Official Cleveland Guardians (fka Cleveland Indians) 2022 Season Thread

[Raleigh504]

Originally Posted by Chris Lyle

I still think though that the revolving door of outfielders that Francona uses and never just giving someone the job is part of the problem with the OF. Now I'm not saying any of the guys you mentioned would be great, but Francona's style does not help younger players.

Yea I am not a fan of platooning unless the two players are older vets and need the days off.

I remember Zimmer starting off great during his rookie season before injuring his shoulder sliding into first. He then couldn't stay healthy. Mercado then came up in his place and played great for a rookie, but the second year he couldn't progress.

I think Naylor could be a solid option in RF if he plays up to his potential however coming off a bad injury, I worry he may be slower now in the field and have to rely on playing 1B.

I prefer Chang at either 2B or 3B and the way he is playing, he should earn the starting spot on opening day.

Let the young guys play and see what they can do.

[JRX]

You know there are only 10 teams with a payroll under 100M, and only 4 with a payroll under 50m. At this point, the As, Pirates, Cleveland, and Bal should be threatened with contraction. Its a joke that they're all just at or below 40m. They're really the only 4 teams not trying at all. Its a shame because they've all had great runs in the past.

[LVDan]

Im curious to see how Quantrill does. I used his 2nd half success as an excuse to buy a bunch of his RC parallels for peanuts. Well, peanut shells actually. *Shrugs*

[ClevelandIC]

Originally Posted by JRX

You know there are only 10 teams with a payroll under 100M, and only 4 with a payroll under 50m. At this point, the As, Pirates, Cleveland, and Bal should be threatened with contraction. Its a joke that they're all just at or below 40m. They're really the only 4 teams not trying at all. Its a shame because they've all had great runs in the past.

I hate being a Cleveland apologist but they are very much in contention again this year. Last year their top three starters all missed multiple months and still finished 2nd in the division and a decent record until the All-Star Break when the wheels started falling off. They may not pay anybody but they're trying and will compete with what could be one the best divisions in baseball. They've done it every year for about a decade.

[JRX]

They've done well developing pitchers, but you can't tell me 37M where 18 of it are Ramirez and Bieber is trying.

[ClevelandIC]

Originally Posted by JRX

They've done well developing pitchers, but you can't tell me 37M where 18 of it are Ramirez and Bieber is trying.

Their front office is trying, ownership is not. I think Cleveland could have four top 15 cy young finishes this year if the starting 5 holds up. And Cal Quantrill could be the best of all of them.

@LVDan well done on buying. He is limited to a couple of late 2019 releases and will be on some more radars in May.

[auctionjmm]

It's hard to discuss payroll in MLB when everyone who is pre-arbitration is basically playing for peanuts regardless of how good they are. It's good clickbait to trash a team with a 39 million payroll but then you consider: Triston McKenzie, Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, Myles Straw, and Emmanuel Clase are all pre-arb. 60% of your rotation and your closer. What would be "fair market" for those guys? Bieber is only making 6 million. Franmil at 4.5 Quantrill at 2.5. You get the point. They are worth far more than 39 million in terms of talent.

The key will be whether or not the team makes the moves to sign and extend these guys. As others have said, this could be a lethal rotation for years to come. Still a solid farm system as well. That 39 million can balloon very quickly when you start paying guys what they are worth.

I'm optimistic that an 80-82 team who lost nobody of significance and dealt with injuries all year could at least be in the conversation again. When you are this young, it's hard to know just how good you might actually be.

[ScooterD]

Originally Posted by auctionjmm

It's hard to discuss payroll in MLB when everyone who is pre-arbitration is basically playing for peanuts regardless of how good they are. It's good clickbait to trash a team with a 39 million payroll but then you consider: Triston McKenzie, Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, Myles Straw, and Emmanuel Clase are all pre-arb. 60% of your rotation and your closer. What would be "fair market" for those guys? Bieber is only making 6 million. Franmil at 4.5 Quantrill at 2.5. You get the point. They are worth far more than 39 million in terms of talent.

The key will be whether or not the team makes the moves to sign and extend these guys. As others have said, this could be a lethal rotation for years to come. Still a solid farm system as well. That 39 million can balloon very quickly when you start paying guys what they are worth.

I'm optimistic that an 80-82 team who lost nobody of significance and dealt with injuries all year could at least be in the conversation again. When you are this young, it's hard to know just how good you might actually be.

Excellent point that I hadn’t considered.

[JRX]

When you have a bunch of young cheap pitching, that's the time you sign a bunch of fa position players and make a run for it. Were they even involved with any fa this offseason? Spend another 70-100m and go for it. You're telling me they couldn't have done the Correa deal because you have Rosario? Sign a 1B, etc. What exactly is the plan, extend all the starters and then have no money for pos players? They have the second lowest payroll in baseball and are 60M behind the Reds.

[asujbl]

Can we talk about the god awful "team song" that was released today? Or just ignore it since it's so stupid?

I'm good with either

[Raleigh504]

I just read they expect their payroll to get to $50MM by opening day. Hopefully that means an extension for Ramirez.

Hopefully with the young arms, they can sign some team friendly extensions with some and then get some additional assets for others they don't.

Remember how angry people were for not signing Kluber? Ended up trading him away to Texas for Clase and Deshields and so many people were pissed. Kluber has looked a shell of himself outside of the no-hitter he threw and we got one of the top 5 closers in the league. I can see a few guys on the rotation that end up having a career like Kluber (which isn't bad at all) where the money spent isn't worth it.

Cleveland staff is really the MVP because they are able to identify young talent and help them become very good players or young stars.

[Raleigh504]

Originally Posted by asujbl

Can we talk about the god awful "team song" that was released today? Or just ignore it since it's so stupid?

I'm good with either

This? Yes, not that good...

https://youtu.be/poL6M_kSNUg

[auctionjmm]

Originally Posted by JRX

When you have a bunch of young cheap pitching, that's the time you sign a bunch of fa position players and make a run for it. Were they even involved with any fa this offseason? Spend another 70-100m and go for it. You're telling me they couldn't have done the Correa deal because you have Rosario? Sign a 1B, etc. What exactly is the plan, extend all the starters and then have no money for pos players? They have the second lowest payroll in baseball and are 60M behind the Reds.

I agree with this 100% but I think we are a year too early for that. Remember, they did spend up leading to 2016 when they knew they had a run in them so there is precedent for making a few splashes when they feel they are getting close.

I think with them being so young and not knowing exactly what they have yet, it made sense to wait a year. Let's find out more about Gimenez, Chang, Rosario. Is Arias ready? Is Steven Kwan on the right trajectory to start alongside Straw? Will JRam re-sign? Can we lock up Bieber? If they can answer some of those questions and solidify a few positions, maybe sign some key extensions, then they could head into offseason with a better plan for trades and free agency. And if they really shock the world and end up in a playoff race, maybe they would advance the timeline with some deadline deals. I guess I'm okay with another year of middling if it provides clarity on what moves will be best for the long term.

[dfr52]

Originally Posted by JRX

You mean the 37M payroll isn't going to fill the seats? Another cheapskate owner that has completely ruined a franchise and decided to just bank the revenue sharing money. I remember when they set the records for sellouts. Ramirez probably gets traded this year or next. Bieber as well.

Great post, completely agree.

[mossoholic]

Originally Posted by JRX View Post
You mean the 37M payroll isn't going to fill the seats? Another cheapskate owner that has completely ruined a franchise and decided to just bank the revenue sharing money. I remember when they set the records for sellouts. Ramirez probably gets traded this year or next. Bieber as well.

Originally Posted by dfr52

Great post, completely agree.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter. Pro sports is at a point where regardless people won't stop going and watching. Changing from an all time great legendary name to a terrible name, not spending any money, not looking like contenders for the foreseeable future. Dolan is a piece of garbage. But enough people will still watch and go to games. I couldn't even begin to guess how much Indians baseball I watched on tv the last 25+ years. How many 100s of games I've been to. Went to every playoff and World Series game except for 1 since 2007. I don't plan on ever watching or going to a Guardians of the Game game. If they ever make the playoffs I will probably watch because it's playoff baseball. Not because I ever want to watch them play.

Very few people care or will change. I'm in the very small minority. If people quit going to games and stopped watching maybe it would change. If thousands of people showed up opening day to protest maybe it would help. I've never attended a protest in my life but if I knew thousands would be protesting opening day I would go and protest.

[base set]

Did the Cleveland baseball club try out their new Guardians uniforms a few times last year?

I doubt that and fully expect the Topps photoshop department got their work in early, on an S1 Guardians card I pulled today.

[Raleigh504]

So reports are Padres are trying to get J-Ram before Opening Day... they are supposedly pursuing him hard. I feel that if they can't extend him then they may trade him sooner than later

IF he were to get traded to SD, who would you want in return?
I can see CJ Abrams, an MLB level OF, and a few lower tier prospects.

[OhioPlayer]

Originally Posted by Raleigh504

So reports are Padres are trying to get J-Ram before Opening Day... they are supposedly pursuing him hard. I feel that if they can't extend him then they may trade him sooner than later

IF he were to get traded to SD, who would you want in return?
I can see CJ Abrams, an MLB level OF, and a few lower tier prospects.

I would be surprised if cj would be included.


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[Chris Lyle]

Sad when I see a guy like Meadows get traded to the Tigers for a middle infielder prospect... This front office isn't even trying...

[Chris Lyle]

Originally Posted by Raleigh504

So reports are Padres are trying to get J-Ram before Opening Day... they are supposedly pursuing him hard. I feel that if they can't extend him then they may trade him sooner than later

IF he were to get traded to SD, who would you want in return?
I can see CJ Abrams, an MLB level OF, and a few lower tier prospects.

Not sure Abrams would be involved. I think he should be. If not it better be 2 MLB Level guys and go from there.

[Chris Lyle]

Originally Posted by auctionjmm

I agree with this 100% but I think we are a year too early for that. Remember, they did spend up leading to 2016 when they knew they had a run in them so there is precedent for making a few splashes when they feel they are getting close.

I think with them being so young and not knowing exactly what they have yet, it made sense to wait a year. Let's find out more about Gimenez, Chang, Rosario. Is Arias ready? Is Steven Kwan on the right trajectory to start alongside Straw? Will JRam re-sign? Can we lock up Bieber? If they can answer some of those questions and solidify a few positions, maybe sign some key extensions, then they could head into offseason with a better plan for trades and free agency. And if they really shock the world and end up in a playoff race, maybe they would advance the timeline with some deadline deals. I guess I'm okay with another year of middling if it provides clarity on what moves will be best for the long term.

i get your point, but in those years where you have a 39M, can't they at least try to bring in someone to help the OF?

[Raleigh504]

Originally Posted by Chris Lyle

Not sure Abrams would be involved. I think he should be. If not it better be 2 MLB Level guys and go from there.

Also, we would probably need to include a Middle Infield prospect on our end because we would have way too many. I could see a lower ceiling guy getting added.

They typically do well recently in trades so I would assume if they do trade him that we would get a nice haul.

Also I heard in contrast that all this trade talk is swirling so that Cleveland will give a better offer to J-Ram instead of the 4 year 89MM offer they did before.

[Chris Lyle]

Originally Posted by Raleigh504

Also, we would probably need to include a Middle Infield prospect on our end because we would have way too many. I could see a lower ceiling guy getting added.

They typically do well recently in trades so I would assume if they do trade him that we would get a nice haul.

Also I heard in contrast that all this trade talk is swirling so that Cleveland will give a better offer to J-Ram instead of the 4 year 89MM offer they did before.

I'd be open to that. We could've traded one of those middle infield prospects probably for Meadows.

[ClevelandIC]

JRam Extended!

[asujbl]

With this year, and his 2023 option, it's basically 150 over 7 years

That's a freaking steal

Finally something good for Cleveland fans