitting outfielder. At age 29: he’s not developing anymore. I am honestly a bit puzzled why we acquired him. He reminds me of an older Petey Halpin. We’ll see what they do with Perkins, my guess is he’s just a fill in piece.

This is Just Maximizing Value

At the end of the day: this is just the Guardians maximizing value of a player they had no use for anymore. Bo Naylor’s day was done, and he was taking up a roster spot. He was not making any money (just the minimum) so this was entirely about the team clearing a space and making way for something they can use. Craig Yoho is not anyone’s idea of a bullpen ace (yet), but he clearly fits a need on the team right now. He can also help down the line, and maybe even turn into something more given the Guardians’ history of transforming pitchers.

What does this mean for the rest of the deadline? Nothing. I don’t think Yoho will stop the Guardians from acquiring a better reliever if they find one. I don’t doubt we’d DFA Blake Perkins in a heartbeat if we got an actual outfielder who can hit. However, the team wanted to make space by moving Bo and this let them do that while getting something useful in return. Retaining Bo until the offseason would likely have just forced the Guards to DFA him later. So moving him now lets them get something back. This is the kind of competent move the team is good at. Maximize value of a distressed asset. It’s under appreciated at times but useful.

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We’ll see if they follow it up with anything else.

-BenjaminJ

After getting shutout on consecutive days, and scoring only 4 runs in 4 games, many Guardians fans want answers and fast solutions. Sam Beaudoin wrote succinctly in his blog: the Guardians should sell. I think he writes reasonably when he says:

Now, the decision for Cleveland shouldn’t be an overly difficult one. The fate of this team is fairly evident. They should sell and take advantage of what will likely be a seller’s market.

The Guardians have now lost five straight, scored just four total runs over their last four games, and have been shut out in back-to-back games. They sit at 54-53, 2.5 games behind the White Sox, who also have three games in hand.

Perhaps this is a blessing in disguise. Perhaps this brutal stretch was exactly what was needed to prevent the front office from making a modest buy at the deadline, sneaking into October, and then getting destroyed by a team like the Yankees or Rays.

Because the reality is, this team is not one or two bats away from immediately leapfrogging those teams. They just aren’t.

I emphatically agree with Sam about the offense. The offense is not a marginal bat available away from being a good offense. As I wrote last weekend: Jose and Angel Martinez are not enough to make this offense OK. I also agree with Sam that this front office, and ownership, is not the sort of team which will swing a big trade for a star player at the deadline. The Andrew Miller trade (now a decade old) was the exception which proves the rule. But perhaps more importantly: there are few true difference makers even available at this deadline.

The Front Office Missed Its Chance

If the Front Office wanted to augment the offense the time was the offseason. With expanded playoffs, and a muddled American League, it’s not entirely clear to me who the Front Office could even target at the deadline. Some of the obvious candidates, like Spencer Steer, are also hurt. The Houston Astros are almost assuredly not trading Yordan Alvarez. Looking at the obvious sellers, here are the starting outfielders and first basemen/designated hitters on those teams, meaning teams with records at least 10 wins below .500 (with OPS+ and age in parentheses):

California Angels:

OF: Josh Lowe (28, 70), Mike Trout (34, 145), Jo Adell (27, 97), Jose Siri (30, 125)
1B: Nolan Schanuel (24, 113)
DH: Jorge Soler (34, 87)

Cincinnati Reds:

OF: JJ Bleday (28, 120), TJ Friedl (30, 42), Noelvi Marte (24, 61), Spencer Steer (28, 101)
1B: Sal Stewart (22, 116)
DH: Eugenio Suarez (34, 84)

Colorado Rockies:

OF: Jake McCarthy (28, 118), Cole Carrig (24, 127), Tyler Freeman (27, 73), Troy Johnston (29, 99)
First Base: TJ Rumfield (26, 126)
Designated Hitter: Mickey Moniak (28, 124)

Kansas CIty Royals:

OF: Isaac Collins (28, 105), Kyle Isbel (29, 86), Jac Caglianone (23, 113), Lane Thomas (30, 107)
1B: Vinnie Pasquantino (28, 92)
DH: Salvador Perez (36, 76)

New York Mets:

OF: Juan Soto (27, 160), A.J. Ewing (21, 117), Carson Benge (23, 97), Tyrone Taylor (32, 116)
1B: Mark Vientos (26, 76), Jared Young (30, 106)
DH: Jorge Polanco (32, 20)

Sacramento Athletics:

OF: Tyler Soderstrom (24, 125), Henry Bolte (22, 77), Lawrence Butler (25, 64), Carlos Cortes (29, 109)
1B: Nick Kurtz (23, 145)
DH: Brent Rooker (31, 81)

San Francisco Giants:

OF: Helliot Ramos (26, 104), Drew Gilbert (25, 91), Jung Hoo Lee (27, 118)
1B: Rafael Devers (29, 124)
DH: Bryce Eldridge (21, 130)

OK, there are some potential targets here but this exercise is not done. We need to exclude players who:

1. The non-performing players

2. Are on big contracts (Rafael Devers for instance is owed over $100M)

3. Are young and cost controlled, and therefore unlikely to even be available at the deadline. I will cut off any player with at least 3 years of club control after this season from the list

OK, so who’s left?

California Angels:

OF: Jose Siri (30, 125)

Cincinnati Reds:

OF: JJ Bleday (28, 120), Spencer Steer (28, 101)

Colorado Rockies:

OF: Jake McCarthy (28, 118)
DH: Mickey Moniak (28, 124)

Kansas CIty Royals:

OF: Lane Thomas (30, 107)

New York Mets:

OF: Tyrone Taylor (32, 116)

This is not an awe inspiring list. Granted, there are others we could target. If the Padres decide to sell we could target Ty France (31, 142). If the Cardinals decide to sell we could target Lars Nootbar (28, 104). If the Baltimore Orioles sell we could try for Taylor Ward (32, 111)...again. There are some other targets out there (of course, they could also just as easily play well and be unavailable). But let’s ask ourselves: who in the list of above available hitters is a true difference maker? Not just someone who’s better than our existing bench but truly a great hitter? I think the answer is nobody. Ty France is having that good of a year, but it’s a career year at 31: we should take his performance with a grain of salt.

Furthermore, there are a lot of teams who need offense. The Guardians would have to outbid for these players and be willing to pay for them. That does not sound like our front office. Not only is this a team that is generally unwilling to overpay for players: we rarely want to pay much in the first place. But even if prices were not likely sky high: there is simply not much available. We are looking at lots of Brandon Guyers, not Jay Bruces. There was a time when this front office could have gotten almost anyone they wanted: they missed that window.

What About Non-Major Leaguers?

This is the polite way of asking…what about acquiring a prospect? Someone who has not debuted yet (like we did in 2023). What about…selling? It’s a point Franmil’s EyeBrow (a Twitter personality) made a few days ago. The proposal being to trade Cade Smith (and/or another one of our relievers), take advantage of this same seller’s market, and acquire someone who can help us fix the offense for the long haul. Needless to say I hate the strategy.

To be clear: if we could get a young, cost controlled, hitting outfielder for Cade Smith I would make that trade. If the Kansas City Royals offered us Jac Canglianone for Smith I am making that deal every day of the week. Cade Smith may be the best reliever in baseball but this team has struggled to develop hitting ever since they traded Lindor. The Front Office has had 11 chances (every offseason and deadline since 2020) to do something drastic about it and the best they have done is sign Josh Bell (a solid signing, even if I was never as high on it as others) and trade for Lane Thomas (which worked in October if not in the regular season). On the flip side we are excellent at developing pitchers including bullpen arms (see Holderman, Collin) especially on the cheap. That’s a trade you make.

It’s also why this trade will never happen. Why? Because teams know that young, cost controlled, outfielders are more valuable than bullpen arms! They are aware that Cade Smith is not likely to become the next Aroldis Chapman or Kenley Jansen. The idea that we can flip one of our star pitchers for a young, cost controlled, hitting outfielder (YCCHO, ™) is not new. The same thing was said about Shane Bieber and Corey Kluber. Needless to say we did not get that for either pitcher. The model which, I think, we’re more likely to get is a trade for a true prospect.

The most likely model that I think a Cade Smith trade would follow is the Aaron Civale. We traded Aaron Civale for Kyle Manzardo, a promising hitting prospect. Kyle debuted in 2024 and, while Manzo was solid in 2025: he has not panned out and is still a work in progress. A trade of Smith would assuredly bring us back a better heralded prospect than Civale. But I think the odds that we will receive a major league ready hitter, who slides into our lineup right now and is a finished product are slim to none. Players like that are rarely traded anymore. Certainly not for relievers. In short my issue with this argument is that it requires another team to be stupid.

Now, I will fully concede that I do not follow prospects. I have no opinion on the comparative merits of Josue De Paula compared to Mike Sirota. If someone wants to tell me that Josue De Paula is a can’t miss guy who will assuredly start hitting immediately and be just as good as Chase DeLauter has been this year: I will not argue with you. What I will say is that the Los Angeles Dodgers are a very shrewd organization and if De Paula is that good they are probably not trading him, they are replacing Teoscar Hernandez with De Paula and unloading Hernadez’s contract to make their 2026 team better. They will then seek a different reliever at a lesser cost, perhaps a team willing to take Eduardo Quintero instead of De Paula in a trade.

Now what about trading for the not sure thing and developing that player? I am not, inherently, opposed to the idea of rebuilding (I supported the C.C. Sabathia trade in 2008 for instance). But this team is not in the same position as we were in 2008. Furthermore: we then need to depend on a team, which has a long history of struggling to develop hitters, to develop said player. In short: we’re at the Kyle Manzardo strategy. That is not a short term fix: it’s a long term one. In my view there is simply no “fix the offense quick” solution which involves trading Cade Smith, unless you get a team willing to trade from their Major League roster.

A Trade I like Better

I think a better idea would be to try to find a team with an established hitter they can afford to move, which needs bullpen help, and try to work a deal at the Major League level. Those deals are incredibly hard to pull off (with good reason). The corresponding team needs to have a player they think is expendable and is also good enough to justify trading the best reliever in baseball for, who is also cost controlled. The Pittsburgh Pirates come to mind as a partner: they need bullpen help badly, are finally good, and have a bevy of young hitters who could make some sense. Some I like better than others.

Would the Pirates consider moving Oneil Cruz for Cade Smith? True: Cruz is on the IL right now, but he has 2 more years of control left (via arbitration), is a strong hitter in center field (which would let us keep Steven Kwan in left…or pursue a trade of Kwan if we want to give Khalil Watson some runway). I would suggest Bryan Reynolds and some additional prospects, but Reynolds is older (31), and owed a bunch of money. I think Cade is worth a lot more than him. Spencer Horwitz is a solid hitter, and would fit our roster…but again I think Cade is worth more. Not a perfect fit.

Before they went into freefall the Miami Marlins may fit: Heiberto Hernandez is young, and a strong hitter to start his career. The Marlins need bullpen help desperately, Smith would stabilize that bullpen. The Nats also need bullpen help, although there is not a great fit offensively (at least that I think Washington would move). The biggest puzzle here being: while the idea makes some sense, it’s even harder to find a match in this kind of trade.

What are we Building Towards?

There are trades for Cade Smith that I can envision accepting: but they are not trades that I anticipate ever being offered. If a team offers us someone we can slide right into our lineup now, and is a difference maker, I would happily eat crow. But I think a more plausible outcome, if we trade Cade, is we acquire a prospect who is not a sure thing. Someone who will take some work. Even if they’re better than Manzardo, even if we get more than one: it’s not going to be a sure thing. It will take work, and developing hitters is just not something the Guardians have succeeded at in recent history.

I would usually also point out that Cade Smith is a star, and trading stars hurts fanbase morale, but this fanbase has already been rocked by trades so many times that I am not sure how big of an impact it would have anyway. Outside of Jose Ramirez none of the players on this roster really connect, and while trading Cade Smith likely does not improve fanbase morale: the front office has traded so many players away that I doubt it impacts morale anymore. I suspect most fans would view this with the same resignation we have felt for years. Fans no longer expect this team to excite them with how they improved the team.

But more importantly: if we trade Smith like we traded Bieber and Civale then what is the plan? We have nobody who can realistically replace Cade Smith; in fact the team should be in the market for another stout reliever. What good is it for us to trade Cade Smith for a hitting prospect to just then need to turn around and acquire a reliever to replace him? The Guardians signed Jose Ramirez to two extensions since they traded Lindor and they have not built around him effectively. When, exactly, does this team intend to have a team worth investing in instead of taking from? When is the team going to take a look at trying to win a World Series instead of hoping the team is good enough to sneak into October?

Which is not to say that there are no scenarios where a Cade Smith trade makes sense. If the team had no hope of contending: I would be in favor of trading Smith. But the 2026 Cleveland Guardians are not the 2002 Cleveland Indians. Or the 2008 Cleveland Indians. Or the 2009 Cleveland Indians. We’re, currently, in line for a playoff spot. The team should have better days ahead with Jose back, Kwan hitting and potential improvements from Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana. Why give up on it now?

I don’t think this team is trading Cade Smith. That would be unusually pessimistic for this team. I am sure the Dolans would still like one final October run before they turn over the team to David Blitzer. That’s at least a few more games of ticket revenue (where the tickets cost more) that they can squeeze some profit out of before they become minority owners. While the team could make the playoffs after trading Smith: it would be a heck of a lot harder. If we sell at the deadline I think others like Hunter Gaddis are more likely to get moved.

I still hope we don’t do it. I don’t think it will end the way those envisioning it think.

-BenjaminJ

The less I write about the Guardians’ recent performance the better. Since the All-Star break they lost to the Pirates, tied the Twins in a 4 game set (and lost Game 4 after going 0 for 17 with runners in scoring position) and now got swept by Tampa Bay (including getting shut out twice). Not good. The offense, in particular, has looked atrocious. I don’t know what else to say. We’re 1 game over .500, 2 ½ games behind the White Sox in the division. We are in pole position for a Wild Card but who cares? Does anyone believe this team is a serious World Series contender as constructed?

All of this I have written before, I have very little to add on this front. What scares me right now is both Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez are back and neither has looked good. Jose has 3 singles in 4 games (only two walks, one intentional) and Angel has not collected one hit since his return. The team is better with both of them but we’re 0-5 since Jose has returned to the lineup. Mind boggling how this team has looked since their superstar has come back.

Jose Ramirez Looks 33

I was a lone voice nervous about the Jose Ramirez extension signed this past offseason. I received a lot of flak for my article. However, this season does make me think I was correct about the Guardians jumping the gun on the third Jose extension before the year. It was a move intended to placate fans after basically refusing to proactively improve the team (again). But as I wrote a few months ago: even Hall of Famers age eventually and the team invested an additional $100M in Jose when they did not need to and, well, Jose is looking rather like a 33 year old ballplayer: not the superstar we need him to be. For the season so far he’s batting .239/.339/.411 (OPS+ 112). Besides his on-base percentage and OPS+ those would all be career lows since he became a regular in 2016.

Now, again, I am not saying this is how Jose will hit the remainder of the year. Nor am I predicting this is how Jose will hit the rest of his contract. There is solid reason to believe Jose has gotten a little unlucky this season. His xwOBA is much better than his wOBA (indicating the quality of his contact is better than his results) and his BABIP of .249 is a career low since he became a regular in 2016. Jose is still striking out about as often as he walks.

But…Jose is looking his age. He’s not alone: so is Francisco Lindor (OPS+ 93) and Manny Machado (OPS+ 99) both fellow 33 year olds (and future Hall of Famers). This team simply cannot afford Jose to be anything less than great. He has not been great so far this season.

This is Hall of Fame weekend (the Guards wore Crooked C caps in honor of the weekend), and Jose should collect his 300th home run sometime this season and join the 300-300 club. I have written about this upcoming event already on multiple occasions. But I believe this will cement his argument for Cooperstown. Especially as he climbs the ladder, and hopefully joins Barry Bonds as the only 400-400 player within a few years.

Hall of Fame Weekend

Cooperstown welcomed three new members to the Hall of Fame this weekend (along with Paul Hoynes to the writers wing): Carlos Beltran, Andruw Jones and Jeff Kent. Andruw Jones snuck in on his 10th year on the ballot, Kent after long years being told he did not belong by the writers, and Carlos Beltran pretty soon after he appeared. It’s an interesting class, none of these players are headliners the way Ichiro and Sabathia were last summer. Beltran, in particular, is controversial for his role in the 2017 Astros sign stealing controversy.

I have long felt Carlos Beltran belonged in the Hall of Fame. He reminds me a little of Jose Ramirez. An all around great ballplayer, underappreciated for years before finally getting recognition later on in his career. Like Jose: Beltran could beat you any way you can beat a team. Like Jose: Beltran was a superb hitter at a key position. Like Jose: Beltran was an excellent baserunner, arguably among the best of all time. While the Astros definitely cheated the game, I do not believe it should take away from the full body of work for Beltran.

Jeff Kent and Andruw Jones are less clear Hall of Famers for me, but I am glad for both of them. I was not able to attend the ceremonies this summer as I did last summer, but it’s a thrilling weekend none-the-less. I am also happy for Paul Hoynes.

I am too young to appreciate Hoynsie, but he was a superb beat writer from what I have read of his work before the age of the internet. The fact Paul soldiers long past his era tells you something about the man. How much he loves the team, his drive to continue following the Cleveland Guardians, and the respect he garnered from his peers over a long career. In his 70s he continued to write on the beat daily. That’s a tough job, and I honor Paul for his contributions to Cleveland baseball for at least 3 generations.

Active Milestone Hunts

This weekend makes me think about a few milestones that could crack this season. Yes Jose will join the 300-300 club and three milestones have already been reached this year: Nolan Arenado recorded his 2,000th hit and Sonny Gray & Kevin Gausman their 2,000th strikeouts. This is notable since Andruw Jones is the only post-WWII hitter inducted into the Hall of Fame via the writers with fewer than 2,000 hits. It’s incredibly tough, or at least it has been, for hitters with ‘short careers’ (for which hit totals have acted as a barometer) to get into the Hall of Fame. I think scraping by with 2,000 hits has helped a few other recent inductees including most notably Joe Mauer (2024). I think had he fallen short of 2,000 it would have augmented the narrative that his career was too short for consideration. The electorate is changing, so this may matter less in the future. For now it bodes well for Nolan. Sonny Gray and Kevin Gausman’s 2,000th strikeouts are less notable and more a sign of the times. I do think people will look back at both Gausman and Gray’s careers and forget how good they were.

A few other chases I am following:

-Manny Machado (391), Paul Goldschmidt (388), Aaron Judge (385), Bryce Harper (384), and Kyle Schwarber (373) are all chasing 400 homers and could reach the milestone this season. I think 400 means a lot to Paul Goldschmidt who, besides 2,000 hits, lacks any real career milestones. Harper, Judge and Machado are all chasing 500. 400 means less to them but is still a notable number. Schwarber…I am still not sure what to make of him. He could easily test how vital 500 homers is as a Hall of Fame metric.

-Paul Goldscmidt (487) is also chasing 500 doubles. Doubles are counted ‘less’ than homers for obvious reasons but only 65 players in history have so many doubles.

-Aaron Nola (1,988), Jacob deGrom (1,979) and Zach Wheeler (1,937) are all chasing 2,000 strikeouts and I expect all to make it. I think Nola has likely missed his Hall of Fame chance already but the cases for deGrom (in particular) and Wheeler remain active. I think both will need a lot more than 2,000 Ks to get into Cooperstown.

-Aroldis Chapman (391) is looking to become only the 9th member of the 400 save club. Of the other members 4 are in the Hall of Fame (Mariano Rivera, Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and Billy Wagner). One (Kimbrel) is active but sputtering. One is on the ballot (Francisco Rodriguez) and the other is John Franco. I think Chapman, despite being unlikable and a journeyman, has thrown himself back into the Hall of Fame conversation. At 38 he is still going strong.

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Finally, there is one chase in particular that I am shocked is not getting more coverage. Kenley Jansen is 12 saves away from joining Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman as the third member of the 500 save club. Heck, with Jansen’s 500th save it would really become a club. On the one hand: it’s not like Kenley Jansen is particularly great anymore. He’s the closer for the Tigers but I don’t think anyone would fool themselves into believing he’s still a great reliever. He isn’t. He’s walking over 5 batters per 9 innings and he’s increasingly homer prone. His 3.90 ERA looks respectable (111 ERA+) but his 5.06 FIP looks terrible. He’s already spent time on the shelf with an injury and basically only appears in save situations of which he’s only gotten a few. He is 12-13 in save situations, although that does not include 3 blown leads with the game tied. He’s mostly saving games with more than 1 run of cushion.

That being said, in my eyes, history is history. I think if Jansen can hang on for his 500th save he’ll have punched a ticket to Cooperstown. No, Jansen is not the same man he was even a few years ago but that’s the story of many players who hang on for a milestone. Trevor Hoffman was a shell of himself for his 600th save. Craig Biggio should not have been a starter in 2007 when he got his 3,000th hit. Miguel Cabrera was a wreck for his 3,000th hit and 500th home run. Not every milestone chase occurs when a player is in their prime. The point of celebrating Jansen’s 500th save is not to say he’s great now: but to remember all the great moments that came before. I hope Kenley gets his due if and when it comes later this year, even if it’s in a Detroit uniform.

-BenjaminJ

I finally got to watch a full series from start to finish and, unlike this spring, I feel more in sync with the team now than I did previously. One thing is clear to me: the Front Office has got to fix this offense. It’s bad, and it needs help across the diamond. This has been a recurring problem for Cleveland since Francisco Lindor left in 2020: not enough offense (especially at first base and the outfield), and not enough resources (or will) to fix these issues either before the season or at the deadline. The chickens have come home to roost, and the team will need to do something before August 3rd. The weekend series against Pittsburgh shows the problems well.

The Guards Do Not Hit for Power

The Guardians hit only six extra-base hits this weekend, they were:

Saturday Afternoon: a Travis Bazzana triple
Saturday Night: a Petey Halpin double, Steven Kwan double, and a homer by Bazzana
Sunday Afternoon: a Chase DeLauter double, a Khalil Watson double

The Pirates hit 13 extra-base hits this weekend. They hit more home runs than the Guardians had XBH. This is not a new trend either. We rank dead last in the league in ISO (slugging percentage minus batting average: effectively the extra-base count for your slugging percentage), 27th in home runs (ahead of only Boston, Arizona and Milwaukee), and are dead last in hard hit percentage. And yes: it hurts that the team lost both Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez for a few weeks, but it’s not like the offense hit for much power before then either.

If we look at how the offense ranked before Jose and Angel hit the IL we ranked:

24th in ISO
24th in HR
28th in SLG
28th in Hard Hit %

The team’s lack of power was a predictable and known problem entering the season, one the Front Office did not address. Rhys Hoskins has not provided enough power to justify the playing time he’s received. He has only 9 homers on the year, with a 90 OPS+ playing as the team’s primary designated hitter, and playing first. He’s simply not the answer.

A lack of power is one thing: teams can find ways around it (the Milwaukee Brewers for instance) but the Guardians have another problem, namely…

The Guardians Don’t Get On Base Enough

The Guards came closer to matching the Pirates this weekend in getting on-base. In walks we had 7 compared to the Pirates 10. But the Pirates got more hits and got on base 39 times as opposed to the Guardians 31. That’s a closer gap than the extra-base hit deficit, but still substantial. Again, we see this in the big data as well.

The Guardians full season ranking in walk-rate is deceiving. We rank 18th in on-base percentage on the year, but we’ve fallen off a cliff since June (even before Jose and Angel hit the IL). Until June 1st we ranked 12th in on-base percentage in the league at .320, since then we rank 28th at .298. I would also add: Angel Martinez is unlikely to help our on-base percentage much since his season OBP is only .276 (and his career is only .277). The one thing Cleveland has done consistently all year is walk. We’ve averaged an above average walk rate every month this season, but this has not been enough to keep the team afloat.

If we look at the current lineup the team is generally trotting out too many poor hitters including:

DH: Rhys Hoskins: .177/.312/.359 (OPS+ 90)
C: Patrick Bailey: .218/.259/.347 (OPS+ 70)
1B:Kyle Manzardo: .210/.304/.351 (OPS+ 85)
3B: Gabriel Arias: .227/.265/.402 (OPS+ 85)
LF: Khalil Watson: .229/.256/.313 (OPS+ 60)

The bench is not filled with solid either. Here’s who Vogt could call on to replace these guys:

Daniel Schneemann: .211/.279/.331 (OPS+ 72)
David Fry: .202/.318/.372 (OPS+ 95)
Petey Halpin: .188/.212/.250 (OPS+ 30)

The only above average hitter, remarkably, is…Austin Hedges: .285/.343/.408 (OPS+ 112). I am curious how much the team views this as sustainable since Hedgie has not played that much overall given how well he’s hit compared to his peers (my gut is that this is not in any way sustainable).

Now, I do want to point out the resurgence of one player: Steven Kwan. Kwan bounced back in a big way in July batting .429/.524/.600. He was arguably our best performer this weekend racking 7 hits including a squeeze bunt single to score our only run on Sunday (he also collected a walk). He’s still posting an 83 OPS+ on the year, and he’s also not going to keep this pace up. But I am hopeful this indicates that Kwan is returning to normal. The lineup should be in a better spot once Jose comes back. Bazzana, Rocchio, Jose, CDL and Kwan make a solid core of a lineup. Yes, Patrick Bailey likely won’t hit much: but that’s a plausible start.

The question is how do we make this better.

Jose and Angel are Not Enough

Yes: Angel Martinez and Jose Ramirez will come back soon and that certainly will help. Jose Ramirez back means no more Gabriel Arias. That’s a huge upgrade even if Jose does not find his MVP form this season. Angel Martinez back means you can probably send Petey Halpin back to the minors. That helps, even if Angel Martinez is not quite as good as he was to start the year.

But the reality is both Angel and Jose are not enough to fix this lineup: the offense was not that good even before they went down to injury. We ranked 23rd in runs scored on June 14th. If the team wants to field a competitive, postseason lineup we’re going to need to either promote some players, or add someone at the deadline.

If I had my druthers the team would acquire a first baseman/designated hitter who would replace Rhys Hoskins on the club and (hopefully) relegate Kyle Manzardo to a bench role. For his career he’s better against righties than lefties although this season there’s not a noticeable platoon split. However, unlike Rhys Hoskins I can envision a future where Manzo (who is 25) develops into a valuable player for the team. I am not a huge believer, but it’s too early to give up on him. There are some potential players available who could fit the bill. Wilson Contreras has apparently nixed the idea of a trade. A few other names which come to mind:

Ty France

San Diego is in the midst of a lost season and Ty France was picked up this offseason on the cheap. After 3 bad seasons he’s bounced back this year to a .275/.335/.513 (OPS+ 133) line. He’s a lefty masher with an OPS over 1.000 on the season against southpaws, and has been better against lefties for his career. That sounds like a player who fits as a starter, who you can also let Manzardo start with against strong righties. His salary is so low even the Dolans can afford him.

Luis Arraez

Arraez does not lead the NL in hitting but he is batting over .300. He has stated a strong preference to play second base, but has experience at first. His .327/.367/.454 line is by far the best of his career. I dislike his .127 ISO, that is not what this team needs. Nor do I want the team to move Travis Bazzana off second base. However, in a market bereft of many options to improve the lineup: Arraez stands out as both affordable and available.

Nathaniel Lowe

He’s a lefty, but Lowe is posting a good season in Cincinnati. .250/.336/.465 (OPS+ 117) is not a crazy amount of offense but it would be a big improvement over Manzo or Hoskins. If we went this route: I think it would behoove us to option Kyle to AAA, and just go with Lowe for the remainder of the year. I dislike that, and that could hurt his development. However, the team needs an offensive jolt. This would provide that, it would also likely mean the team could either keep Hoskins for the duration or find an alternative to him as well.

There just isn’t much out there. Maybe if the Astros fall out of contention we could make a run at Christian Walker? Who’s bounced back from a dreadful 2025? I am not foolish enough to imagine Yordan Alvarez coming to Cleveland. Other than that, I don’t see much on the 1B/DH front, even if that makes the most sense for us to target lineup wise.

Even if we get a starter: I think we need at least one outfield bench bat. There are more of them available. The team could bring back Lane Thomas (OPS+ 117), who is mashing lefties for the Royals this year. Kansas City may be reluctant to trade him in division, and there will surely be other teams interested in him. The Reds will dangle Spencer Steer (OPS+ 109), who could fit as well. Gavin Sheets of the Padres should also be available and he’s bounced back after leaving the South Side (OPS+ 102). I wonder if the Athletics would consider trading Carlos Cortes he’s controllable but not young. This is his second year in the majors, at age 29, but he has a career 123 OPS+. While he’s under team control: I do wonder if he will age well enough to be a part of the Las Vegas A’s.

The deadline is only weeks away. The unfortunate reality is that the expanded playoffs leaves few great options for Cleveland to target. There are even fewer difference makers. If the Guards wanted a true starter they would likely need to commit to a low of dollars and years. With the 2027 season potentially in jeopardy: that’s not gonna happen. This is why you do not wait until the deadline to improve your club, some forward thinking is key.

Internal Options

Finally on the internal side the team could choose to call up top prospects Angel Genao and Rafael Velazquez. Angel Genao is torching AAA pitching, batting .311/.394/.495 in 58 games this season. Velazquez is not batting quite as well, but he’s hitting OK especially given his age. At some point the Guards will want to see both (Genao sooner than Velazquez). The question is: where are they going to play him? The obvious answer, and one that Terry Pluto hinted at in a recent podcast, is to move Travis Bazzana to the outfield and put Genao at second base (or move Rocchio to second and put Genao at short). That would give Cleveland another star prospect debut this season, and combine arguably their three most talented youngsters on the same roster.

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Unfortunately for us: that would also likely mean the end of Steven Kwan’s tenure in Cleveland. Chase DeLauter is holding down right field, I do not see the Guardians giving up on either Khalil Watson or Angel Martinez. That would mean trading Kwan and opening up a spot in left field for Travis so their top prospect can debut. I don’t like this idea, at least for 2026, but I suspect the team may trade Kwan whether they are in contention or not. It’s just how this team operates. They won’t get as much for him, but that may not matter anymore.

Regardless of what path they choose, something needs to change. This lineup is nowhere close to good enough to win a World Series as constructed.

-BenjaminJ

If you had asked me to rank the three players most likely to make the All-Star team before the season started I would have said (without batting an eye): Jose Ramirez, Cade Smith and Steven Kwan in that order. The only two multi-time All-Stars on the roster are Jose and Kwan; I rank Smith ahead of Kwan only because if not for a pitcher I shall not name…he’d have been a 2-time All-Star already. If I had to dig deeper I would have pointed at Gavin Williams, who has undeniable talent as a starter. Or Tanner Bibee. Both could make some sense.

This year the Guardians send three players to Philadelphia: Travis Bazzana (rookie All-Star), Parker Messick (rookie All-Star) and Cade Smith. Thanks to injuries Jose missed the team for only the second time in his career (there was no All-Star Game in 2020). It’s an incredible performance across the board for all three, and all three are deserving of the honor.

Cade Smith: Long Overdue

Cade was due for the honor, he was arguably baseball’s best reliever the past two seasons (he is at least in the conversation). The only reason he did not make the All-Star team is because someone was ahead of him in Cleveland’s bullpen. In 2024 and 2025 Cade Smith ranks among relievers.

1st in SO/9 and 7th in K%

1st in FIP

1st in fWAR

So why didn’t Smith get any All-Star consideration? Answer:

40th in Saves

Despite long understanding that the Save statistic is weak sauce analytically: most relievers in the All-Star Game are closers (to be fair: this is because most teams still use their best reliever in the role). Only two non-closers made the All-Star Game in 2024 and 2025. It’s simply unusual for a set-up man to out class a closer. Cade found himself in the position of ranking behind another pitcher whom people noticed far more than him, and he got relegated.

No more. Smith is the undisputed top dog in the AL in relief pitching and he is, finally, getting a spot in the limelight. This should be the first of many appearances at the All-Star Game for Smith.

Parker Messick: Consistent Dominance

Thanks to a consistent season, Messick’s ERA has never dipped above 3 for the season: Messick landed the All-Star nod. He’s been terrific from start to finish. He has only given up more than 3 runs 3times. He’s only given up more than 4 runs once (and that 5th run was unearned). He’s pitched at least 5 innings in every start. A model of consistency.

I am a little surprised Messick has received less Cy Young Award discussion. Looking at the field it’s clear that Cam Schlittler is the favorite. He leads the AL in WAR, ERA, ERA+ and WHIP. But Messick is only 0.7 bWAR behind him. That’s gotta be worth something. I am also surprised Messick is getting less Rookie of the Year talk too. Kevin McGonigle is good, no doubt. But Messick has also been very good. It’s difficult to compare starters to position players (I don’t think WAR translates as well when comparing hitters to pitchers), but Messick is at least in the conversation.

Cleveland has done well in the Cy Young voting historically, but we have not won a Rookie of the Year Award since Sandy Alomar, Jr won in 1990. It’s not as bad as other droughts but it’s on my radar. Closing out Parker thoughts: I think he’s putting up the best Cleveland starter full season since Corey Kluber in 2018 (he finished 3rd in the Cy Young race, largely due to winning 20 games). Trevor Bauer, in fewer innings, was more dominant that season. I’d rank Messick slightly ahead of Bieber and McKenzie in ‘22, and ahead of Williams last season. A truly superb performance.

Travis Bazzana: Taking Advantage of a Weak Field

In all due honesty: Travis Bazzana is out of place compared to the others on this list. He’s having a fine rookie campaign but .238/.330/.389 (OPS+ 103) isn’t that thrilling. He’s played OK defense, and he does run well (13 steals, 81.25% success rate). I am not knocking Baz: but this is not an All-Star season most years. Bazzana is here because the field is so weak. Jazz Chisholm, Jr leads second basemen in fWAR but is not on the team because of a comparatively weak bat. Ernie Clement is the starter, and it’s hard for me to argue in favor of Baz over Ernie:

Bazzana:

.238/.330/.389 (OPS+ 103), 13 SB, 7 HR

Clement:

.296/.318/.433 (OPS+ 102), 3 SB, 8 HR, 23 2B (leads the league)

They’re hitting for about the same amount of power. Baz is walking more, Clement is making more contact. Traditionalists would argue for Clement’s batting average…which I low key agree holds the edge here. I think Bazzana’s full package is a little more valuable but it’s a close call.

None of that should take away from the fact that Bazzana has held his own as a (young) rookie. No, I do not think his performance is quite as worthy as Parker or Cade’s: but it’s a solid performance none-the-less.

Brayan Rocchio: Snubbed

While I think you could debate whether Bazzana deserves the honor or not: I think Rocchio got snubbed badly. Yes, Bobby Witt, Jr deserves the starting nod. But Rocchio is arguably the second best shortstop in the AL behind the superstar. He’s a great defender (ranks 3rd according to Fangraphs defensively at short), is a solid baserunner (2nd in steals behind Witt) and is strong offensively too (OPS+ 111). In my view: Rocchio is the clear snub on Cleveland’s roster.

Some of this is due to how the All-Stars are selected. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr is the starting AL First Baseman despite arguably being more undeserving than Kyle Manzardo. There is a glut of first basemen who all got reserve nods behind him including Wilson Contreras, Ben Rice, Nick Kurtz and Japanese star Munetaka Murakami. That crowded out other players who likely deserve a nod. I think if a proper starter won the AL First Base job, Vladdy doesn’t make the team, and Rocchio might get the nod (there’s only one reserve this year).

Such is life in Major League Baseball. It’s always fun to poke around and see who may deserve the nod. As I have grown older I have become more amenable to awarding star power. Since we’re only judging the first half of the season: some players look strange in retrospect, but the stars usually perform in the end.

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Go AL!

I enjoy lots of hobbies especially during the summer. I lift weights, both for fitness and for fun. I play golf. I walk my dog. I listen to podcasts voraciously (usually while lifting weights or walking my dog). I travel both for work and for fun. I watch baseball (and write about it). I also love to play Magic: the Gathering (MTG). There is a lot that I enjoy doing, and balancing all of them is difficult for me. For years I dropped some hobbies in favor of others; in 2023 I missed an entire golf season due to an injury so I spent more time in the gym and walking (not the best year for baseball). This year I have spent a lot more time in the gym and traveling; trying to get in what I can before a big change in my life this winter.

It’s been a weird summer for me and baseball. I started the season in Australia and missed several weeks in a completely different time zone. I have also traveled a lot for work (and for fun) this summer, keeping me away from the team. My handicap has dropped a bit, so I have been eager to get on the golf course more than usual. I also got the bug to really start playing Magic again (which I had not played much in years). As a result, the only summer I watched Cleveland baseball less than this summer was 2020 when the Indians only played 60 games.

Juggling lots of hobbies is simply hard. Take the 4th of July Weekend. I found the time to get my thoughts out on our country’s 250th Birthday (a post more about hope than the Guardians), but I did not write about some of the great things happening for the club. But I spent that weekend on the beach with friends celebrating the 4th, my husband’s birthday, and another friend’s birthday. I was running around and did not have the time to watch the Guardians. The following week I went to Philadelphia for a work trip…I then had a tee time in the afternoon on Sunday, and an MTG tournament on Friday.

I feel bad I made less time for one of my favorite hobbies and find myself here at the break feeling like I need to play catch up. It’s been a weird year to mostly miss. But I am enjoying taking a full stock of where the Guards are at as the All-Star Game looms. So here are some thoughts on what has worked for the Guards and what has not so far this season.

What’s Worked: Playing the Kids

The Guardians started the year with Chase DeLauter in right field, called up Travis Bazzana early, and have also called up Franco Aleman and Parker Messick. Travis Bazzana and Parker Messick both made the All-Star team (more on this tomorrow). CDL & Baz have both found some success in Cleveland, with CDL leading the team (amongst qualified hitters) in all three triple slash lines, home runs and RBIs. He’s unequivocally been the most consistent hitter for the Guards in the first half. Here’s his full stats for reference:

.278/.345/.448 (OPS+ 122) 11 HR, 46 RBI, 16 2B

That .448 SLG does not look like much but the last time Cleveland had a qualified outfielder with a SLG that high was 2018 when Michael Brantley slugged in 143 games (his last year in Cleveland). The Guards have searched for an outfield slugger ever since Dr. Smooth left. Overall, Chase is the most exciting hitter to debut in Cleveland since Francisco Lindor in 2015. He’s delivered off the bat, playing mostly every day and (knocking on wood) only missed a little bit of time on the IL. It would be hard to have hoped for more from Chase this season.

More impressively is he’s adjusting. He started the year hot, won AL Player of the Week honors the first week of the season, and then after the home opener got ice cold. He hit the IL on June 13th with Jose but since he returned he’s batted .339/.381/.610(!), scorching hot headed into the All-Star break. The combination of starting hot, getting cold, and then adjusting is key. That’s how every season goes for regulars in the majors. Assuming health (finding a different wood table to bang) I expect CDL to lead the offense in the second half.

Travis Bazzana is currently in the ‘cold’ spell part of his debut. He started out hot, hot enough to earn the All-Star nod, but has cooled off dramatically. He’s batting only .154/.246/.212 (never a good sign when the OBP is higher than the SLG) the past 2 weeks. Since the calendar turned to June Travis has been a below average hitter (.193/.282/.341). This is to be expected: even the best hitters will go through slumps. I expect Bazzana will also break out of this and be a big part of the team’s offense in the second half.

While CDL and Baz are definitely exciting: I am most impressed with Parker Messick. He deserves at least a look for the AL Cy Young Award this year (too early to say for sure how that will pan out). But Messick ranks:

3rd in WAR
4th in ERA
4th in ERA+
7th in Innings Pitched
8th in WHIP

Parker is not a strikeout pitcher, nor is he the most elite in control, but he does a good job limiting damage. He’s been superb, the most consistent starter in our rotation…and honestly I would hand him the ball in Game 1 of any postseason series.

I also cannot leave without talking about Brayan Rocchio. He’s really stepped up too. I always preferred Rocchio to Arias, and this year he’s put it together showing us why he was one of Cleveland’s top prospects for years. He’s consistently played well and, besides a down June, been arguably the team’s steadiest presence in the lineup. No he’s not spectacular in any facet of the game (probably why he did not make the All-Star team) but he’s played well defensively, hit the ball well, he’s even came around on the basepaths after several bonehead plays in past seasons. I expected little from Rocchio: but he’s proved me wrong.

I could name others too. Joey Cantillo has solidified himself a rotation spot. Franco Aleman has been great in limited time. Khalil Watson has shown some flashes, Angel Martinez I wrote about already, and Slade Cecconi has been on a roll since he gave up 5 runs on May 2nd. Cleveland will always rely on their young players so long as the Dolans remain the owners of the team. This season several rookies and youngsters have grown and developed and it’s been great to see.

What Has Worked: the Pitching

Cleveland has used fewer starters than any team in the Majors. We entered the year with Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi, Parker Messick and Gavin Williams as our starters. We enter the break with the same rotation. That just doesn’t happen in the modern game and is a far cry from 2023 and 2024 when the team scrambled for anyone to eat up innings (including pitching the aging Carlos Carrasco long past his sell-by date). The team traded for Alex Cobb, who was clearly not healthy and signed Matt Boyd (who turned a few strong months into a rich contract from the Cubs).

The Guardians rank 5th in the AL in ERA (3rd in ERA+), 3rd in innings pitched and 1st in strikeout rate. This is not just a strong cadre of starters: the bullpen is also stout with All-Star Cade Smith (leading MLB in Saves) leading the way. I think Vogt has leaned a little too heavily on Matt Festa and Shawn Armstrong but Erik Sabrowski is awesome when healthy, Hunter Gaddis has bounced back solidly, and the team continues to find diamonds in the rough with Colin Holderman and now Franco Aleman filling in as set-up men.

Even when the team had Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez batting in the same lineup: the pitching was always this team’s backbone. I worried earlier in the year that the team lacked top of the rotation talent (and in some ways I stand by that: it’s too early in Parker’s career to assume he will keep this up, and he rarely pitches deeply into games) but anyone would take 5 solid starters. I think you could hand the ball to any of them in any postseason game and not feel terrible even if they don’t match up well against Tarik Skubal.The bullpen could use another strong arm, but it’s strong enough. This is a strong pitching staff, and I expect it will get better. Daniel Espino debuted and he’s too talented to not figure it out, and if the team makes a move: I bet it’s for a bullpen arm.

What Hasn’t Worked

Several kids have played well, but not all of them. The brief Cooper Ingle experiment in Left Field ended in disaster. Bo Naylor played so badly he got demoted and the Guards swung a trade for Patrick Bailey (arguably the best defensive catcher in baseball). Petey Halpin (OPS+ 23), Khalil Watson (OPS+ 58), and Kyle Manzardo (OPS+ 89) have all disappointed for the Guards this year. This is what happens when you rely on young players: some may hit but many (arguably most) won’t. Well, this is what we’re seeing (and no I am not saying they won’t figure it out).

There are three players whom I find most disappointing this year: Steven Kwan, Kyle Manzardo and Rhys Hoskins.

Steven Kwan has had a terrible year. He struggled offensively in the second half last year and that got worse this year. It’s almost hard to write what he’s hitting this season: .225/.322/.282. As I said about Baz above: it’s never a good sign when your OBP is higher than your SLG and, while a .322 OBP isn’t terrible it’s not good enough to justify a lineup spot. The only saving grace for Kwan is that he remains an elite defender, and plays both center and left field well. I am not sure if Kwan can win another Gold Glove but he’s been good enough to do so when on the field. I am hoping that Kwan’s recent play (a .309/.406/.418 batting line since June 22nd) is more indicative of what we can expect from Kwan in the second half. That is propped up by a .347 BABIP. Overall…Kwan’s power has simply evaporated. I hope he has figured it out.

Next is Kyle Manzardo. I was never a huge Manzardo fan, but 2025 put some of my doubts to rest. But like Kwan: Manzo has simply not hit for enough power to justify himself. In 2025 he slugged .455 with a .221 ISO. This year it’s .359 with a .144. That’s just not good enough. The only good thing I can say about it is it is ahead of Josh Naylor (who has really struggled in the first year of his extension in Seattle). Ironically Manzardo’s glove has dramatically improved and it’s the only reason his bWAR remains positive on the season. Manzo is young, and the team can’t quite give up on him: but the team needs more. I will say if the team can find a first baseman at the deadline I am not opposed to the team benching him and re-evaluating later.

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Finally we have Rhys Hoskins. Hoskins has his strengths: he’s walking a ton. More than he ever has in his career. In July he also hit some key homers. He’s not worthless. But…Rhys is best utilized as a bench bat, and he got far too much time as a starter in the first half. He was miscast as a full time DH and bluntly this team just needs more from an offseason acquisition. I like when Rhys Hoskins is my primary bench bat to provide some right handed thump off the bench. This team has used guys like that in the past (see Guyer, Brandon and Giambi, Jason). I don’t agree with bWAR: I think Hoskins has made the team better. But nobody has been our DH more than Hoskins this season! Chris Antonetti said that nobody would take an offer from them because they could not guarantee the playing time. I am sure that if they gave someone else the same playing time they are giving Rhys they’d be thrilled. My #1 pick for an upgrade at the deadline is DH. It’s a clear need that I don’t expect to get better internally.

Putting it All Together

The Guardians are in 2nd place in the AL Central effectively tied with the Chicago White Sox (of all teams). It’s been a weird season. The Guardians have a negative run differential. Their bullpen certainly helps them stay competitive and overperform. However, the team will need to play better down the stretch in order to stay in first place. The Tigers are only 6 ½ games back and have Tarik Skubal again. The White Sox really seem to have a good thing going.

But, per usual, the Guardians have found a way to field a competitive team. If I told you Jose would miss over a month (and had not played that well before he went down, by his standards) but we were still tied for first I think we’d all take it. I hope the Front Office decides to be more aggressive. In the meantime, I am on another work trip and hope to catch Cleveland’s 3 All-Stars tomorrow night.

-BenjaminJ

250 is a lot of years. That encompasses the entire history of baseball and then some. 250 is not a marker of serious success on any baseball statistic, however out of the nearly 24,000 players to ever appear in a Major League baseball game only 261 hit 250 home runs. Only 243 stole 250 bases. Only 43 won 250 games. In baseball, 250 is a lot. It’s also a lot for humans to process. 250 is well beyond a human lifetime. Nobody alive recalls the founding, but more significantly nobody alive knows someone who was alive in 1776 either. America’s birthday is now quite far out of human memory. It feels like forever ago, and in the context for us: it is a long time.

But in the long arc of history a 250th birthday is not that long. The history of England stretches back millennia, but even if we limit ourselves to the modern country its history stretches back to 1066 when William the Conqueror crossed the English Channel and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. England can fit nearly 4 250 year periods in its modern history. The modern government of China started in the 1940s, but Chinese history stretches back thousands of years. The first Chinese imperial dynasty is commonly referred to in 2070 BC. That means China can fit 16 250 stretches in it with room to spare. In the grand arc of human history: the United States finds itself in its infancy.

While I love history and love my country I struggle to find the right words or message on this historic birthday. I started this blog 4 years ago talking about the Promise of 1776. I would be lying if I felt as hopeful today as I did when I wrote my first article four years ago. It is difficult for me to fully take stock of where we are as a country on our 250th birthday.

On the one hand I feel a profound sense of despair almost every time I read the news. Since I wrote my first article the United States undeniably lost standing among our friends worldwide. Our friends abroad are not alone: Americans feel national pride less now than they have at any time in the last 25 years. Americans are not pleased with the direction our country is headed, and many are displeased with how our government represents us on a daily basis.

It would be easy, then, to write a scathing article about how we have not lived up to the Promise of 1776 that I wrote about four years ago. But that’s a sad way to run a railroad. Instead, what I want to remember today is why I love this country and nothing reminds me more of my patriotism…than baseball.

America’s Pastime

Baseball lost its status as America’s favorite sport a long time ago, but I would argue that despite this loss of stature baseball remains America’s pastime. American Football does not have the World Cup. Basketball took over Europe to a degree, and is played at the Olympics but let’s be real here: America dominates basketball. Of the 21 times basketball appeared in the Summer Olympics: America has won 17 times. It’s a global sport but its mostly an American sport.

Baseball is less like that. The World Baseball Classic is new but the United States has won only once, and only appeared in the finals 3 times. Japan is great at baseball, and Latin America is crazy for baseball. Baseball is even, slowly, seeping into other countries like Italy (which is growing under the influence of Mike Piazza) and Australia (Travis Bazzana was just the first overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft. When you think of an American sport baseball remains first among the sports which originate here.

But more than anything the traditions of going to a game just ooze Americanness to me. I never feel happier as an American than when I walk into the ballpark, order a hotdog with a beer, and then stand for the national anthem with everyone else. Peanuts, cracker jack, a hot dog and a Great Lakes Dortmunder reminds me of home like few other things in the world. The camaraderie of attending a baseball game is also quite different from other American sports.

Yes, I want my team to win whenever I show up at a game. But I think George Carlin nailed it when he described attending a baseball game as “kind of a picnic feel, tensions may run high or low but there’s generally not much unpleasantness” while in football “you can be assured that at least 27 times during a game you are capable of taking the life of another human being.” That camaraderie and togetherness of attending a baseball game feels more American to me than the confrontational vibe at a football game.

To follow a baseball team is also to endure a long and grueling season. It takes persistence and perseverance to follow a Major League Baseball team. The season starts in March and (hopefully) does not end until the leaves change in October. It’s not an event you get to show up to only once a week. It’s a grind of constant daily matches where each day you can see the incredible but also enjoy the mundane. To me persistence may define the American experience more than the explosions of a football match.

Jackie Robinson and the Value of Persistence and Inclusiveness

It is cliche, and of course Major League Baseball has made it corporate in some ways, but I find the story of Jackie Robinson to be embedded in American life. Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier is a timeless story, but it’s also a deeply American one. Robinson was a young veteran, unknown to Americans when Branch Rickey signed him away from the Kansas City Monarchs. He was not Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson who, by then, were legends despite never playing in Major League Baseball. He faced a bombardment of racism and attacks, and was unable to fight back. But…he persisted. He kept going, he persevered and the game changed around him. Larry Doby followed him in the American League and over the next few decades the game changed.

It would be unfair to say Jackie Robinson pushed the Civil Rights movement in the same way as Martin Luther King, Jr, but Jackie’s experience certainly helped the country move towards a more perfect union. The experience of America’s game integrating definitely helped set the stage for the same integration across the United States.

It also in my mind exemplifies what I view as one of America’s deepest held values: persistence. The United States is a nation of enduring and perseverant people. I find Lyndon Johnson’s words to ring for me about my country:

^{For this is what America is all about. It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and the harvest sleeping in the unplowed ground.}

We are a nation which scratches and crawls despite the challenges in front of us. We were the underdogs when we faced down the most powerful Empire in the history of the world in 1776, and then made the foolish decision to challenge them again three decades later. We survived the trials and tribulations of the Civil War and forced ourselves to overcome our own sin of slavery. We are the nation of the frontier as we settled (often after a brutal subjugation of Native Americans it must be said), and created new metropolises across deserts, mountains and canyons. We are the nation which crossed the great space frontier and today in many ways achieves the impossible.

When I think about the great American achievements they are all about perseverance. Building the Trans-Continental Railroad comes to mind: one track at a time over an entire continent but ensuring we link in the right place. Splitting the atom took a nation’s worth of scientists all coming together towards one goal. Crossing space to land a man on the moon fills a similar void. We are a nation that can achieve anything if we do it together.

Which brings me to another value I love about baseball: inclusiveness. If we compare the Cleveland Guardians roster to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Browns there’s no comparison on diversity. The Cavs and Browns are basically all Americans (one Brown, our punter, is from Australia). The Guardians come from 7 different countries (8 if you include the coaching staff). This also mirrors the American experience as America is a nation of immigrants. We are at our heart a creedal nation. As Ronald Reagan famously said: anyone can come to the United States and become an American. From any corner of the globe. Baseball, more than the other major sports leagues, has players from every corner of the globe.

When you watch a baseball game you see the entire world contributing to my favorite sport. You see Americans, Canadians, Europeans, Japanese, Latinos and now even players from Australia and Africa contributing. This is not to say the other sports have no diversity (of course they do), but I would argue that baseball is uniquely more diverse than those sports.

Baseball Gives Me Hope

In the dark hope is something you give yourself. I cannot claim that I feel as optimistic about the Promise of 1776 now as I was when I started this blog. But today, on our nation’s 250th birthday, I choose hope. Our country has been through so much already, and I refuse to believe that our current era of division will last. I find hope and inspiration in this little game that I love.

So this weekend I intend to crack open a beer, turn on Tom Hamilton, and remind myself of all the things I love about this beautiful country. Of all the things we accomplished and note how baseball reflects some of the best values that America has to offer. I hope everyone finds some joy this weekend.

Happy Independence Day.

-BenjaminJ

In December of last year I came to a conclusion: I hated how I looked. I was 33, had recently returned from a trip with my husband, and felt awful about my appearance. As a high school and college student I defined myself by my athletics. I lettered 12 times in high school and spent all four years in college as an NCAA collegiate swimmer. Working out and staying in shape was a personal life skill in my own mind.

No more, I had concluded and it needed to change. After the New Year I started a cut. At first I simply enforced my general ‘daily guideline’ for caloric intake with no other considerations. A month later I started a fitness program which gradually dramatically cut my daily caloric intake by about ⅓ while also implementing a disciplined regimen for counting my macros. Six months later and I have lost 37 ½ pounds, about 17.5% of my body weight (almost all fat). For health I learned a lot about my diet, but perhaps the most important lesson was setting myself up for success. Namely: eating a good breakfast.

To the extent I ever thought about breakfast before this cut it was limited to ensuring I drank my daily dose of caffeine and otherwise eating as few calories as possible. Otherwise, I often got my favorite pastry from my local coffee shop. In short: I set myself up, every day, for failure. My new diet called for fewer calories and, more importantly, a lot more protein. I learned quickly that if I wanted to hit my protein intake goal (when I started: 40% of my total food consumption) I had to start well. Catching up required drinking several whey protein shakes, a process which was both unpleasant and left me going to bed starving.

Where before I woke up to a tall cup of coffee and maybe a tub of (flavored) greek yogurt or a scone: now I wake up to a plate of eggs with wheat toast. I get ahead of my daily dose of protein, giving me the flexibility to adjust if life throws me a curveball. It would be hyperbolic to call breakfast the most important meal of the day (a calorie at 8 AM counts as much as a calorie at 8 PM), but it certainly helps if I know that I’m ahead when I leave the house instead of behind.

I find myself thinking of this discipline as I watch the Guards since Jose went down with a broken hamate bone last Saturday (June 13th). Watching the past three series was like voluntarily getting a tooth pulled. The Guards went to Milwaukee and got beaten soundly, appearing outmatched to arguably the best team in the National League. We then went to Houston and lost again, although we did score 8 runs on Saturday. But we left both series with an eerily similar problem: the offense simply rarely took advantage of opportunities, the starting rotation was good but not perfect, and the bullpen not the unshakable force it was when He Who Shall Not Be Named closed out the 9th inning for Cleveland. Then came the series in Chicago.

Monday’s loss was among the worst I can recall in recent memory. The offense, while not great, did its job scoring 5 runs on the night. Gavin Wiliams, while imperfect, battled through a gutsy 5 inning performance. The defense flashed some leather, and Cade Smith came in the 8th (as he had not pitched in a while) and was handed the ball again in the 9th to close out the game. A fluke double set up a heartbreaking walk off hit. Hard to blame Cade: he wasn’t supposed to go 2 innings, and the White Sox got lucky.

Not the end of the world though but…on Tuesday the team went back to its old ways. The offense scored one measly run (on a Khalil Watson home run, his first), Parker Messick was just short of perfect (and one batter short of a hard luck complete game) and the team lost 2-1. Thankfully, the team scraped a win on Wednesday to at least escape Chicago with something but even the win was painful to watch. The offense let opportunities pass it by, Cade Smith imploded again (this time it was entirely his fault), and Shawn Armstrong loaded the bases in the 10th before turning a magic trick to get out of it.

Through all of this misery one thought came to mind: thank God this team had a nice start.

The Benefit of Starting on Top

The past 9 games were bad going 3-6. Perhaps not completely disastrous but bad. It helps we play in the anemic AL Central. But thanks to the team’s strong (if not overwhelming) start we’re still (tied) for first place as of this writing. The Guards sit at 42-39, only 3 games above .500. This is not a great record, but thanks to their solid start they’re roughly tied for the 3rd best record in the American League (with the Chicago White Sox and Seattle Mariners), deeply behind only the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays. Jose is probably another 4-5 weeks away from returning, that means he’s only likely to miss about another 24 games (assuming he returns around July 25: 6 weeks from June 13th). That’s a survivable amount of time.

The Guardians’ strong start gave the team a little bit of a cushion. They can still screw it up of course, but imagine if the team had a slow start. On June 13th the Guards were 39-33. Imagine if that record was flipped (a bad start, but not an irredeemably bad start). That would put the team about where the Minnesota Twins found themselves on that same day and 6 games out of first in the division. Then the team loses Jose Ramirez and goes 3-6…with 24 more games to play without Jose Ramirez. As the team approaches the August 3rd trade deadline.

What do you think would have happened, and how likely would the front office be to address the team’s needs during that time? I think we all know the answer to those questions: the team likely flounders more and the Front Office would be far more likely to sell off assets instead of investing in the 2026 club. But we went 39-33 not 33-39, so the team can skate by for a month or so and hang with the Chicago White Sox.

Starting out well is no guarantee of success of course. Just because I ate well when I woke up does not mean I can’t fall apart later. A surprise birthday party at the office with cake can set me back. A friend needs an ear so you grab drinks after work can set you back more. The calorie at noon and the calorie right before bed counts for just as much of my diet as at breakfast. But look at what the Cleveland Guardians went through last year to win the division. 10 ½ games back of the Tigers on September 1st the team had to go 20-7 in the last month (and we needed the Tigers to do us the courtesy of playing poorly) to win. That is the equivalent of chugging 3 whey protein shakes starting at 7 to hit my protein goal and trying to stay under my calorie budget.

It’s possible but it’s really hard and leaves no room for error. No snacks to fill the stomach. No chia seeds in the shake. Just pure protein and low calories.

Still a Work in Progress

I avoided writing about the past few series because bluntly the team’s been hard to watch. The Guardians are playing some ugly baseball right now. This team is hard to watch without Jose Ramirez and Chase DeLauter. Even when they come back: this offense still needs some major help. While several young players are still doing enough to keep the team afloat: the team’s veterans, and its offseason acquisitions, are not pulling their weight.

Steven Kwan’s season is incredibly frustrating. I liked this analysis from Fangraphs on his confounding season. It is difficult to pinpoint one exact thing from him, but I wonder if Kwan’s problem is that he’s trying to be someone he’s not. It reminds me a bit of Jose Ramirez’ 2019 season when the team encouraged him to hit the ball the other way. He got better offensively once he started pulling the ball again. Kwan has, for the third season in a row, tried to add more pop to his game and this year the results are terrible. I wonder if Kwan would be better off just trying to be the scrappy player we fell in love with during his first few seasons. I won’t claim to have the answer, but he would be one of only a handful of players this century to post an OPS under .600 if he keeps playing like this all year.

Daniel Schneemann has also fallen off a cliff after a hot start (he and Angel Martinez although Angel is now hurt…this has made me more gun shy about writing about another uniform number this season). But more importantly in my eyes has been the collapse of Rhys Hoskins. An insane walk rate propped up his stats to start the season but he’s batting only .127/.238/.273 in June (and that does not include Wednesday’s 3 strikeout performance). So even his strong walk rate has disappeared as the season has left him.

Obviously the Guardians did not expect Rhys to put the offense on his back. They signed him to a non-guaranteed deal this spring for a reason. But as I wrote before the season started…expecting anything from Hoskins was always a bit silly. Hoskins turned 33, is coming off some bad injuries, and post injury was nothing more than adequate. The team obviously hoped for adequate but they’re now getting worse than Carlos Santana levels of offensive production. But Hoskins plays basically every day at DH, and he’s not hitting.

I get that the team operates on a strict budget (worse than my current cut). But limiting yourself to a minor league pickup offensively has hampered this club. Even signing a stouter option would be no guarantee of success (Austin Hays, the guy I hoped for, during the late offseason, has been just as bad): but the team required more then, and needs more now. I hope the front office recognizes this and does not just depend on Jose Ramirez being “just as good as” a mid-season acquisition before the deadline passes us by.

Thank God for that solid start.

-BenjaminJ

It started out with heartbreak. The Pride Night game against the Yankees featured just about everything you could hope for in a baseball game. Lots of back and forth scoring, terrific defense, some great pitching at crucial moments and fast paced action. It sadly did not end with a Guardians victory. The series got worse from there. We lost another heartbreaker on Tuesday despite touching up Gerrit Cole, and lost after Tim Herrin surrendered a homer to (ugh) Jazz Chisholm, Jr. To cap off a dreadful series we got clobbered on Wednesday.

Not a good start to the week.

Things improved on Friday when the Guardians welcomed Detroit to the Jake. It was a nailbiter but we edged out the Motor City Kitties 2-3 before Tarik Skubal made his return to the mount. This is when things got dicey. We beat Skubal, but at what cost? Jose Ramirez left the game with a broken hamate bone. Angel Martinez & Chase DeLauter also left the game with injuries, although neither has missed any time (yet).

Not good, a dreadful week for Cleveland baseball despite finding ourselves (as of this writing) tied with the Chicago White Sox for first place in the AL Central. Had you told me we would be in first place on June 15th I would be giddy. If you told me it would cost us a Jose Ramirez injury I would be less thrilled. Perhaps mercifully, Sunday’s game was postponed due to an impending thunderstorm. It gives the fanbase and the team an extra day to process the news.

What to do about Jose Ramirez

Look there’s no replacing Jose Ramirez. The Guardians did recall Gabriel Arias, but we have seen enough of Gabby as far as I am concerned. How Stephen Vogt will navigate the situation will be interesting. They could just play Gabriel Arias every day, or they could slide Daniel Schneemann into every day at bats. It’s really a tough call.

Thankfully a hamate injury is not the worst: Jose will be back in 6-8 weeks assuming his rehab goes well. Jose suffered a similar injury in 2024 and only missed a month, and when he returned he smacked a grand slam. Knowing Jose: he will not want to wallow on the injured list for long, although I could envision the team insisting Jose wait until they are confident he is better. 6-8 weeks could be a manageable time to survive without Jose Ramirez, especially if the AL Central remains weak (and the White Sox are without their own star).

If it were up to me: I would give most of Jose’s play time to David Fry. Fry has only played 43 games this year, and has not returned to his 2024 playoff form, but he’s hit reasonably well. In May, his best month so far, he batted .289/.373/.467 for the month. Fry has not batted well so far in June but of all the options available he’s the one I think has the most upside and best chance to perform (at least of our internal options). You could play Schneemann there against some righties to protect David as well.

The team could also provide regular playing time to Gabriel Arias but I cannot help but wonder what good that will do. Arias is on his 5th Major League campaign and has not hit well in any of them. Here’s his OPS+ by season:

2022: 87
2023: 72
2024: 71
2025: 77
2026: 88

What do we really think Arias will have figured out now after four chances to prove himself? Sometimes a young player just needs reps to figure it out. But Arias has gotten those reps, almost twice the number of reps Jose got before figuring it out in 2016. Yes Arias is young and he has a killer arm: but the team needs offense badly.

The unfortunate reality is there is no good substitute for a superstar, even one who is not playing up to his normal standards. I had hoped Jose would break out after visiting the Bronx last week, but that simply did not occur. Jose was batting only .194/.242/.323 since leaving New York with 8 strikeouts to only 2 walks. He’s simply not been the superstar we expected so far this year. But even hobbled: Jose’s 112 OPS+ is still best on the team (tied with Brayan Rocchio). I don’t think anyone on the roster can realistically replicate even Jose’s (comparatively) meager production. Maybe we’ll catch lightning in a bottle with a combination of Fry and Schnee, but I am not holding my breath. The sooner Jose gets back the better.

The Rest of the Lineup Needs Help

Which brings me to another concern: a lot of the younger guys who started out hot are cooling off. Here’s a few younger players with their OPS by month:

Chase DeLauter:

April: .830
May: .729
June: .547

Brayan Rocchio:

April: .764
May: .815
June: .558

Angel Martinez:

April: .792
May: .664
June: .670

Daniel Schneemann

April: .955
May: .417
June: .481

Travis Bazzana:

May: .874
June: .515

In short: yikes. The only hitter who’s really turned it on lately is Kyle Manzardo, but one bat simply isn’t enough (especially with Jose not playing like Jose). Steven Kwan is nearing unplayable levels of hitting incompetence. This offense badly needs a jolt. We ranked 23rd in wRC+ in the first month of the year, not great by an improvement over 2025. We ranked 14th in May, but we’re back to 26th now.

I am not writing any obituaries for the above players’ careers. I believe in the group above, especially DeLauter and Bazzana. But part of what we should have expected from this group is a lot of variability. Young players need time to find their consistent stride. We are relying on a lot of unproven talent, slumps are part of the equation. But the team should have invested more to protect their young players against pressing. They added Rhys Hoskins to lengthen the lineup and carry some of the burden, and he has been a fine bat for us, but he’s simply not strong enough to carry a lineup.

To dwell a bit on Hoskins he’s batting .185..330/.369 (97 OPS+) on the year. That’s an improvement over Carlos Santana (and he’s a solid defender too). But…he’s mostly a DH, and he’s about average offensively…and that assumes you’re prepared to believe a guy who hits below the Mendoza Line, but walks a ton is really worth what his OPS+ says. I am skeptical.

The deeper we get into the season the more confident I am that the team needs at least one more bat. Jose Ramirez will return, but hamate injuries tend to sap a player of their power. This is a lineup chronically devoid of power without Jose Ramirez. It looks worse once you realize that Chase DeLauter has only hit 2 home runs since socking 5 in the first two weeks. Hoskins was not enough.

Puzzling Moves

To close out I want to dwell a bit on some weird moves announced alongside the swap of Jose Ramirez for Gabriel Arias on the Injured List. The team designated George Valera for assignment, keeping Stuart Fairchild on the roster. Why? Fairchild is 30 years old, has barely played, and has a career OPS+ of 86 entering the season. What exactly do we think the team will get out of Stuart Fairchild? If anything the team should have DFA’d Fairchild and called up Valera. Valera is hardly setting Columbus on fire but his .784 OPS in Columbus would lead the team if replicated in Cleveland (which I am not saying would happen). Certainly neither Valera nor Fairchild would be my first choices to help bolster this offense, but if I had to pick between the two I’d pick Valera.

The other was the team traded Nolan Jones to the White Sox for cash. The weirdness of this move is not that they traded Jones now, it’s that they signed him at all in the first place. Remember the team tendered Nolan Jones a contract in the offseason paying him $2M on the year. Since they DFA’d him before the season they are on the hook for his salary. Why keep Jones if they thought so little of him? No $2M is not a lot of money but that’s almost 3% of your payroll you allocated to Jones for nothing.

Neither move is going to make or break this season but it just makes you scratch your head. Clearly the team’s offensive woes have not been solved at least in the short run. You would have hoped the team would have taken the odds of slumps or offensive regression more seriously.

Moving On

I don’t want to dwell any longer on what became a miserable week for Cleveland baseball. If this is a roller coaster it’s about as bad as it gets right now. It’s the Blue Streak throwing you around painfully at the end of the ride and you realize you got duped by your roller coaster obsessed friend. Lets hope the team takes this in stride and rides it out.

-BenjaminJ

The Cleveland Indians held their first Pride event in 2014 in honor of the Gay Games, which were hosted in Cleveland that season. The first annual Pride Night came in 2022, and for many fans—myself included—it’s a fun night that genuinely makes me feel more included as a Guardians fan. I love baseball, but I admit I meet very few gay sports fans, especially baseball fans. One night a year when the gay community shows up in force is good for the community, good for the fans, and good for the game.

For decades, gay people largely lived in the shadows or, for many, deep in the closet. I’m blessed to have spent my entire life in an era where a majority of people express support for gay men and lesbians living openly and happily. But that wasn’t true for everyone. My husband will not hold my hand in public due to traumatic experiences with hateful people attacking him—and others—for being openly gay. It wasn’t long ago when being gay was dangerous in most parts of America. The Stonewall riots were only 57 years ago. Our current age is young and untested.

So even today, it’s not surprising to find people opposing Pride Night. I understand many people out there object to the Guardians hosting a Pride celebration. The objections are familiar: why is this being “shoved in their face,” or why should sexual orientation be “celebrated.” Sometimes it’s “where’s straight pride night,” or “why does it matter who you’re dating.” The reasoning goes that since there’s no overt celebration of non‑gay relationships, why should there be a night for gay relationships?

Frankly, I find these arguments infuriating at minimum and often hateful. Maybe if you don’t think about it for more than two seconds they make some sense. Frankly I think anyone arguing against Pride Night is making a bigoted argument, even if they do not realize it themselves.

Pride Night is Not Unique

Pride Night is not a unique promotion. In fact it reminds me of one of baseball’s classic promotions: Jackie Robinson Day celebrated every April 15th. MLB teams, and the Guardians, regularly host (big and small) events honoring different demographics. I did a quick review of their promotions schedule and found six major “heritage” or “community” nights the Guardians held or will hold this season:

• May 12: Asian-Pacific Islander Celebration

• May 16: Armed Services Day

• June 8: Pride Night

• July 5: Black Excellence Day (with Larry Doby Day)

• July 21: Disability Pride Day

• September 15: Noche Latina

I’ve never heard anyone complain about any of these.

Why is that? Is there something uniquely objectionable about the LGBT community? I doubt it. People object to Pride Night because of bigotry—sometimes expressed, sometimes unexpressed. Getting riled up about a single game is ridiculous.

It is immoral, in my view, to object to the Guardians promoting their brand to a specific group of people. That’s all Pride Night is: a promotion. For LGBT fans, it’s a chance to show up to a baseball game, celebrate our community, and enjoy the more open society we’re lucky enough to live in. Nothing more. If you don’t want to see rainbows—or homos—here’s a simple solution: don’t watch.

As for the “why isn’t there a Straight Pride Night” question, I think the answer is obvious if you remember the kiss cam. I’m old enough to remember when the kiss cam was a regular occurrence. It’s mostly gone now. But back then, the camera always highlighted straight couples. Straight couples have always been able to kiss, hold hands, bring their families, and be themselves at the ballpark without anyone questioning it. Nobody objects to that—not me, not anyone I know. Pride is just the one night a year when LGBT folks get to do the same thing together, openly.

At the end of the day the Cleveland Guardians Pride Night is nothing more than a promotion. A chance for the Guardians to market their product to a specific group of people.

Pride as Marketing

The Cleveland Guardians are a business, and their business is selling entertainment. Ticket revenue isn’t MLB’s biggest revenue stream anymore, but it’s still significant. Look at any team’s history and you’ll find countless examples of promotions designed to get fans into the ballpark. We see them every season.

When I read No Money, No Beer, No Pennants, a book about the Depression‑era Cleveland Indians, the author regularly referenced Ladies Nights used to attract extra fans to League Park and later Cleveland Stadium. Ladies Nights were a regular part of baseball promotions dating back to the 19th century. Promotions are not new. Hall of Famer Bill Veeck was famous for them, but you don’t need to dig into baseball history—just look at the Guardians’ schedule today. There are 31 promotional days the rest of this season. Pride Night is just one of them.

And let’s be clear: Pride Night is a moneymaker. The first Pride Night in 2022 wasn’t a sellout but was the fifth‑highest attended home game that season (excluding the postseason, and keep in mind 2022 was still a COVID recovery year). In 2023 it ranked 12th, in 2024 ninth, and in 2025 nineteenth. All the games after 2022 were sellouts. This year’s game is on a Monday—which I think is a strange choice—but I still expect a big crowd, even if it’s not a sellout.

Why would the Guardians want to celebrate Pride? To make money. They sell special T‑shirts or hats that usually sell out. LGBT organizations buy group tickets. And, most importantly, the promotion puts butts in seats, including fans who generally don’t attend Guardians games. Even a few marginal new fans matter.

To fans who object to Pride Night: get over it. There are 81 home games (not counting spring training or the postseason), and I doubt most fans attend even half. If Pride Night isn’t for you, don’t go. It’s no different than “Bark in the Park” for dog lovers, Disability Pride Night, Fourth of July for patriotic fans, Service Industry Nights, Armed Forces Nights, Fireworks Fridays, Dollar Dog Night, or Kids Run the Bases Sundays. If a particular promotion isn’t for you, skip it. That’s all Pride Night is.

And I’ve got news for you: gay men are one of the wealthiest demographics in the United States. It would be bad business for the Guardians to ignore that. There are dozens of games each year and only one targeting gay fans. For the Guardians this is a commercial promotion aimed at increasing revenue—nothing more.

Celebrate Pride

I am not blind to how big business uses Pride to increase revenue. This is no different to how they use Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or any other big event in the US. For me Pride is an opportunity to more greatly celebrate the community of which I am a part of, and to celebrate the progress made in America. When I was born I could not marry my husband or, frankly, safely walk down the street holding his hand. That is no longer true, and that’s worth celebrating.

It’s also worth reminding the public that our current success can be fleeting. While support for the Gay community remains strong in the US, it has slipped in recent years. But more importantly progress only lasts if we remain vigilant, and if we work tirelessly to stay on top of bigotry. Pride is an opportunity to celebrate one kind of diversity in our community, and remind all of us of our shared humanity. While the Guardians may be using that to their commercial benefit: that does not dampen the actual celebration that’s occurring this month.

I’m excited for Pride Night. It’s one of the only games my husband and I make a point of attending every year. It’s an opportunity to celebrate our community, each other, and the progress we’ve seen in our lifetimes—and to watch Guardians baseball. That’s it. If you’re at the game today, I hope to see you there. And if not, that’s fine too. Just don’t try to rain on our parade.

Happy Pride. Go Guardians.

-BenjaminJ

Short article this week, working on two other projects

I ended last week with a simple statement: I am not worried about Jose Ramirez and I pity the poor team which will face his wrath once he gets back on track. This week it happened when Jose arrived in the Bronx. Jose loves hitting in the Bronx and promptly went on a tear. In three games Jose batted .538/.538/.1000 averaging a base an at-bat, an absurd tear. Here is Jose’s stat spread for each game:

Game 1: 3-5, 3H, 3 2B, 2 RBI, 1 R
Game 2: 3-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 3 R
Game 3: 1-4, 1R, 1 SB, 1 SO

He had as many homers as he had strikeouts, and more doubles than strikeouts. Jose trampled the Yankees, and the Guards took the series (a series I did not expect us to win even with New York playing without Aaron Judge). It would be unfair to lay all the credit at the feet of Jose but he deserves a lot of it. Jose cooled off in Texas but still put together a nice night on Saturday, cranking a home run, swiping a base and taking two walks.

Jose’s overall statline still resembles his 2019 performance and not his career average since breaking out at .238/.345/.427. But I have no doubt his final numbers will creep back up to his normal range by year end. Jose still leads the American League in stolen bases, is third in doubles and eighth in walks. If this is an off year for Jose he’s doing well.

A Word on the MVP Race

Going back to Aaron Judge for a moment: Judge is out indefinitely with a hip fracture and there are rumors of potential worse problems. I am not willing to speculate on his health, but if Judge misses significant time it will open up the AL MVP race to other candidates. Here are the results the past five seasons in AL MVP voting:

2021: Shohei Ohtani
2022: Aaron Judge
2023: Shohei Ohtani
2024: Aaron Judge
2025: Aaron Judge

Heck, only one player came close to dethroning either Ohtani or Judge and that was Cal Raleigh last season after he hit 60 homers! In short it is very hard for any player to seize the MVP Award away from either player so long as they’re healthy and in their prime. This may be Judge’s first not fully healthy season since 2019. That opens the door to someone else.

So far Jose has not done enough to really place himself in the conversation for MVP. I would say Bobby Witt, Jr is leading the charge in the AL right now. Jose Ramirez falls closer to Mike Trout, both of whom are having good seasons not quite at their career norms (although in Trout’s case it represents a renaissance of sorts). If Jose can get hot, and get back on track I think he will have a chance to finally add an MVP to his trophy case. He will have to get hot to do so, his current level of play is not good enough.

Beating the Yankees

Overall this week was a mixed bag. We beat the Yankees in the Bronx, the first time we’ve won a series in New York since 2021. Even the playoff matches between Cleveland and New York: the Yankees generally win at home. They went 2-0 in 2017, 2-1 in 2022, 2-0 in 2024. When Cleveland faces the Yankees in the Bronx: the Bronx Bombers tend to win. This week’s matchups felt tilted towards the Yankees:

Tuesday, June 2nd: Cam Shlittler v Joey Cantillo

Wednesday, June 3rd: Gerrit Cole v Gavin Williams

Thursday, June 4th: Carlos Rodon v Slade Cecconi

None of those matchups favored Cleveland and the first and third favored New York (at their stages in their respective careers I’d call the Gavin v Cole matchup a draw). The Guards took 2 of 3 anyway, beating up both Shlittler and Cole on consecutive nights. Carlos Rodon pitched well, and Slade Cecconi fell apart, but the Yankees are arguably the best team in the American League (even without Aaron Judge), and Yankee Stadium provides a powerful advantage for the home team.

Bob Feller famously said he would rather beat the Yankees regularly than pitch a no-hit game. Hating the Yankees is in my blood. I grew up hating the Yankees. There’s probably no MLB team which conjures the hatred in Cleveland hearts (or frankly, the hearts of MLB fans in general) than the Yankees. It’s only 3 games on the schedule: but beating the Yankees will always bring warm feelings to my heart. The only positive note I recall from the infamously bad 2009 season was spoiling New Yankee Stadium (a game I proudly attended).

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We lost to the Rangers, but beat the Yankees. I will take that trade any year.

-BenjaminJ

If last week was the best part of the roller coaster, this week is when you get stuck upside down in the loop and lose function in your limbs as the blood drains from your head. The Guards marched into Washington and the Nats promptly greeted Tanner Bibee with a seven-run barrage, as Tanner matched a franchise record by giving up five homers in a single night. Losing to the Nationals hurts; Washington is not a great team, but compounding that by losing to Boston at home makes it worse. The Guards got clobbered on Saturday after Will Dion fell apart in the ninth, and then another bullpen implosion hampered the team again on Sunday.

Overall, not a single part of our team performed well this week. We only scored 17 runs in six games, fewer than three per game. Only two of our starting pitchers posted a quality start, although in Parker Messick’s defense, he was quite good, going five innings and giving up one run on Saturday. And the bullpen? It was a mixed bag. Cade Smith was excellent — since a slow start, Smith has arguably been the best reliever in the game — and locked down both of our wins this week, striking out five batters in two innings. The rest of the pen, though, had its ups and downs.

It does not help that the Guards have been without Erik Sabrowski since May 22.

Too Many Weak Links

The core of this bullpen, in my view, remains superb. Since April 15, Cade Smith has a FIP — a metric that estimates what your ERA “should” be based on your ability to strike out batters, avoid walks, and limit home runs — of 0.06. He leads baseball in fWAR among relievers in that span and is striking out nearly 15 batters per nine innings; only Mason Miller is striking out more. Erik Sabrowski is hurt right now, but he’s been fantastic as well, striking out nearly half the batters he faces. After a few bad outings, Hunter Gaddis also looks to have righted the ship; since April 27, he has a 3.00 ERA. I feel great about those three arms, especially the first two.

The rest of the pen is a mixed bag. I was optimistic the past few weeks, but things look dicier now. Saturday and Sunday were emblematic of the problem. In the sixth inning, with the score tied, Matt Festa came on. Last year, Festa was Vogt’s Swiss Army knife, entering in a variety of situations and performing pretty well. This year, he’s struggled, and on Saturday he walked the go-ahead run, failed to pick him off, and then gave up a double that handed over the lead, one the Sox would not relinquish. Codi Heuer limited the damage, but then big offseason acquisition Shawn Armstrong came in and gave up another run on two hits, a single and a double. I don’t want to act like either inning was a complete disaster. They weren’t. But neither Armstrong nor Festa is pitching well enough to be trusted in tight games.

The same thing happened Sunday. The Guardians finally got a lead for Tanner Bibee, and Vogt gave the ball to Collin Holderman, who’s been great so far this season. Well, he promptly walked the first batter he faced, then allowed a single. Vogt went to the lefty-lefty matchup with Tim Herrin, who fell apart. In Tim’s defense, he had Wilyer Abreu struck out, but the Guards were out of ABS challenges. Tim couldn’t limit the damage, however, giving up three runs. Heuer replaced him and could not limit the damage either. Five runs scored and ended any hope of the offense coming back.

It’s hard to overstate how important Erik Sabrowski is to this team. In an era of starters pitching less and less, you need more good arms to bridge the gap between your starter and your closer. Without Sabrowski, Vogt only has one truly strong option to bridge the middle innings: Hunter Gaddis. On the bright side, Sabrowski’s injury does not look serious, but I still think it behooves the Guards to add another arm to this bullpen.

To dwell on the bullpen’s importance a bit: think about how often our starters go more than five innings. Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee can both provide length, but our other three starters cannot, or should not, go much more than five. Since April 16, Parker Messick has gone at least six innings only once; he is also young, and the Guards should protect his arm. Slade Cecconi has gone at least six innings only twice all year and has gone fewer than five innings three times. Joey Cantillo has not gone more than six innings this year, and has only done that twice. Overall, Vogt consistently needs to piece together four innings, sometimes more, each night with his bullpen. To do that effectively, we need more arms.

Potential Fixes

I think Franco Aleman should be part of the solution. I certainly prefer him to Will Dion. Aleman has an ERA of 0.53 in Columbus as of this writing, with a WHIP under 0.500. I think he’s due for another call-up. If it were me, I would call up Aleman for this week and option Will Dion. This should be an easy swap that gives Vogt another strong setup option.

An arm to keep an eye on later this year is Daniel Espino. He’s had a whirlwind of injuries slow his ascent, but the team is hopeful that this could be the year. He’s finally healthy and pitching in Columbus, not well yet, but his talent level remains off the charts. I don’t think he’s an option for now, but I could see him coming up later this summer and impacting the bullpen.

However, there should be room for an external acquisition as well. I will admit I salivated a bit thinking about acquiring Aroldis Chapman, although he would not be my choice given his past history. I cannot deny that Chapman would fit this roster perfectly, especially with Sabrowski on the shelf. He’s a power lefty who can take the place of Tim Herrin or replace Cade Smith in the closer role, allowing Smith to resume his role as a fireman, where I prefer him anyway. At 38, Chapman remains elite, ranking in the 91st percentile in fastball velocity, with an average fastball speed of 97.1 mph. He is set to make his ninth All-Star nod and has an ERA under 0.50. He’s even under contract through 2027 for $13 million.

That might be the only thing that concerns me with Chapman, again, besides the domestic violence allegations. His $13 million salary would rank second on the roster, behind only José Ramírez. I wonder if the Dolans would cough up the money to acquire him, or even consider keeping him for next year. But Chapman has been a postseason warrior since 2016 and won another ring in 2023 with the Texas Rangers. I cannot say I fully support acquiring Chapman, and I remain disturbed by the domestic violence allegations, but there’s no arm who fits better.

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While there are other arms who could make some sense, I don’t think anyone fits as well as Chapman. Antonio Senzatela of the Rockies has thrived this season, although at 31 I am skeptical that he suddenly figured out how to pitch this well. A career ERA over 5 entering the year and now he’s working at a 1.36? I’m skeptical. Riley O’Brien of the Cardinals could fit too, and his track record is a little better, although the Cardinals are still in it. That’s another problem: there aren’t many teams out of it yet, and the ones that are all lack good arms to choose from. I keep assuming the White Sox, for instance, will fall back to the bottom of the AL Central, but they just keep winning. Assuming they do start playing toward expectations, I would love to acquire Sean Newcomb or Bryan Hudson.

José’s Slow Start

Put me in the “not concerned about José Ramírez” camp this season. Yes, he’s 33, and yes, his .228/.344/.397 batting line (OPS+ 110) is unsightly for José Ramírez. It’s weird that he’s off to this slow of a start, but there are too many lights blinking green for me to worry. He still leads the AL with 20 stolen bases, his walk rate is up and would be the second highest of his career, behind only 2018, and he’s walking more than he’s striking out. He’s hitting the ball harder, hitting more line drives, and grounding the ball less. Overall, I struggle to see what is going on to cause him to struggle.

José’s BABIP is .235, which would be a career low, compared to a career average of .278 and .282 since 2016. Baseball Savant still reckons José is a top offensive player in almost every category. His wxOBA — expected weighted on-base average — is the highest of his career at .371, compared to his actual .326, which would be his lowest since 2015. In short, while this is a slow start, I think it’s almost entirely due to bad luck. At some point, José is going to start pummeling the opposition, and I pity the poor team that faces his wrath when it happens.

-BenjaminJ

There are different ways to enjoy a roller coaster. Some people like the first big drop, think the Magnum XL 2000, where you feel weightless for a moment after a long climb up the hill. Some prefer tight transitions, like the Maverick, as the coaster zips you back and forth. Others may like the intense launch of the Top Thrill Dragster, or the wait before the Siren’s Call drops you. So if a baseball season is a roller coaster, then this past week was whatever part of the ride is your favorite. It’s the moment you run home to tell your friends what you just experienced at Cedar Point. We are past the tension, past the fear, and now we get to enjoy the fruits of success.

Everything worked for the team this week as a unit. We scored a bunch of runs, the rotation locked our opponents down, and our bullpen literally did not give up a lead all week. This is peak performance from any team, and the chef’s kiss on top of it all is that the Guards swept the Detroit Tigers, one of the favorites to win the AL Central entering the season, and the Phillies.

As of this writing, the Guards are 4 games ahead of the (checks notes) Chicago White Sox to lead the AL Central. The farther this season goes on, the more it feels like 2024, when the favorites entering the season, in that case the Minnesota Twins, fell on their face, the Guards got out in front, and never took their foot off the gas. Still, this team feels better than the 2024 unit; more well-rounded. The simultaneous growth across the entire lineup provides a lot more wiggle room for the team to succeed. We can win, in short, in multiple ways.

We can win 8-2, like we did last Monday against the Tigers, with the offense leading the way. We can win 1-0 when Gavin Williams shoves, tossing 8 shutout innings, and Kyle Manzardo finishes the game with a pinch-hit homer, like we did on Friday against the Phillies. We can squeak out a few runs, hand the ball to the bullpen, and win by a single run, like we did on Tuesday after Parker Messick struggled a bit but the combination of Colin Holderman, Erik Sabrowski, Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, and Cade Smith blanked the Tigers.

This is not the 2025 team, which basically only won when we somehow got a lead to our bullpen, which could not make a mistake. This is not the 2022 team, which scraped runs just by putting the ball in play and hoping for good things. This is not the 2024 team, which lacked almost any decent starting pitching outside of Tanner Bibee. This team feels more complete than any of them, and it’s a refreshing feeling. It does not yet feel like the 2016-18 teams; those teams felt more complete to me, with established stars across the diamond. Maybe the 2027 or ’28 team will feel more like those contenders.

Where Can We Improve?

Since the team feels more complete, the deadline also feels different from other deadlines. The past few years, every deadline felt like we had a clear and obvious need. In ’22 it was another hitter to pair with José Ramírez and Steven Kwan. In ’24 it was a front-of-the-rotation starter, or, heck, a starter we could reasonably hand the ball to in October, and a bat. In ’25 we needed a hitter more than the other two teams combined. This year it feels less clear where the team should focus its energy.

In 2025, the team only had two players on the roster with an OPS+ above 100, including the bench. They could have added a bat almost anywhere and lengthened the lineup. In 2024, we had Tanner Bibee, signed Matt Boyd, but then our third starter in the ALDS was Alex Cobb, and we had to start Gavin Williams, who finished the season with an ERA near 5. Bibee started the game on short rest because there were no better options. In 2022, like the ’25 squad, the roster desperately needed a hitter, although that need was mostly on the bench.

This year, what’s the need? The obvious reaction would be the bullpen, where we are without Emmanuel Clase. But how badly do we really need another arm? The key pieces are performing well. Cade Smith boasts a 2.55 ERA, is striking out 13 batters per 9, and has a career-low walk rate. Erik Sabrowski, if anything, looks even better with a 1.71 ERA and improved strikeout and walk rates. Colin Holderman looks good, as does Tim Herrin. Hunter Gaddis struggled out of the gate, and Shawn Armstrong was injured, but this is not a weak bullpen unit. Gaddis has not given up a run in his last 6 appearances, and I think this bullpen should get enough arms to be fine, especially if Franco Aleman and Andrew Walters are called up and perform well.

If we look under the hood a bit more, we can see some cracks. Tim Herrin has a 1.65 ERA, but his strikeout rate has dropped, and his walk rate remains problematic. I suspect his true talent level is closer to his 4.80 FIP and 1.53 WHIP than his ERA. Matt Festa remains closer to a filler reliever than a lockdown guy, and his 4.43 ERA is around his career average. Even Hunter Gaddis may be less reliable than I would like, since his FIP is over 5 as of this writing. So I can see room for another strong reliever to bolster the bullpen, preferably another lefty to pair with Erik Sabrowski.

Our rotation looks rock solid compared to past years. We rank in the top 10 in baseball in fWAR, ERA, strikeouts per 9, and innings pitched. Individually, Gavin Williams picked up right where he left off, leads baseball in innings pitched and strikeouts, is striking out even more batters than he was before, and has even reduced his walk rate. He looks like one of the top 30 pitchers in baseball. Parker Messick superficially looks even better with a sparkling 2.45 ERA. Tanner Bibee and Joey Cantillo both look strong, and I’d add that Bibee has gotten incredibly unlucky this season. The offense has only twice scored more than 4 runs for him this year, and that’s part of why he leads the AL in losses. Only Slade Cecconi has struggled, although he has looked better lately.

Like the bullpen, if you look under the hood, you can see some warning signs, although nothing is rickety enough to make me worry. Both Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo have FIPs over 4, and in Cantillo’s case it’s likely he’s outperforming his peripherals. While Gavin looks great, I do not think he quite stacks up to previous aces on Cleveland’s staff. At their best, C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Corey Kluber, and Shane Bieber were arguably the best pitchers in baseball, or at least good enough to win Cy Young Awards. I do not think either Parker Messick or Gavin Williams is quite that good. There is room in this rotation for a bona fide ace if one becomes available.

Finally, as discussed above, the lineup looks far more stout and features more above-average hitters, by OPS+, than below-average ones, and one of those below-average hitters is Steven Kwan. Perhaps the best way to decide whether we should improve the lineup is to go top to bottom and ask whether it makes sense to acquire a replacement:

Catcher: Patrick Bailey was just acquired and while he’s not hitting, the team did not acquire him for his bat. If the team wants a hitting catcher, they could just call up Cooper Ingle.

First base: Kyle Manzardo. For the season, Kyle’s stats look awful at .221/.291/.371, but he’s been hitting the ball a lot better lately at .281/.378/.656, granted in only 37 plate appearances. He is often paired with...

Designated hitter: Rhys Hoskins, who has provided some stability in the lineup and looks better than his .186 batting average thanks to a superb walk rate that has helped him to a .342 OBP. Overall, his 101 OPS+ is 18 points better than Carlos Santana’s in 2025. Of all the places the team could pursue an upgrade, I think first base/designated hitter is the most plausible. I highly doubt they give up on Manzardo, but I could see them replacing Hoskins.

Second base: Travis Bazzana. The only way the team would demote Bazzana is if he were hitting horribly. He’s not: he’s batting .271/.385/.370 and now sits in the leadoff spot. He’s here to stay.

Shortstop: Brayan Rocchio is perhaps the biggest pleasant surprise for me this year, as he finally seems to have brought it all together. A .291/.376/.418 batting line with plus defense is a superb player, and he’s actually basically tied with José Ramírez in position player bWAR.

Right field: Chase DeLauter is the best hitter in our lineup, and he is not going anywhere.

Left field: Angel Martínez is the second big pleasant surprise for me this year. I have already written about Angel, and while he still does not walk, he has come into some power. I think it’s too early to conclude that this is the real Martínez, but it’s also too early to conclude we should pursue an upgrade.

Center field: Steven Kwan has been a massive disappointment, off to the slowest start of his career. Usually batting average is not enough to draw conclusions, but Kwan is hitting below the Mendoza line, something a guy like him cannot do since he lacks the power to make up for it. Defensively, he seems fine in center, but not enough to make up for a weaker bat. He has looked a little better since Vogt dropped him in the lineup.

Bench: Daniel Schneemann has cooled off, but still looks solid as a super-utility guy. David Fry’s bat has perked up in a more part-time role. Neither are going anywhere. Austin Hedges’ bat has slumped, but he was never here for his bat. That leaves Petey Halpin on the bench, and he’s probably the weakest link on the position-player side. He can’t hit and largely just fills in as a defensive replacement.

Conclusion

So where should the team pursue upgrades? From where I sit, it’s too soon to say definitively. My gut feeling is that the team could use another bat, preferably at first base or in the outfield. At minimum, you can target someone who can replace Petey Halpin, but I would not be surprised if, by the deadline, we have greater insight into whether Kwan is going to break out of his slump or if the Angel Martínez we’ve seen so far is the real deal. I’d guess that one of those guys will be struggling, or another player could get injured.

I do think Kyle Manzardo will prove that the first month of the year was an aberration, but I’m skeptical that he’s a truly great hitter. Rhys Hoskins, at 33, is who he is: a slightly above-average bat. I think the team can, and should, do better than slightly above average at first base/designated hitter if at all possible. Hoskins is not part of our future, and we do not have to give up on Manzardo to make upgrades down the stretch. If I had my druthers, the Guards would target Munetaka Murakami of the White Sox. I highly doubt Chicago stays in it, but I think Murakami is the real deal. I wish we had signed him over Hoskins before the season even started.

I also think the team should acquire another reliever. The season is long, and we’re going to need to mix and match some arms to keep things fresh. I’m not as picky here: I think the team has done a great job picking up smaller relievers and turning them into weapons, like Joe Smith and Marc Rzepczynski.

Again, this is still early, but what I love about this year compared to other years is that no part of this roster seems so weak that it’s obvious we have to go out and get someone to fix it. This is not, so far, like past seasons where a huge glaring weakness will keep us from the World Series. That’s a good thing, and while I worry that means the team may forgo an acquisition at all, I prefer to enjoy the sharp-turn part of the roller-coaster ride for now. We’re in first place, it’s Memorial Day. Life is good.

-BenjaminJ

Angel Martínez earned AL Player of the Week honors last week after batting .333/.385/.875 (!) with four home runs (including a two-homer game). José Ramírez insisted last year that Martínez would be a star—fool me for doubting the future Hall of Famer. Angel has made dramatic improvements this season, boosting his batting average and on-base percentage by about 40 points while unlocking a level of power I never expected from the switch-hitter.

It would be unfair to compare Angel to José, but the parallels are easy to spot. Both are switch-hitters from the Dominican Republic, and both are breaking out at young ages (Ramírez at 23, Martínez now at 24). Both are unlocking unexpected power. That’s where the similarities end, however. José is not a free swinger like Angel, and he is (so far) the more complete player—better on the bases and in the field. It’s too early to draw firm conclusions on Angel, but it’s hard not to dream when the comparison comes so easily.

Cleveland Players Who Wore 1: 35

Some stars have worn No. 1 in Cleveland history. Tony Fernández sent the 1997 Indians to the World Series, ending the only postseason extra-inning 1–0 game in history with a majestic home run in Baltimore. Kosuke Fukudome, who came over from the Cubs to help down the stretch in 2011, briefly wore the number. Amed Rosario wore 1 for the 2022 AL Central–winning club that shocked the Yankees.

My favorite player to wear No. 1 is Casey Blake. Blake came to Cleveland as a free agent before the 2003 season. He was a late bloomer—not a star, but constantly underrated. He did nothing spectacularly, which often led to complaints. But Blake hit for a decent average, walked a fair amount, and provided some pop. Every year he was good for around 20 homers, about a .330 OBP, and solid defense at multiple positions, all while hitting wherever he was asked in the lineup.

In 2005, when the Indians nearly won the AL Central for the first time since 2001, he batted .241 with 23 homers while playing solid right field next to Grady Sizemore. In 2007, he moved to third base, hit .274, and swatted another 18 homers while continuing to play steady defense.

Blake was a classic role player—not the best player on the team, never an All-Star, but always contributing. As a kid, I remember a blog called “Dump Casey Blake” that constantly griped about his inadequacies, and in some ways I get it. Blake wasn’t an outstanding defender (though Baseball-Reference credits him with 27 fielding runs above average), he was roughly a league-average hitter (career OPS+ of 107), not a great baserunner (never even 10 steals in a season), and he didn’t play a premium defensive position (logging over 100 games at first, third, and right, but only one at shortstop or second).

Of the eight seasons in which Blake played 100 or more games, he was worth between 2 and 4 WAR in seven of them. He was about as close to the definition of an average player as you can get (his only truly above-average WAR season came in 2009 with the Dodgers). But there’s nothing wrong with an average player. Blake showed up, did his job, and helped his team win. He did it with a smile, and he had some great moments—like starting a 5-4-3 triple play, walking off the Tigers in 2007 (his second of that home stand), and hitting a memorable grand slam. We need more Casey Blakes.

Player Who Wore 1 the Longest: Bobby Avila (10 seasons)

Bobby Avila was among the earliest Mexican players to join Major League Baseball, and arguably Mexico’s first star. He led the Mexican League in hitting before coming to the states batting a superb .350/.450/.480. The Indians signed him before the 1948 season and sent him to their minor league club, the Baltimore Orioles. Avila waited until 1949 to play, unfortunately, as he missed the 1948 World Series winning club. It was not until Hall of Famer Joe Gordon went down with injury that Avila got his shot in Cleveland, but he made the most of it and in 1951, his first full season, he broke out (Joe Gordon would retire that season).

It would be unfair to call Avila an instant success: he struggled in his cup of coffee in 1949, and while his 80 games in 1950 were strong they were not quite what you saw later in his career. However, from 1951 to 1955 Avila was arguably the best second baseman in the American League batting .301/.374/.416 (OPS+ 117), capped off with a superb 1954 season where he led the league in hitting batting .341 and finishing 3rd in the MVP race* behind Larry Doby and Yogi Berra. It would be unfair to place all the credit for the Indians record breaking 1954 season: but he was as big a part of it as any player on the ‘54 club.

*In hindsight the 1954 MVP race went horribly for the Indians. Bobby Avila, Larry Doby, and Bob Lemon all received 1st place votes. Early Wynn got in on the action a bit too. If you add up all the votes that Avila, Doby and Lemon received they would have swamped Yogi Berra in the voting. Minnie Minoso probably deserved the award, but Avila was probably the best option who played for the Indians.

Here’s the thing with Avila: he was never a power hitter, but he always hit for average. In the middle of the 1954 season, when he set a career high of 15 homers, he was briefly lauded as a power hitter in the Plain Dealer. “There must be a lot of wind blowing out” Avila joked on August 15, 1954. By the end of the season: Avila would stand alone atop the American League Batting race, back when winning the batting title was almost the same as winning the MVP award.

Avila was humble in victory, calling Ted Williams the best hitter in baseball, and praised Hank Majeski (his roommate) for his offensive improvements. “Hank has done a lot for me” [Bobby] said seriously. “He helped give me confidence, worked on me to try harder, pitched lot of batting practice, Hank was the biggest reason.” With all due respect to Hank (who had a fine career) I think his explanation carries more weight: “that kid has all the natural ability in the world.” Hank told the Plain Dealer.

It would be difficult to understate how important Avila was for Mexico. Other Mexicans played in Major League Baseball, but not reached the heights Avila reached in the 1950s. As arguably the best player on one of MLB’s best teams, a batting title winner, and multiple time All-Star: Avila became a legend in Mexico. One writer who came to visit Avila was in shock when Avila was benched in his second to last season in a Cleveland uniform writing in the Orlando Evening Star:

“This is a national tragedy in Mexico, for Ah-Vee-La was the finest ballplayer to come south of the Rio Grande”

“They just pitch Avila close to the hands and nothing happens,” explains [Indians manager] Farrell who requires a right handed power hitter like a horse player needs fresh money. “The ball no longer travels when he hits it.”

It’s easy to forget Avila who spent his career with other stars. He shared a lineup with Hall of Famer Larry Doby, MVP Al Rosen, and later Rocky Colavito. The early ‘50s teams were dominated by pitching with a rotation anchored by Bob Lemon, Early Wynn and a still wily Bob Feller. But Avila was a star in his own right who shined brightly for Cleveland. It was only 5 years: but it was a heck of a 5 years.

Avila would return to Mexico in 1960 to a hero’s welcome and play one final season in the Mexican League where he returned as a star. Playing for the Mexico City Tigers .333/.480/.486, a similar line to the one he left in 1945.

Angel Martinez: Budding Superstar?

I did not believe in Angel entering the season—and in my defense, there was reason not to. He hit just .227/.277/.353 (OPS+ 76) over his first two seasons. He made contact, but without much power, lacked patience, and didn’t have a clear defensive home. Though primarily a second baseman in the minors, he was used in the outfield in Cleveland, and it didn’t go well. Baseball-Reference estimated he cost the Guardians 10 runs in the field in 2025, mostly in center field, while Baseball Savant placed him in the 26th percentile in fielding value. He’s also not a major threat on the bases, with just eight steals.

So of course, Angel has gone about changing nearly everything. He’s still a free swinger and doesn’t produce elite exit velocity, but he’s doing damage when he connects. His barrel rate sits in the 70th percentile, and he rarely whiffs (82nd percentile), allowing him to pile up hits—with power. He will almost certainly surpass last year’s home run total before the end of the month. He’s still not walking much, but that matters less when he’s putting the ball in play this often. He’s even turned himself into a solid defender, helped in part by a move to left field with Steven Kwan shifting to center.

It’s too early to know if this is sustainable, but his teammates fully believe in the transformation. “He’s starting to really believe he belongs here,” says hitting coach Grant Fink. José Ramírez has long insisted Martínez is a budding superstar, and others agree. “I’ve seen him do this in the minors for a long time,” says Brayan Rocchio. “He’s going to be a superstar.” The key difference now is the power—Angel is hitting for more of it than he ever did before.

Who knows what the future holds? I was wrong to discount him entering the season, and I hope he matches—or surpasses—Ávila’s five-year run as the best second baseman in the American League. If his teammates help him the way Hank Majeski helped Ávila, he’ll have every chance to get there.

-BenjaminJ

It’s over a quarter of the way through the season, and I still don’t quite know what to make of this roster. As of this writing, we’re 25–22 and in first place in the AL Central, ahead of the Chicago White Sox—just as we all expected. José Ramírez and Steven Kwan, the two lineup mainstays since 2022, are both hitting below their career norms…yet the offense has improved in spite of their struggles. After several years of superb bullpen performances, it’s the bullpen that’s arguably holding us back the most.

We’re not even 50 games in, so plenty will change. Still, here are some strange-but-true statistics that help explain the weirdness of the 2026 season as the weather (hopefully) finally starts heating up.

Your 2026 Cleveland Guardians Home Run Leader is…

Angel Martínez, with 8. Chase DeLauter and José Ramírez are tied for second with 6 each. Angel’s emergence as a valuable hitter is arguably the most surprising development of the season so far—and perhaps the biggest boost to the lineup. He spent most of 2025 in center field, and his 40-point jump from a 74 to a 116 OPS+ is the second-highest improvement on the team among players with at least 100 PAs (behind Daniel Schneemann’s 51-point leap).

His improvement is fairly universal, but the biggest changes—based on his Baseball Savant page—come from squaring up the ball more consistently and improving his hard-hit rate. He still swings too much and doesn’t walk much, but he’s doing far more damage when he makes contact (and he doesn’t whiff much).

That said, if you had told me before the season that Angel Martínez would lead the club in home runs at any point, I would’ve assumed the team had been wrecked by injuries or was mired in last place due to an offensive drought. His power surge in 2026 is massive—and it also highlights José’s slow start. José has had this few home runs through May 16 just three times in his career: 2017 (his breakout season), 2019 (his down year), and 2023 (a slightly off year). It’s too early to draw conclusions, but it’s been a strange offensive start for him.

Your 2026 Cleveland Guardians OBP leader is…

Rhys Hoskins at .367 (min. 100 PAs), with Chase DeLauter right behind him at .366. The difference? Hoskins is hitting under the Mendoza Line at .196.

There’s no doubt Hoskins has been useful. His OPS+ has improved from 107 to 115, and his walk rate has jumped from 11.6% to 21.3%—a mark that would be both a career high and more than 50% above his norm.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of it. He’s in the 100th percentile in walk rate. My first thought was that he might be benefiting disproportionately from ABS challenges, but that doesn’t seem to be the case—certainly not enough to explain that spike. It could be that pitchers are simply working around him, preferring to face the (perceived) weaker hitters behind him.

Or it’s just early-season weirdness. DeLauter being near the top makes sense, and Travis Bazzana may pass them both before long. Either way, this team is clearly taking advantage of the walk: Cleveland has gone from 18th in walk rate in 2025 to 3rd this season, with Hoskins a big reason why.

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Your 2026 Cleveland Guardians bullpen ERA leader is…

Tim Herrin. To be clear, after rocky starts, both Cade Smith and Erik Sabrowski have settled in. Smith leads the American League in saves, and Sabrowski leads in holds. Both are performing roughly as expected—maybe a tick below. But Herrin currently leads the bullpen with a 1.26 ERA. That doesn’t necessarily make him the best reliever in the group—but he’s been effective.

The more important takeaway is that, until recently, the rest of the bullpen hasn’t lived up to expectations. Hunter Gaddis struggled after returning from the IL, Shawn Armstrong struggled and then landed on the IL, and Matt Festa went from “solid Bryan Shaw” to “cooked Bryan Shaw.” It’s still early, and bullpen numbers are notoriously noisy, so this isn’t panic-inducing—but it is notable.

Your 2026 Cleveland Guardians Starting Pitcher leader in losses is…

Tanner Bibee, with 6—and no wins.

Pitcher win–loss record is, of course, largely meaningless. Bibee’s lack of wins says far more about run support than performance. The offense has scored more than two runs just three times in his starts—and has already been shut out twice with him on the mound. He has more losses than Slade Cecconi, despite Cecconi being clearly the least effective starter in the rotation.

Still, Cleveland’s struggles in Bibee’s starts feel more concerning than they actually are. Part of that may be role-related. The best starter in the rotation right now is probably Gavin Williams (with an eye on Parker Messick). But Bibee, not Williams, got the “ace” treatment, meaning he’s consistently facing top opposing pitchers. He’s a good starter—but I’d be surprised if he’s getting the ball in Game 1 next season.

Your 2026 Cleveland Guardians Stolen Base Leader is…

José Ramírez, with 20—leading all of baseball.

It’s easily the most steals he’s had at this point in a season. Even when he’s not driving the ball the way he typically does, he’s finding ways to impact the game. There have been countless times this year when he reaches base and the immediate thought is: he’s going. And often, he is—sometimes even taking third.

This one isn’t especially surprising, but if he keeps it up (and the only thing that might slow him down is extra-base power returning), he could become the first Cleveland player to lead the league in steals since Rajai Davis in 2016.

And that’s a nice connection, because we just celebrated the 2016 AL pennant team. If José leads the league in stolen bases, maybe we’ll be celebrating the 2026 club the same way a decade from now.

-BenjaminJ

A minor kerfuffle broke out on Twitter when the Milwaukee Brewers inducted C.C. Sabathia into their team Hall of Fame. My favorite reaction may be this tweet sent on Saturday:

As readers here know: when it comes to the National Hall of Fame I am a stickler. But Ironically I find myself taking the Brewers side on this ‘debate’ as to whether Sabathia belongs in the Milwaukee Hall of Fame.

Here’s the tension: C.C. only appeared in 18 games for the Brewers, 17 of them in the regular season and 1 in the postseason. His lone postseason start ended in disaster lasting only 3 ⅔ innings and surrendering 5 runs. The Phillies eliminated the Brewers from their first postseason appearance in decades, and that October run only lasted 4 games. The 2008 Milwaukee Brewers season, while good, is not the best for them over the course of Sabathia’s career. The Brewers made the NLCS twice before Sabathia retired, and won the NL Central twice. I grasp the incredulity: Sabathia’s time in Milwaukee was short and the end result was heartbreak.

But I think fans underestimate how much Sabathia meant to Milwaukee, and how impressive his stretch of 18 games was for the Brewers. Let me put it this way: Sabathia led the 2008 Brewers in bWAR despite only appearing in 17 regular-season games. He was more valuable than Ben Sheets, who only threw 68 more innings despite appearing in nearly twice the number of games. He was more valuable than Ryan Braun, who finished 3rd in the MVP race. Sabathia was nails for the Brewers down the stretch.

In 17 games Sabathia threw 7 complete games and 3 shutouts*. Only one pitcher has thrown 7 complete games in two seasons since 2020 (Sandy Alcantara). And remember that was 17 games. Sabathia took the ball three times on short rest at the end of the season to help Milwaukee win. He won two of those three games, posted a 0.83 ERA, struck out 21 batters, capped off by a complete game win over the division winning Chicago Cubs in Milwaukee. Overall over those 17 starts Sabathia posted a 1.65 ERA (ERA+ 255) in 130.2 IP. He finished 5th in the Cy Young Award voting and 6th in the MVP voting in half a season in the NL. Honestly, I do not think it would have been crazy to give him either award: he was that good for Milwaukee.

*If you want a complete breakdown of how good Sabathia was check out this Jolly Olive video

Sabathia almost single handedly broke Milwaukee’s curse and playoff drought. I 100% get why Milwaukee inducted him into their Hall of Fame. They are trying to claim their share of 1st ballot Hall of Famer C.C. Sabathia.

Team Hall of Fames are Different

Look, I don’t think singular performances like this should earn induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. That’s different. But team Halls of Fame, in my view, are barely followed by fans. They are mostly just an excuse to bring an old ballplayer into the stadium, sell some jerseys and give away a bobblehead. Maybe Monument Park is different for the Yankees (they are the most storied franchise in MLB history) but I think for most other teams this is not the case.

You could argue that Cooperstown is the same, and to an extent you would be correct. But the National Baseball Hall of Fame matters more, and matters in a way that a singular team Hall of Fame simply doesn’t. Players don’t make much hay on getting inducted into a team Hall of Fame, comparatively. In most cases I do not feel a team’s Hall of Fame dramatically changes how a player is viewed by generations in the future, or the public writ large. They, mostly, function as I described above: chances to say thank you to good players.

I think this is particularly true of the Cleveland Hall of Fame. From my vantage point, the Cleveland Hall of Fame is strange. Take a gander if you’d like (I would say go visit the memorial park, but I think it’s poorly kept up and poorly updated, but that’s a topic for another time). For instance Steve O’Neill is in the Cleveland Hall of Fame. Victor Martinez is not. Charlie Nagy is in the Cleveland Hall of Fame, Cliff Lee & Bartolo Colon are not. None of the great players from the 2000s, besides C.C. Sabathia, are in our Hall of Fame.

So here’s what I want to do today: I want to lay out all the ‘missing’ players in the Cleveland Hall of Fame, with a focus on some of the older players who got overlooked.

Who’s in the Cleveland Hall of Fame?

According to the Guardians website there are 45 members of the Cleveland Hall of Fame they are:

Catchers: Sandy Alomar, Jim Hegan, Steve O’Neill
First Basemen: Jim Thome*, Andre Thornton, Hal Trosky
Second Basemen: Carlos Baerga, Joe Gordon*, Nap Lajoie*

Third Basemen: Bill Bradley, Ken Keltner, Al Rosen

Shortstops: Lou Boudreau*, Ray Chapman, Joe Sewell*, Omar Vizquel

Left Field: Albert Belle, Jesse Burkett*, Joe Jackson, Charlie Jamieson
Right Field: Earl Averill*, Rocky Colavito, Elmer Flick*, Louis Sockalexis

Center Field: Kenny Lofton, Tris Speaker*

Outfield: Larry Doby*,

Pitcher: Jim Bagby, Stan Coveleski*, Bob Feller*, Wes Ferrell, Mike Garcia, Mel Harder, Addie Joss*, Bob Lemon*, Sam McDowell, Charles Nagy, Satchel Paige*, Gaylord Perry*, C.C. Sabathia*, Herb Score, Cy Young*, Early Wynn*

Manager: Mike Hargrove, Al Lopez*, Frank Robinson*

However…this list seems incomplete. For instance, where is Manny Ramirez who was inducted 2023 alongside Dale Mitchell? Clearly Manny is a member in good standing because he was on hand when they inducted C.C. Sabathia the next year.

This is part of my point that the Cleveland Hall of Fame is weird: the team barely seems to curate or care about it. They also induct members incredibly infrequently. Cleveland inducted C.C. Sabathia in 2024 and Manny Ramirez in 2023…but that came after a 7 year gap from 2016. I understand giving Tom Hamilton the podium by himself this year (and, notably, he’s in a separate Hall of Fame for non-players), but why not induct someone in 2026? It’s not like the team lacks good players to induct into their Hall of Fame.

Overall, this is an interesting collection of players. Almost every Hall of Famer who donned a Cleveland uniform at some point is in our Hall of Fame. That being said, I think this Hall of Fame is thin. Not every team had a Hall of Fame (or has one), and not every team has had one for as long as Cleveland. However, of the original AL/NL teams that have a long standing Hall of Fame (Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and St. Louis) they average 61 inductees, slightly more than Cleveland.

So today I want to talk about getting Cleveland’s Hall of Fame up to snuff. First off by adjusting the policy, and second off by suggesting a few players who belong and got overlooked.

Inductions Every Year

Let’s start with the process. Cleveland should hold an induction ceremony every season. The Cleveland Guardians have been around for over 120 years: there are plenty of worthy players you can induct, certainly at least one a season. Keep in mind, the number of eligible players and strong candidates will keep going. Cleveland often feels like they do not care about their own Hall of Fame, the entire process feels ad hoc. Here is who they have inducted since 2000:

*Indicates a National Baseball Hall of Famer

2006: Ray Chapman, Rocky Colavito, Addie Joss*, Al Lopez*, Sam McDowell, Al Rosen, Herb Score, Louis Sockalexis
2007: Jim Bagby, Mike Garcia, Charles Nagy, Andre Thornton
2008: Joe Gordon*, Mike Hargrove
2009: Sandy Alomar, Wes Ferrell
2010: Kenny Lofton
2012: Gaylord Perry*
2013: Carlos Baerga
2014: Omar Vizquel
2016: Albert Belle, Charlie Jamieson, Frank Robinson*, Jim Thome*
2023: Dale Mitchell, Manny Ramirez
2024: C.C. Sabathia*

What a weird way to run a railroad. Many of these players have waited decades for inducted, for no rhyme or reason. In fact the following players were dead when inducted: Jim Bagby, Ray Chapman, Wes Ferrell, Mike Garcia, Charlie Jamieson, Addie Joss, Al Lopez, Dale Mitchell, & Louis Sockalexis. More to the point nearly all the fans who saw them play were dead as well. I am not opposed to any of them getting inducted (in fact I think they’re all fine choices) but part of the point of doing this event is to get fans to celebrate a player they know and love. Inducting them decades after their death, and after the fans are dead, serves no purpose

The easy fix is to just hold regular inductions. This is what Cooperstown does, and what other team Hall of Fames do. The team doesn’t have to have a formal voting process, but a regular ‘hey here’s who got in this year’ is good for everyone. The model franchise for this, in my view, is the Philadelphia Phillies. They hold an induction ceremony into their Wall of Fame every season. I have not visited their team’s Hall of Fame, but I like that they hold an election every year. Here are the last few players they’ve inducted:

*Indicates a National Baseball Hall of Famer

2017: No Inductee
2018: Pat Gillick*
2018: Roy Halladay*
2019: Bobby Abreu
2020: Skipped due to Covid
2021: Manny Trillo
2022: Bake McBride
2022: Ron Reed
2023: Ruly Carpenter
2023: John Quinn
2023: Scott Rolen*
2024: David Montgomery
2025: Jimmy Rollins
2025: Ed Wade
2026: Chase Utley

I am not familiar with every player on this list, but that’s fine! The ones I am familiar with seem incredibly qualified for the Philly Hall of Fame. Furthermore, while there were some posthumous inductees here: every year had at least one living inductee. I would suggest Cleveland follow a similar model. There is no reason Cleveland could not induct somebody in 2026, in fact I would make a proposal: the Guardians should have inducted Rajai Davis into their Hall of Fame this Saturday when they release a bobblehead celebrating his Game 7 Home Run. That was a huge moment, one of the biggest in our team’s history (#2 in our history according to some), why not honor Rajai?

So if the Guardians chose to take their Hall of Fame more seriously what might that look like? I think it would look something like this: induct one living and one posthumous player a year; a player fans are familiar with and can celebrate, and one overlooked player from the distant past. Here’s my next 5 inductions:

2027: Corey Kluber & Al Smith

2027 will be the 10th anniversary of Kluber’s second Cy Young Award. Corey Kluber is the only player in team history with two Cy Young awards with the franchise. I think this is a proper time to honor Kluber who was, in my estimation, the best pitcher in franchise history (only including their time in Cleveland) since arguably Bob Feller (I do see arguments for C.C. Sabathia and Sam McDowell). Now a 2027 induction timeline is quick, however: I think Kluber is more than qualified for the team’s Hall of Fame. It should be a matter of when he gets in, not if, so why wait?

Al Smith is not a household name for Cleveland fans, and he is not the best player I could have picked. However, I think there is a moral case for Smith as he was one of the first African-American players on the team. Smith came to Cleveland from the Negro Leagues and was part of the 1954 Pennant winning club that still holds the American League record for the best in percentage in league history. It’s long past due that Smith was honored, he finished 3rd in the AL MVP vote in 1955 and while I don’t think he deserved to win he was a darned good player.

2028: Michael Brantley & Gene Bearden

To keep a theme going: 2028 is the 10th anniversary of Brantley’s last year as a Cleveland Indian. A beloved player for a decade, Dr. Smooth was a superb player for the team, making three All-Star games, winning a Silver Slugger, and finishing runner up to Mike Trout in MVP voting 2014. Brantley went on to Houston and won a World Series in 2022 (although Brantley never appeared in the series.

Gene Bearden had a weird career, he basically only had one above average season. However, he picked a hell of a year to have it: 1948. In 1948 Bearden led the AL in ERA, pitched a complete game victory over the Boston Red Sox in the tiebreaker to decide the pennant, then went on to toss a shutout in Game 3 of the World Series, and closed out Game 6 to end the Series. That’s one heck of a great season. On the 80th anniversary of the last Cleveland World Series: I think it’s time we honored this unsung hero.

2029: Grady Sizemore & Lew Fonseca

Do I need to say anything about Sizemore? He was arguably the most beloved player in Cleveland from 2005 to 2009. We felt at the time like we had a future Hall of Famer in our midst. He did it all, he stole bases, hit for power, played marvelous defense, and was incredibly good looking. Then he got injured and was never the same player again. Sizemore’s career is one of the great ‘what ifs?’ of the 2000s

Lew Fonseca is another player lost in the sands of time. But Fonseca was a great player for the 1920s Indians and one of only a handful of players in team history to ever win an MVP. In 1929 Fonseca led the league in hitting and won an MVP award. The rest of his time in a Cleveland uniform was less notable, but I think that’s enough. 2029 will be the 100th anniversary of his MVP win, I think that’s a fair year to induct him into the Cleveland Hall of Fame.

2030: Travis Hafner & Elmer Smith

I don’t have a great ‘milestone’ year for 2030, but Travis Hafner was one of the best hitters in franchise history. Pronk’s peak only lasted for a few seasons, but for a few seasons he was Jim Thome. For a few seasons he was David Ortiz. For a few seasons he was an unstoppable hitting force which struck terror in the heart of opposing pitchers. Every time I saw him bat I swore it looked way too small for him, to the point where I doubted he could actually cover the whole plate. But as a hitter he had few weaknesses and made teams pay, with gusto.

Elmer Smith was not a famous player for Cleveland, but he also hit the first grand slam in World Series history for Cleveland in the 1920 World Series. There are a few other old players I want to honor for specific milestones, so 2030 feels like as good a year as any to honor an old player who played a big part in a moment few fans recall over a century after it happened.

2031: Cliff Lee & Bobby Avila

‘31 to honor the guy who wore 31. Cliff Lee broke out in 2008 winning Cleveland a consecutive Cy Young Award. Lee did not start or end on the best terms, but he was undoubtedly a great pitcher for Cleveland over many years.

It baffles me that Bobby Avila did not get inducted earlier. He was a famous Mexican player who came to Cleveland in the 1950s and was great for the post 1948 World Series winning clubs which competed with the Yankees for dominance in the ‘50s. From 1951 to 1955 Avila hit .301, leading the league in 1954, making three All-Star teams and was a strong part of the ‘54 pennant winning club. I would have put Avila in a long time ago.

Dreaming of a Better Hall of Fame Future

There are plenty of other permutations you could go for the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame. I did not mention Victor Martinez, Jason Kipnis, Carlos Carrasco or Cody Allen. All of whom could easily fit into the team Hall of Fame. There are others who had great moments worth celebrating like Andrew Miller (2016 ALCS MVP), to say nothing of some other ‘90s greats who could get the nod like Orel Hershiser or Roberto Alomar. There are also plenty of older greats, no longer with us, who deserve overdue recognition as well.

I just want the team to put a little more effort into this, it’s an easy way to drive fan engagement, and celebrate the past without sacrificing the future.

-BenjaminJ

I found out the Guardians traded for catcher Patrick Bailey while I was walking up the sixth hole on the golf course. When I saw the news, I about stopped the round. In May, the Guardians made a trade? Not just any trade, either, but one for a starting catcher? They optioned Bo Naylor to Triple-A Columbus, and while Bailey may not start for Cleveland tonight, I’d be surprised if he isn’t the regular catcher moving forward. Bailey is a two-time Gold Glove winner and a two-time Fielding Bible Award winner, and you can make a real case that he’s the best defensive catcher in baseball.

When the news first broke, I was excited. As I sit with it a little longer, I’m more conflicted. This is a fascinating move, and I’m still digesting exactly what to make of it.

A Mea Culpa

For several seasons now, honestly since the end of 2018, I’ve criticized Cleveland’s front office for refusing to cash in prospect capital for established major league talent. Preferably, that would have meant bats for an offense that has frustrated fans for years, especially in the post-Lindor era. They clung to middle-infield depth as if it were gold, and too much of it never turned into real production (we shall see what happens with Brayan Rocchio who has turned a corner to start the season). I still think those criticisms were fair, and I still think the organization should regret not doing more in several seasons since 2018.

That criticism does not stick this season. It’s May, few MLB teams make trades this early and especially for players of the caliber of Patrick Bailey. The Guardians also sacrificed meaningful assets. Matt Wilkinson, aka “Tugboat” to fans, was our 13th ranked prospect according to Fangraphs entering the season. Wilkinson may not have been the first call up if a starter gets injured but he’s near the top…and our starting pitching depth looks thin compared to years past. The Guards also parted with the 29th overall pick in the 2026 draft which adds over $3M in money to your draft spend. The Guardians depend on the draft; the pick may wind up worth more than Wilkinson.

But what matters to me is the team saw a need on the team and, basically before anyone else, aggressively addressed it. The Guardians prize catcher defense, it’s why Roberto Perez (a superb defender) got so much runway, it’s why Austin Hedges remains on the club despite a subpar bat (well besides maybe this year), it’s why Cooper Ingle is likely not getting the call up. Bo Naylor was not cutting it behind the plate, while he’s not a terrible defensive catcher: he ain’t Patrick Bailey. He ain’t Austin Hedges, and Bo Naylor is hardly making up for it with his bat.

I recall when fans clamored for Bo Naylor when Mike Zunino batted like a wilted vegetable for half a season. He looked good in 2023 batting .237/.339/.470 (OPS+ 121) and most of us felt Bo could build off of his rookie campaign. Maybe he would not turn into his brother Josh: but a solid hitting catcher, who made strides defensively, seemed promising. Since then he’s been awful batting .192/.266/.351 (OPS+ 73). That’s bad, even at catcher. The team felt they needed a change, and they probably wanted to give their rotation (and bullpen) a bit of a boost.

Patrick Bailey can’t hit. This year he’s hitting worse than Bo, and for his career he’s mediocre batting a middling .224/.282/.329 (OPS+ 74). But Bailey is the best starting defensive catcher in the game. He won those Gold Gloves for a reason, he won two Fielding Bible Awards for a reason. Baseball Savant lists him in the 99th percentile in baseball defensively and in the 100th percentile in framing and pop time. He is a Cleveland dream catcher, even if he can’t hit.

So the Guardians swooped in and made a trade. Who knows if Tugboat pays off, if that draft pick would make a difference. The Guards are in first place in the AL Central and the American League is weak. They struck a deal to fill a need. This is not the trade I would have made, I would have preferred a more offensive minded pick to go along with Austin Hedges (who is excellent defensively). With Cooper Ingle in the pipeline (batting .408/.597/.755 in 19 games in Columbus…) I think the team could have looked elsewhere. The front office did what I wanted, not in the way I wanted, but I cannot complain about them not addressing major league needs this year.

Interesting fit

I still think the fit is a little awkward. Bailey is under club control through 2029, so this was not a short-term patch; this was a multi-year commitment behind the plate. That naturally raises questions about Cooper Ingle, who Fangraphs ranks as Cleveland’s No. 10 prospect and one of the better bats in the system.

The issue, at least from the outside, is obvious: Ingle’s bat is promising, but the defensive reviews are much less convincing. That may be the clearest explanation for why Cleveland paid this much for Bailey. If the organization does not believe Ingle can become even an average major league defensive catcher, then acquiring Bailey now becomes much easier to understand. Looking at the Fangraphs write up on Cooper Ingle from their latest prospect update they had this to say about Cooper’s defense:

It’s possible, albeit uncommon, for smaller, contact-oriented catchers to be among the top 20 guys at the position, so long as they’re excellent defenders. It’s in this area where Ingle is still lacking. His added strength (he looks like he’s added 15 pounds or so the last couple years) definitely gives him a better shot of withstanding the physical erosion created by the grind of catching, but it hasn’t helped him frame borderline pitches more skillfully. Per TruMedia data, Ingle generated -16 framing runs in 2025, which would have ranked last among big league catchers with at least 150 PA. Ingle’s average arm and quick exchange are undercut by a lack of accuracy created by his haste to get rid of the ball, and his CS% dropped to 17% in 2025. He is not so bad back there that he needs to revisit second base or an outfield corner (positions he moonlighted at in college), but it’s becoming clear that the defense piece of Ingle’s skill set is sketchy enough to round down on his profile and consider him more of a top 40 catcher rather than one in the top 20 at the position.

It also sounds as if Cleveland has liked Bailey for a while. Reporting around the trade indicates the Guardians had tried multiple times in recent years to acquire him, which suggests this was not some spur-of-the-moment reaction to Bo Naylor’s struggles. This looks more like a front office finally getting a target it has been circling for a while.

The part that still bothers me is the bat. Bailey’s offense is poor, and Cleveland’s lineup, while improved, still does not feel so overwhelming that it can casually carry a defense-only regular. The Guardians may be more capable of absorbing that profile now than in past seasons, but I still think this roster could use another bat and probably another trustworthy bullpen arm.

With all this being said: I like the trade. It makes the team better now, and provides stability to a vital defensive position, and hopefully we can unlock something with Bailey to make him a better hitter than Bo Naylor.

Next steps

Because they made this move in May, Cleveland still has time to evaluate the rest of the roster and decide what else it needs. Bailey is inexpensive and not yet in arbitration, so payroll should not be the obstacle here. If the Guardians keep playing meaningful games, I would expect them to keep looking for offensive help and relief help as the season unfolds.

The bullpen still feels like the cleanest place for another upgrade. Cleveland has a long history of finding useful relief arms, whether through bigger swings or under-the-radar additions, and this team may need another one before the deadline. We famously acquired Andrew Miller and Brad Hand at the deadline to augment teams with shaky bullpens. We less famously acquired Joe Smith in 2017 (I loved that submariner) and “Scrabble” (Marc Rzepczyski) in 2013. If the front office was willing to move this early for a catcher, that is a sign 2026 will be more aggressive.

Either way, this move says something important: the Guardians saw a flaw on a first-place club and did not pretend it could wait forever. That alone makes this trade notable, even before Bailey catches his first meaningful inning in Cleveland.

I look forward to seeing Bailey behind the plate for us moving forward, and Go Guards!

-BenjaminJ

Until the Guardians drafted Travis Bazzana in 2024, they had never picked first in the MLB Draft. By then, they were one of only seven MLB teams never to have held the No. 1 overall pick, along with the Red Sox, Reds, Rockies, Dodgers, Giants, Cardinals and Blue Jays. It never felt, at least to me, like the organization’s fate rested on Bazzana alone. The history of the No. 1 pick has changed, and the Guards took their time with Travis. While some players picked later in the draft have debuted ahead of him and already flourished (ahem: Nick Kurtz, 2025 AL Rookie of the Year), Baz so far looks worth the wait. Travis hit his first career home run Friday, so in honor of that achievement I wanted to write a little about Baz, and about #37.

Cleveland Players Who Wore 37: 36

If you had asked me before writing this whether 37 was a popular number in Cleveland history, I would have said no. I was not exactly wrong, but I underestimated how good some of the players who wore it were. Two Hall of Famers wore the number: Larry Doby and Dennis Eckersley, although Doby is much more closely associated with 14. There was also one near-Hall of Famer in Tommy John. More recently, Trevor Stephan, who posted a dominant 2022 season capped by a superb ALDS against his former club, the Yankees, wore 37. More famously, longtime closer Cody Allen wore it too, and he still holds the untainted club record for saves.

I loved Cody Allen. After years of nerve-racking ninth innings from 2006 to 2012, Allen was a breath of fresh air. After Bob Wickman got traded, and Wickman himself loved the tightrope act, Cleveland cycled through Fausto Carmona, Joe Borowski, Jensen Lewis, Masahide Kobayashi, Kerry Wood, Chris Perez, and then finally landed a dynamite closer who let you breathe for an inning instead of reaching for heart medicine, or more likely a stiff drink. For four wonderful seasons, Allen was as lockdown as any closer in the AL. From 2014 through 2017, Cody Allen ranked fifth among AL relievers in fWAR and third in saves. Not the best reliever in the league, but a darned good one. The wheels fell off in 2018, like much else in that bullpen, and he was out of the majors a year later.

Player Who Wore 37 the Longest: Jake Westbrook (9 seasons)

I have fond memories of Jake Westbrook. Never truly the ace, but always dependable. Picked up from the Yankees in the David Justice trade, he became one of the first of Cleveland’s stereotypical reclamation projects. Jake struggled in New York but found a way to flourish in Cleveland. It would be unfair to say Westbrook was ever anything more than reliable. He made an All-Star team in 2004, when he led the AL in complete games, though he did not appear in the game.

At his best, he was a strong innings-eater. In 2004 he posted a 3.38ERA in 215.2 innings. This was back when people cared less about strikeout-to-walk ratios and fastball velocity, and more about pitchability. Westbrook, whatever his other faults, usually kept his team in the game. That year he pitched at least five innings in 31 of his 33 outings, imagine that now. He pitched at least six innings 26 times. As a sinkerballer, he did not look like someone who should overtax his arm, and managers certainly treated him that way. He threw 94 pitches or more 26 times in 2004. Westbrook usually did not strike out many, or walk many, and let the defense do the work.

For three years, that formula worked. From 2004 through 2007, he was Cleveland’s most reliable pitcher besides C.C. Sabathia. He tossed more than 200 innings three times, averaged 197.3 innings per season in that stretch, posted a 4.07 ERA with a 108 ERA+, and made some really important starts when the Indians finally returned to the playoffs in 2007.

That 2007 postseason sticks out the most for me with Westbrook. In a postseason where aces C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona struggled, Westbrook and Paul Byrd stepped up. Jake’s first start was a bit of a doozy against the Yankees, but against the Red Sox he was rock solid. Game 3 might have been the high point of the season to that point. Coming off the fireworks show in Game 2, Cleveland returned home and Westbrook was exactly what the team needed. He got touched up some, but he scattered seven hits and three walks over 623 innings, with three double plays helping him escape trouble. He left in the seventh inning with a firm lead.

Then, in the most important game of the year, Westbrook showed up again. If anything, you could argue he was better, striking out five and walking only one, while again scattering nine hits, thanks in part to another three double plays, and allowing three runs. It is not Westbrook’s fault the offense could not get going. We all remember Joel Skinner holding up Kenny Lofton and Casey Blake grounding into a double play. In hindsight, that mattered a little less than we like to remember. Rafael Betancourt got torched the next inning, and the pitching staff completely unraveled.

But when the Indians called, Jake Westbrook answered. He was a reliable pitcher here for several years. His health declined, he missed much of 2008 and all of 2009, and in 2010 he made the Opening Day start, basically by default, just as he had in 2004, and then got traded to St. Louis midseason, helping bring back Corey Kluber.

Westbrook was not a star, and not the most memorable player to wear a Cleveland uniform from 2001 to 2010. But he was a cog, a player the team needed in order to succeed, even in big moments. He is the kind of pitcher Cleveland fans should remember from time to time and smile about.

Travis Bazzana and Expectations

It feels too early to write that much about Bazzana, I will have to write more about him in a few years, but he arrived with about as much hype as any Cleveland prospect I can remember. In my time as a fan, the prospects who debuted with something close to this level of hype were, in chronological order:

2009: Matt LaPorta. That did not work out. LaPorta was the “top prospect” from the Sabathia trade, and he went nowhere. I cannot recall a single big moment from his career.

2010: Carlos Santana. This might be revisionist, but I remember being very excited for Santana’s debut. He felt like the natural heir to Victor Martinez, who had just been traded. He filled a hole in the heart of Cleveland fandom, and he paid off in spades.

2015: Francisco Lindor. Arguably the biggest Cleveland prospect in decades, and still probably the biggest since. He is on his way to the Hall of Fame.

2025: Chase DeLauter. He debuted in the postseason, which was unusually aggressive, and it is too early to say for sure, but he sure is hitting to start the season.

2026: Travis Bazzana…

As of this writing, Bazzana’s start has been weird. He entered Friday, May 8, hitting .192., which is bad. It is rare that batting average tells you enough, but in this case it tells you plenty. That is not the full story, though, because weirdly he also carried a .382 on-base percentage. Only Chase DeLauter had a higher OBP on the team. Bazzana had walked seven times in only eight games, more than 20% of the time. While he was not getting rewarded for that patience with many hits, he certainly did not look overmatched.

I have no clue how Bazzana’s season will play out, let alone his career. But it will be fun to watch. And while it would be disappointing if Bazzana does not reach the heights of Lindor or José Ramírez, we should keep some perspective. Even if Baz only reaches the level of a Jake Westbrook, a player who starts games as important as Games 3 and 7 of the 2007 ALCS and performs that well, that is still a pretty good pick.

-BenjaminJ

Treat today’s post as a reset.

It feels strange trying to catch up on the Guardians this season. I missed so much at the start of the year that the whole rhythm of the season got away from me. I also missed most of this week’s games because of work, barely got to watch Travis Bazzana’s debut, and obviously haven’t had much time to write about it. In short, I’m not in midseason form. I’m barely out of spring training.

Some Kids are Performing

Coming into the season, I worried that the organization’s heavy reliance on prospects and young players would backfire, especially early. So far, that hasn’t happened. The young talent has been uneven, but several key pieces have given the lineup a much stronger foundation than it had a year ago.

Chase DeLauter has been the biggest development. He’s stayed healthy and has hit from day one, posting a .232/.325/.522 line with five home runs and a 137 wRC+ through his first 20 games. He has helped stabilize the top of the lineup in a way this club badly needed, especially after the offense spent much of 2025 feeling overly dependent on Steven Kwan getting on base and Jose Ramirez driving him in.

Now, DeLauter did cool off after his blazing start. But that’s part of the deal with young hitters, and what matters more is that he has already shown some resilience. He’s controlling the zone, making quality contact, and bringing real power to the lineup. Even better, he has looked solid in right field. Not spectacular, but steady enough to play every day in the field. This is exactly what people hoped to see, which only revives the obvious question: why didn’t the team bring him up sooner?

Angel Martinez deserves plenty of credit too. At one point, I regretted writing about Daniel Schneemann instead of Martinez, and that feeling only grew when Angel took Max Scherzer deep twice. He has cooled since then, but he still looks like one of the more encouraging developments on the roster, and Cleveland optioning George Valera to Columbus shows the club sees that too.

Then there’s Brayan Rocchio, who has seized the shortstop job. It’s too early for WAR to mean much, but he has been one of Cleveland’s most valuable position players so far, and the underlying improvement is at least partly real. His Statcast page shows a drop in whiff rate from 24.0% in 2025 to 21.5% in 2026, with zone contact also improving from 82.8% to 85.8%.

Here’s the basic before-and-after:

Rocchio through 2025:
.222/.293/.327

Rocchio in 2026:
.279/.353/.404

Usually I can point to one obvious reason for a breakout, and with Rocchio I still can’t quite do that. He isn’t suddenly crushing the ball. His hard-hit rate is basically flat, and his exit velocity is not screaming “new hitter.” But the strikeout improvement is real enough to notice, and he simply looks more comfortable at the plate. Maybe it’s a better plan. Maybe it’s better swing decisions. Maybe it’s both. I’m not fully sold yet, but it feels different, and for now that’s enough.

If Rocchio doesn’t sustain it, the internal alternatives are underwhelming. Gabriel Arias, once healthy, offers more raw power, but not much certainty. For now, DeLauter, Martinez, and Rocchio have given this lineup a much better chance to function. It no longer feels like the entire offense dies the moment Jose Ramirez makes an out.

Some Kids are Floundering

Not every young player has taken a step forward.

The biggest disappointment so far has been Kyle Manzardo. Through 18 games, he’s hitting .190/.277/.259 with one home run, a 35.4% strikeout rate, and a 60 wRC+. That is a brutal line for a primary first baseman, especially one whose value has to come from the bat.

I did not want to look at Kyle’s Baseball Savant page, nor do I recommend looking if you recently ate, but…it’s terrible:

The troubling part is that this doesn’t look like a simple small-sample fluke. Manzardo’s hard-hit rate has fallen from 43.8% in 2025 to 37.1% in 2026, and while his expected numbers are better than the actual production, they’re not exactly comforting: a .231 expected average and .387 expected slugging. The fielding has improved, which is nice, but improved defense at first base only goes so far when the bat is this light.

Bo Naylor has been even harder to watch. In 2023, Guardians fans were desperate to move on from Mike Zunino and see Bo get a real shot. When he arrived, he looked like a genuine breath of fresh air. Since then, though, the offense has cratered badly enough that any comparison to Zunino no longer feel unfair.

I find it painful to report that Bo Naylor is hitting like Mike Zunino. In 2023 Mike Zunino batted .177/.271/.306 (OPS+ 60). Bo Naylor is batting .137/.192/.205 (OPS+ 12). That’s…horrific. That’s worse than Austin Hedges after smoking a few cigars. That’s worse than Bartolo Colon and the slowest trot around the bases in baseball history. OK, that’s a slight exaggeration...but I’d rather have C.C. Sabathia bat right now than Bo Naylor. The big man batted .207/.220/.306 for his career, hardly impressive but better than what we’re getting from Bo!

Juan Brito, meanwhile, has already lost his job. The flashes with the bat were there, but the defense never looked convincing, and the club finally made the move to call up Travis Bazzana. Bazzana is still searching for his first major league hit, but he walked in his debut, has already shown patience, and looks more comfortable in the role than Brito did.

If you had told me before the season that Cleveland would get meaningful early returns from only about half of the lineup spots handed to mostly unproven players, I would have taken that deal. The Guardians have scored 131 runs through 33 games, below the league average of 136, so this still isn’t a finished offense. But it is more functional than last year’s version, and there’s at least some room for upside if Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan get going.

On Bazzana

Travis Bazzana debuted on April 28 against Tampa Bay, and as of now he’s still looking for his first major league hit. But that’s not the most important thing. He walked twice in his debut, including once in a high-leverage spot late in the game, and the early at-bats haven’t looked overmatched. For a player in his first week, that matters.

Some fans are already frustrated by how Bazzana compares to other top picks from the 2024 draft, and it’s not hard to understand why. When other highly drafted players debut earlier and produce faster, Cleveland’s deliberate development style becomes an easy target. That frustration is especially sharp because this roster still has obvious needs, and some of the players picked after Bazzana look like cleaner fits on paper. But it is still far too early to make any sweeping declaration about the pick itself.

I get it: Nick Kurtz already debuted and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award. Chase Burns looks like an ace for the Cincinnati Reds with his 2.65 ERA. Cleveland always slow walks their prospects, often to preserve as much financial control over their players as possible. But the arc of all these careers is long, and it’s too soon to tell whether Cleveland had a better option at the #1 pick than Baz.

The Division

The AL Central continues to be the gift that keeps on giving. Cleveland is 17-16 and sits in first place despite being just one game over .500, while Detroit is only a game back and the rest of the division has been underwhelming.

That doesn’t mean the Guardians are playing their best baseball yet. It does mean the path to October remains very real. If the offense is merely decent and the bullpen settles down, then my prediction of 85 wins feels more than plausible, and in this division that is more than enough to matter. With the extra Wild Cards it should be enough to at least punch a ticket to October.

-BenjaminJ