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2024 Guardians Regular Season Thread

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BimboColesHair said:
Everyone keeps talking about "what's wrong with Jose?!?!", but I haven't seen 1 person mention how differently he is being pitched this year yet.

Baseball is a game of adjustments. He's going to be fine.
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What makes you think Jose will be fine? Its not like he has a 9 year history of success year in and year out or anything like that.
 
Wham with the Right Hand said:
I vented in the game thread. Naylor swung at the first pitch four at-bats in a row and made five outs, grounding into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th. Did he really think he was going to get a fastball down the middle on the first pitch? Especially after swinging at the first pitch three times in a row?

Incredibly stupid.

He and Jose needed to get at least one run home so the Astros' automatic runner would not tie the game in the bottom of the 10th if he scored. Imagine if Kwan didn't make that catch to end the game. It probably goes to the 11th and our bullpen gets even more taxed. But Jose and Josh put up two awful at-bats with the game on the line.

In his first at-bat Naylor got ahead 2-0. He obviously expected Verlander to throw something in the zone. Wrong! Verlander threw him a fastball above the zone that Naylor chased and the result was an easy fly ball.

I see this all the time with Jose as well. They get ahead 2-0 and gear up for a big swing, thinking this one has to be a strike. It isn't and they either get themselves out chasing a bad pitch or give away a strike. It's so frustrating.
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When Josh's ultra aggressive approach works it's a thing of beauty. But when he is grounding out on the first pitch it's the most frustrating thing about this team. I'm pretty sure it was against Verlander. Don't remember the inning.... 0 outs man on first. Jose pops up first pitch. Josh GIDP first pitch. Inning over. Saved Verlander on two pitches to get out of a jam
 
Mott the Hoople said:
I hesitate to bring this up, but,,,,
Is it time to send Bo Naylor down to AAA for a while to get untracked?
Let's face it. He's not here because of his defense. He's here because he has an interesting bat. But his hitting has been way off so far.
I'm wondering with Vogt, Alomar, and Albernaz if there's too many cooks in the kitchen.
Also, would sending Bo down make Josh grumpy(er).
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If anyone have ever follow Naylor like I have every year, he’s is a notorious slow starter including last year, I think he going to be okay, now a month or so from now he still struggling we’re having another conversation……
 
The news regarding Gavin Williams throwing session and how he felt immediately afterward is encouraging.. Perhaps one of the non-lazy local media types can follow up with how Williams feels today.. and tomorrow.. a day or two after the throwing session?..

That's where the rubber meets the road..
 
Bo Naylor has really been disappointing this season.

Beyond the hitting, he’s been pretty terrible defensively and also on the base paths. I realize he’s young and he’s got one of the toughest jobs.

But I was hoping for more than .176, leading the team in strikeouts, and just 3 XBH. And all that aside it’s the lack of focus on defense/bases that really isn’t helping his cause.

So hopefully he can turn it around because we really need some impact bats after 1-4 and I was hoping he’d be one of them.
 
This O is a really hard watch when Jose and the Naylor bros are struggling at the same time. That's what we're seeing right now.

Good timing for a little home stand.
 
Lets' talk big picture. Cats44 had this comment in the Astros game thread:

1) If actual production counts, the utility guy who should be getting more at bats is Fry.

2) If winning the division is the goal...and it should be...finding at bats by sticking players where they shouldn't be...should not happen. But winning has not been the priority for the FO for at least two years.

And this from Bimbo:

And the same general rules apply for giving young guys inconsistent playing time or reps, or playing them in various positions, or sending them up and down and up and down. These are humans. They aren't names in a video game. It's hard enough to hit MLB pitching, or to get MLB hitters out, or to make MLB level defensive plays with the speed change and the added upper decks at stadiums. To not know where you are playing, when you are playing, learning a new position, etc. while all of this is going on is tough business for anyone.

The Guardians are kind of between a rock and a hard place this year because I assume winning the division is the goal, and I agree with Cats that it should be. So you want to put your most productive players on the field and that could very well mean more at-bats for Fry, who is 28, at the expense of younger players like Arias, Florial, and Brennan.

But at the same time the Guardians need to develop their young talent for the future while finding out IF they will be part of the future. The way to do that is, according to Bimbo, playing them regularly at the same position, not moving them all around the diamond, in and out of the lineup, and sending them up and down I-71.

The problem is that by giving young players the chance to play through their growing pains will almost surely cost us wins, which is in direct conflict with the goal of winning the division.

At the moment it seems like the priorities are Rocchio and Freeman. Both are playing almost every day at the same position. The guys that are in and out of the lineup but playing the same position are Florial and Brennan. And then there's Arias, who is both in and out of the lineup and playing six different positions.

It looks like they're trying to develop Arias as a guy who is comfortable playing any of the four infield positions plus right field. They want him to be able to play all those positions and not have it affect his hitting.

The question is: which is the bigger priority - winning the division or developing Freeman, Rocchio, Arias, Brennan, Bo Naylor, and Florial into productive major league players? They're trying to do both at once, but at some point won't they have to choose? Especially if Kansas City, Detroit, and Minnesota won't go away.

All these guys are to the point where more time in AAA isn't going to help them. Florial is out of options anyway.

My opinion is they should prioritize player development. Release Laureano and play Florial in right every day for a month, even if it doesn't optimize winning. We need to see what he can do; he's never had the chance to play every day in the bigs and he's out of options. I think we have a much better idea of who Will Brennan is since he came up through our system and has had 557 major league at-bats. Florial is the unknown.

Just go with Rocchio, Freeman, and Florial every day until they succeed or fail. Arias can play 3rd, short, 2nd, and 1st with Jose, Rocchio, Andres, and Josh DHing one day a week. Not ideal, but if they see Arias' future as a guy who can play every infield position, even moving between positions in a game, then they need to throw him into the deep end.

There are a little over two months until the All-Star break. By then we should know what we have in Rocchio, Freeman, and Florial. If they are not cutting it and the other Central teams are still nipping at our heels or ahead of us, we can always put Arias at short, Fry in right, and Brennan in center every day and try to win the division.

Or, if Bo is still below Mendoza, have Fry be the regular catcher, put Brennan in right, Arias at short, and trade for a center fielder.
 
People who want to send down Naylor to get his head back on straight... Who are we gonna replace him with?
 
sportscoach said:
People who want to send down Naylor to get his head back on straight... Who are we gonna replace him with?
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Don't we have enough "never gonna happen" material already on the pile? Adding Bauer, dropping Hedges, now this? Why you wanna fuel it?

It's early May!
 
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