That would be just fine with me!

MLB owners approve David Blitzer as new Cleveland Guardians minority investor



Sep 13, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia 76ers managing partner David Blitzer speaks at the podium during the sculpture unveiling ceremony honoring Charles Barkley at the Philadelphia 76ers Training Complex. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports
By Zack Meisel

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Following months of conversations and negotiations between Guardians owner Paul Dolan and prospective investor David Blitzer, the league has approved the sale of a portion of the franchise to the New York-based businessman.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, speaking at the Major League Baseball owners meetings Thursday in New York, said the arrangement is “pending the closing. Really excited about that change there.”

A source confirmed the approval to The Athletic and said that, though the sides are still working through final details, the deal could become official in the coming days. Blitzer, 52, is expected to initially own 25 to 30 percent of the team, with an eventual pathway to majority ownership, according to multiple sources.

The Dolans, who purchased the franchise from the Jacobs family for $323 million in 1999, have sought a new partner ever since John Sherman relinquished his share of the team to buy his hometown Kansas City Royals three years ago. They ramped up efforts last summer and zeroed in on Blitzer — with the help of the firm Allen & Co., the same sports banking boutique that identified Sherman for them — late in the year.

Dolan confirmed in December that he had engaged in “meaningful discussions” with Blitzer, who has ownership stakes in the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, as well as several soccer teams in the United States and Europe. Blitzer and Josh Harris are co-founders and managing partners of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the group that owns the Devils and 76ers. A source told The Athletic that, as of last week, Harris was not part of the Guardians discussions.


David Blitzer has ownership stakes in the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia 76ers, among other teams. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
Sherman’s pact also included a route to majority ownership, though sources told The Athletic that Dolan would have dictated the timing of the transfer of power. Sources have suggested over the past year that Dolan was seeking to remain majority owner for about five more years.

Securing a partner and potential successor climbed to the top of the Dolans’ priority list once the team extended its lease at Progressive Field. That 15-year deal runs through 2036, includes $435 million of ballpark upgrades and contains contract options that could tether the baseball team to downtown Cleveland through 2046. Blitzer, who has a commercial real estate background, could eventually oversee development in the areas surrounding the ballpark, several sources suggested.

The Guardians opened the season with a payroll just shy of $70 million, which ranked 27th in the league, ahead of only the rebuilding A’s, Pirates and Orioles. That’s about half of Cleveland’s payroll figure from four years ago, though the number did receive a jolt in April when the Guardians signed José Ramírez to the heftiest contract in club history (seven years, $141 million, including a club-record salary of $22 million for 2022).

In late March, Forbes valued the franchise at $1.3 billion, or about four times what the Dolans paid for the club. That ranked 24th in the league.

That sounds like good news!

Cleveland Guardians: Myles Straw needs to be moved from the leadoff spot
by Anthony Alandt21 hours ago Follow @anthonyalandt


Myles Straw is having a rough start to the season – is it time to take him out of the leadoff spot until his bat comes around?

I feel like the leadoff hitter should get on base, at least better than a .311 clip. Sure, that’s right around league average, but shouldn’t the first guy in your lineup be finding himself on base more than most? Of course I’m referencing to Guardians center fielder Myles Straw, who, after signing a splash extension and starting the season hot, has all but fallen off at the top of the Cleveland order.

Fine, yes, I concede that he’s getting on base at a .371 clip against lefties, but I’ll counter by saying his OBP against righties is .291. The bottom line is Straw isn’t producing nearly as much as he should to be maintained as the Guardians’ leadoff hitter. He ranks in the bottom 3% of the league in xSLG, xwOBAcon and the bottom 2% in hard-hit balls. It’s just not a sustainable way to begin each baseball game.

The Guardians are on a roll right now. Winners of 12 of their last 15 games, the team seems to be finding its groove, beating up on worse teams and establishing its identity in each facet of the game. There are obvious holes in the lineup that need to be plugged and the reliever situation is far from settled, but they’re finally coming together as a fun, competitive ballclub. If manager Terry Francona wants to ensure this success lasts and the team goes from good to great on most nights, he has to move Straw out of the leadoff spot.

June 15th’s lineup looked pretty normal, with the exception of Andrés Giménez. So let’s work off of that to see where Straw fits and who can replace him in the No. 1 slot. Before we dive into this, I believe Straw needs to find his swing again, but he’s too good to be left out of the lineup. Give him some time away from the leadoff limelight.


Giménez is my favorite to replace Straw. The guy is having an absolutely bonkers year thus far, evidenced alone by his .337 OBP. Baseball Savant loves his advanced metrics, though he does need to decrease his strikeout rate and increase his walk rate significantly. Slide him in at the top (likely replacing Ernie Clement) and watch the stud hitter and speed demon take over that spot.

My next pick to replace Straw would be Steven Kwan, another young guy who has been impressing the Guardians this season. This way, also, Oscar Mercado might once and for all be relegated out of the lineup. Kwan has only struck out 13 times this season, placing him in the 100th percentile for his minuscule strikeout rate. He sprays the ball across the field and has a plethora of infield hits, all while tending to hit line drives or blooping singles to center or left field. I think he’s a stud as well and another fast slap hitter that could easily slide in to Straw’s spot.

Other than Giménez and Kwan, I could also see Amed Rosario or Owen Miller spending time as the leadoff hitter, though I’d rather keep them where they are in the lineup.

Now, as for where to put Straw, I think the easy answer is ninth, making sure the eight hitter is one of the catchers or whoever is stepping in to give someone else a day off. It’s a clear demotion for Straw and something I’m sure the front office that just handed him five years and $25 million is reluctant to do. But moving Straw to the bottom of the order, effectively making him the second leadoff guy while he figures some things out, is far from signaling the white flag. Guys go through midseason slumps, that’s fine, but what’s not fine is continuing to let a guy flail at the top of the lineup while the Guardians are trying to win games, especially as the strength of schedule gets harder.

I would not bat Giminez leadoff. Until the 2 walks he drew yesterday he has rarely walked. He hits home runs and drives in plenty of runs. I want someone with a high on base pct hitting leadoff.
Kwan is possible; Rosario is possible.
the most interesting leadoff man in our organization is Bo Naylor, Catcher for Akron, walks a lot, on base pct over 400, steals bases. He can hit leadoff for the Gs in 2024.

Yeah I'd personally do Kwan. Seems to me his skill set says leadoff.

At the very least he takes pitches so the other hitters can see the pitcher's stuff.

In his second season with Double-A Akron, Bo Naylor seems to have turned a corner.

The Guardians’ No. 15 prospect has shown a vast improvement in just about every aspect of his offensive game while remaining a terrific contributor behind the plate and working with one of the better rotations in the Minors. Naylor’s offensive rebound is highlighted by a .436 on-base percentage and 19.6 percent strikeout rate, following a season in which he posted a .280 OBP and struck out in 31.5 percent of his plate appearances at the same level.

While it seems it was absolutely necessary for Naylor to repeat Double-A, he did finish 2021 with a positive memory. His only hit in 11 at-bats in the playoffs against Bowie was a walk-off single in Game 3 to complete the sweep and secure a championship.

In the latest Prospect Q&A, the 22-year-old discusses the offseason work that led to his turnaround, returning to Akron and the memories of his championship walk-off. The Mississauga, Ontario, native also talks about being in the same organization as his brother -- Cleveland outfielder Josh Naylor -- and working with a rotation that features almost many of the organization’s top pitching prospects.

MiLB.com: What's been working for you the past couple months and what's been different from last year?

Bo Naylor: I feel like I really took the offseason very serious, and I went down and got a lot of work done and really set myself up in a good place to start the year -- no matter where it was. It's kind of like building a routine, sticking to the routine and letting everything else go free on the field. And I think I've been riding with that and it's been playing up for me.

MiLB.com: Your on-base percentage stands out over the first couple months of the season -- what did you have to do to improve in that area?

Naylor: I feel like I've always been a player with a good eye at the plate, and along the way I think I got a little away from myself. But it's one of the goals that is set out for myself at the beginning of the season -- to get back to that thought process of only swinging at the pitches that I can do damage on and not chasing after the pitcher's pitch. I think I've just been sticking to the approach that I always had growing up, staying patient and kind of allowing the pitcher to have to come to me rather than me to him.

MiLB.com: Have you noticed any other effects of this approach? Your strikeout rate is down as well.

Naylor: I would say it definitely allowed me to see a lot of different types of pitches in different situations. I feel like, compared to years prior, when I have that approach of only swinging at the pitches that I know I could handle the best, it really opens up the door for me to be able to put more pressure on the pitcher. Making them have to work, rather than the other way around.

MiLB.com: You did end your first season with Akron on a high note -- what was that like?

Naylor: I mean, it's a memory that continuously replays in my head. Being able to get that last hit and kind of peel off an amazing season surrounded by a great group of guys, it was amazing and it's still amazing to this day. Coming back to Akron this year, I definitely feel like we have a really, really strong club. Surrounded by a bunch of talented players, just like last year. And we have an amazing chance to be able to have an end of the year, great story like that one again.

MiLB.com: You're in a unique position as a catcher on a club with some of the organization's best -- and league's best -- pitching prospects like Daniel Espino and Logan Allen. What's it like working with a staff that's this talented?

Naylor: It's amazing. Definitely being able to get to know these guys a little more and being in the clubhouse makes it that much better. Once you get to know these guys on a personal level, it makes you want to root for them that much more. I'm out here just trying to do my best to make sure that I'm setting these guys up for success and helping them get better. It's really just being that guy that they can rely on back there.

MiLB.com: In your own education as a catcher, do you see how things have changed and grown for you?

Naylor: Everything is always a process, especially at that position. It's continuous learning. There's always more to learn, always more things to adapt to your game, like anything. But I feel like behind there, it's amplified because there's such a strong requirement for the aspects of catching that you need to fulfill. I feel like I've been blessed with a great group of guys that I can look to be able to help guide me -- other players and coaches in the organization. It's just always having to learn to adapt and be able to figure out the best way to help your pitcher get from the first to the last inning with the most success possible.

MiLB.com: How has it been to have your brother in the organization?

Naylor: From that moment that my mom told me he got traded to us, it was just like a dream come true. I feel like every group of brothers always imagined playing with the same ballclub. Those are things that you play Whiffle ball, street baseball growing up thinking about. I'm one of the few who kind of have that opportunity, and hopefully at some point we can make that happen soon. It's awesome. We're very, very close. We're always talking on the phone and sharing our experiences. I knew that from that day forward, it was going to be a really good opportunity for him.

MiLB.com: He can be a pretty tremendous source of energy for a ballclub. Are you the type to match that energy?

Naylor: Sometimes I wish I could. But, I don't know. I just don't think that's part of my personality. But that's definitely been him from Day 1. He's that guy you want on your side that gets the fire going, lights that spark in the clubhouse and in the dugout. And it just kind of really gets the team going. I feel like I'm definitely a little more laid back and a little more quiet. But that's definitely one of the traits I love about him. He's very competitive and he shows it out there.

MiLB.com: What does a successful season look like for you in 2022?

Naylor: Just having that understanding from Day 1 to the last day of the season, I was consistent. I think that generally covers everything I'm trying to do in this game -- being consistent on defense, getting the job done, being consistent at the plate with my approach, consistent with my routine before the game, consistent with my attitude, just consistent on all bases. If I could look back and really see that I held this standard for myself from Day 1 to the last day, then I would definitely consider that a really successful season.

Really good, thanks civ!

Bo needs to be boosted up on prospect lists. And promoted to Columbus
Question, assuming Bo joins Josh by next season, who are the previous brother pairs on the team?

Gaylord and Jim Perry of course
we didn't have Joe Niekro when we had Phil, did we?
Luke and Joey Sewell way back in my Dad's day
speaking of which don't thing Harry Covelskie was ever on Cleveland with Stanley
Did Larry and Dick Brown play at the same time in Cleveland?

civ - after Gaylord Perry and Jim Perry does anyone else matter? Arguably the best brother combo on the same team of all time in baseball.

AL Central check-in: Biggest surprises, trade deadline outlook, and who wins the division?



Minnesota Twins' Luis Arraez (2) celebrates with Nick Gordon, center, and Ryan Jeffers, left, after hitting a grand slam during the third inning of a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Saturday, June 11, 2022, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Stacy Bengs)
By The Athletic MLB Staff
Jun 13, 2022

With more than a third of the season in the books, we gathered our AL Central writers to take stock of each team and make sense of the division race.

What’s one word that describes the state of your team?
Jason Lloyd (Guardians): Young. Team president Chris Antonetti made the point a few weeks ago that the average age of this roster is even younger than a Triple-A team. José Ramírez, 29, is the old head. Most of the rest of the everyday players are guys like Andrés Giménez (23), Josh Naylor (24), Owen Miller (25), Steven Kwan (24) and Amed Rosario (26). The same is true for the pitching. The Guardians have one of the deepest farm systems in baseball and this season was always going to be about figuring out which players will be foundational pieces and which can be bundled in trades. From that standpoint, this start has to be viewed as a success. It seems they have identified pieces who will be here a long, long time.

Alec Lewis (Royals): Developing. The Royals wanted to improve this season. The playoffs were not a reasonable expectation, but reasonable progression was. If that meant 80 wins, it was going to be doable, as long as the young pitchers took steps forward, and young prospects such as Bobby Witt Jr., MJ Melendez and others established themselves in the big leagues in a way that prepared the Royals for a solid chance at contention in 2023. But to this point, the Royals have underperformed. They’re on pace for more than 100 losses. And while Melendez and Witt have been impressive in many facets, the young pitchers continue to be inconsistent. This indicates the state of the team: still in the development phase. The route the Royals choose to take at the trade deadline, and the performance from now until the end of the season will dictate how close the club believes the light at the end of the development tunnel is.

Cody Stavenhagen (Tigers): Disappointing. The Tigers came into the season hoping this would be the year their rebuild was officially over. Playoff hopes were always a stretch, but when Detroit finished last season 68-61 after May 8, it was reasonable to expect this team to be competitive after an offseason of additions. Instead, the Tigers have struggled to produce runs at a historic pace and have generally succumbed to too much sloppy play. The Tigers have battled a barrage of injuries, but that doesn’t explain why they rank last in runs, home runs, slugging percentage and wRC+.

Aaron Gleeman (Twins): Injured. At one point last week the Twins had 18 players unavailable because they were on the injured list, COVID-19 IL or restricted list, and they’ve had double-digit players on the IL basically the entire season. The Twins lead MLB with 24 different players spending time on the IL this year — including season-ending stints for Royce Lewis and Chris Paddack — and they rank seventh in total days lost to injury.

James Fegan (White Sox): Terse, since that is the nature of a lot of postgame press conferences with Tony La Russa. “Tense” was also a candidate, since that is the nature of almost every White Sox victory, as their putrid offense makes every triumph a bullpen-gobbling grind. La Russa is not batting 1.000, as I think we’ve covered extensively, and the sense that he is messing everything up is probably hardened by how ornery he can be in the agony of defeat. But he also contains multitudes. Aaron recently tweeted out a quote from Rocco Baldelli about controlled aggression at the plate that sounds like it could have come out of La Russa’s mouth, had it only contained some random allusions to Rick Monday or Paul Richards.

The path to success with La Russa managing the Sox was never an endless slate of three- or four-run outputs from his offense and making five or six game-altering decisions every night and getting all of them right. Such an environment would probably expose any manager’s warts and man, is it ever exposing his.


Will Tony La Russa’s White Sox turn around their season? (David Banks / USA Today)
What’s been the biggest surprise (good and bad) for your team thus far?
Lloyd: Good: The emergence of guys like Giménez and Naylor has been huge, as they’ve been exactly the type of pieces Cleveland needed to identify this year. Both entered the weekend with an OPS over .830. (Rookie Oscar Gonzalez is over .900, but he hasn’t been up long enough to know whether it’s legit.) There was so much uncertainty entering the season outside of Ramírez at third base that it was unclear who could be counted on anywhere else in the infield. Giménez has settled in nicely at second base, and Naylor appears to be a long-term fixture at first. The next question will be figuring out where to put Miller, whose bat also seems to play in the majors, but he’s without a position despite being able to play multiple spots in the infield. Miller might warrant a look in the outfield after Franmil Reyes returns from the IL.

Bad: Reyes has looked absolutely lost at the plate for much of the season. Whether it’s the dead ball or just a miserable slump, Reyes was hitting .195 with three home runs and an OPS closer to Austin Hedges’ than Myles Straw’s. That’s problematic for a DH. Reyes has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season.

Lewis: No qualified MLB hitter has improved their walk rate more than Michael A. Taylor has (7.2 percent), and it has contributed to his best-ever stretch at the plate. That’s the good. Taylor has a 123 wRC+, meaning his at-the-plate production has been 23 percent better than MLB average. His on-base percentage is .371. Add that to his stellar defense in the swaths of outfield grass at Kauffman Stadium, and that production makes his two-year, $9 million extension from last season seem like a bargain.

The bad resides mostly with the Royals’ bullpen. Club officials explained in November that they wanted to build a championship-caliber ’pen. An injury to left-hander Jake Brentz hasn’t helped. Nor have trips to the IL for Amir Garrett and Gabe Speier, among others. Overall, though, the Royals’ relievers rank 28th in ERA (4.80), 30th in walks (115) and 30th in WHIP (1.54).

Stavenhagen: Good: A bullpen that seemed thin entering the season has become the glue holding this team together. The Tigers entered Sunday with a 2.81 bullpen ERA, second in the major leagues. Pitchers such as Jason Foley and Will Vest have become surprise contributors, and Alex Lange is becoming a late-inning force. It’s hard to imagine where this team would be if not for a rock-solid bullpen.

As for the bad: Too many established players simply have not produced. That starts with Javier Báez. The Tigers signed Báez this past offseason knowing his streaky nature. But they haven’t seen much of Báez’s hot streaks so far this season. He entered Sunday hitting .196 and worth negative-0.1 fWAR. Not exactly what the Tigers hoped to see from their star offseason signing.


Javier Báez is below the Mendoza Line. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)
Gleeman: Jhoan Duran emerging as a dominant late-inning reliever almost immediately after making the switch to the bullpen this spring has carried an otherwise iffy bullpen into respectability. He’s one of the league’s most valuable rookies after spending nearly all of last year on the Triple-A IL with elbow problems. And getting a 2.38 ERA over six starts from Devin Smeltzer is a rotation-saving surprise no one could have seen coming.

On the negative side, Tyler Duffey struggling to the point that he’s been removed from the high-leverage bullpen mix is something the Twins didn’t expect. He showed signs of decline last season, including a big drop in strikeout rate, but still managed a 3.18 ERA and a positive Win Probability Added. The Twins were counting on him to at least be a dependable setup man. If they knew Duffey was on the verge of declining this sharply, they may have thought twice about trading Taylor Rogers.

Fegan: Yoán Moncada and Yasmani Grandal were very good to great last season offensively, and with Gavin Sheets optioned (another symptom of the Sox’s surprising offensive struggles) they are the only potential impact left-handed bats on a roster desperate for them. They’ve struggled so much that reducing their playing time has been a consistent topic of conversation. Moncada’s oblique and quad issues have delayed him from finding any kind of form, and Grandal has said he’s still building up strength after offseason surgery on his right knee. But no one thought they would be this bad, and they’re not even alone in that respect on this roster. They’re just the most crucial figures.

What are your way-too-early thoughts on how your team will approach the trade deadline?
Lloyd: The Guardians will be buyers regardless of where they are in the standings. They crowbarred 11 minor leaguers onto the 40-man roster in November in anticipation of a Rule 5 draft that never occurred. Everyone in the organization acknowledges the 40-man is lopsided right now. The Guardians can get by in the short term, but it isn’t sustainable beyond this season. They need to start bundling some of these minor leaguers for an impact outfield bat or, dare I say it, a pitcher with multiple years of control.

Lewis: It doesn’t feel way too early for moves over here. The Royals will almost certainly be selling aggressively, the way a kid at a lemonade stand would be. Andrew Benintendi is the likeliest candidate to be dealt. He will be a free agent after this season. He’s also batted .303 in 58 games. Other potential options include starter Brad Keller, whose final arbitration year is next season; Scott Barlow and Josh Staumont, two cost-effective and performing relievers; and even veteran Whit Merrifield, who has one more guaranteed year on his contract with a club option for 2024.


Gold Glove winner Andrew Benintendi could be on the move. (Denny Medley / USA Today)
Stavenhagen: The Tigers probably won’t have much choice but to sell and try to acquire pieces for the future. The question is how much will they actually have to offer. Relief pitcher Michael Fulmer could be attractive to teams in need of bullpen help as long as his velocity keeps trending upward. Robbie Grossman is on an expiring deal, and Jonathan Schoop has a player option after this year, but neither has produced much. The Tigers badly need to acquire young hitting, but unless they get creative, it’s hard to see them doing anything too eventful at the deadline.

Gleeman: The Twins will target pitching if they have any willingness to push some chips into the middle and make a real playoff run. There’s plenty of offensive firepower on the roster, with even more waiting in the minors if needed, but the rotation is short at least one front-line starter, and the bullpen is a hodgepodge of middle relievers in need of at least two more late-inning options to join Duran. The Twins need pitching help, which was also true in November and in March, and will almost surely still be true on Aug. 2.

Fegan: I more or less asked White Sox GM Rick Hahn if a team with a losing record and an awful run differential should maybe think about selling at the deadline, and he did not react like I had made a reasonable suggestion. They will target bullpen help, and could certainly use a second lefty to go alongside Aaron Bummer. They need a left-handed bat who can play corner outfield competently, or second base; though they have potential second-base upgrades in the high minors.

The Sox need someone left-handed. My sister is left-handed, was a good clubhouse presence on the Whitney Young girls’ tennis team in the early 2000s, and thinks she would vibe well with Tim Anderson. I can set up a meeting if they’re interested.

What needs to happen for your team to fulfill its preseason expectations?
Lloyd: Keep doing what they’re doing. The Guardians will tell you they enter every season with the intent to compete for the division, but this team was always expected to hover around the .500 mark. They may hang around the race simply because of their division, but if they get to August and September and guys like Naylor, Giménez, Miller, Triston McKenzie et al. are still proving to be legitimate, this team could throw open another contention window as soon as next year.



Lewis: Most important is consistency from young starters such as Brady Singer, Daniel Lynch, Jonathan Heasley, Kris Bubic and potentially Jackson Kowar and Carlos Hernández. All but Kowar have dominated in spurts at the big-league level but none for a lengthy period. Some of them have struggled to command their fastballs. Others have simply thrown fastballs that were too hittable. In general, each of them has big-league stuff, be it particular pitches or makeup. It’s just a matter of consistency. And if a number of them can put together multiple starts in a row, games will flow the way the club (and its fan base) would like them to, lifting overall spirits ahead of next season.

Stavenhagen: The Tigers would have to finish 58-47 to end the season with a .500 record. That means playing at a .552 clip for the next 105 games. It’s not impossible, but it’s a pretty tall task. Their playoff odds, per FanGraphs, are down to 0.7 percent. So to salvage anything productive from this season, the Tigers need to keep pitching at a high level and getting ace-like performance from Tarik Skubal. They need their hitters — especially Báez — to figure things out and they need Spencer Torkelson and Riley Greene to get comfortable in the majors.

Gleeman: The Twins have almost done it already, which is what happens when you go 73-89 and finish in last place the previous season. Projection systems and gambling lines pegged the Twins right around .500, which should be easily reachable even if things go off the rails a bit in the second half. If they get mostly healthy, or at least healthy enough to avoid the pitching staff collapsing, they’ll blow past preseason expectations.

Fegan: Considering that we live in a digital age, there are a lot of references to old-school baseball cards in these parts, and how the Sox offense just needs to play to the back of theirs. In my opinion, they need to play to their Baseball-Reference career overviews. Once this team hits anywhere like it is supposed to, the AL Central race gets more interesting than its current state, where there is one winning team and everyone else kinda stinks. However, the preseason expectations for the Sox were somewhere between World Series championship and simply not getting waxed in the ALDS again. Even if they rebound, their ability to take a step forward is limited because of a team-wide lack of plate discipline, defense that has not significantly improved from last year, and … and … they just make a lot of mistakes, man! Trust me, I watch them every day.

Who’s going to win the division, and why?

Will it be the White Sox or the Twins, or someone else? (Bruce Kluckhohn / USA Today)
Lloyd: I still like the White Sox. They were my preseason pick, and although they’ve been ravaged by injuries to this point, they still have the most talent in the division and it’s not really close. I don’t believe the Twins’ pitching can hold up for three and a half more months. If the Sox can ever get healthy, the Central is theirs to lose.

Lewis: The White Sox have so much talent, but the Twins have to be the answer with Byron Buxton continuing to do absurd things, and their lineup producing as much as it is. The pitching is a bit more questionable, especially with Paddack’s injury. But the pieces exist in Joe Ryan, Bailey Ober and Sonny Gray, and it feels as if the club has the type of expendable hitters that could return impactful elements to the rotation or bullpen in a trade.

Stavenhagen: I’m still picking the White Sox. They need to turn it around fast, but they’re too talented to not get red-hot at some point this summer. The Twins are in a great position, but they’ve already been hit with injuries, and I’m not sold on their pitching.

Gleeman: I thought the White Sox were the clear division favorites coming into the season, and I still (perhaps misguidedly) think they’re too dangerous to write off, but the Twins should be considered the favorites now. They’ve got a decent-sized lead despite the never-ending injuries and, while their remaining schedule is tougher than what they’ve played so far, there’s really no such thing as a “tough schedule” in the AL Central. It’s likely to be a three-team race to 88 or so wins, and the Twins have enough of a head start to switch my preseason view.

Fegan: Maybe before watching a slightly ascendent Grandal leave the game with yet another injury on Saturday I was ready to believe in order being restored. But at my core, I am a numbers guy who knows nothing about baseball, and there’s not a projection system I know of that still has the Sox favored to eclipse the Twins. The deficit isn’t all that imposing, but the level of play the Sox have to reach to make it up has yet to be demonstrated.

Jose Ramirez trolls Freddie Freeman hard while mic’d up
by John Buhler18 hours ago Follow @buhler118

Jose Ramirez trolling Freddie Freeman while mic’d up is hilarious in-game baseball content.

While Jose Ramirez and Freddie Freeman are among the very best players MLB has to offer, it is always great to see one star troll another while mic’d up.

The Cleveland Guardians star poked fun at the new first baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. Ramirez was caught on camera debating if Freeman was a former Gold Glove winner during his career with the Atlanta Braves. He then said Freeman was a great hitter, but nowhere near as good as him. The Guardians beat the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in extra innings on Friday.

We absolutely cannot wait for the Midsummer Classic that just so happens to be in Los Angeles…


Jose Ramirez hilariously trolls Freddie Freeman while he was mic’d up
Even if Ramirez was only joking, this is the type of on-field interactions MLB needs to take advantage of. If a marquee player like Ramirez or Freeman has any semblance of a personality, let the entire world know instead of giving the blandest human being alive in Mike Trout a microphone to say absolutely nothing. Baseball needs to be all-aboard its players having great personalities.



As far as how the first half of the 2022 MLB season is going for the Dodgers and the Guardians, Los Angeles is still a total juggernaut out west, while Cleveland is playing some great baseball as a playoff contender in the heart of America. Cleveland may have been lucky to take Friday’s game in extra innings, but winning its rare road series in Los Angeles could be a huge boost for this team.

Ultimately, it is easy for some of the best players in the game today to have some fun when their teams are playing winning baseball. If the Guardians were atrocious, Ramirez may not have been so comfortable poking the big bear over at first base for the Dodgers. Regardless, this is the type of viral content baseball is in dire need of. Keep mic’ing up interesting dudes for our enjoyment.

As long as baseball never mic’s up Mike Trout again, the sport will continue to regain its footing.

Jose's video:

https://streamable.com/qyhvr3

That was an accurate and concise summing up of the status of the Central.
Cleveland is overachieving predictions and although we have cause to be optimistic a team of so many young kids has to be unpredictable. Maybe Civale returns and the rotation is again 5 deep, maybe not. Can the bullpen guys sustain a full season? Sandlin and to a lesser degree Stephan have already regressed. The offensive style is no longer subject to shutouts and 10 run days, with just good situational hitting, and a Reyes return could be a big boost. or not

Two off-eason moves referred to in the article exemplify the high quality of our front office:
LaRussa hired to manage Sox made little sense and isn't working; while we retain Tony's future Hall of Fame colleague Tito who is a great leader of men and baseball brain
And the Tigers "signed Báez knowing his streaky nature. He entered Sunday hitting .196 and worth negative-0.1 fWAR. Not exactly what the Tigers hoped to see from their star offseason signing." That cost them six-year, $140 million contract. When Cleveland needed a veteran infielder to fill a lineup spot they picked up a relatively equal talent in Cesar Hernandez the paid $6.25 million for one year; and then resigned him for a second season for $5 million.

They’re young. They’re fun. Who knows how good they can be? – Terry’s Talkin’ Guardians

By Terry Pluto, cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio – “We’re asking a lot of these young guys. I know they get tired, but they bring it...and just to hear their enthusiasm during that game...that’s exciting to old guys like me.”

That’s what 63-year-old Terry Francona told the media after his Guardians beat the Dodgers 5-3 Sunday. The manager couldn’t stop smiling.

How about you, Cleveland baseball fans? Your team has won 15 of 19 games. It’s won the last six series. After hitting an early-season bottom with a 19-24 record on May 29, the Guardians are 34-28.

Did anyone see that coming with the youngest roster in baseball – and one of the lowest payrolls?

The Guardians are one game out of first place as they open a series in Minnesota Tuesday night.

It’s early to talk about contention. Or is it? We’ll know by July after the Guardians and the Central Division-leading Twins face each other eight times in the next 10 days.

You’ll never convince Francona to do much more than talk about the last game and the next game. He shrugs off big-picture schedule questions much like Jose Ramirez shakes off the dirt on his uniform after one of his head-first slides.

“You don’t look too hard ahead because it can be daunting ,” Francona said before his team went to L.A. to face the Dodgers last weekend. “I just think about the next game.”

One game at a time...that’s how the Guardians won 2-of-3 against the powerhouse Dodgers on the road.

“We’re not always perfect,” said Francona. “But we keep plugging away...we keep picking each other up...that’s our dugout.”

THE SPIRIT OF JOSE RAMIREZ

During Sunday’s 5-3 victory over the Dodgers, Ramirez missed his second game in a row with a thumb injury. But he was on the top step of the dugout, cheering for his teammates. “Josey kept banging on the railing and yelling,” said Francona, laughing. “I don’t even know what he was yelling, but that’s our team.”

Ramirez had been told he was going to sit out the game, rest his thumb injury. He was watching it wearing a workout shirt and tennis shoes. But before the ninth inning, he went into the clubhouse, he changed into his baseball spikes and game jersey. He knew Francona wouldn’t allow him to pinch hit because of the thumb injury. But he volunteered to pinch run if needed.

Francona was tempted to use him for Josh Naylor at third base in the ninth, but decided against it. The last thing the manager wanted was his star jamming the thumb again while sliding into home plate.

Francona knows when the team’s best player is leading the cheers and looking for a way to help the team as a pinch runner – something special is happening.

My theory is once Francisco Lindor was traded to the Mets before the 2021 season followed by Ramirez signing his contract extension this spring – he’s embraced the team leadership with both arms and all of his heart.

Like most MLB teams, the Guardians have a heavy Latino presence. Those players have long idolized Ramirez. But the Ramirez Spirit has infected everyone of every background on the team. He plays so hard. He cares so much. He made a major commitment to stay with this young team in a small, cold-weather baseball market. What a powerful message.

Oh, he also is having a season for the ages: Batting .305 with 16 HR, 62 RBI and a 1.039 OPS. He’s also 11-of-13 in stolen bases. He leads the American League in RBI, triples and sheer, contagious enthusiasm.

THE SECRET SAUCE

It’s the bullpen.

Cleveland has the second-best bullpen in all of baseball with a 2.81 ERA. Opposing hitters are batting only .197 against them.

Emmanuel Clase has saved 15-of-17 games with a 1.59 ERA. There’s Eli Morgan with a 1.63 ERA. In 33 innings, Morgan has allowed only 13 hits and six walks. He’s fanned 42.

I love this from Ben Clemens of Fangraphs:

“Eli Morgan is one of the best-kept secrets in baseball. He’s not a high-leverage reliever for a marquee team. He’s not even the best or most famous reliever on his own team. Heck, he was a middling five-and-dive starter in the majors just last year.

“But none of that matters anymore, because now he has a cheat code: That changeup is absolutely ludicrous. It looks like no other pitch in baseball. It’s slow, much slower than the rest of Morgan’s arsenal. Every other one of his pitches is in the vicinity of league average, while his changeup is the slowest in baseball.”

So they win games with a guy (Morgan) with a changeup that floats to the plate at 75 mph (no speeding ticket in many states) and a guy (Clase) whose average fastball for his three-year career is exactly 100 mph. That’s according to fangraphs.com.

SO MUCH TO LIKE

I know it’s early. And I know the Guardians could easily be humbled when they deal with Boston and New York. Both are coming up soon on the schedule.

Young players are streaky. Young players can lose confidence. Other than Ramirez, there is no veteran bat in the lineup to carry the power load. But I look at Andres Gimenez and believe he’s a bright star on the horizon. Steven Kwan can be a good leadoff man, and should take the spot now. Owen Miller and Amed Rosario are solid players.

Even when not hitting, Myles Straw is a superb center fielder. If you never saw Rick Manning play center for the old Tribe, Straw does an excellent imitation of the current Guardian broadcaster during his playing days.

Who is second on the team in RBI with 35? It’s the relentless Josh Naylor, coming back from a near career-threatening fractured leg. He still doesn’t run well, but swings a bat with power potential. And his spirit...the young man loves the game.

The rotation with Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie and others are coming around.

It’s a long season. But so far, it’s been a fun one with more good stuff to come.