I like it!
The minors have some similar guys:
Tyler Freeman is a singles doubles guy in AAA
George Valera is significant walker in AA
Gabriel Rodriguez is hitting 348 in High A with 7 doubles in 54 at bats [but only 2 walks]
Milan Tolentino is hitting 400 with more walks than strikeouts in Low A
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8582CHICAGO -- Start building the statue now. Josh Naylor is 5-foot-11 and weighs about 250 pounds. All he did Monday night was carry the Guardians to the most improbable victory of the season.
First Naylor pulled the Guardians into a 8-8 tie with a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning. Then he handed Cleveland a 12-9 win over the White Sox with a game-winning, two-out, three-run homer to right center field in the 11th inning at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Naylor drove in eight runs in his last three at-bats. Cleveland is 4-0 against the White Sox this season and has won eight of its last nine games.
“I never really doubted (that we could come back),” said Naylor, who returned this season after missing the final three months of last year with a fractured right leg and ankle. “It’s not over until the last out. We have a great bunch of ballplayers and we’re ready to win every day. We’re not giving up until the last out.
“This shows our fight. Our character as a team.”
After the Guardians forced extra innings by scoring six runs in the ninth, the teams traded runs in the 10th. Andres Gimenez doubled home automatic runner Ernie Clement for the Guardians, while A.J. Pollock singled home the tying run for the White Sox in the bottom of the inning to make it 9-9 against closer Emmanuel Clase.
“You think about Naylor’s two swings,” said Guardians manager Terry Francona. “That’s seven runs. Some days it’s a little harder for him to move around than other days and that’s normal. But he looks really good in the batter’s box.
“You can tell when things happen, he’s really emotional. He missed playing baseball and he missed his teammates. It means a lot to him.”
Naylor’s slam, the fifth by Cleveland this season, capped a rally that was aided by two Chicago errors. The White Sox made four errors in the game.
Gimenez started the ninth with his third home run of the season for Cleveland. Amed Rosario followed with his third hit of the night, a liner to left field. Shortstop Tim Anderson deflected Pollock’s throw to first as the ball skipped past first base and into foul territory, sending Rosario to third.
Rosario scored when Yoan Moncada mishandled Austin Hedges roller to third. Closer Liam Hendriks, who had converted his previous nine straight saves, relieved with two on and two out, but gave up a single to Owen Miller to load the bases. Naylor followed with a first-pitch slam center.
“I’m ready for every challenge,” said Naylor when asked about facing Hendriks. “We’re all ready for every challenge on this team. It doesn’t matter if it’s Nolan Ryan, we’re ready for it.”
Naylor is the first player since the RBI became offical in 1920, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs, to drive in eight or more runs from the eighth inning on.
The White Sox came close to winning it in the ninth. Nick Sandlin walked the bases loaded with two in the ninth when Jose Ramirez made a diving stop of Adam Engel’s hard grounder to third. He righted himself and made a low throw to first, where Naylor stretched and scooped the ball for the third out.
“Don’t forget about that play by Josie,” said Francona. “That was a game saver.”
Naylor pulled the Guardians to within 5-2 with a double in the eighth, but it seemed like that was Cleveland’s last gasp. Naylor is hitting .338 (23-for-68) with four homers and 21 RBI.
In the bottom of the eighth, Pollock hit a three-run homer to give Chicago a 8-2 lead. The White Sox rally was aided when Rosario, making his first start in left field since opening day, dropped a fly ball by Engel for an error to put runners on first and second with one out for lefty Anthony Gose. Pollock followed with a three-run homer.
Fans in the left field bleachers, who derisively chanted Rosario’s name in the late innings, had to be delighted. Francona, before the game, said if Rosario made a mistake in left field, he’d wear it.
“He’s going to be all right,” said Francona. “I liked the way he went back on the home run (Pollock’s homer to left).”
Anyone who watched the Guardians sweep the White Sox in a three-game series at Progressive Field in April couldn’t have been surprised by the way this game unfolded. Chicago made seven errors in the series, including five by Anderson. He made three more Monday.
Miller, with two out in the first inning and Steven Kwan aboard after a walk and a steal of second base, sent a liner to right field. It looked like a routine third out, but Chicago’s Gavin Sheets never put leather on the ball as it fell for an error. Kwan scored and Miller went to second.
The Guardians couldn’t squeeze another run out of the situation, but they had a 1-0 lead and things did not look good for Chicago.
Sometimes, however, things are not what they appear to be. Sheets quickly redeemed himself by ambushing Zach Plesac with a three-run homer in the first innning on the way to 4-1 lead.
Plesac struck out Anderson to start the first, but the rest of the inning was a mess. He hit Moncada with a pitch before retiring Jose Abreu on a fly ball to right for the second out. But instead of taking control of the inning, Plesac let it control him.
Luis Robert, who came into the game hitting .539 (7-for-13) against Plesac, singled on a 3-1 pitch to send Moncada to third. Plesac walked Yasmani Grandal on four pitches to load the bases. It prompted a visit from pitching coach Carl Willis, but things did not improve.
Plesac threw a wild pitch to score Moncada from third to tie the score at 1. Sheets made it 4-1 as he golfed a 1-2 slider over the right frield fence for his second homer of the season. Sheets came into the game hitting .400 (2-for-5) against Plesac.
Chicago right-hander Michael Kopech, making his sixth appearance against Cleveland, had no problem with the Guards. He didn’t allow a hit until Rosario singled with one out in the fifth. Rosario advanced to third on Hedge’s single to short and Anderson’s throwing error, but the next two batters went down in order.
Kopech went six innings, allowing one unearned run, while striking out seven and walking two. The six innings matched a career high done in 2018 against the Tigers.
This was Plesac’s second start against the White Sox this season. On April 21, he held Chicago to one run on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings in a 6-3 win. He struck out five and walked one.
Plesac looked like a different pitcher after the first. He allowed two hits and held Chicago scoreless through the sixth. He left in the seventh after allowing an RBI double to Anderson following Miller’s error at second that allowed Leury Garcia to reach with one out.
“This is the coolest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Plesac. “It’s special. Guys making big plays at big moments. It was erupting in the clubhouse and I’m sure it was erupting in the dugout. It was just a special game to be a part of.”
First Naylor pulled the Guardians into a 8-8 tie with a two-out grand slam in the ninth inning. Then he handed Cleveland a 12-9 win over the White Sox with a game-winning, two-out, three-run homer to right center field in the 11th inning at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Naylor drove in eight runs in his last three at-bats. Cleveland is 4-0 against the White Sox this season and has won eight of its last nine games.
“I never really doubted (that we could come back),” said Naylor, who returned this season after missing the final three months of last year with a fractured right leg and ankle. “It’s not over until the last out. We have a great bunch of ballplayers and we’re ready to win every day. We’re not giving up until the last out.
“This shows our fight. Our character as a team.”
After the Guardians forced extra innings by scoring six runs in the ninth, the teams traded runs in the 10th. Andres Gimenez doubled home automatic runner Ernie Clement for the Guardians, while A.J. Pollock singled home the tying run for the White Sox in the bottom of the inning to make it 9-9 against closer Emmanuel Clase.
“You think about Naylor’s two swings,” said Guardians manager Terry Francona. “That’s seven runs. Some days it’s a little harder for him to move around than other days and that’s normal. But he looks really good in the batter’s box.
“You can tell when things happen, he’s really emotional. He missed playing baseball and he missed his teammates. It means a lot to him.”
Naylor’s slam, the fifth by Cleveland this season, capped a rally that was aided by two Chicago errors. The White Sox made four errors in the game.
Gimenez started the ninth with his third home run of the season for Cleveland. Amed Rosario followed with his third hit of the night, a liner to left field. Shortstop Tim Anderson deflected Pollock’s throw to first as the ball skipped past first base and into foul territory, sending Rosario to third.
Rosario scored when Yoan Moncada mishandled Austin Hedges roller to third. Closer Liam Hendriks, who had converted his previous nine straight saves, relieved with two on and two out, but gave up a single to Owen Miller to load the bases. Naylor followed with a first-pitch slam center.
“I’m ready for every challenge,” said Naylor when asked about facing Hendriks. “We’re all ready for every challenge on this team. It doesn’t matter if it’s Nolan Ryan, we’re ready for it.”
Naylor is the first player since the RBI became offical in 1920, according to MLB’s Sarah Langs, to drive in eight or more runs from the eighth inning on.
The White Sox came close to winning it in the ninth. Nick Sandlin walked the bases loaded with two in the ninth when Jose Ramirez made a diving stop of Adam Engel’s hard grounder to third. He righted himself and made a low throw to first, where Naylor stretched and scooped the ball for the third out.
“Don’t forget about that play by Josie,” said Francona. “That was a game saver.”
Naylor pulled the Guardians to within 5-2 with a double in the eighth, but it seemed like that was Cleveland’s last gasp. Naylor is hitting .338 (23-for-68) with four homers and 21 RBI.
In the bottom of the eighth, Pollock hit a three-run homer to give Chicago a 8-2 lead. The White Sox rally was aided when Rosario, making his first start in left field since opening day, dropped a fly ball by Engel for an error to put runners on first and second with one out for lefty Anthony Gose. Pollock followed with a three-run homer.
Fans in the left field bleachers, who derisively chanted Rosario’s name in the late innings, had to be delighted. Francona, before the game, said if Rosario made a mistake in left field, he’d wear it.
“He’s going to be all right,” said Francona. “I liked the way he went back on the home run (Pollock’s homer to left).”
Anyone who watched the Guardians sweep the White Sox in a three-game series at Progressive Field in April couldn’t have been surprised by the way this game unfolded. Chicago made seven errors in the series, including five by Anderson. He made three more Monday.
Miller, with two out in the first inning and Steven Kwan aboard after a walk and a steal of second base, sent a liner to right field. It looked like a routine third out, but Chicago’s Gavin Sheets never put leather on the ball as it fell for an error. Kwan scored and Miller went to second.
The Guardians couldn’t squeeze another run out of the situation, but they had a 1-0 lead and things did not look good for Chicago.
Sometimes, however, things are not what they appear to be. Sheets quickly redeemed himself by ambushing Zach Plesac with a three-run homer in the first innning on the way to 4-1 lead.
Plesac struck out Anderson to start the first, but the rest of the inning was a mess. He hit Moncada with a pitch before retiring Jose Abreu on a fly ball to right for the second out. But instead of taking control of the inning, Plesac let it control him.
Luis Robert, who came into the game hitting .539 (7-for-13) against Plesac, singled on a 3-1 pitch to send Moncada to third. Plesac walked Yasmani Grandal on four pitches to load the bases. It prompted a visit from pitching coach Carl Willis, but things did not improve.
Plesac threw a wild pitch to score Moncada from third to tie the score at 1. Sheets made it 4-1 as he golfed a 1-2 slider over the right frield fence for his second homer of the season. Sheets came into the game hitting .400 (2-for-5) against Plesac.
Chicago right-hander Michael Kopech, making his sixth appearance against Cleveland, had no problem with the Guards. He didn’t allow a hit until Rosario singled with one out in the fifth. Rosario advanced to third on Hedge’s single to short and Anderson’s throwing error, but the next two batters went down in order.
Kopech went six innings, allowing one unearned run, while striking out seven and walking two. The six innings matched a career high done in 2018 against the Tigers.
This was Plesac’s second start against the White Sox this season. On April 21, he held Chicago to one run on seven hits in 6 2/3 innings in a 6-3 win. He struck out five and walked one.
Plesac looked like a different pitcher after the first. He allowed two hits and held Chicago scoreless through the sixth. He left in the seventh after allowing an RBI double to Anderson following Miller’s error at second that allowed Leury Garcia to reach with one out.
“This is the coolest game I’ve ever been a part of,” said Plesac. “It’s special. Guys making big plays at big moments. It was erupting in the clubhouse and I’m sure it was erupting in the dugout. It was just a special game to be a part of.”
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8583Four reasons besides Josh Naylor’s heroics that the Guardians were able to rally for an improbable win in Chicago
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Fans that went to bed early in Cleveland Monday night missed perhaps the biggest comeback of 2022 with the Guardians rallying for six runs in the ninth inning of a 12-9 victory against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Josh Naylor’s two home runs — a grand slam in the ninth and a three-run blast in the 11th — propelled Cleveland to its most unlikely triumph, but as Naylor was quick to point out, he would never have been in the position to win the game for the Guardians without the play of his teammates.
“I just took myself out of the equation,” Naylor said afterward. “Without (Andrés) Giménez there, my at-bat doesn’t happen. We just kept it rolling after that.”
Below are four reasons besides Naylor’s heroics that allowed Cleveland to rally from a six-run deficit in the ninth in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Andrés Giménez
Giménez opened the ninth with a solo home run to left field off White Sox reliever Tanner Banks, and added an RBI double in the 10th. In his last 10 games, the 23-year-old infielder is 15-for-38 (.395) with a 1.068 OPS, six extra-base hits and 11 RBI. He is slugging .658 since collecting his first career grand slam in Oakland on April 29, and has a batting average on balls in play of .433 with just six strikeouts in 39 plate appearances.
Chicago’s defense
Continuing a theme from the series last month at Progressive Field, the White Sox defense was an atrocity Monday with four errors, including two more by shortstop Tim Anderson. Gavin Sheets dropped a routine fly ball to left in the first that allowed Cleveland’s first run, and a botched throw from left field on a base hit allowed Amed Rosario to advance all the way to third, setting up another run in the ninth. But the biggest miscue was probably Yoan Moncada’s mishandling of a ground ball by Austin Hedges that scored Rosario and turned things over to the top of Cleveland’s lineup. The Guardians were then able to load the bases and set up Naylor’s heroics. It’s the second time this season Chicago has committed four errors in a game, also doing so April 20 in a loss to the Guardians.
José Ramírez’s glove
Ramírez went 0-for-4 with a pair of walks at the plate, but made a sensational diving stop on a smash down the third base line by Adam Engel in the bottom of the ninth to save the game and force extra innings. Chicago had scored a run against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase and threatened to walk it off with the bases loaded and the speedy Engel at the plate. But Ramírez’s snag and throw to Naylor, who stretched to pick a short-hop at first, nailed the runner by a step and kept the score tied at 8-8.
Zach Plesac
Roughed up for four runs in the first, Plesac battled through 6 1/3 innings, marking the fifth time in his six starts that he’s pitched at least five frames or more. Plesac has only received 10 runs of support on the season, including zero runs in his first two starts. “He threw one bad slider, and ask (Austin) Hedges, it was probably the only bad one he threw, it cost him some runs,” said manager Terry Francona. “But I thought by far it was his best outing. His stuff was better tonight, and because of that he didn’t have to try to reach back, and he stayed in his delivery and he commanded way better.”
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Fans that went to bed early in Cleveland Monday night missed perhaps the biggest comeback of 2022 with the Guardians rallying for six runs in the ninth inning of a 12-9 victory against the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
Josh Naylor’s two home runs — a grand slam in the ninth and a three-run blast in the 11th — propelled Cleveland to its most unlikely triumph, but as Naylor was quick to point out, he would never have been in the position to win the game for the Guardians without the play of his teammates.
“I just took myself out of the equation,” Naylor said afterward. “Without (Andrés) Giménez there, my at-bat doesn’t happen. We just kept it rolling after that.”
Below are four reasons besides Naylor’s heroics that allowed Cleveland to rally from a six-run deficit in the ninth in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Andrés Giménez
Giménez opened the ninth with a solo home run to left field off White Sox reliever Tanner Banks, and added an RBI double in the 10th. In his last 10 games, the 23-year-old infielder is 15-for-38 (.395) with a 1.068 OPS, six extra-base hits and 11 RBI. He is slugging .658 since collecting his first career grand slam in Oakland on April 29, and has a batting average on balls in play of .433 with just six strikeouts in 39 plate appearances.
Chicago’s defense
Continuing a theme from the series last month at Progressive Field, the White Sox defense was an atrocity Monday with four errors, including two more by shortstop Tim Anderson. Gavin Sheets dropped a routine fly ball to left in the first that allowed Cleveland’s first run, and a botched throw from left field on a base hit allowed Amed Rosario to advance all the way to third, setting up another run in the ninth. But the biggest miscue was probably Yoan Moncada’s mishandling of a ground ball by Austin Hedges that scored Rosario and turned things over to the top of Cleveland’s lineup. The Guardians were then able to load the bases and set up Naylor’s heroics. It’s the second time this season Chicago has committed four errors in a game, also doing so April 20 in a loss to the Guardians.
José Ramírez’s glove
Ramírez went 0-for-4 with a pair of walks at the plate, but made a sensational diving stop on a smash down the third base line by Adam Engel in the bottom of the ninth to save the game and force extra innings. Chicago had scored a run against Cleveland closer Emmanuel Clase and threatened to walk it off with the bases loaded and the speedy Engel at the plate. But Ramírez’s snag and throw to Naylor, who stretched to pick a short-hop at first, nailed the runner by a step and kept the score tied at 8-8.
Zach Plesac
Roughed up for four runs in the first, Plesac battled through 6 1/3 innings, marking the fifth time in his six starts that he’s pitched at least five frames or more. Plesac has only received 10 runs of support on the season, including zero runs in his first two starts. “He threw one bad slider, and ask (Austin) Hedges, it was probably the only bad one he threw, it cost him some runs,” said manager Terry Francona. “But I thought by far it was his best outing. His stuff was better tonight, and because of that he didn’t have to try to reach back, and he stayed in his delivery and he commanded way better.”
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8584t was a performance that no one in baseball had ever seen before. An RBI-double in the eighth paired with a game-tying grand slam in the ninth and a deciding three-run blast in the 11th by Naylor not only secured the Guardians a 12-9 victory over the White Sox, but it made Naylor the only player since RBIs became official in 1920 to knock in at least eight runs from the eighth inning on in a single game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
So overwhelmed with emotion, Naylor couldn’t remember if he ever hit a grand slam even in his amateur career. But what we all know is his first big league grand slam came at the most dramatic moment, considering Baseball Savant had given Cleveland a 0.2% chance of winning the game entering the ninth inning. And he wasn’t afraid to show his emotion.
After keeping his composure all the way around the basepaths, he exploded once he reached the top step of the dugout, chucking his helmet into the tunnel, letting out a roar and aggressively high-fiving everyone in sight.
He became the first player in MLB history to hit two homers of three runs or more in the ninth inning or later of the same game.
Naylor became just the third player in Cleveland history to hit two homers in the ninth inning or later, joining Willie Kirkland and Earl Averill
It also marked Cleveland’s first victory when trailing by at least six runs in the ninth inning or later since May 25, 2009
So overwhelmed with emotion, Naylor couldn’t remember if he ever hit a grand slam even in his amateur career. But what we all know is his first big league grand slam came at the most dramatic moment, considering Baseball Savant had given Cleveland a 0.2% chance of winning the game entering the ninth inning. And he wasn’t afraid to show his emotion.
After keeping his composure all the way around the basepaths, he exploded once he reached the top step of the dugout, chucking his helmet into the tunnel, letting out a roar and aggressively high-fiving everyone in sight.
He became the first player in MLB history to hit two homers of three runs or more in the ninth inning or later of the same game.
Naylor became just the third player in Cleveland history to hit two homers in the ninth inning or later, joining Willie Kirkland and Earl Averill
It also marked Cleveland’s first victory when trailing by at least six runs in the ninth inning or later since May 25, 2009
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8585CHICAGO -- Amed Rosario is starting in left field Monday night for the first time since the season opener on April 7 against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium.
Rosario has been the Guardians’ regular shortstop since that outfield experiment, but plans could be changing with Andres Gimenez seeing more time at shortstop. Gimenez started at short Monday night for just the seventh time this season.
Manager Terry Francona said he and his staff have been trying to figure out what to do with Rosario in light of Gimenez, Owen Miller and Josh Naylor getting off to such hot starts at the plate.
“We’ve had a lot of different lineups, a lot of different alignments in trying to accomplish a lot of things,” said Francona.
One of them is limiting Naylor’s time in right field. Francona feels it would protect his right leg more and also improve Cleveland’s defense. Naylor fractured his right leg and ankle last year on June 27 at Target Field.
That means Naylor would see most of his playing time at first base, which would prompt Miller’s move from first to second and Gimenez from second to short. Miller had made 13 starts at first and four at second, including Monday. Gimenez has made 16 starts at second.
“I talked to Amed the other day,” said Francona. “I told him, ‘I’ve got to play these kids.’ He said, ‘I get it. I’ll do whatever you want.’ So Kyle Hudson (outfield coach) took him out early today and hit him some balls in left field.
“I’ve told our pitchers, that I know there have been times, even when we didn’t make errors, we didn’t finish plays, and pitchers have needed those plays to be made. I’m aware of that and I’m trying. But you have to be patient because we’re working through it.
“Amed will do anything. That’s not the issue. If he makes a mistake out there, I’ll wear it. I don’t want to put that one him.”
Here’s what Cleveland’s infield production was headed into Monday night: 1B Naylor, .317 (20-for-63), two homers, 13 RBI and a .803 OPS; 2B Miller, .352 (25-for-71), three homers, 13 RBI and a 1.044 OPS; SS Gimenez, .347 (25-for-72), two homers, 15 RBI and a .888 OPS and 3B Jose Ramirez, .311 (32-for-103), seven homers, 30 RBI and a 1.041 OPS.
Rosario, fourth on the team with 95 at-bats, is hitting .200 (19-for-95) with seven RBI and a .504 OPS. He’s made 22 starts at shortstop.
“I think it’s great our young guys are playing well,” said Francona. “I don’t think it’s a problem. We were dying for our young guys to show us this.”
Cleveland Guardians vs. Toronto Blue Jays, May 8, 2022
Guardians lefty Konnor Pilkington.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Tip of that hat
The Guardians optioned left-hander Konnor Pilkington to Class AAA Columbus and recalled right-hander Enjel De Los Santos before Monday’s game. Pilkington made his first big-league start on Sunday, throwing 36 pitches in the first inning and allowing two runs against Toronto.
He rebounded to give the Guardians three innings, with six strikeouts, in what turned out to be a 4-3 victory.
“We were so proud of him Sunday,” said Francona. “He knew he was going back, but we called him in and told him. He could have wilted in that 36-pitch first inning. I mean that lineup has beat up some pretty good lefties.
“He held his poise and he competed. He left with a smile on his face because he knew he clutched-up.”
Will Brennan
On Sunday outfield prospect Will Brennan drove in six runs for Class AA Akron. He leads the Guardians' farm system with 28 RBI.
Shortstop Brayan Rocchio, another prospect, is recovering from a concussion after sliding into third base in a recent game for Class AA Akron. Francona said he hit his head on the third baseman’s knee. “He’s got a slight concussion, but in the grand scheme of things he’s OK,” said Francona.
Rosario has been the Guardians’ regular shortstop since that outfield experiment, but plans could be changing with Andres Gimenez seeing more time at shortstop. Gimenez started at short Monday night for just the seventh time this season.
Manager Terry Francona said he and his staff have been trying to figure out what to do with Rosario in light of Gimenez, Owen Miller and Josh Naylor getting off to such hot starts at the plate.
“We’ve had a lot of different lineups, a lot of different alignments in trying to accomplish a lot of things,” said Francona.
One of them is limiting Naylor’s time in right field. Francona feels it would protect his right leg more and also improve Cleveland’s defense. Naylor fractured his right leg and ankle last year on June 27 at Target Field.
That means Naylor would see most of his playing time at first base, which would prompt Miller’s move from first to second and Gimenez from second to short. Miller had made 13 starts at first and four at second, including Monday. Gimenez has made 16 starts at second.
“I talked to Amed the other day,” said Francona. “I told him, ‘I’ve got to play these kids.’ He said, ‘I get it. I’ll do whatever you want.’ So Kyle Hudson (outfield coach) took him out early today and hit him some balls in left field.
“I’ve told our pitchers, that I know there have been times, even when we didn’t make errors, we didn’t finish plays, and pitchers have needed those plays to be made. I’m aware of that and I’m trying. But you have to be patient because we’re working through it.
“Amed will do anything. That’s not the issue. If he makes a mistake out there, I’ll wear it. I don’t want to put that one him.”
Here’s what Cleveland’s infield production was headed into Monday night: 1B Naylor, .317 (20-for-63), two homers, 13 RBI and a .803 OPS; 2B Miller, .352 (25-for-71), three homers, 13 RBI and a 1.044 OPS; SS Gimenez, .347 (25-for-72), two homers, 15 RBI and a .888 OPS and 3B Jose Ramirez, .311 (32-for-103), seven homers, 30 RBI and a 1.041 OPS.
Rosario, fourth on the team with 95 at-bats, is hitting .200 (19-for-95) with seven RBI and a .504 OPS. He’s made 22 starts at shortstop.
“I think it’s great our young guys are playing well,” said Francona. “I don’t think it’s a problem. We were dying for our young guys to show us this.”
Cleveland Guardians vs. Toronto Blue Jays, May 8, 2022
Guardians lefty Konnor Pilkington.John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Tip of that hat
The Guardians optioned left-hander Konnor Pilkington to Class AAA Columbus and recalled right-hander Enjel De Los Santos before Monday’s game. Pilkington made his first big-league start on Sunday, throwing 36 pitches in the first inning and allowing two runs against Toronto.
He rebounded to give the Guardians three innings, with six strikeouts, in what turned out to be a 4-3 victory.
“We were so proud of him Sunday,” said Francona. “He knew he was going back, but we called him in and told him. He could have wilted in that 36-pitch first inning. I mean that lineup has beat up some pretty good lefties.
“He held his poise and he competed. He left with a smile on his face because he knew he clutched-up.”
Will Brennan
On Sunday outfield prospect Will Brennan drove in six runs for Class AA Akron. He leads the Guardians' farm system with 28 RBI.
Shortstop Brayan Rocchio, another prospect, is recovering from a concussion after sliding into third base in a recent game for Class AA Akron. Francona said he hit his head on the third baseman’s knee. “He’s got a slight concussion, but in the grand scheme of things he’s OK,” said Francona.
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8586Oscar Gonzalez update
Alex Eckelman, director of hitting development for the Guardians, joined the big-league team in Chicago on Monday after watching Columbus play Omaha.
Eckleman was impressed with outfielder Oscar Gonzalez, but not just for his hitting. Eckelman said he’s making improvements in all phases of his game -- baserunning, defense and throwing to the bases. Of course, it’s hard to overlook Gonzalez’s bat.
Gonzalez is hitting .311 (38-for-122) with eight homers and 25 RBI. He leads the farm system in homers, hits and slugging percentage.
Alex Eckelman, director of hitting development for the Guardians, joined the big-league team in Chicago on Monday after watching Columbus play Omaha.
Eckleman was impressed with outfielder Oscar Gonzalez, but not just for his hitting. Eckelman said he’s making improvements in all phases of his game -- baserunning, defense and throwing to the bases. Of course, it’s hard to overlook Gonzalez’s bat.
Gonzalez is hitting .311 (38-for-122) with eight homers and 25 RBI. He leads the farm system in homers, hits and slugging percentage.
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8587Interesting story at Baseball America about Hunter Greene; the world's hardest throwing pitcher; who is hitting 100 more frequently than anyone ever. But his success has been limited. No deception, little ball movement.
He could use some Guardian minor league development help.
He could use some Guardian minor league development help.
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8588Guardians
Guardians attendance? The Lindor deal? Catching help in minors? Hey, Terry
Updated: May. 11, 2022, 7:05 a.m. | Published: May. 11, 2022, 6:07 a.m.
FUTURE KEYSTONE COMBO?
Owen Miller and Andres Gimenez have taken over the middle of the infield for the Guardians. Getty Images
By Terry Pluto, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Guardians are off to a solid 15-15 start and leading the American League with a .257 batting average. Heading into Wednesday night, the Guardians have won 8-of-11 games. Some fans are excited and have questions.
Hey, Terry: Is it time to package Amed Rosario with some other assets to try to get another catcher, bullpen arm, or a right-handed power hitter? It seems like Andres Gimenez and Owen Miller at second with Josh Naylor at first is the immediate future. – Bob Kaplan.
Hey, Terry: I think our best middle infield is Gimenez at short and Miller at second, do you agree? What to do with Rosario is the question. – Jim Naegeli.
Hey Bob and Jim: Before dealing with the what to do with Rosario question, I’m reviewing the original trade. Before the 2021 season, Cleveland sent Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets for Gimenez, Rosario, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf.
Let’s break it down:
1. Lindor went into Monday batting .246 (.744 OPS) with five HR and 18 RBI. He’s a .236 hitter (.736 OPS) with 25 HR and 81 RBI in 660 plate appearances since the trade. Lindor has not been the same player since 2019. He hit .258 (.750 OPS) in the 60-game season of 2020 with Cleveland.
2. Carlos Carrasco (3-1, 3.19 ERA) is having a nice season; I’m so happy for a great guy. He had several injuries in 2021 and was 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA for the Mets.
3. When Cleveland made the deal, the key to the trade was Gimenez. Now, fans can see why. He is shortstop of the present and future, and he plays an excellent second base. Gimenez is batting .333 (.888 OPS) and you can see how the 23 year old will develop power in the next few years.
4. Wolf and Greene are in the low minors. Wolf had a 1-3 record and 5.35 ERA last season with some problems. He’s yet to appear in a game this year. He had some shoulder problems in spring training and is starting to face hitters now at the spring complex in Goodyear. Greene is a 20-year-old OF. He is batting .263 (.764 OPS) in 282 plate appearances in low Class A since the start of the 2021 season. Both are a long way from the majors.
5. Some fans are understandably down on Rosario, who had been barely hitting .200 this season until he recently went 6-for-12. I knew he had a slow start last year. I checked the media guide, and it read: “After May 11, he batted .300 (138-for-460) with 23 doubles, 9 HR and 50 RBI over his last 113 games.”
6. So until May 11, he was batting .189 (17-for-90). Patience is in order. Rosario is now up to .240. Expect to see more of Gimenez at short. The Guardians have occasionally tried Rosario in the OF, and they will do more of that.
7. The future infield does look like Gimenez at short and Miller at second. But Miller can play first. Gimenez can play second. That gives Terry Francona options, The big story is how these two young players have figured it out at the plate (at least so far) to the point where the Guardians could trade Rosario if they had the right offer.
Hey, Terry: I love this young team! I worry when I watch TV and the stands seem empty. Is it weather? Name change? If they win will fans show up? – Chris Neptune
Hey, Chris: I had to use your question, given your planetary last name – like mine. The weather has been awful. It was a rough offseason for the Guardians. Some fans are still upset about the name change. Baseball shut down for a few months as the owners and players bickered over a labor deal.
The team also didn’t bring in any new players with name recognition. There were the usual complaints about the Dolan family being cheap. I would not have wanted to work in their ticket department.
Good news began as the season opened with the shocking extension to Jose Ramirez, who wanted to stay here and didn’t go after big bucks. The contract extensions to Myles Straw and Emmanuel Clase haven’t received much attention, but they are important. The payroll has risen from about $50 million to near $70 million.
The Guardians are averaging 13,863 fans this season. That’s 26th in the majors, ahead of Tampa Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland. A year ago, Cleveland averaged 14,472 fans – that ranked 21st out of 30 teams. The crowds will improve with the weather, and especially if the young team keeps playing exciting baseball.
HAPPY AGAIN
Franmil Reyes snapped out of an 0-for-26 slump by getting HR off his mind and just hitting the ball hard. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Hey, Terry: What or who does Franmil Reyes attribute his batting turn around? – Peggy Wagner
Hey, Peggy: Sometimes a player has to hit bottom before he opens up to advice. Batting coaches Chris Valaika and Victor Rodriguez have been preaching the gospel of making more contact and hitting the ball to the opposite field. This is Valaika’s first year with the team.
Reyes knows he is there to hit HRs. But you have to hit the ball, period. He was 0-for-26 with 18 strikeouts at one point. It was one of the most helpless displays by a Cleveland hitter in a long time. He came home, began to not only shorten his swing, but sometimes slightly choke up on the bat. He was 12-for-26 last week. Just hit the ball solidly, forget pulling it or the “launch angle” to long fly balls.
Unfortunately, in Chicago, Reyes was 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. That swing looked long again.
I wrote Sunday about how the Guardians are beating defensive shifts by hitting the ball to all fields. The hitting coaches have some disciples to the new approach, and it’s playing off.
Hey, Terry: What is up with so many Guardians sliding into first? Were they not taught that continuing to run is faster and how to best beat the throw when they were in little league? Why do they not think it’s the only base you can run through and still be safe? – Diana Grayson.
Hey, Diana: I’m with you. I cringe when players do it. I still remember Kenny Lofton getting a dislocated shoulder in the 1999 playoffs. It’s not worth the risk to slide headfirst into first.
Josh Naylor, right, gives his younger brother, Bo Nalylor a hard time as the two answer questions Saturday from reporters via Zoom at the Indians training facility in Goodyear, Ariz.
Hey, Terry: What can the team do to address the catching situation? It’s a hole in the lineup. – Jason Theodore
Hey, Terry: Is there a catcher in the majors or minors you’d like to see the Guardians go after? – Keith Griffin.
Hey, Terry: Enough credit isn’t given to a catcher’s ability to not only play defense, but to guide a young pitcher through what started out as a brutal first inning. The damage could have been so much worse, but [Austin Hedges] got Konnor Pilkington back on track in a big way [in Sunday’s game]. ... I can live with the sub-par offense when Hedges adds so much to the pitching staff. – Cal Carlise
Hey Keith, Jason and Cal: Many fans are like Keith, tired of seeing Hedges (.163) batting far less than his weight of 220. But Cal answered this question. The front office, Francona and the coaching staff love how Hedges handles the pitchers. Francona considers him a superb leader.
Cleveland has veteran Luke Maile, who is 4-for-14 as a backup, but he’s not been much of hitter in majors. This is not fantasy baseball that goes strictly by stats. Cleveland considers catcher a defensive position. They don’t worry about the hitting.
Most MLB catchers don’t hit. The average MLB catcher is batting .206. Cleveland’s catchers are at .181. There are seven teams lower than the Guardians!
In the minors, Cleveland has Bryan Lavastida. He opened the 2021 season at Class A and ended up in Class AAA. He batted a combined .289 (.836 OPS) with 9 HR and 51 RBI. He’s a legitimate prospect. Lavastida opened this season 1-for-12 with the Guardians. He’s now at Class AAA, batting .244 (.689 OPS).
At Class AA Akron, Bo (brother of Josh) Naylor (first round pick, 2018) is batting .246 (.787 OPS) at Class AA Akron. That’s a big jump over the .188 (.612 OPS) he hit with the Rubber Ducks in 2021. He’s thrown out 33 percent of attempted steals in his pro career. At 22, he could be the starting catcher in Cleveland within a few years.
Guardians attendance? The Lindor deal? Catching help in minors? Hey, Terry
Updated: May. 11, 2022, 7:05 a.m. | Published: May. 11, 2022, 6:07 a.m.
FUTURE KEYSTONE COMBO?
Owen Miller and Andres Gimenez have taken over the middle of the infield for the Guardians. Getty Images
By Terry Pluto, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Guardians are off to a solid 15-15 start and leading the American League with a .257 batting average. Heading into Wednesday night, the Guardians have won 8-of-11 games. Some fans are excited and have questions.
Hey, Terry: Is it time to package Amed Rosario with some other assets to try to get another catcher, bullpen arm, or a right-handed power hitter? It seems like Andres Gimenez and Owen Miller at second with Josh Naylor at first is the immediate future. – Bob Kaplan.
Hey, Terry: I think our best middle infield is Gimenez at short and Miller at second, do you agree? What to do with Rosario is the question. – Jim Naegeli.
Hey Bob and Jim: Before dealing with the what to do with Rosario question, I’m reviewing the original trade. Before the 2021 season, Cleveland sent Francisco Lindor and Carlos Carrasco to the Mets for Gimenez, Rosario, Isaiah Greene and Josh Wolf.
Let’s break it down:
1. Lindor went into Monday batting .246 (.744 OPS) with five HR and 18 RBI. He’s a .236 hitter (.736 OPS) with 25 HR and 81 RBI in 660 plate appearances since the trade. Lindor has not been the same player since 2019. He hit .258 (.750 OPS) in the 60-game season of 2020 with Cleveland.
2. Carlos Carrasco (3-1, 3.19 ERA) is having a nice season; I’m so happy for a great guy. He had several injuries in 2021 and was 1-5 with a 6.04 ERA for the Mets.
3. When Cleveland made the deal, the key to the trade was Gimenez. Now, fans can see why. He is shortstop of the present and future, and he plays an excellent second base. Gimenez is batting .333 (.888 OPS) and you can see how the 23 year old will develop power in the next few years.
4. Wolf and Greene are in the low minors. Wolf had a 1-3 record and 5.35 ERA last season with some problems. He’s yet to appear in a game this year. He had some shoulder problems in spring training and is starting to face hitters now at the spring complex in Goodyear. Greene is a 20-year-old OF. He is batting .263 (.764 OPS) in 282 plate appearances in low Class A since the start of the 2021 season. Both are a long way from the majors.
5. Some fans are understandably down on Rosario, who had been barely hitting .200 this season until he recently went 6-for-12. I knew he had a slow start last year. I checked the media guide, and it read: “After May 11, he batted .300 (138-for-460) with 23 doubles, 9 HR and 50 RBI over his last 113 games.”
6. So until May 11, he was batting .189 (17-for-90). Patience is in order. Rosario is now up to .240. Expect to see more of Gimenez at short. The Guardians have occasionally tried Rosario in the OF, and they will do more of that.
7. The future infield does look like Gimenez at short and Miller at second. But Miller can play first. Gimenez can play second. That gives Terry Francona options, The big story is how these two young players have figured it out at the plate (at least so far) to the point where the Guardians could trade Rosario if they had the right offer.
Hey, Terry: I love this young team! I worry when I watch TV and the stands seem empty. Is it weather? Name change? If they win will fans show up? – Chris Neptune
Hey, Chris: I had to use your question, given your planetary last name – like mine. The weather has been awful. It was a rough offseason for the Guardians. Some fans are still upset about the name change. Baseball shut down for a few months as the owners and players bickered over a labor deal.
The team also didn’t bring in any new players with name recognition. There were the usual complaints about the Dolan family being cheap. I would not have wanted to work in their ticket department.
Good news began as the season opened with the shocking extension to Jose Ramirez, who wanted to stay here and didn’t go after big bucks. The contract extensions to Myles Straw and Emmanuel Clase haven’t received much attention, but they are important. The payroll has risen from about $50 million to near $70 million.
The Guardians are averaging 13,863 fans this season. That’s 26th in the majors, ahead of Tampa Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland. A year ago, Cleveland averaged 14,472 fans – that ranked 21st out of 30 teams. The crowds will improve with the weather, and especially if the young team keeps playing exciting baseball.
HAPPY AGAIN
Franmil Reyes snapped out of an 0-for-26 slump by getting HR off his mind and just hitting the ball hard. John Kuntz, cleveland.com
Hey, Terry: What or who does Franmil Reyes attribute his batting turn around? – Peggy Wagner
Hey, Peggy: Sometimes a player has to hit bottom before he opens up to advice. Batting coaches Chris Valaika and Victor Rodriguez have been preaching the gospel of making more contact and hitting the ball to the opposite field. This is Valaika’s first year with the team.
Reyes knows he is there to hit HRs. But you have to hit the ball, period. He was 0-for-26 with 18 strikeouts at one point. It was one of the most helpless displays by a Cleveland hitter in a long time. He came home, began to not only shorten his swing, but sometimes slightly choke up on the bat. He was 12-for-26 last week. Just hit the ball solidly, forget pulling it or the “launch angle” to long fly balls.
Unfortunately, in Chicago, Reyes was 0-for-8 with five strikeouts. That swing looked long again.
I wrote Sunday about how the Guardians are beating defensive shifts by hitting the ball to all fields. The hitting coaches have some disciples to the new approach, and it’s playing off.
Hey, Terry: What is up with so many Guardians sliding into first? Were they not taught that continuing to run is faster and how to best beat the throw when they were in little league? Why do they not think it’s the only base you can run through and still be safe? – Diana Grayson.
Hey, Diana: I’m with you. I cringe when players do it. I still remember Kenny Lofton getting a dislocated shoulder in the 1999 playoffs. It’s not worth the risk to slide headfirst into first.
Josh Naylor, right, gives his younger brother, Bo Nalylor a hard time as the two answer questions Saturday from reporters via Zoom at the Indians training facility in Goodyear, Ariz.
Hey, Terry: What can the team do to address the catching situation? It’s a hole in the lineup. – Jason Theodore
Hey, Terry: Is there a catcher in the majors or minors you’d like to see the Guardians go after? – Keith Griffin.
Hey, Terry: Enough credit isn’t given to a catcher’s ability to not only play defense, but to guide a young pitcher through what started out as a brutal first inning. The damage could have been so much worse, but [Austin Hedges] got Konnor Pilkington back on track in a big way [in Sunday’s game]. ... I can live with the sub-par offense when Hedges adds so much to the pitching staff. – Cal Carlise
Hey Keith, Jason and Cal: Many fans are like Keith, tired of seeing Hedges (.163) batting far less than his weight of 220. But Cal answered this question. The front office, Francona and the coaching staff love how Hedges handles the pitchers. Francona considers him a superb leader.
Cleveland has veteran Luke Maile, who is 4-for-14 as a backup, but he’s not been much of hitter in majors. This is not fantasy baseball that goes strictly by stats. Cleveland considers catcher a defensive position. They don’t worry about the hitting.
Most MLB catchers don’t hit. The average MLB catcher is batting .206. Cleveland’s catchers are at .181. There are seven teams lower than the Guardians!
In the minors, Cleveland has Bryan Lavastida. He opened the 2021 season at Class A and ended up in Class AAA. He batted a combined .289 (.836 OPS) with 9 HR and 51 RBI. He’s a legitimate prospect. Lavastida opened this season 1-for-12 with the Guardians. He’s now at Class AAA, batting .244 (.689 OPS).
At Class AA Akron, Bo (brother of Josh) Naylor (first round pick, 2018) is batting .246 (.787 OPS) at Class AA Akron. That’s a big jump over the .188 (.612 OPS) he hit with the Rubber Ducks in 2021. He’s thrown out 33 percent of attempted steals in his pro career. At 22, he could be the starting catcher in Cleveland within a few years.
Re: Articles
8589‘You’re never going to leave this hospital’: How a Cleveland Guardians prospect beat the odds after a freak injury
‘You’re never going to leave this hospital’: How a Cleveland Guardians prospect beat the odds after a freak injury
By Brittany Ghiroli
5h ago
16
Save Article
It’s Friday, March 11, and the baseball world is buzzing: Major League Baseball and the Players Association had finally agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement less than 24 hours before.
Nationwide sports headlines are splashed with the big news: Baseball is back and teams are scrambling to fill out their rosters, players are packing for an abbreviated spring training and media outlets are flying to camps to chronicle it all. Everything is chaotic, frantic and exciting again. It is hard to believe there can be a bigger win.
But on a set of pitching mounds at the Cleveland Guardians’ minor-league camp in Goodyear, Ariz., a skinny, 19-year-old lefty is lacing up his cleats and holding back tears. He’s getting ready to throw his first bullpen of the spring.
The teenager, Frank Lopez, doesn’t throw particularly hard. He’s not a top prospect. The Dominican Republic native, signed in February 2020, has yet to pitch — at any level — in a professional game. COVID-19 took away the 2020 minor league season. And 370 days earlier, a freak accident while swimming in a river nearly took Lopez’s life.
There is a small crowd for this bullpen session — perhaps 10-12 people in the organization watching — many who are just as emotionally invested as Lopez. He spent three months in hospitals and rehab facilities in two different countries, had screws hold his cranium in place for five days, underwent multiple neck surgeries and lost close to 60 pounds from his signing weight.
Lopez talked to The Athletic six days before that spring bullpen session, dabbing at the corner of his eye with a tissue as he recounted the past 12 months for the first time, thinking of all the moments, the miracles, that got him here. Sometimes he’ll stop and go back to a story or pause to catch his breath.
There is so much to mention, details that will later flood back as he scrolls through old pictures and videos. But there’s one singular moment he’ll never forget, one that still makes his stomach queasy, words no 18-year-old should ever have to hear, let alone have seared into their skull.
“You’re never going to leave this hospital,” a doctor in the Dominican Republic told him last spring. “You’re going to die here.”
It’s March 6, 2021, and Lopez, who is from La Victoria, just outside of the capital city of Santo Domingo, is home in the Dominican Republic. While MLB — coming off a 60-game season — has a normal spring training, minor-league camp is delayed because of the pandemic. For a time, Cleveland’s Dominican Academy was also closed.
Lopez is at a river a few hours away with some family and friends, taking turns jumping into the water. His mother, Bricelda Rubén Abreu, is off cooking at the top of the hill. They’ve been there maybe an hour when Lopez takes another turn. He careens off the steep edge, splashes into the water and is met with immediate impact. Lopez has landed head-first on his best friend’s back. His neck snaps back underwater. Everything gets cloudy, but he doesn’t completely lose consciousness. He grabs for a rock and his friend helps pull him to shore. Lopez is in excruciating pain.
A drive to the closest hospital that should be 30 minutes becomes two hours because many of the roads in the Dominican Republic aren’t paved and are full of potholes. They have to go slow and maneuver around any slight bump, as Abreu cradles her son’s head. At the hospital, Lopez gets a neck collar and they run tests. Everything, they say, is normal but Lopez can go to another local hospital with more resources. The following night, on a Sunday around 8 p.m., his heart stops and he’s in intensive care. That’s when the doctor leans over and delivers the bone-chilling news.
“She said I was going to lose all my strength,” Lopez said through an interpreter, his eyes welling at the memory. “That I wasn’t going to be able to move and that I was eventually going to die there.”
Abreu also heard the doctor and subsequently passed out. She spent the next month sleeping in her car in the parking lot of the hospital.
The doctor was right: López was getting weaker, but the hospitals in the Dominican Republic still couldn’t find anything wrong. After about a week of assessments, they sent the X-ray to Cleveland’s local medical staff, who forwarded it on to the group in the United States. There, they could see on the imaging that Lopez had a broken vertebra.
Cleveland’s medical team knew Lopez needed to get out of the Dominican Republic and get surgery. The problem was getting him to the U.S.; flying in his fragile condition was too risky. Even driving from his house to the airport, given the state of many roads, was worrisome. Cleveland’s medical team was in constant contact with specialists, trying to figure out what to do.
“It was such a sensitive situation. The stakes were not low,” said Jeremy Harris, the Guardians’ assistant director of medical services in Arizona. “You talk about getting somebody on the field. That’s one thing. We are talking about someone having preservation of their neck.”
They decided to put Lopez in a max support brace, a halo of sorts, to try to build up a little stability in his neck. The brace cost 300,000 pesos (nearly $15,000 U.S.), a price tag that initially sent shock waves through Lopez, who is from a low-income family and knew they couldn’t afford it. (Cleveland stepped in financially.) Lopez wore the brace for nearly a month. The doctors initially sent him home, but Lopez passed out the first day he wore it due to the pain. He ended up back at the Dominican hospital until he flew to Cleveland in May, wearing the brace and a face mask on the plane.
Lopez was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was told his neck still wasn’t in good enough shape to operate. So he spent the next five days laying in bed with screws inserted into his skull to hold his cranium. The idea was to get some traction for his neck and to get the best alignment for surgery. He was 18 years old, in the United States for the first time with no family or friends, unable to eat, sleep or move without excruciating pain, and unable to understand what the doctors and nurses were saying.
Lopez during his stay at Cleveland Clinic. (Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
“Just think about the mental perseverance,” Cleveland’s rehab strength and conditioning coach Mo Cuevas said. “He’s got a new country, a language barrier. He told me the hospital played all English channels on the TV. Five days with screws in his head and he’s got to take all that on.”
On May 20, nearly 11 weeks after the accident, Lopez had an open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of his first vertebra performed at the Cleveland Clinic. Not completely satisfied with the amount of closure he initially got in the operating room, the surgeon went back and operated on Lopez again the next day.
Lopez, who was bedridden for two weeks following the operations, was then transferred to the Cleveland Clinic’s rehab hospital in Avon, Ohio. Something as simple as standing up was difficult and would often cause Lopez to get lightheaded. The pain was horrible, but the worst part was trying to eat.
“My whole throat was stopped up,” Lopez said. “I would try to swallow and it would feel like my entire neck was exploding.”
The Guardians sent Nilda Taffanelli, an administrative assistant in player development, to check in with Lopez. She didn’t have to go every day, but Taffanelli — who Lopez affectionately calls his second mother — began doing it anyway. She thought of how she would feel if one of her children was in another country with no visitors. She wanted to give Lopez a sense of comfort. She held the phone up for him when he FaceTimed his family. She brought Lopez yellow roses for his room. The flowers, like their recipient, never wilted over that month. They joked about which was harder to kill.
On June 12, Lopez was discharged and flew to Arizona to continue his rehab. It had been more than three months since his accident and Lopez was finally able to safely set foot outside of a hospital. Rehab was a relative term. When he got to Goodyear, just standing was difficult. At an age when players are constantly adding muscle and weight, Lopez had done the opposite. Eating was still painful. His throat had atrophied so much that his voice was a whimper. He still had to wear the neck brace 24/7. Cuevas started him squatting to a chair while holding TRX cables for support. His mortality no longer in question, all Lopez could think about was whether he would be able to play again.
“It was always my dream to be a baseball player and I started that dream being able to sign a professional contract. And then this happened,” he said. “It was so hard some days, I felt empty and didn’t know if I could go on. But every morning I would look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘I’m strong, I can keep moving forward, I can keep getting better.’”
If Cuevas suggested Lopez do 10 reps of something, he’d try to do 12. When he suggested he meet with a team nutritionist, Lopez told him in their next session he was now getting extra shakes. He attacked learning English with the same fervor, using every spare second to study. The reality show “Love is Blind” became a favorite learning tool.
“It was touch and go early on. And I think he felt motivated to learn English out of desperation,” said assistant director of player development Jennifer Wolfe, who met Lopez when he came to Arizona. “He couldn’t understand anything that was going on (in the hospital and rehab center) and that motivated him to get better. And a lot of that comes from who he is inside.”
In July, Lopez celebrated his 19th birthday at the complex with his teammates, who made a video for him when he was in the hospital. They had pizza and cake. The simple act of being able to chew felt like a big win. He was slowly gaining weight and doing light baseball activities that didn’t require moving his neck. In the third week of August, Lopez graduated high school, completing the CENAPEC classes and Dominican National Exams required to get his diploma.
Lopez with his diploma in August 2021. (Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
The following week, on Aug. 24, he got cleared to transition out of the neck brace.
“He had so many obstacles,” Cuevas said. “Even when it came time to take off the brace it started with 10 minutes at a time and then put it back on. This kid was raring to go 24/7, to get a little more, get a little more. It’s 115 degrees out for games, and he’s sitting there with the brace, with everything on and can’t move and he’s still into the game. We have guys that would rather eat dinner and not come to the game. He has the mental state of a Navy SEAL. There’s no other way to describe how mentally there he had to be to go through all this and not just be OK with normal function, but now put a glove on and compete with everyone else that’s here.”
Three weeks later, Lopez cut the brace out completely. His progress soared. He could lift and run with no restrictions.
“After he left the DR, when he went back to the academy, I saw him (again). He had gained like 30 pounds already. He was almost about to start throwing. He was fluidly speaking English. I was like, what?” said Derrick Diaz, an athletic trainer for one of Cleveland’s two Dominican Summer League teams, who helped coordinate Lopez’s travel post-accident.
“Sometimes I talk about this and I get goosebumps, ’cause it’s just incredible.”
There’s a long scar that runs across Lopez’s neck, a physical reminder, the last lingering one, of the accident. It comes up every time he gets a haircut or someone who is new to the organization notices. There is no hiding it. The scar is part of Lopez’s amazing story and he is brave enough to want to share it.
Frank 2.0. That’s what Lopez likes to call this version of himself. When he was in rehab, he did a lot of reading about his neck injury and couldn’t find a single person who went through what he did and survived. The way Lopez sees it he has two birthdays: his real one in July and the day of the accident.
Lopez at Guardians minor-league camp in March. (Cleveland Guardians)
“I’m forever grateful because if Cleveland hadn’t taken over my case, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m a different person than I was before (the accident). I’ve realized how strong I am. Now, coming back to spring training, the guys are coming in saying, ‘I can’t believe it. You’re not the Frank that we saw before.’”
This spring, Lopez squatted 345 pounds. He threw bullpens. He is still in the organization’s rehab group but Diaz, Cuevas and Harris can’t think of a single setback Lopez has had since he left the Cleveland Clinic’s rehab facility.
“We talk about grit here and he is the poster child, living proof of what grit can look like,” Taffanelli said. “He was devoted to getting where he is today, into a new person.”
She smiles. “Frank 2.0.”
Lopez still has dreams of being a big-league baseball player, but first things first: Lopez is still working toward making his pro debut in the DSL. When he does, dozens of people in the Guardians organization — in Arizona, Cleveland and the Dominican Republic — will again be moved beyond words.
“When you get a kid who’s humble, who’s willing to work hard, people are going to gravitate to (him),” Harris said. “Just thinking about all those steps that just got him to Cleveland in the first place, it took so much incredible work from so many people. Frank feels that gratitude very deeply. And that’s part of what I think makes people want to be a part of it.”
(Top photo: Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
‘You’re never going to leave this hospital’: How a Cleveland Guardians prospect beat the odds after a freak injury
By Brittany Ghiroli
5h ago
16
Save Article
It’s Friday, March 11, and the baseball world is buzzing: Major League Baseball and the Players Association had finally agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement less than 24 hours before.
Nationwide sports headlines are splashed with the big news: Baseball is back and teams are scrambling to fill out their rosters, players are packing for an abbreviated spring training and media outlets are flying to camps to chronicle it all. Everything is chaotic, frantic and exciting again. It is hard to believe there can be a bigger win.
But on a set of pitching mounds at the Cleveland Guardians’ minor-league camp in Goodyear, Ariz., a skinny, 19-year-old lefty is lacing up his cleats and holding back tears. He’s getting ready to throw his first bullpen of the spring.
The teenager, Frank Lopez, doesn’t throw particularly hard. He’s not a top prospect. The Dominican Republic native, signed in February 2020, has yet to pitch — at any level — in a professional game. COVID-19 took away the 2020 minor league season. And 370 days earlier, a freak accident while swimming in a river nearly took Lopez’s life.
There is a small crowd for this bullpen session — perhaps 10-12 people in the organization watching — many who are just as emotionally invested as Lopez. He spent three months in hospitals and rehab facilities in two different countries, had screws hold his cranium in place for five days, underwent multiple neck surgeries and lost close to 60 pounds from his signing weight.
Lopez talked to The Athletic six days before that spring bullpen session, dabbing at the corner of his eye with a tissue as he recounted the past 12 months for the first time, thinking of all the moments, the miracles, that got him here. Sometimes he’ll stop and go back to a story or pause to catch his breath.
There is so much to mention, details that will later flood back as he scrolls through old pictures and videos. But there’s one singular moment he’ll never forget, one that still makes his stomach queasy, words no 18-year-old should ever have to hear, let alone have seared into their skull.
“You’re never going to leave this hospital,” a doctor in the Dominican Republic told him last spring. “You’re going to die here.”
It’s March 6, 2021, and Lopez, who is from La Victoria, just outside of the capital city of Santo Domingo, is home in the Dominican Republic. While MLB — coming off a 60-game season — has a normal spring training, minor-league camp is delayed because of the pandemic. For a time, Cleveland’s Dominican Academy was also closed.
Lopez is at a river a few hours away with some family and friends, taking turns jumping into the water. His mother, Bricelda Rubén Abreu, is off cooking at the top of the hill. They’ve been there maybe an hour when Lopez takes another turn. He careens off the steep edge, splashes into the water and is met with immediate impact. Lopez has landed head-first on his best friend’s back. His neck snaps back underwater. Everything gets cloudy, but he doesn’t completely lose consciousness. He grabs for a rock and his friend helps pull him to shore. Lopez is in excruciating pain.
A drive to the closest hospital that should be 30 minutes becomes two hours because many of the roads in the Dominican Republic aren’t paved and are full of potholes. They have to go slow and maneuver around any slight bump, as Abreu cradles her son’s head. At the hospital, Lopez gets a neck collar and they run tests. Everything, they say, is normal but Lopez can go to another local hospital with more resources. The following night, on a Sunday around 8 p.m., his heart stops and he’s in intensive care. That’s when the doctor leans over and delivers the bone-chilling news.
“She said I was going to lose all my strength,” Lopez said through an interpreter, his eyes welling at the memory. “That I wasn’t going to be able to move and that I was eventually going to die there.”
Abreu also heard the doctor and subsequently passed out. She spent the next month sleeping in her car in the parking lot of the hospital.
The doctor was right: López was getting weaker, but the hospitals in the Dominican Republic still couldn’t find anything wrong. After about a week of assessments, they sent the X-ray to Cleveland’s local medical staff, who forwarded it on to the group in the United States. There, they could see on the imaging that Lopez had a broken vertebra.
Cleveland’s medical team knew Lopez needed to get out of the Dominican Republic and get surgery. The problem was getting him to the U.S.; flying in his fragile condition was too risky. Even driving from his house to the airport, given the state of many roads, was worrisome. Cleveland’s medical team was in constant contact with specialists, trying to figure out what to do.
“It was such a sensitive situation. The stakes were not low,” said Jeremy Harris, the Guardians’ assistant director of medical services in Arizona. “You talk about getting somebody on the field. That’s one thing. We are talking about someone having preservation of their neck.”
They decided to put Lopez in a max support brace, a halo of sorts, to try to build up a little stability in his neck. The brace cost 300,000 pesos (nearly $15,000 U.S.), a price tag that initially sent shock waves through Lopez, who is from a low-income family and knew they couldn’t afford it. (Cleveland stepped in financially.) Lopez wore the brace for nearly a month. The doctors initially sent him home, but Lopez passed out the first day he wore it due to the pain. He ended up back at the Dominican hospital until he flew to Cleveland in May, wearing the brace and a face mask on the plane.
Lopez was admitted to the Cleveland Clinic, where he was told his neck still wasn’t in good enough shape to operate. So he spent the next five days laying in bed with screws inserted into his skull to hold his cranium. The idea was to get some traction for his neck and to get the best alignment for surgery. He was 18 years old, in the United States for the first time with no family or friends, unable to eat, sleep or move without excruciating pain, and unable to understand what the doctors and nurses were saying.
Lopez during his stay at Cleveland Clinic. (Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
“Just think about the mental perseverance,” Cleveland’s rehab strength and conditioning coach Mo Cuevas said. “He’s got a new country, a language barrier. He told me the hospital played all English channels on the TV. Five days with screws in his head and he’s got to take all that on.”
On May 20, nearly 11 weeks after the accident, Lopez had an open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of his first vertebra performed at the Cleveland Clinic. Not completely satisfied with the amount of closure he initially got in the operating room, the surgeon went back and operated on Lopez again the next day.
Lopez, who was bedridden for two weeks following the operations, was then transferred to the Cleveland Clinic’s rehab hospital in Avon, Ohio. Something as simple as standing up was difficult and would often cause Lopez to get lightheaded. The pain was horrible, but the worst part was trying to eat.
“My whole throat was stopped up,” Lopez said. “I would try to swallow and it would feel like my entire neck was exploding.”
The Guardians sent Nilda Taffanelli, an administrative assistant in player development, to check in with Lopez. She didn’t have to go every day, but Taffanelli — who Lopez affectionately calls his second mother — began doing it anyway. She thought of how she would feel if one of her children was in another country with no visitors. She wanted to give Lopez a sense of comfort. She held the phone up for him when he FaceTimed his family. She brought Lopez yellow roses for his room. The flowers, like their recipient, never wilted over that month. They joked about which was harder to kill.
On June 12, Lopez was discharged and flew to Arizona to continue his rehab. It had been more than three months since his accident and Lopez was finally able to safely set foot outside of a hospital. Rehab was a relative term. When he got to Goodyear, just standing was difficult. At an age when players are constantly adding muscle and weight, Lopez had done the opposite. Eating was still painful. His throat had atrophied so much that his voice was a whimper. He still had to wear the neck brace 24/7. Cuevas started him squatting to a chair while holding TRX cables for support. His mortality no longer in question, all Lopez could think about was whether he would be able to play again.
“It was always my dream to be a baseball player and I started that dream being able to sign a professional contract. And then this happened,” he said. “It was so hard some days, I felt empty and didn’t know if I could go on. But every morning I would look at myself in the mirror and say, ‘I’m strong, I can keep moving forward, I can keep getting better.’”
If Cuevas suggested Lopez do 10 reps of something, he’d try to do 12. When he suggested he meet with a team nutritionist, Lopez told him in their next session he was now getting extra shakes. He attacked learning English with the same fervor, using every spare second to study. The reality show “Love is Blind” became a favorite learning tool.
“It was touch and go early on. And I think he felt motivated to learn English out of desperation,” said assistant director of player development Jennifer Wolfe, who met Lopez when he came to Arizona. “He couldn’t understand anything that was going on (in the hospital and rehab center) and that motivated him to get better. And a lot of that comes from who he is inside.”
In July, Lopez celebrated his 19th birthday at the complex with his teammates, who made a video for him when he was in the hospital. They had pizza and cake. The simple act of being able to chew felt like a big win. He was slowly gaining weight and doing light baseball activities that didn’t require moving his neck. In the third week of August, Lopez graduated high school, completing the CENAPEC classes and Dominican National Exams required to get his diploma.
Lopez with his diploma in August 2021. (Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
The following week, on Aug. 24, he got cleared to transition out of the neck brace.
“He had so many obstacles,” Cuevas said. “Even when it came time to take off the brace it started with 10 minutes at a time and then put it back on. This kid was raring to go 24/7, to get a little more, get a little more. It’s 115 degrees out for games, and he’s sitting there with the brace, with everything on and can’t move and he’s still into the game. We have guys that would rather eat dinner and not come to the game. He has the mental state of a Navy SEAL. There’s no other way to describe how mentally there he had to be to go through all this and not just be OK with normal function, but now put a glove on and compete with everyone else that’s here.”
Three weeks later, Lopez cut the brace out completely. His progress soared. He could lift and run with no restrictions.
“After he left the DR, when he went back to the academy, I saw him (again). He had gained like 30 pounds already. He was almost about to start throwing. He was fluidly speaking English. I was like, what?” said Derrick Diaz, an athletic trainer for one of Cleveland’s two Dominican Summer League teams, who helped coordinate Lopez’s travel post-accident.
“Sometimes I talk about this and I get goosebumps, ’cause it’s just incredible.”
There’s a long scar that runs across Lopez’s neck, a physical reminder, the last lingering one, of the accident. It comes up every time he gets a haircut or someone who is new to the organization notices. There is no hiding it. The scar is part of Lopez’s amazing story and he is brave enough to want to share it.
Frank 2.0. That’s what Lopez likes to call this version of himself. When he was in rehab, he did a lot of reading about his neck injury and couldn’t find a single person who went through what he did and survived. The way Lopez sees it he has two birthdays: his real one in July and the day of the accident.
Lopez at Guardians minor-league camp in March. (Cleveland Guardians)
“I’m forever grateful because if Cleveland hadn’t taken over my case, I wouldn’t be here today,” he said, tears welling up in his eyes. “I’m a different person than I was before (the accident). I’ve realized how strong I am. Now, coming back to spring training, the guys are coming in saying, ‘I can’t believe it. You’re not the Frank that we saw before.’”
This spring, Lopez squatted 345 pounds. He threw bullpens. He is still in the organization’s rehab group but Diaz, Cuevas and Harris can’t think of a single setback Lopez has had since he left the Cleveland Clinic’s rehab facility.
“We talk about grit here and he is the poster child, living proof of what grit can look like,” Taffanelli said. “He was devoted to getting where he is today, into a new person.”
She smiles. “Frank 2.0.”
Lopez still has dreams of being a big-league baseball player, but first things first: Lopez is still working toward making his pro debut in the DSL. When he does, dozens of people in the Guardians organization — in Arizona, Cleveland and the Dominican Republic — will again be moved beyond words.
“When you get a kid who’s humble, who’s willing to work hard, people are going to gravitate to (him),” Harris said. “Just thinking about all those steps that just got him to Cleveland in the first place, it took so much incredible work from so many people. Frank feels that gratitude very deeply. And that’s part of what I think makes people want to be a part of it.”
(Top photo: Courtesy of Frank Lopez / Cleveland Guardians)
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
8590Whatever happened to . . .
RHP James Karinchak (mild right shoulder strain)
Expected return: TBD
Shut down in early April, Karinchak is currently symptom-free and is hoping to get to Cleveland during the team's next homestand to be evaluated by pitching coach Carl Willis. While he's been throwing out in Arizona, he has yet to face hitters, so he may try throwing to batters when he's with the big league club next week. But he's still far from his return as he'll need a handful of outings on a rehab assignment, considering he hasn't pitched in game action since last season -- (Last updated: May 10)
RHP James Karinchak (mild right shoulder strain)
Expected return: TBD
Shut down in early April, Karinchak is currently symptom-free and is hoping to get to Cleveland during the team's next homestand to be evaluated by pitching coach Carl Willis. While he's been throwing out in Arizona, he has yet to face hitters, so he may try throwing to batters when he's with the big league club next week. But he's still far from his return as he'll need a handful of outings on a rehab assignment, considering he hasn't pitched in game action since last season -- (Last updated: May 10)
Re: Articles
8591Lloyd: Shane Bieber, Guardians and their uncertain future together
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 20, 2022: Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts to a call at home plate during the fourth inning of game one of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field on April 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
By Jason Lloyd
Now that we know Jose Ramirez and the Guardians will live happily ever after, there’s another, more complicated, negotiation looming over this franchise: Shane Bieber.
I believe the Guardians will have to trade Bieber. The question is when?
First, a history lesson and some dot-connecting.
A few months after he won a Cy Young with the Rays in 2018, Blake Snell was rewarded with a five-year, $50 million extension. The deal, which bought out all three of his arbitration years and his first season of free agency, was the largest contract ever awarded to a player who hadn’t yet reached arbitration.
Of course, the Rays being the Rays, Snell was dealt less than a year after signing the agreement. Nevertheless, it was a massive financial commitment from a franchise not known for signing players to big-money deals.
After Bieber won his Cy Young in 2020, I assumed his big dollar extension would be forthcoming. After all, Bieber wasn’t a high first-round draft pick and therefore didn’t cash in on a multi-million dollar signing bonus the likes of which allowed Francisco Lindor and Trevor Bauer to both dismiss contract discussions and eye free agency while they were in Cleveland. No, I thought Bieber would be different.
Two years later, however, he remains without an extension. According to one source with knowledge of the Guardians’ thinking, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The team presented Bieber with a significant extension that far surpassed the deal Snell signed with the Rays, I was told. Bieber rejected it.
More and more players are rejecting the security of long-term deals early in their careers and opting instead to wait for free agency. Now that Bieber is making $6 million this year in his first season of arbitration, the urgency for him to sign long term is diminishing. He is finally starting to make real money by baseball’s standards.
Now the dot-connecting: Bieber, who will turn 27 on May 31, is a client of Drew Rosenhaus, the football mega agent who expanded into baseball a few years ago. Bieber is easily the firm’s biggest baseball client and is featured prominently on the baseball page of the Rosenhaus Sports Representation website.
Dennis Wyrick is the president of baseball operations at Rosenhaus Sports and is Bieber’s direct agent. Wyrick came up in the business under Scott Boras, the agent who famously encourages all of his clients to pursue free agency rather than sign away years of control too early.
It’s easy to see where all of this is headed.
The only reason the Guardians got something done with Ramirez is that he went against his agent’s advice and insisted on taking a below-market deal just for the stability of remaining in Cleveland. It was a rare act from a player and one few others in his position would make.
Theoretically, a Bieber extension at this point from the Guardians’ perspective would buy out his last two years of arbitration and his first year of free agency. Ramirez is on the books for $17 million in 2024 — Bieber’s final year of arbitration — and $19 million in 2025. Given what we know about the Guardians’ payroll, does anyone believe they can afford to give that much to Ramirez and pay the market rate for Bieber while still having enough left over to field a competitive team around them?
Short of a drastic cash infusion at the ownership level, it all seems unlikely.
Bieber has two years of control remaining beyond this season. It’s unrealistic to believe they’d allow a Cy Young winner to just walk in free agency and get nothing for him, meaning they’re about to embark on the same “should we or shouldn’t we?” discussions that hung over Lindor’s final years in Cleveland.
It had become evident by the time Lindor reached arbitration he wasn’t going to take a discounted, team-friendly deal. The team came close to trading him before the 2020 season when he had two years of control remaining, but it ultimately chose to hold onto him and make another run at contention.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and changed everything. In hindsight, the team should’ve traded Lindor in 2020, but who could’ve predicted a pandemic?
Had Ramirez not worked so hard to get a deal done last month, he could be in a different uniform by now. He had two years left on his old deal and trade talks were intensifying when he called the Guardians and pushed to get something done.
After this season, the Guardians will have just two years of control over Bieber.
Of course, on-field performance matters. The Guardians are .500 and hanging around the division race despite being so young, and next year might throw open another contention window. Is that the time to trade a staff ace and Cy Young winner? Hardly. This also is an organization already overflowing with prospects on the cusp of the majors, so holding onto Bieber and making a push for the pennant might make the most sense knowing full well the diminishing returns they’ll eventually receive on any deal — such as the eventual Lindor trade.
One caveat to all of this, the one component that could turn this whole thing relatively quickly, is Bieber’s health and performance. He missed three months last season with a strained shoulder, and when he returned late in September, baseball had banned pitchers from using any sticky substances on the balls.
Bieber hasn’t been the same pitcher this year. He’s had just one poor outing, which was his last start against Toronto, but the outlying numbers are concerning. He has the fourth-steepest drop in fastball velocity compared to March and April of last year, according to The Athletic’s Eno Sarris. Bieber also has one of the steepest declines this year in Sarris’ innovative Stuff+ metric, which studies the physical metrics of a pitch (spin, movement and velocity).
Biggest Declines in Fastball Velocities
Dylan Bundy
Twins
89.4
91.9
-2.5
Robbie Ray
Mariners
93.2
95.3
-2.1
Adam Wainwright
Cardinals
88.3
90.3
-2.0
Shane Bieber
Guardians
91.3
93.2
-1.9
Chris Bassitt
Mets
92.6
94.5
-1.9
Nick Pivetta
Red Sox
93.2
95.0
-1.8
Zack Wheeler
Phillies
95.8
97.6
-1.8
Julio Urias
Dodgers
92.8
94.4
-1.6
Kyle Gibson
Phillies
92.1
93.6
-1.5
Joe Musgrove
Padres
92.4
93.9
-1.5
Ultimately, productivity and recording outs are all that matter. He can pass on a long-term extension now and bet on himself as so many pitchers before him have done and been rewarded for it financially.
There are warning signs the other way, however, too. Mike Clevinger was unable to come to terms on a long-term extension in Cleveland, was traded to San Diego and almost immediately was forced to undergo a second Tommy John operation on his right elbow. At least Clevinger signed a two-year deal worth $11.5 million with the Padres that took him through surgery and rehab. Clevinger, now healthy, will be a free agent after the season and trying to cash in for the first time in his career.
Before Clevinger, Justin Masterson couldn’t come to terms on a new contract with Cleveland. Then shoulder problems and a dip in velocity forced him out of baseball before he could ever cash in on a lucrative long-term deal.
There is a risk for both sides. For now, the Guardians have a former Cy Young winner and one of the best pitchers in baseball on a bargain contract. Important decisions are looming, however. For both of them.
CLEVELAND, OH - APRIL 20, 2022: Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Guardians reacts to a call at home plate during the fourth inning of game one of a doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field on April 20, 2022 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images)
By Jason Lloyd
Now that we know Jose Ramirez and the Guardians will live happily ever after, there’s another, more complicated, negotiation looming over this franchise: Shane Bieber.
I believe the Guardians will have to trade Bieber. The question is when?
First, a history lesson and some dot-connecting.
A few months after he won a Cy Young with the Rays in 2018, Blake Snell was rewarded with a five-year, $50 million extension. The deal, which bought out all three of his arbitration years and his first season of free agency, was the largest contract ever awarded to a player who hadn’t yet reached arbitration.
Of course, the Rays being the Rays, Snell was dealt less than a year after signing the agreement. Nevertheless, it was a massive financial commitment from a franchise not known for signing players to big-money deals.
After Bieber won his Cy Young in 2020, I assumed his big dollar extension would be forthcoming. After all, Bieber wasn’t a high first-round draft pick and therefore didn’t cash in on a multi-million dollar signing bonus the likes of which allowed Francisco Lindor and Trevor Bauer to both dismiss contract discussions and eye free agency while they were in Cleveland. No, I thought Bieber would be different.
Two years later, however, he remains without an extension. According to one source with knowledge of the Guardians’ thinking, it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The team presented Bieber with a significant extension that far surpassed the deal Snell signed with the Rays, I was told. Bieber rejected it.
More and more players are rejecting the security of long-term deals early in their careers and opting instead to wait for free agency. Now that Bieber is making $6 million this year in his first season of arbitration, the urgency for him to sign long term is diminishing. He is finally starting to make real money by baseball’s standards.
Now the dot-connecting: Bieber, who will turn 27 on May 31, is a client of Drew Rosenhaus, the football mega agent who expanded into baseball a few years ago. Bieber is easily the firm’s biggest baseball client and is featured prominently on the baseball page of the Rosenhaus Sports Representation website.
Dennis Wyrick is the president of baseball operations at Rosenhaus Sports and is Bieber’s direct agent. Wyrick came up in the business under Scott Boras, the agent who famously encourages all of his clients to pursue free agency rather than sign away years of control too early.
It’s easy to see where all of this is headed.
The only reason the Guardians got something done with Ramirez is that he went against his agent’s advice and insisted on taking a below-market deal just for the stability of remaining in Cleveland. It was a rare act from a player and one few others in his position would make.
Theoretically, a Bieber extension at this point from the Guardians’ perspective would buy out his last two years of arbitration and his first year of free agency. Ramirez is on the books for $17 million in 2024 — Bieber’s final year of arbitration — and $19 million in 2025. Given what we know about the Guardians’ payroll, does anyone believe they can afford to give that much to Ramirez and pay the market rate for Bieber while still having enough left over to field a competitive team around them?
Short of a drastic cash infusion at the ownership level, it all seems unlikely.
Bieber has two years of control remaining beyond this season. It’s unrealistic to believe they’d allow a Cy Young winner to just walk in free agency and get nothing for him, meaning they’re about to embark on the same “should we or shouldn’t we?” discussions that hung over Lindor’s final years in Cleveland.
It had become evident by the time Lindor reached arbitration he wasn’t going to take a discounted, team-friendly deal. The team came close to trading him before the 2020 season when he had two years of control remaining, but it ultimately chose to hold onto him and make another run at contention.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and changed everything. In hindsight, the team should’ve traded Lindor in 2020, but who could’ve predicted a pandemic?
Had Ramirez not worked so hard to get a deal done last month, he could be in a different uniform by now. He had two years left on his old deal and trade talks were intensifying when he called the Guardians and pushed to get something done.
After this season, the Guardians will have just two years of control over Bieber.
Of course, on-field performance matters. The Guardians are .500 and hanging around the division race despite being so young, and next year might throw open another contention window. Is that the time to trade a staff ace and Cy Young winner? Hardly. This also is an organization already overflowing with prospects on the cusp of the majors, so holding onto Bieber and making a push for the pennant might make the most sense knowing full well the diminishing returns they’ll eventually receive on any deal — such as the eventual Lindor trade.
One caveat to all of this, the one component that could turn this whole thing relatively quickly, is Bieber’s health and performance. He missed three months last season with a strained shoulder, and when he returned late in September, baseball had banned pitchers from using any sticky substances on the balls.
Bieber hasn’t been the same pitcher this year. He’s had just one poor outing, which was his last start against Toronto, but the outlying numbers are concerning. He has the fourth-steepest drop in fastball velocity compared to March and April of last year, according to The Athletic’s Eno Sarris. Bieber also has one of the steepest declines this year in Sarris’ innovative Stuff+ metric, which studies the physical metrics of a pitch (spin, movement and velocity).
Biggest Declines in Fastball Velocities
Dylan Bundy
Twins
89.4
91.9
-2.5
Robbie Ray
Mariners
93.2
95.3
-2.1
Adam Wainwright
Cardinals
88.3
90.3
-2.0
Shane Bieber
Guardians
91.3
93.2
-1.9
Chris Bassitt
Mets
92.6
94.5
-1.9
Nick Pivetta
Red Sox
93.2
95.0
-1.8
Zack Wheeler
Phillies
95.8
97.6
-1.8
Julio Urias
Dodgers
92.8
94.4
-1.6
Kyle Gibson
Phillies
92.1
93.6
-1.5
Joe Musgrove
Padres
92.4
93.9
-1.5
Ultimately, productivity and recording outs are all that matter. He can pass on a long-term extension now and bet on himself as so many pitchers before him have done and been rewarded for it financially.
There are warning signs the other way, however, too. Mike Clevinger was unable to come to terms on a long-term extension in Cleveland, was traded to San Diego and almost immediately was forced to undergo a second Tommy John operation on his right elbow. At least Clevinger signed a two-year deal worth $11.5 million with the Padres that took him through surgery and rehab. Clevinger, now healthy, will be a free agent after the season and trying to cash in for the first time in his career.
Before Clevinger, Justin Masterson couldn’t come to terms on a new contract with Cleveland. Then shoulder problems and a dip in velocity forced him out of baseball before he could ever cash in on a lucrative long-term deal.
There is a risk for both sides. For now, the Guardians have a former Cy Young winner and one of the best pitchers in baseball on a bargain contract. Important decisions are looming, however. For both of them.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
8592Jeez
Can we wait with the gloom and doom on Bieber.
Lloyd need to find something else to write about.
Can we wait with the gloom and doom on Bieber.
Lloyd need to find something else to write about.
Re: Articles
8593Cleveland has been generally astute in NOT signing pitchers to long term deals. So many of them do not continue at elite level for long. Injury risk is extremely high. Keep developing Espino and Allen and Williams is a cheaper more cautious and likely successful strategy
That's how we got from Kluber and Bauer and Carrasco and Clevinger to Bieber and McKenzie and Quantrill and Plesac and Civale
That's how we got from Kluber and Bauer and Carrasco and Clevinger to Bieber and McKenzie and Quantrill and Plesac and Civale
Re: Articles
8594I think if Bieber gets extended it won't be for a lot of years. And if he has already turned down stuff he is likely gone.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
8595Guardians’ future middle infield, pitching woes and trade plans: Meisel’s Mailbag
CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 08: Cleveland Guardians second baseman Owen Miller (6) celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of the the Major League Baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Guardinas on May 8, 2022, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
3h ago
4
Save Article
Without further ado, to your questions (which have been edited for clarity).
Any chance Bobby Bradley makes another appearance, or is he a Triple-A lifer? Also with Logan Allen in Baltimore, are the Guardians sad there will never be a Logan Allen/Logan Allen doubleheader split (seeing as we average a doubleheader a week)? — Sarah R.
Never say never, but it’s difficult to see how Bradley can convince the front office he deserves another legitimate chance. His hitting profile isn’t easy to overhaul, he’ll turn 26 in two weeks and once a team removes a player from the 40-man roster, it’s an uphill climb in clown shoes to gain re-entry. With Josh Naylor, Owen Miller, Yu Chang and, eventually, Nolan Jones on board, the Guardians have plenty of options at first base as it is. I’ve been wondering if Bobby Bradleys — guys who offer power but little else at the plate — are an endangered species. They might be in Cleveland, where the club has prioritized contact ability and strike zone management.
As for the Logans Allen, I had visions of one day penning an article in which I’d list fun facts about each and readers would have to guess which Logan Allen they applied to. Sadly, you’ll never know which Logan Allen had a father who played in the NHL. (It’s new Oriole Logan S. Allen.) By the way, it’s not often we need to learn a player’s middle name to avoid confusion. Farewell, Logan Scott Allen. It won’t be long until we see Logan Taylor Allen. We’ll always have Andra Davis and Andre Davis, teammates on the Browns from 2002-04.
If the team is still hovering around .500 at the trade deadline, is it more likely it packages prospects for a deadline deal or waits until the offseason? — Scotty H.
It’s impossible to know for sure because what the Guardians will do hinges on other teams’ approaches and whether a postseason berth would be attainable. But it’s a safe bet they’d explore adding players with multiple years of control. They’ve consistently done that over the last decade, and they have plenty of trade ammunition. If they believe they’ll be contenders next year and the year(s) after — they do — then it makes sense to strike if the terms of the trade will benefit them at the big-league level during that stretch. That M.O. dates back even to the Ubaldo Jiménez trade in 2011. They figured better years were ahead and they ran out of steam that summer, but since Jiménez had two and a half years of control, they swung the deal for him.
The concerns entering the offseason seemed to be all about the offense, but only one American League team (Kansas City) has allowed more runs per game than the Guardians. What’s the early season pulse on the pitching staff? — David B.
Peek under the hood at your own peril: The metrics aren’t pretty for Cleveland’s starting pitchers. The Guardians’ bullpen entered the weekend ranked seventh in the majors with a 3.21 ERA (before Bryan Shaw nuked that number), and the emergence of Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges makes that group somewhat promising. But only four rotations — all National League teams — have a worse rotation ERA than Cleveland’s 4.86 (as of Saturday). That’s alarming. And confusing, given the organization’s long-standing strengths. I suppose one way to look at it would be, if there’s one area this team needs to repair, you’d trust it to repair the starting pitching. Outside of Triston McKenzie, it’s been quite shaky.
But, hey, if you’re looking for a dominant rotation, shift your attention 40 miles south, where Double-A Akron employs Daniel Espino (on the injured list), Logan Allen, Joey Cantillo, Xzavion Curry, Hunter Gaddis, Tanner Burns (IL) and, soon, last year’s first-round pick, Gavin Williams. That group owns a 2.45 ERA this season.
I’m worried about Shane Bieber. Is this is a bad stretch or long-range problem? Ninety mph fastballs aren’t cutting it. — William C.
It’s concerning because it hasn’t trended in the right direction and no one has pointed to one specific culprit. (Bieber’s fastball averaged 91.2 mph on Saturday, after clocking in at 90.6 mph over his first six starts.) Bieber and his coaches said in recent weeks they weren’t panicked about the velocity drop. When I asked Bieber if it would be worrisome if this continued into the summer months, he said he didn’t think that would happen. It’s not just the velocity, though. Bieber could probably get away with a pedestrian fastball – as he did Saturday – as long as he was locating it and his slider, curveball, cutter and changeup were thriving. But the whiff rate on his curveball has tumbled from its sky-high percentage the last two years, and he’s thrown the pitch far less often. His cutter has been getting crushed. He’s all but abandoned his changeup.
Bieber finished fourth in the AL Cy Young voting in his first full season in 2019. He was the unanimous choice for the award in 2020. There’s reason to believe he can reverse course, but it’s a bit of a mystery at the moment. He insists he’s healthy.
In your humble opinion, which middle infielder(s), either in the minors or majors, will be part of the next core? Should the front office trade those who are not part of the core, or keep them for depth? — Andrew L.
It’s a tricky balancing act because if you play someone long enough to learn that they aren’t worth keeping around, well, you’ve sapped them of their trade value. So, that’s why it might be prudent to act sooner — this summer or winter — instead of attempting to give every well-regarded middle-infield prospect a long look. (And since they all play middle infield and third base is occupied, there isn’t a way to give everyone a fair chance anyway.) Cleveland’s brass knows it will have to execute a trade at some point in the near future. As it stands, Andrés Giménez, Owen Miller and Amed Rosario are covering second base and shortstop. Tyler Freeman and Gabriel Arias are next in line. Brayan Rocchio isn’t far behind. Internal evaluations will be critical, and so will identifying a team that has a higher opinion of one of their middle-infield candidates than they do.
For instance, let’s say the A’s dangle catcher Sean Murphy, and their front office is higher on Freeman or Arias than Cleveland’s evaluators are. (This is all hypothetical. I’m not quite ready to evaluate specific trade proposals.) That sort of match is the easiest path to a trade. The more we see of these middle infielders in the majors, the more everyone’s scouting reports trend toward a similar direction.
If Miller is the real deal, where does he fit on this team defensively? I came into this season thinking he could be a good trade piece, but so far he’s playing his way into being a keeper. — William H.
Huge Owen Miller fan. Any thought of him in a corner outfield spot next year? George Valera might not be quite ready, it only improves Miller’s versatility and it allows Naylor to play first base instead of right field, leaving second base/shortstop for some combo of Giménez, Arias and/or Rocchio in 2023/2024. — Brandon K.
No one has suggested this is the plan, but I do wonder if Miller will eventually find his way into some corner outfield duty later this season or next spring. The Guardians have wanted to keep his bat in the lineup, and to do that, he has shifted between first and second. But Naylor appears to be the leading contender to seize the long-term first baseman role, and they have so many young middle infielders who need an opportunity that Miller could get squeezed out of the infield altogether. If he keeps hitting, they’ll find a spot for him. Maybe he becomes some sort of super-sub who pinballs his way around the diamond en route to 500 plate appearances.
Please tell me Daniel Espino is not Danny Salazar 2.0. — Brent W.
That’s, reportedly, New York Yankee (minor leaguer) Danny Salazar to you. I’ll admit that the night Espino struck out the first 11 batters he faced, I was reminiscing with another writer about the time Salazar struck out 10 in 3 2/3 innings in Chicago. Salazar couldn’t escape the fourth inning that night because his pitch count climbed into the 90s and he allowed five runs.
Espino has a bright future, and if there’s a non-strikeout number to be encouraged by, it’s that he has chopped his walk rate in half this season. It’s early, but he has walked only four batters in 18 innings. And, it must be mentioned, he has struck out a video game-like 52 percent of batters. He’s quickly becoming appointment viewing as he breezes through the farm system.
How does the Arias injury affect the Guardians’ decision on the glut of middle-infield prospects? Were they expecting Arias to be up around June for a tryout? — Gil R.
You should still see him this season once he’s healthy, but it does complicate things a bit because it seemed as though he would be the first middle infielder summoned from Triple A. Freeman could be ready at some point this summer as well, and I’m not sure how the Guardians can squeeze both into the big-league lineup with Giménez and Miller playing so well.
Oscar Mercado has a career .231/.281/.388 against right-handed pitching. The Guardians don’t seem to have a left-handed platoon partner for him in right field. Do you have a sense whether it’s a front office priority to find a bat who can spell Mercado against righties? — David B.
Jones could fit the necessary criteria. And I suspect we’ll see him later in the season. But this is a spot that should remain a target for the front office to consider upgrading. Neither Mercado nor Rosario is an everyday answer in the corner outfield.
Does the fact that Rosario and José Ramírez are good friends concern you for when Rosario is traded? — Billy B.
Juan Uribe was basically a father figure to Ramírez. Ramírez replaced him at third base when Uribe was designated for assignment at the 2016 trade deadline, and Ramírez handled it just fine. Ramírez has no problem making new friends in the clubhouse, either. He and Myles Straw have become almost inseparable this year.
Luke Maile and Austin Hedges are free agents after this season. Who might next year’s opening day catcher be? — Matt S.
Perhaps someone who’s not in the organization. Bo Naylor is faring better at the plate this season — 20 walks in 24 games, fueling a .415 on-base percentage, certainly helps — and he could jump to Triple-A Columbus at some point. Maybe he’d even be ready by Opening Day next year. But, for now, I could see the Guardians leaning toward two other scenarios. One, the club acquires another defensive-minded placeholder (or keeps Hedges) to pair with Bryan Lavastida for the 2023 season, or maybe just part of the season, until Naylor is ready. Two, the club obtains an unquestioned starting catcher with several years of team control, and maybe Naylor or Lavastida would be involved in that trade.
CLEVELAND, OH - MAY 08: Cleveland Guardians second baseman Owen Miller (6) celebrates as he rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the eighth inning of the the Major League Baseball game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Cleveland Guardinas on May 8, 2022, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, OH. (Photo by Frank Jansky/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
3h ago
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Without further ado, to your questions (which have been edited for clarity).
Any chance Bobby Bradley makes another appearance, or is he a Triple-A lifer? Also with Logan Allen in Baltimore, are the Guardians sad there will never be a Logan Allen/Logan Allen doubleheader split (seeing as we average a doubleheader a week)? — Sarah R.
Never say never, but it’s difficult to see how Bradley can convince the front office he deserves another legitimate chance. His hitting profile isn’t easy to overhaul, he’ll turn 26 in two weeks and once a team removes a player from the 40-man roster, it’s an uphill climb in clown shoes to gain re-entry. With Josh Naylor, Owen Miller, Yu Chang and, eventually, Nolan Jones on board, the Guardians have plenty of options at first base as it is. I’ve been wondering if Bobby Bradleys — guys who offer power but little else at the plate — are an endangered species. They might be in Cleveland, where the club has prioritized contact ability and strike zone management.
As for the Logans Allen, I had visions of one day penning an article in which I’d list fun facts about each and readers would have to guess which Logan Allen they applied to. Sadly, you’ll never know which Logan Allen had a father who played in the NHL. (It’s new Oriole Logan S. Allen.) By the way, it’s not often we need to learn a player’s middle name to avoid confusion. Farewell, Logan Scott Allen. It won’t be long until we see Logan Taylor Allen. We’ll always have Andra Davis and Andre Davis, teammates on the Browns from 2002-04.
If the team is still hovering around .500 at the trade deadline, is it more likely it packages prospects for a deadline deal or waits until the offseason? — Scotty H.
It’s impossible to know for sure because what the Guardians will do hinges on other teams’ approaches and whether a postseason berth would be attainable. But it’s a safe bet they’d explore adding players with multiple years of control. They’ve consistently done that over the last decade, and they have plenty of trade ammunition. If they believe they’ll be contenders next year and the year(s) after — they do — then it makes sense to strike if the terms of the trade will benefit them at the big-league level during that stretch. That M.O. dates back even to the Ubaldo Jiménez trade in 2011. They figured better years were ahead and they ran out of steam that summer, but since Jiménez had two and a half years of control, they swung the deal for him.
The concerns entering the offseason seemed to be all about the offense, but only one American League team (Kansas City) has allowed more runs per game than the Guardians. What’s the early season pulse on the pitching staff? — David B.
Peek under the hood at your own peril: The metrics aren’t pretty for Cleveland’s starting pitchers. The Guardians’ bullpen entered the weekend ranked seventh in the majors with a 3.21 ERA (before Bryan Shaw nuked that number), and the emergence of Trevor Stephan and Sam Hentges makes that group somewhat promising. But only four rotations — all National League teams — have a worse rotation ERA than Cleveland’s 4.86 (as of Saturday). That’s alarming. And confusing, given the organization’s long-standing strengths. I suppose one way to look at it would be, if there’s one area this team needs to repair, you’d trust it to repair the starting pitching. Outside of Triston McKenzie, it’s been quite shaky.
But, hey, if you’re looking for a dominant rotation, shift your attention 40 miles south, where Double-A Akron employs Daniel Espino (on the injured list), Logan Allen, Joey Cantillo, Xzavion Curry, Hunter Gaddis, Tanner Burns (IL) and, soon, last year’s first-round pick, Gavin Williams. That group owns a 2.45 ERA this season.
I’m worried about Shane Bieber. Is this is a bad stretch or long-range problem? Ninety mph fastballs aren’t cutting it. — William C.
It’s concerning because it hasn’t trended in the right direction and no one has pointed to one specific culprit. (Bieber’s fastball averaged 91.2 mph on Saturday, after clocking in at 90.6 mph over his first six starts.) Bieber and his coaches said in recent weeks they weren’t panicked about the velocity drop. When I asked Bieber if it would be worrisome if this continued into the summer months, he said he didn’t think that would happen. It’s not just the velocity, though. Bieber could probably get away with a pedestrian fastball – as he did Saturday – as long as he was locating it and his slider, curveball, cutter and changeup were thriving. But the whiff rate on his curveball has tumbled from its sky-high percentage the last two years, and he’s thrown the pitch far less often. His cutter has been getting crushed. He’s all but abandoned his changeup.
Bieber finished fourth in the AL Cy Young voting in his first full season in 2019. He was the unanimous choice for the award in 2020. There’s reason to believe he can reverse course, but it’s a bit of a mystery at the moment. He insists he’s healthy.
In your humble opinion, which middle infielder(s), either in the minors or majors, will be part of the next core? Should the front office trade those who are not part of the core, or keep them for depth? — Andrew L.
It’s a tricky balancing act because if you play someone long enough to learn that they aren’t worth keeping around, well, you’ve sapped them of their trade value. So, that’s why it might be prudent to act sooner — this summer or winter — instead of attempting to give every well-regarded middle-infield prospect a long look. (And since they all play middle infield and third base is occupied, there isn’t a way to give everyone a fair chance anyway.) Cleveland’s brass knows it will have to execute a trade at some point in the near future. As it stands, Andrés Giménez, Owen Miller and Amed Rosario are covering second base and shortstop. Tyler Freeman and Gabriel Arias are next in line. Brayan Rocchio isn’t far behind. Internal evaluations will be critical, and so will identifying a team that has a higher opinion of one of their middle-infield candidates than they do.
For instance, let’s say the A’s dangle catcher Sean Murphy, and their front office is higher on Freeman or Arias than Cleveland’s evaluators are. (This is all hypothetical. I’m not quite ready to evaluate specific trade proposals.) That sort of match is the easiest path to a trade. The more we see of these middle infielders in the majors, the more everyone’s scouting reports trend toward a similar direction.
If Miller is the real deal, where does he fit on this team defensively? I came into this season thinking he could be a good trade piece, but so far he’s playing his way into being a keeper. — William H.
Huge Owen Miller fan. Any thought of him in a corner outfield spot next year? George Valera might not be quite ready, it only improves Miller’s versatility and it allows Naylor to play first base instead of right field, leaving second base/shortstop for some combo of Giménez, Arias and/or Rocchio in 2023/2024. — Brandon K.
No one has suggested this is the plan, but I do wonder if Miller will eventually find his way into some corner outfield duty later this season or next spring. The Guardians have wanted to keep his bat in the lineup, and to do that, he has shifted between first and second. But Naylor appears to be the leading contender to seize the long-term first baseman role, and they have so many young middle infielders who need an opportunity that Miller could get squeezed out of the infield altogether. If he keeps hitting, they’ll find a spot for him. Maybe he becomes some sort of super-sub who pinballs his way around the diamond en route to 500 plate appearances.
Please tell me Daniel Espino is not Danny Salazar 2.0. — Brent W.
That’s, reportedly, New York Yankee (minor leaguer) Danny Salazar to you. I’ll admit that the night Espino struck out the first 11 batters he faced, I was reminiscing with another writer about the time Salazar struck out 10 in 3 2/3 innings in Chicago. Salazar couldn’t escape the fourth inning that night because his pitch count climbed into the 90s and he allowed five runs.
Espino has a bright future, and if there’s a non-strikeout number to be encouraged by, it’s that he has chopped his walk rate in half this season. It’s early, but he has walked only four batters in 18 innings. And, it must be mentioned, he has struck out a video game-like 52 percent of batters. He’s quickly becoming appointment viewing as he breezes through the farm system.
How does the Arias injury affect the Guardians’ decision on the glut of middle-infield prospects? Were they expecting Arias to be up around June for a tryout? — Gil R.
You should still see him this season once he’s healthy, but it does complicate things a bit because it seemed as though he would be the first middle infielder summoned from Triple A. Freeman could be ready at some point this summer as well, and I’m not sure how the Guardians can squeeze both into the big-league lineup with Giménez and Miller playing so well.
Oscar Mercado has a career .231/.281/.388 against right-handed pitching. The Guardians don’t seem to have a left-handed platoon partner for him in right field. Do you have a sense whether it’s a front office priority to find a bat who can spell Mercado against righties? — David B.
Jones could fit the necessary criteria. And I suspect we’ll see him later in the season. But this is a spot that should remain a target for the front office to consider upgrading. Neither Mercado nor Rosario is an everyday answer in the corner outfield.
Does the fact that Rosario and José Ramírez are good friends concern you for when Rosario is traded? — Billy B.
Juan Uribe was basically a father figure to Ramírez. Ramírez replaced him at third base when Uribe was designated for assignment at the 2016 trade deadline, and Ramírez handled it just fine. Ramírez has no problem making new friends in the clubhouse, either. He and Myles Straw have become almost inseparable this year.
Luke Maile and Austin Hedges are free agents after this season. Who might next year’s opening day catcher be? — Matt S.
Perhaps someone who’s not in the organization. Bo Naylor is faring better at the plate this season — 20 walks in 24 games, fueling a .415 on-base percentage, certainly helps — and he could jump to Triple-A Columbus at some point. Maybe he’d even be ready by Opening Day next year. But, for now, I could see the Guardians leaning toward two other scenarios. One, the club acquires another defensive-minded placeholder (or keeps Hedges) to pair with Bryan Lavastida for the 2023 season, or maybe just part of the season, until Naylor is ready. Two, the club obtains an unquestioned starting catcher with several years of team control, and maybe Naylor or Lavastida would be involved in that trade.