https://youtu.be/wrG6T8jfC-w
This is a link to a video of the toast guy.
Re: Articles
9601"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
9603from Covering the Corners, a fansiste, so don't expect any inside scoop or totally objective analaysis. His bottom line, literally, is probably what we are all saying about the catching situation:
"But with how low the bar has been set by Zunino this season, could [Naylor] really be that much worse than what they already have?"
Bo Naylor belongs in the big leagues
The organization is running out of excuses for keeping Bo Naylor in Columbus
How much longer are the Guardians going to pretend they don’t need Bo Naylor?
Mike Zunino missed nearly all of last season due to surgery needed to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in his left arm. He was signed to a one-year deal by Cleveland this past offseason in the hope that he could recapture his career-best form from 2021.
Through 27 games with the Guardians, Zunino boasts a career-high walk percentage (12.8%) but also a career-high in strikeout percentage (44.7%). He has yet to record a hit in the month of May and has struck out 70.8% of the time in 24 plate appearances. His 76 wRC+ ranks 22nd in the league among catchers with a minimum of 90 plate appearances.
That may sound like standard offensive production for a Cleveland catcher, but the problem is that Zunino doesn’t have the defensive prowess to compensate for his struggles at the plate. According to Baseball Savant, he ranks in the 62nd percentile in catcher framing, the fourth percentile in pop time, and dead last in the league in blocks above average (-9).
Naylor was promoted to Cleveland in September of last year to get a taste of life in the big leagues, portending his future as the Guardians’ backstop. He saw limited action and failed to record a hit in eight plate appearances. Once the Guardians signed Zunino, it seemed likely Naylor would start the 2022 season with Triple-A Columbus.
“We were really encouraged with the progress Bo made this year,” Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said at the conclusion of the Guardians’ season last October. “He had a really good year in the minor leagues and came up here and got acclimated to the major leagues. And I think that also has helped identify, for him, things he can continue to work on through the course of the winter and heading into next year.”
It’s anyone’s guess as to which areas the organization challenged Naylor to improve, but offensively there seem to be few. He has slashed .256/.399/.526 and posted a 130 wRC+ in 168 plate appearances for the Clippers. Naylor has also slugged nine home runs, two of which came in the same game against the Reds’ top-ranked pitching prospect, left-hander Andrew Abbot.
Defensively, the biggest knock against Naylor seems to be his ability to thwart stolen bases from behind the plate. He is 5-for-43 this season in throwing out baserunners, but there are a variety of factors that impact a catcher’s ability to catch baserunners stealing. For comparison, Zunino is 5-for-29 this season. Naylor also only has one passed ball compared to Zunino’s four, and there is almost certainly a case to be made that many of the 14 wild pitches Zunino has allowed this season would be more appropriately categorized as passed balls.
If the organization’s primary concern is Naylor’s familiarity with the pitchers in the starting rotation, there is nothing he can do about that in Columbus. You’d also think there would be less of a learning curve at this point in the season considering three-fifths of the rotation — Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Peyton Battenfield — all pitched in Columbus earlier this year.
What makes the organization’s insistence on keeping Naylor at Triple-A even more puzzling is the way they’ve handled the catcher position in Cleveland. They’ve carried three catchers on the big league roster all season long, first with Zunino, Cam Gallagher, and Meibrys Viloria before designating Viloria for assignment at the start of May and promoting David Fry. All of them have played sparingly and none have made a meaningful contribution.
The Guardians have been pointedly opaque about what it will take for Naylor to earn a promotion to the big league club. The most substantive quote I could find regarding the organization’s plan for Naylor came from Antonetti at the time that Zunino was signed.
“We want to make the determination what’s best for him and the team and not let circumstances dictate it,” he said. “When it’s in his best interest, he’ll come to the major leagues, but we’ll make that determination. We’re very excited about Bo’s future.”
Well, right now it would seem to be in Naylor’s best interest and the best interest of the Guardians for him to come to the major leagues unless the organization truly sees his struggles throwing out baserunners as a clear and present obstacle in his development. But with how low the bar has been set by Zunino this season, could he really be that much worse than what they already have?
"But with how low the bar has been set by Zunino this season, could [Naylor] really be that much worse than what they already have?"
Bo Naylor belongs in the big leagues
The organization is running out of excuses for keeping Bo Naylor in Columbus
How much longer are the Guardians going to pretend they don’t need Bo Naylor?
Mike Zunino missed nearly all of last season due to surgery needed to correct thoracic outlet syndrome in his left arm. He was signed to a one-year deal by Cleveland this past offseason in the hope that he could recapture his career-best form from 2021.
Through 27 games with the Guardians, Zunino boasts a career-high walk percentage (12.8%) but also a career-high in strikeout percentage (44.7%). He has yet to record a hit in the month of May and has struck out 70.8% of the time in 24 plate appearances. His 76 wRC+ ranks 22nd in the league among catchers with a minimum of 90 plate appearances.
That may sound like standard offensive production for a Cleveland catcher, but the problem is that Zunino doesn’t have the defensive prowess to compensate for his struggles at the plate. According to Baseball Savant, he ranks in the 62nd percentile in catcher framing, the fourth percentile in pop time, and dead last in the league in blocks above average (-9).
Naylor was promoted to Cleveland in September of last year to get a taste of life in the big leagues, portending his future as the Guardians’ backstop. He saw limited action and failed to record a hit in eight plate appearances. Once the Guardians signed Zunino, it seemed likely Naylor would start the 2022 season with Triple-A Columbus.
“We were really encouraged with the progress Bo made this year,” Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said at the conclusion of the Guardians’ season last October. “He had a really good year in the minor leagues and came up here and got acclimated to the major leagues. And I think that also has helped identify, for him, things he can continue to work on through the course of the winter and heading into next year.”
It’s anyone’s guess as to which areas the organization challenged Naylor to improve, but offensively there seem to be few. He has slashed .256/.399/.526 and posted a 130 wRC+ in 168 plate appearances for the Clippers. Naylor has also slugged nine home runs, two of which came in the same game against the Reds’ top-ranked pitching prospect, left-hander Andrew Abbot.
Defensively, the biggest knock against Naylor seems to be his ability to thwart stolen bases from behind the plate. He is 5-for-43 this season in throwing out baserunners, but there are a variety of factors that impact a catcher’s ability to catch baserunners stealing. For comparison, Zunino is 5-for-29 this season. Naylor also only has one passed ball compared to Zunino’s four, and there is almost certainly a case to be made that many of the 14 wild pitches Zunino has allowed this season would be more appropriately categorized as passed balls.
If the organization’s primary concern is Naylor’s familiarity with the pitchers in the starting rotation, there is nothing he can do about that in Columbus. You’d also think there would be less of a learning curve at this point in the season considering three-fifths of the rotation — Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, and Peyton Battenfield — all pitched in Columbus earlier this year.
What makes the organization’s insistence on keeping Naylor at Triple-A even more puzzling is the way they’ve handled the catcher position in Cleveland. They’ve carried three catchers on the big league roster all season long, first with Zunino, Cam Gallagher, and Meibrys Viloria before designating Viloria for assignment at the start of May and promoting David Fry. All of them have played sparingly and none have made a meaningful contribution.
The Guardians have been pointedly opaque about what it will take for Naylor to earn a promotion to the big league club. The most substantive quote I could find regarding the organization’s plan for Naylor came from Antonetti at the time that Zunino was signed.
“We want to make the determination what’s best for him and the team and not let circumstances dictate it,” he said. “When it’s in his best interest, he’ll come to the major leagues, but we’ll make that determination. We’re very excited about Bo’s future.”
Well, right now it would seem to be in Naylor’s best interest and the best interest of the Guardians for him to come to the major leagues unless the organization truly sees his struggles throwing out baserunners as a clear and present obstacle in his development. But with how low the bar has been set by Zunino this season, could he really be that much worse than what they already have?
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9604Sounds like bullshit to me. They've got a few million invested in Zunino and don't want to eat it.
Re: Articles
9605Another all crap night for zunino. Two at bats two more strikeouts. He gets the Sox rally underway with a catcher's interference.
Fry with the last 2 at bats for catchers last night and the record stays spotless 0-52 although I may be losing count. At least Gallagher and Fry more often than not make contact, Zunino whiffs about 2/3 of the time.
Fry with the last 2 at bats for catchers last night and the record stays spotless 0-52 although I may be losing count. At least Gallagher and Fry more often than not make contact, Zunino whiffs about 2/3 of the time.
Re: Articles
9606others have noted the problem
Catching struggles surface again in Guardians' loss
1:00 AM EDT
Mandy Bell
"It's one of those things that happen" "short term skids" "Just trying to get there"
CHICAGO -- The Guardians knew that adding Mike Zunino to their roster over the offseason wasn’t a cut-and-dry answer to their catching problems. His defensive metrics in the past have been above average, but he missed nearly all of last season due to thoracic outlet syndrome. He brings more power to the table, but he also has a lot of swing and miss.
There was risk in bringing him in, especially after missing so much time last year, but there was also a chance for a decent reward. So far, the team is waiting to see that big payout, as his struggles continued again on Tuesday night in the Guardians’ 8-3 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
If his offensive woes haven’t been enough, Zunino was caught up in the momentum shift of the series opener in Chicago. Starter Shane Bieber had bobbed and weaved his way through traffic in the first few innings and had gotten two outs in the fifth when Zunino was called for catcher’s interference while Luis Robert Jr. was in the box. Three singles and two homers ensued, resulting in a six-run inning.
“Frustrating,” Zunino said. “I wish it was something that didn’t happen. But it’s one of those things back there, it does [happen] and it’s unfortunate because I felt that Biebs was throwing the ball really well to that point.”
It was the icing on the cake for Zunino, who’s been struggling mightily at the plate since May began, going 0-for-25 with 19 strikeouts since the first of the month.
So much of last season’s focus was on the lack of offensive production from Cleveland’s catchers. The team hoped those results would improve at least a smidge this year, even if the defense slipped slightly from what Austin Hedges brought to the table. But last year, the Guardians' backstops owned a .186 average and .568 OPS in their first 41 games. That’s far from outstanding, but this season, the catchers own a .126 average and .465 OPS in that same span.
This is one of the worst 41-game starts for Guardians backstops in the last 50 seasons. The .465 OPS ranks third worst behind Cleveland’s .421 OPS in 1985 and .429 in 2020. The .126 trails just ‘20’s .121.
Backup catcher Cam Gallagher has hit a mere .051 with a .196 OPS. Zunino has hit two homers in his first 28 games, batting .169 with a .606 OPS and a team-leading 44 strikeouts.
“Yeah, I mean he’s having a tough time,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “We know there’s swing and miss and when things are going bad, it kind of gets exacerbated. He hit a ball the other day in Cleveland to kind of right of center the day the wind was blowing in. Don’t get rewarded for it. Sometimes you need that.”
In difficult times, a player will take anything in order to get an ounce of momentum back in their favor. As Zunino was still searching for his first hit this month, the Guardians decided to pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning. His hand wasn’t bothering him too badly, but Francona thought it would be good to give him time to get it looked at, which allowed the coaching staff to see more of David Fry.
“We’re trying to get something out of the game,” Francona said. “If you don’t win, let’s get something out of it.”
The Guardians need to keep all of their options open. Francona is never one to shake things up in the lineup over short-term skids because he believes it does more harm than good in the long run. But if Zunino continues on this path, the Guardians need to be ready to commit to other options, especially when someone like Bo Naylor, the club’s No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is waiting in Triple-A Columbus. Francona talked briefly over the weekend about Naylor.
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“It’s been hard for him because the staff he’s working with, he has not been in the position to throw successfully,” Francona said. “So he’s kind of rushing. … You don’t want him to develop some poor habits because he’s trying to rush because you got some pitchers there that are trying to work on some pitches.”
In the meantime, Zunino will try to show he can help bring life to the bottom of Cleveland’s lineup.
“Just trying to get there mechanically,” Zunino said. “It’s one of those things where you just continue to work and put the work in every day.”
Catching struggles surface again in Guardians' loss
1:00 AM EDT
Mandy Bell
"It's one of those things that happen" "short term skids" "Just trying to get there"
CHICAGO -- The Guardians knew that adding Mike Zunino to their roster over the offseason wasn’t a cut-and-dry answer to their catching problems. His defensive metrics in the past have been above average, but he missed nearly all of last season due to thoracic outlet syndrome. He brings more power to the table, but he also has a lot of swing and miss.
There was risk in bringing him in, especially after missing so much time last year, but there was also a chance for a decent reward. So far, the team is waiting to see that big payout, as his struggles continued again on Tuesday night in the Guardians’ 8-3 loss to the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field.
If his offensive woes haven’t been enough, Zunino was caught up in the momentum shift of the series opener in Chicago. Starter Shane Bieber had bobbed and weaved his way through traffic in the first few innings and had gotten two outs in the fifth when Zunino was called for catcher’s interference while Luis Robert Jr. was in the box. Three singles and two homers ensued, resulting in a six-run inning.
“Frustrating,” Zunino said. “I wish it was something that didn’t happen. But it’s one of those things back there, it does [happen] and it’s unfortunate because I felt that Biebs was throwing the ball really well to that point.”
It was the icing on the cake for Zunino, who’s been struggling mightily at the plate since May began, going 0-for-25 with 19 strikeouts since the first of the month.
So much of last season’s focus was on the lack of offensive production from Cleveland’s catchers. The team hoped those results would improve at least a smidge this year, even if the defense slipped slightly from what Austin Hedges brought to the table. But last year, the Guardians' backstops owned a .186 average and .568 OPS in their first 41 games. That’s far from outstanding, but this season, the catchers own a .126 average and .465 OPS in that same span.
This is one of the worst 41-game starts for Guardians backstops in the last 50 seasons. The .465 OPS ranks third worst behind Cleveland’s .421 OPS in 1985 and .429 in 2020. The .126 trails just ‘20’s .121.
Backup catcher Cam Gallagher has hit a mere .051 with a .196 OPS. Zunino has hit two homers in his first 28 games, batting .169 with a .606 OPS and a team-leading 44 strikeouts.
“Yeah, I mean he’s having a tough time,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “We know there’s swing and miss and when things are going bad, it kind of gets exacerbated. He hit a ball the other day in Cleveland to kind of right of center the day the wind was blowing in. Don’t get rewarded for it. Sometimes you need that.”
In difficult times, a player will take anything in order to get an ounce of momentum back in their favor. As Zunino was still searching for his first hit this month, the Guardians decided to pinch-hit for him in the seventh inning. His hand wasn’t bothering him too badly, but Francona thought it would be good to give him time to get it looked at, which allowed the coaching staff to see more of David Fry.
“We’re trying to get something out of the game,” Francona said. “If you don’t win, let’s get something out of it.”
The Guardians need to keep all of their options open. Francona is never one to shake things up in the lineup over short-term skids because he believes it does more harm than good in the long run. But if Zunino continues on this path, the Guardians need to be ready to commit to other options, especially when someone like Bo Naylor, the club’s No. 4 prospect per MLB Pipeline, is waiting in Triple-A Columbus. Francona talked briefly over the weekend about Naylor.
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“It’s been hard for him because the staff he’s working with, he has not been in the position to throw successfully,” Francona said. “So he’s kind of rushing. … You don’t want him to develop some poor habits because he’s trying to rush because you got some pitchers there that are trying to work on some pitches.”
In the meantime, Zunino will try to show he can help bring life to the bottom of Cleveland’s lineup.
“Just trying to get there mechanically,” Zunino said. “It’s one of those things where you just continue to work and put the work in every day.”
Re: Articles
9607It may be noteworthy that Tito decided to pull him out of there in the 6th with some pretend worry about his hand.
Although they could use the hand issue as an excuse to stick him on the IL for a few months if they don't want to actually cut his loose
Although they could use the hand issue as an excuse to stick him on the IL for a few months if they don't want to actually cut his loose
Re: Articles
9608N&N: Guardians embarrassed by struggling pitcher on bad team. Again. [frpm "Covering the Corners"]
It’s Wednesday, so I’m here to tell you about a Guardians loss last night. They have won once on a Tuesday this season.
The White Sox played defense like playing defense was illegal. Their starting pitcher entered the game with 7.51 ERA. AND YET, they were able to easily beat the lifeless Cleveland Guardians.
Josh Naylor was injured during the ballgame, and it sounds like he’s unlikely to play today. This is bad news for a lineup already missing Jose Ramirez, who was placed on the bereavement list yesterday. Brayan Rocchio was called up to take Ramirez’s spot.
The only good thing was that Rocchio collected his 1st MLB hit. Batted ball distance? 2 feet. Exit velocity? 53.9 mph. Perfect fit.
It’s Wednesday, so I’m here to tell you about a Guardians loss last night. They have won once on a Tuesday this season.
The White Sox played defense like playing defense was illegal. Their starting pitcher entered the game with 7.51 ERA. AND YET, they were able to easily beat the lifeless Cleveland Guardians.
Josh Naylor was injured during the ballgame, and it sounds like he’s unlikely to play today. This is bad news for a lineup already missing Jose Ramirez, who was placed on the bereavement list yesterday. Brayan Rocchio was called up to take Ramirez’s spot.
The only good thing was that Rocchio collected his 1st MLB hit. Batted ball distance? 2 feet. Exit velocity? 53.9 mph. Perfect fit.
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9609from the same source:
The man currently taking the most playing time away from Rocchio (and Tyler Freeman, for that matter), Gabriel Arias, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. If the plan was to give him a full leash and public backing from the front office and manager in an attempt to get him on track ... it hasn’t worked yet. He was so discombobulated by his last at-bat that he was out there swinging at pitches almost hitting him in the head.
[Arias is at near Zunino levels for strikeouts, just about 1/2 of his at bats]
If they think Freeman can't be taught to play 3B or RF I don't know why they keep hm around. He looks like a good hitter but for now his only roles are as a RH DH vs all the lefties we face, which does promise lots of action; and to give Giminez some days off vs lefties. Meanwhile we have a gaping hole in Right Field and Arias is hardly filling that.
The man currently taking the most playing time away from Rocchio (and Tyler Freeman, for that matter), Gabriel Arias, went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. If the plan was to give him a full leash and public backing from the front office and manager in an attempt to get him on track ... it hasn’t worked yet. He was so discombobulated by his last at-bat that he was out there swinging at pitches almost hitting him in the head.
[Arias is at near Zunino levels for strikeouts, just about 1/2 of his at bats]
If they think Freeman can't be taught to play 3B or RF I don't know why they keep hm around. He looks like a good hitter but for now his only roles are as a RH DH vs all the lefties we face, which does promise lots of action; and to give Giminez some days off vs lefties. Meanwhile we have a gaping hole in Right Field and Arias is hardly filling that.
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9610The Francisco Lindor trade, revisited: How the Mets, Guardians and players have fared
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — On Jan. 7, 2021, Cleveland shipped its franchise shortstop to the big city, sending Francisco Lindor — once its first-round pick, its top prospect, its heart and soul — to the Mets. The trade also relocated Carlos Carrasco, at the time the team’s longest-tenured player, to New York. In return, Cleveland received shortstops Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez, plus prospects Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene.
This weekend, for the first time, Lindor and Carrasco will face their former team. (Carrasco is scheduled to start the series opener for the Mets on Friday night.) Rosario and Giménez will occupy lockers in the visitors clubhouse.
Writers Tim Britton (Mets) and Zack Meisel (Guardians) linked up to ask each other questions about each team’s old friends and to revisit the trade that changed the course of both organizations.
Does he ever talk about us? Does he miss Cleveland? No, on a serious note, Lindor always seemed destined for a big market. In Cleveland, even a player of his caliber could fly under the radar at times. How do you think he’s handled the New York spotlight?
He’s grown into it. That first season in 2021 was tough. His first two months with the Mets were among the very worst of his career, he missed more than another month with an injury during which the team collapsed, and he was pretty open the whole time about how much it stung to be booed at home. (It’s hard to say which was the lower point: his dugout tunnel fight with Jeff McNeil that he tried to laugh off or when he, Javier Báez and other Mets players gave their own fans a thumbs down after base hits.)
In the season-plus since, the Mets and Lindor have grown more comfortable with one another. Lindor has taken to heart a message from manager Buck Showalter that the fan base wants him to succeed; he just has to meet its expectations. He did that throughout 2022, delivering one of the best seasons of his career. That’s bought him some goodwill through an odd start to this season, with a low average but a bunch of extra-base hits and RBIs.
The risk with these mega contracts is always the back end of the deal, when a player is in the twilight of his career. Lindor is signed through his age-37 season. Do the Mets feel better or worse about the contract — especially the back end of it — now, compared to when he signed?
The Mets signed Lindor for $341 million in the spring of 2021. Since then, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Carlos Correa, Báez, Trevor Story, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson and Correa (again) have all hit the open market — and none of them have landed a larger guarantee than Lindor. Given truth serum, the Mets’ brass would probably admit surprise about that. (I don’t need the truth serum: I am surprised by that.)
That said, Lindor’s 10-year deal through his age-37 season almost looks quaint compared to the 11-year deals that locked up Turner and Bogaerts through their age-40 seasons. New York’s deal with Lindor, theoretically at least, captures a larger chunk of his prime and fewer years of outright decline. Some of that theory has been mitigated a little in practice: Lindor’s 2021 didn’t feel like a prime season, and this year hasn’t either, so far. But his outstanding defense, which has been a revelation for a franchise that displayed some truly awful glovework around the diamond before his arrival, does make you think he’ll remain a useful player once that decline starts. It’s the cost of doing business for superstars developed elsewhere, and one the Mets have to pay to contend for now.
Carlos Carrasco (Benny Sieu / USA Today)
Carrasco was beloved in Cleveland, a guy who agreed to a pair of below-market contract extensions and served as an inspiration as he battled leukemia. From a distance, it seems as though his Mets tenure has been marked by injuries. Anything else to note about his time in New York?
Carrasco’s tenure with the Mets has been more of a disappointment, considering the consistent level of success he’d attained in Cleveland. He missed the first four months of the 2021 season and then pitched poorly upon returning. He was a solid starter for the majority of last season, even if he was also one the Mets didn’t want starting a game in the postseason. After the Mets picked up the final club option on his contract, Carrasco has missed more time and gotten hit hard when he’s pitched. At a time when the rotation has been a real hindrance to the Mets’ hopes in the NL East, they could really use a strong run from Carrasco — like the kind he had last August.
To his credit, even through the injuries and the struggles, he’s remained upbeat, accountable, and often been a delightful presence in the clubhouse. That hasn’t changed.
Andres Giménez (David Richard / USA Today)
Does Cleveland ever talk about Lindor? Does it miss him? Does anyone blame him for the trade? And how much has Giménez’s emergence tempered those feelings?
It always felt as though both sides were blowing smoke, in a sense. For the final year or two of Lindor’s tenure in Cleveland, there was a ton of posturing. You don’t often hear players speak openly about negotiations or about what they feel they’re worth. And you never hear Cleveland’s front office discuss negotiations on the record. Yet both sides routinely voiced their view of the situation (or, at least, the view they wanted to present publicly).
There was an inevitability to all of this. After all, this organization just recently started handing out $100 million deals, and Lindor seemed destined for a big market the instant the two sides failed to find common ground on a long-term deal after the 2016 season.
While Giménez has endured some struggles and Rosario is a polarizing figure among Cleveland fans, they helped ease the sting of the trade by offering production that guided the club to its surprising breakout last season.
After signing his nine-figure extension, Giménez isn’t off to the same start this season that he had last season. Is that any reason for concern?
There are elements to his game that don’t slump — his Gold Glove Award-winning defense, his speed, his uncanny penchant for getting hit by pitches — and that gives him a reasonably high floor as a player. He thrived last year despite a lack of hard contact and plate discipline, but those inputs have cratered this season. There have been times when he seems to be guessing at the plate, which is never good. Giménez ranks in the bottom 1 percent of the league in both exit velocity and hard-hit rate, and the bottom 4 percent in chase rate. That’s a lot of weak contact on pitches out of the zone, and a tough way to live. It’s concerning, but there are more pressing matters for the Guardians, in part because a guy who finished sixth in the American League MVP voting last season deserves some benefit of the doubt.
Amed Rosario (Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
While Rosario still hasn’t fulfilled the promise of his prospect days, he has settled into being a useful everyday player. Are the Guardians happy with that outcome? Is there any chance he’s with Cleveland beyond this season?
Overall, the organization is content with what Rosario has provided. He’s been a consistently league-average hitter year after year, even if there are wild fluctuations in his output from month to month. He and José Ramírez have set the tone for the team from a base running and effort standpoint.
He’ll enter free agency in six months at the head of a shortstop class that is the antithesis of the group that landed nearly $1 billion worth of contracts last winter. On Thursday, the Guardians had Gabriel Arias at first base, Giménez at second, Rosario at shortstop and Brayan Rocchio at third base (plus Tyler Freeman on the bench). All five players are shortstops at heart. One of those young alternatives will replace Rosario next season.
But which one? With Rosario and Giménez occupying the middle of the order and the team contending ahead of schedule last season, the Guardians haven’t learned much about Arias or Freeman, and now Rocchio has reached the major-league-ready stage. There’s a crowd. A trade could have helped in that regard. That’s not Rosario’s fault, but when he leaves, they’ll have a bunch of unproven candidates jockeying for an opportunity.
How do Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene look as prospects these days?
You won’t find either guy on any prospect rankings at the moment. Wolf has had injury and command issues. He’s sidelined with right elbow soreness, which is never a diagnosis a pitcher wants to hear. Greene can draw a ton of walks and steal a ton of bases, but he hasn’t hit much and his strikeout rate is through the roof this season, to go along with a .158/.286/.303 slash line in High A.
At the time of the trade, Greene had yet to debut as a professional. Wolf logged eight innings in rookie ball. Both were lottery tickets.
Would the Mets/Guardians still sign up for the same trade today?
Meisel: I think so. These teams talked through dozens of iterations before settling on the six players involved in the final deal. Maybe Cleveland would prefer some tweaks to the return, but the club knew it wasn’t retaining Lindor long-term. To land Giménez was a victory. And, remember, when these teams negotiated, they were doing so with significant information gaps in scouting. There was no minor-league season in 2020. Evaluating major-league performance that year was even more of an inexact science than usual. It’s certainly not a perfect swap from Cleveland’s perspective, but all things considered, as long as Giménez demonstrates his early-season funk is temporary, the Guardians would do it again. The more compelling discussion is whether, with hindsight, Cleveland would have traded Lindor a year earlier. (Probably.)
Britton: I think so, too. It’s kind of dizzying to think about the what-ifs had New York not gone all-in on Lindor that January. The Mets wanted a superstar, and he was the one available. Had they waited, would they have tried to trade for Turner in July 2021? Would they have spent big on Seager or Correa? Would Lindor have ended up in Queens anyway, via midseason trade or free-agent signing?
It’s tempting for the pessimistic Mets fan to look at Giménez’s production in 2022 and wonder what if. They could have had a six-win player and spent $300 million on someone else! Certainly the Mets didn’t think Giménez would ever post a season quite like that, let alone so soon. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Giménez absorbed all his struggles in 2021 and still received a good chance at everyday time the following season for a New York team pressured to contend. And the prospects in the deal, Wolf and Greene, have not come back to bite the Mets.
Maybe the Mets regret the size of the extension: Their initial “final offer” was for $325 million, which is more in line with what Lindor’s peers received in subsequent free agencies. But an additional $16 million over 10 years isn’t exactly altering owner Steve Cohen’s team construction these days.
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — On Jan. 7, 2021, Cleveland shipped its franchise shortstop to the big city, sending Francisco Lindor — once its first-round pick, its top prospect, its heart and soul — to the Mets. The trade also relocated Carlos Carrasco, at the time the team’s longest-tenured player, to New York. In return, Cleveland received shortstops Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez, plus prospects Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene.
This weekend, for the first time, Lindor and Carrasco will face their former team. (Carrasco is scheduled to start the series opener for the Mets on Friday night.) Rosario and Giménez will occupy lockers in the visitors clubhouse.
Writers Tim Britton (Mets) and Zack Meisel (Guardians) linked up to ask each other questions about each team’s old friends and to revisit the trade that changed the course of both organizations.
Does he ever talk about us? Does he miss Cleveland? No, on a serious note, Lindor always seemed destined for a big market. In Cleveland, even a player of his caliber could fly under the radar at times. How do you think he’s handled the New York spotlight?
He’s grown into it. That first season in 2021 was tough. His first two months with the Mets were among the very worst of his career, he missed more than another month with an injury during which the team collapsed, and he was pretty open the whole time about how much it stung to be booed at home. (It’s hard to say which was the lower point: his dugout tunnel fight with Jeff McNeil that he tried to laugh off or when he, Javier Báez and other Mets players gave their own fans a thumbs down after base hits.)
In the season-plus since, the Mets and Lindor have grown more comfortable with one another. Lindor has taken to heart a message from manager Buck Showalter that the fan base wants him to succeed; he just has to meet its expectations. He did that throughout 2022, delivering one of the best seasons of his career. That’s bought him some goodwill through an odd start to this season, with a low average but a bunch of extra-base hits and RBIs.
The risk with these mega contracts is always the back end of the deal, when a player is in the twilight of his career. Lindor is signed through his age-37 season. Do the Mets feel better or worse about the contract — especially the back end of it — now, compared to when he signed?
The Mets signed Lindor for $341 million in the spring of 2021. Since then, Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Carlos Correa, Báez, Trevor Story, Trea Turner, Xander Bogaerts, Dansby Swanson and Correa (again) have all hit the open market — and none of them have landed a larger guarantee than Lindor. Given truth serum, the Mets’ brass would probably admit surprise about that. (I don’t need the truth serum: I am surprised by that.)
That said, Lindor’s 10-year deal through his age-37 season almost looks quaint compared to the 11-year deals that locked up Turner and Bogaerts through their age-40 seasons. New York’s deal with Lindor, theoretically at least, captures a larger chunk of his prime and fewer years of outright decline. Some of that theory has been mitigated a little in practice: Lindor’s 2021 didn’t feel like a prime season, and this year hasn’t either, so far. But his outstanding defense, which has been a revelation for a franchise that displayed some truly awful glovework around the diamond before his arrival, does make you think he’ll remain a useful player once that decline starts. It’s the cost of doing business for superstars developed elsewhere, and one the Mets have to pay to contend for now.
Carlos Carrasco (Benny Sieu / USA Today)
Carrasco was beloved in Cleveland, a guy who agreed to a pair of below-market contract extensions and served as an inspiration as he battled leukemia. From a distance, it seems as though his Mets tenure has been marked by injuries. Anything else to note about his time in New York?
Carrasco’s tenure with the Mets has been more of a disappointment, considering the consistent level of success he’d attained in Cleveland. He missed the first four months of the 2021 season and then pitched poorly upon returning. He was a solid starter for the majority of last season, even if he was also one the Mets didn’t want starting a game in the postseason. After the Mets picked up the final club option on his contract, Carrasco has missed more time and gotten hit hard when he’s pitched. At a time when the rotation has been a real hindrance to the Mets’ hopes in the NL East, they could really use a strong run from Carrasco — like the kind he had last August.
To his credit, even through the injuries and the struggles, he’s remained upbeat, accountable, and often been a delightful presence in the clubhouse. That hasn’t changed.
Andres Giménez (David Richard / USA Today)
Does Cleveland ever talk about Lindor? Does it miss him? Does anyone blame him for the trade? And how much has Giménez’s emergence tempered those feelings?
It always felt as though both sides were blowing smoke, in a sense. For the final year or two of Lindor’s tenure in Cleveland, there was a ton of posturing. You don’t often hear players speak openly about negotiations or about what they feel they’re worth. And you never hear Cleveland’s front office discuss negotiations on the record. Yet both sides routinely voiced their view of the situation (or, at least, the view they wanted to present publicly).
There was an inevitability to all of this. After all, this organization just recently started handing out $100 million deals, and Lindor seemed destined for a big market the instant the two sides failed to find common ground on a long-term deal after the 2016 season.
While Giménez has endured some struggles and Rosario is a polarizing figure among Cleveland fans, they helped ease the sting of the trade by offering production that guided the club to its surprising breakout last season.
After signing his nine-figure extension, Giménez isn’t off to the same start this season that he had last season. Is that any reason for concern?
There are elements to his game that don’t slump — his Gold Glove Award-winning defense, his speed, his uncanny penchant for getting hit by pitches — and that gives him a reasonably high floor as a player. He thrived last year despite a lack of hard contact and plate discipline, but those inputs have cratered this season. There have been times when he seems to be guessing at the plate, which is never good. Giménez ranks in the bottom 1 percent of the league in both exit velocity and hard-hit rate, and the bottom 4 percent in chase rate. That’s a lot of weak contact on pitches out of the zone, and a tough way to live. It’s concerning, but there are more pressing matters for the Guardians, in part because a guy who finished sixth in the American League MVP voting last season deserves some benefit of the doubt.
Amed Rosario (Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
While Rosario still hasn’t fulfilled the promise of his prospect days, he has settled into being a useful everyday player. Are the Guardians happy with that outcome? Is there any chance he’s with Cleveland beyond this season?
Overall, the organization is content with what Rosario has provided. He’s been a consistently league-average hitter year after year, even if there are wild fluctuations in his output from month to month. He and José Ramírez have set the tone for the team from a base running and effort standpoint.
He’ll enter free agency in six months at the head of a shortstop class that is the antithesis of the group that landed nearly $1 billion worth of contracts last winter. On Thursday, the Guardians had Gabriel Arias at first base, Giménez at second, Rosario at shortstop and Brayan Rocchio at third base (plus Tyler Freeman on the bench). All five players are shortstops at heart. One of those young alternatives will replace Rosario next season.
But which one? With Rosario and Giménez occupying the middle of the order and the team contending ahead of schedule last season, the Guardians haven’t learned much about Arias or Freeman, and now Rocchio has reached the major-league-ready stage. There’s a crowd. A trade could have helped in that regard. That’s not Rosario’s fault, but when he leaves, they’ll have a bunch of unproven candidates jockeying for an opportunity.
How do Josh Wolf and Isaiah Greene look as prospects these days?
You won’t find either guy on any prospect rankings at the moment. Wolf has had injury and command issues. He’s sidelined with right elbow soreness, which is never a diagnosis a pitcher wants to hear. Greene can draw a ton of walks and steal a ton of bases, but he hasn’t hit much and his strikeout rate is through the roof this season, to go along with a .158/.286/.303 slash line in High A.
At the time of the trade, Greene had yet to debut as a professional. Wolf logged eight innings in rookie ball. Both were lottery tickets.
Would the Mets/Guardians still sign up for the same trade today?
Meisel: I think so. These teams talked through dozens of iterations before settling on the six players involved in the final deal. Maybe Cleveland would prefer some tweaks to the return, but the club knew it wasn’t retaining Lindor long-term. To land Giménez was a victory. And, remember, when these teams negotiated, they were doing so with significant information gaps in scouting. There was no minor-league season in 2020. Evaluating major-league performance that year was even more of an inexact science than usual. It’s certainly not a perfect swap from Cleveland’s perspective, but all things considered, as long as Giménez demonstrates his early-season funk is temporary, the Guardians would do it again. The more compelling discussion is whether, with hindsight, Cleveland would have traded Lindor a year earlier. (Probably.)
Britton: I think so, too. It’s kind of dizzying to think about the what-ifs had New York not gone all-in on Lindor that January. The Mets wanted a superstar, and he was the one available. Had they waited, would they have tried to trade for Turner in July 2021? Would they have spent big on Seager or Correa? Would Lindor have ended up in Queens anyway, via midseason trade or free-agent signing?
It’s tempting for the pessimistic Mets fan to look at Giménez’s production in 2022 and wonder what if. They could have had a six-win player and spent $300 million on someone else! Certainly the Mets didn’t think Giménez would ever post a season quite like that, let alone so soon. But it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Giménez absorbed all his struggles in 2021 and still received a good chance at everyday time the following season for a New York team pressured to contend. And the prospects in the deal, Wolf and Greene, have not come back to bite the Mets.
Maybe the Mets regret the size of the extension: Their initial “final offer” was for $325 million, which is more in line with what Lindor’s peers received in subsequent free agencies. But an additional $16 million over 10 years isn’t exactly altering owner Steve Cohen’s team construction these days.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
9611Guardians’ messy catching situation puts focus on the broken bridge to Bo Naylor
Cleveland Guardians catcher Bo Naylor reaches out to catch a pitch during the first day of spring training baseball workouts for Guardians pitchers and catchers in Goodyear, Ariz., Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
By Zack Meisel
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — Consider how hitters fared against Shane Bieber in 2020, when he claimed the American League Cy Young Award in unanimous fashion and it felt as though every start of his was a bid for perfection. Those haplessly hacking away at his pitches mustered a .167/.229/.266 slash line.
Consider how hitters fared against Emmanuel Clase last year, when no one could conquer his 100 mph cutter or his devastating slider: a .167/.200/.225 slash line.
Or, consider how hitters fared against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1968, The Year of the Pitcher, when Gibson recorded a 1.12 ERA: a .184/.233/.236 slash line.
Now, consider how Cleveland’s catchers have fared in 2023, against any and all pitching, Cy Young-caliber and rotation filler, those throwing heat and those throwing meatballs: a .135/.233/.234 slash line.
Mike Zunino is 0-for-27 with 21 strikeouts in May, the sort of jarring stats you might see an overmatched high school team compile against a senior in line to be a first-round pick.
Cam Gallagher notched his first hit Thursday since April 9, snapping an 0-for-34 skid.
To place the futility in context, Cleveland’s catchers have amassed a 32 wRC+, an overall offensive assessment that ranks 68 percent below the league average and bests only the Marlins’ backstops.
Lowest wRC+ by team's C, last 20 years
2023 Marlins
25
2015 Mariners
28
2023 Guardians
32
2020 Indians
32
2019 Rangers
34
2020 Rockies
35
2019 Tigers
42
2016 Indians
44
Cleveland’s catchers aren’t facing all-world Bieber or automatic Clase or peak-performing Gibson every trip to the plate. It only seems that way.
For years, this club has prioritized defense and the handling of the pitching staff from its catchers, even if that results in a black hole in the lineup. Yan Gomes once sacrificed a rotisserie chicken in a desperate ploy to reverse his offensive fortunes. Roberto Pérez won a Gold Glove Award but had only one notable season at the plate. Austin Hedges was a clubhouse leader revered for his game-calling, not his swing.
But now the Guardians are receiving wretched offense and uninspiring defense.
No player in the majors at any position has a worse Defensive Runs Saved mark than Zunino, at minus-9. It’s the worst DRS of his career, by far. Over the years, he’s been one of the better catchers by that metric. For as adept as the Guardians have been at stealing bases (43 in 50 attempts), opponents have been as successful against them (45 in 53 attempts). They’ve nabbed 15 percent of potential base stealers; the league average is 21 percent.
That can’t all be pinned on Zunino and Gallagher; pitchers play into it, too. But Zunino’s pop time ranked in the 89th percentile in 2021, his last healthy season. He ranks in the 8th percentile now.
The Guardians have recorded the sixth-most wild pitches in the league. They’re tied for the most passed balls. Zunino and Gallagher have both measured well in framing pitches.
Mike Zunino is having a miserable May. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)
As for the offensive side, when Zunino was at his best, he smoked the ball and did so often. He has always ranked toward the bottom of the league in whiff rate, so his swing-and-miss tendencies this season aren’t surprising. But his hard contact has translated into healthy home run totals in the past. That hard contact has disappeared in 2023.
2021: 75th percentile exit velocity, 79th percentile hard-hit rate, 100th percentile barrel rate
2023: 13th percentile exit velocity, 30th percentile hard-hit rate, 46th percentile barrel rate
He has struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances.
Would Bo Naylor perform better? Could he possibly perform worse? Does it matter?
If the Guardians’ timeline is to win immediately, to build off last year, then what’s the harm in promoting Naylor from Triple-A Columbus in an effort to upgrade their most glaring weakness?
If the Guardians’ timeline is tilted more toward 2024 and beyond, then what’s the harm in promoting Naylor and jump-starting that final developmental stage for one of their top prospects (a prospect widely considered one of the top 100 in the sport)?
They can call up Naylor without backpedaling. He can learn from Sandy Alomar Jr. and either Zunino or Gallagher. The Guardians promoted Naylor at the end of last season — and for the team’s playoff run — so he could act as a sponge around Alomar and Hedges for a few weeks. It’d be difficult for him or anyone to produce less than what the team has received from its catchers.
Naylor has totaled 106 games at Triple A between last summer and this spring. His offensive numbers sparkle (.921 OPS). His walk-to-strikeout ratio is what the organization covets. He’s demonstrated power, speed, plate discipline and a knack for piling up extra-base hits.
Manager Terry Francona often mentions the value of deriving something positive out of a negative situation. Why not let Naylor endure whatever growing pains lie ahead and get acclimated to the majors when the position group, as constructed, is offering so little?
(If it’s the Super Two deadline the Guardians are worried about — obviously, no front office would ever admit to this — it’s an insult to every fan, player and coach that an organization would be more concerned with the potential of having to pay its catcher one extra year of an arbitration-based price tag than with bolstering the roster of a team that’s supposed to be contending. It’s possible, but based on how they’ve aggressively promoted prospects over the last year-plus, it seems odd that it would drive their decision-making in this scenario.)
Even if Naylor has defensive strides to make, let’s not act as though the team’s call-ups are always perfectly polished. David Fry hadn’t caught at Triple A this season, and yet he’s seen some time behind the plate in the majors. Tanner Bibee has already made more major-league starts (four) than Triple-A starts (three). Gabriel Arias, a gifted shortstop by trade, has played first base and right field on little more than a whim.
From conversations with people in the organization, my sense is the conundrum has more to do with Zunino and Gallagher than with Naylor.
Here’s the thing about the way the Guardians play in free agency: For every one-year deal handed out to Mike Napoli or Rajai Davis or Austin Jackson, there’s a Brett Myers or a Mark Reynolds or a Domingo Santana or a Juan Uribe or a Boone Logan. It’s a random grab bag. Cleveland did jettison Myers and his $7 million contract after only four outings in 2013, but admitting in mid-May it committed a $6 million mistake with Zunino isn’t the club’s typical style. Zunino always carried some risk, based on his injury history, age (32) and the fact that he’s always been an extremely streaky hitter. Alternatively, the Guardians could move on from Gallagher, but he’s been the better defensive performer of the two so far. Promoting Naylor would cost either Zunino or Gallagher a job, and the front office doesn’t quite seem ready to swing that axe.
Is it time for the Guardians to turn to Bo Naylor? (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Naylor isn’t some savior, and catcher is far from the team’s only faulty area. There’s a steep learning curve for a rookie catcher learning the tendencies and preferences of a new pitching staff and of opposing hitters and pitchers. There would be a transition period, but Naylor and the Guardians have taken steps to prepare for it. They promoted him last fall. He learned Spanish so he can communicate with more of his teammates. (He even taught a Spanish-speaking teammate to play chess this spring.) He spent the winter in Arizona and caught all of Cal Quantrill’s throwing sessions before partnering with his future battery mates in big-league camp. He caught Aaron Civale during a rehab assignment on Thursday.
When the Guardians failed to acquire Sean Murphy, they audibled to patching together their catching position with a couple of veterans, which also served as a tacit endorsement of Naylor as the long-term solution behind the plate. This opportunity was going to present itself eventually.
Zunino and Gallagher were the bridge to Naylor, but the length of that bridge hinged on the veterans’ performance and the prospect’s readiness. With every 0-for-4 and every ball that bounces to the backstop, that bridge gets shorter.
(Top photo of Bo Naylor: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
By Zack Meisel
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — Consider how hitters fared against Shane Bieber in 2020, when he claimed the American League Cy Young Award in unanimous fashion and it felt as though every start of his was a bid for perfection. Those haplessly hacking away at his pitches mustered a .167/.229/.266 slash line.
Consider how hitters fared against Emmanuel Clase last year, when no one could conquer his 100 mph cutter or his devastating slider: a .167/.200/.225 slash line.
Or, consider how hitters fared against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson in 1968, The Year of the Pitcher, when Gibson recorded a 1.12 ERA: a .184/.233/.236 slash line.
Now, consider how Cleveland’s catchers have fared in 2023, against any and all pitching, Cy Young-caliber and rotation filler, those throwing heat and those throwing meatballs: a .135/.233/.234 slash line.
Mike Zunino is 0-for-27 with 21 strikeouts in May, the sort of jarring stats you might see an overmatched high school team compile against a senior in line to be a first-round pick.
Cam Gallagher notched his first hit Thursday since April 9, snapping an 0-for-34 skid.
To place the futility in context, Cleveland’s catchers have amassed a 32 wRC+, an overall offensive assessment that ranks 68 percent below the league average and bests only the Marlins’ backstops.
Lowest wRC+ by team's C, last 20 years
2023 Marlins
25
2015 Mariners
28
2023 Guardians
32
2020 Indians
32
2019 Rangers
34
2020 Rockies
35
2019 Tigers
42
2016 Indians
44
Cleveland’s catchers aren’t facing all-world Bieber or automatic Clase or peak-performing Gibson every trip to the plate. It only seems that way.
For years, this club has prioritized defense and the handling of the pitching staff from its catchers, even if that results in a black hole in the lineup. Yan Gomes once sacrificed a rotisserie chicken in a desperate ploy to reverse his offensive fortunes. Roberto Pérez won a Gold Glove Award but had only one notable season at the plate. Austin Hedges was a clubhouse leader revered for his game-calling, not his swing.
But now the Guardians are receiving wretched offense and uninspiring defense.
No player in the majors at any position has a worse Defensive Runs Saved mark than Zunino, at minus-9. It’s the worst DRS of his career, by far. Over the years, he’s been one of the better catchers by that metric. For as adept as the Guardians have been at stealing bases (43 in 50 attempts), opponents have been as successful against them (45 in 53 attempts). They’ve nabbed 15 percent of potential base stealers; the league average is 21 percent.
That can’t all be pinned on Zunino and Gallagher; pitchers play into it, too. But Zunino’s pop time ranked in the 89th percentile in 2021, his last healthy season. He ranks in the 8th percentile now.
The Guardians have recorded the sixth-most wild pitches in the league. They’re tied for the most passed balls. Zunino and Gallagher have both measured well in framing pitches.
Mike Zunino is having a miserable May. (Ken Blaze / USA Today)
As for the offensive side, when Zunino was at his best, he smoked the ball and did so often. He has always ranked toward the bottom of the league in whiff rate, so his swing-and-miss tendencies this season aren’t surprising. But his hard contact has translated into healthy home run totals in the past. That hard contact has disappeared in 2023.
2021: 75th percentile exit velocity, 79th percentile hard-hit rate, 100th percentile barrel rate
2023: 13th percentile exit velocity, 30th percentile hard-hit rate, 46th percentile barrel rate
He has struck out in nearly half of his plate appearances.
Would Bo Naylor perform better? Could he possibly perform worse? Does it matter?
If the Guardians’ timeline is to win immediately, to build off last year, then what’s the harm in promoting Naylor from Triple-A Columbus in an effort to upgrade their most glaring weakness?
If the Guardians’ timeline is tilted more toward 2024 and beyond, then what’s the harm in promoting Naylor and jump-starting that final developmental stage for one of their top prospects (a prospect widely considered one of the top 100 in the sport)?
They can call up Naylor without backpedaling. He can learn from Sandy Alomar Jr. and either Zunino or Gallagher. The Guardians promoted Naylor at the end of last season — and for the team’s playoff run — so he could act as a sponge around Alomar and Hedges for a few weeks. It’d be difficult for him or anyone to produce less than what the team has received from its catchers.
Naylor has totaled 106 games at Triple A between last summer and this spring. His offensive numbers sparkle (.921 OPS). His walk-to-strikeout ratio is what the organization covets. He’s demonstrated power, speed, plate discipline and a knack for piling up extra-base hits.
Manager Terry Francona often mentions the value of deriving something positive out of a negative situation. Why not let Naylor endure whatever growing pains lie ahead and get acclimated to the majors when the position group, as constructed, is offering so little?
(If it’s the Super Two deadline the Guardians are worried about — obviously, no front office would ever admit to this — it’s an insult to every fan, player and coach that an organization would be more concerned with the potential of having to pay its catcher one extra year of an arbitration-based price tag than with bolstering the roster of a team that’s supposed to be contending. It’s possible, but based on how they’ve aggressively promoted prospects over the last year-plus, it seems odd that it would drive their decision-making in this scenario.)
Even if Naylor has defensive strides to make, let’s not act as though the team’s call-ups are always perfectly polished. David Fry hadn’t caught at Triple A this season, and yet he’s seen some time behind the plate in the majors. Tanner Bibee has already made more major-league starts (four) than Triple-A starts (three). Gabriel Arias, a gifted shortstop by trade, has played first base and right field on little more than a whim.
From conversations with people in the organization, my sense is the conundrum has more to do with Zunino and Gallagher than with Naylor.
Here’s the thing about the way the Guardians play in free agency: For every one-year deal handed out to Mike Napoli or Rajai Davis or Austin Jackson, there’s a Brett Myers or a Mark Reynolds or a Domingo Santana or a Juan Uribe or a Boone Logan. It’s a random grab bag. Cleveland did jettison Myers and his $7 million contract after only four outings in 2013, but admitting in mid-May it committed a $6 million mistake with Zunino isn’t the club’s typical style. Zunino always carried some risk, based on his injury history, age (32) and the fact that he’s always been an extremely streaky hitter. Alternatively, the Guardians could move on from Gallagher, but he’s been the better defensive performer of the two so far. Promoting Naylor would cost either Zunino or Gallagher a job, and the front office doesn’t quite seem ready to swing that axe.
Is it time for the Guardians to turn to Bo Naylor? (Mark J. Rebilas / USA Today)
Naylor isn’t some savior, and catcher is far from the team’s only faulty area. There’s a steep learning curve for a rookie catcher learning the tendencies and preferences of a new pitching staff and of opposing hitters and pitchers. There would be a transition period, but Naylor and the Guardians have taken steps to prepare for it. They promoted him last fall. He learned Spanish so he can communicate with more of his teammates. (He even taught a Spanish-speaking teammate to play chess this spring.) He spent the winter in Arizona and caught all of Cal Quantrill’s throwing sessions before partnering with his future battery mates in big-league camp. He caught Aaron Civale during a rehab assignment on Thursday.
When the Guardians failed to acquire Sean Murphy, they audibled to patching together their catching position with a couple of veterans, which also served as a tacit endorsement of Naylor as the long-term solution behind the plate. This opportunity was going to present itself eventually.
Zunino and Gallagher were the bridge to Naylor, but the length of that bridge hinged on the veterans’ performance and the prospect’s readiness. With every 0-for-4 and every ball that bounces to the backstop, that bridge gets shorter.
(Top photo of Bo Naylor: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
9612Once again Meisel's article hits all problems with the G's catching especially this one.
If it’s the Super Two deadline the Guardians are worried about — obviously, no front office would ever admit to this — it’s an insult to every fan, player and coach that an organization would be more concerned with the potential of having to pay its catcher one extra year of an arbitration-based price tag than with bolstering the roster of a team that’s supposed to be contending. It’s possible, but based on how they’ve aggressively promoted prospects over the last year-plus, it seems odd that it would drive their decision-making in this scenario.)
If it’s the Super Two deadline the Guardians are worried about — obviously, no front office would ever admit to this — it’s an insult to every fan, player and coach that an organization would be more concerned with the potential of having to pay its catcher one extra year of an arbitration-based price tag than with bolstering the roster of a team that’s supposed to be contending. It’s possible, but based on how they’ve aggressively promoted prospects over the last year-plus, it seems odd that it would drive their decision-making in this scenario.)
Re: Articles
9613As Guardians and Mets meet, Francisco Lindor and others reflect on a trade necessary for all
By Zack Meisel
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor still resides in a corner locker, nearest to the exit. His residence at Citi Field includes two rows of cleats, each pair brighter than the previous one: some orange, some yellow, some lilac and several shades of blue. For Friday’s game, which he ended with a walk-off single in the 10th inning to give the Mets a 10-9 victory, he opted for orange ones the hue of a blinding summer sun just before it disappears beneath the horizon.
Next to his locker is a double-doored, caramel-colored cabinet filled with even more cleats, gloves and other gear, everything displaying a New Balance logo. He’s been the face of their baseball department since he had a corner locker in Cleveland.
Lindor chose forest green batting gloves and mint green shoes for batting practice on Friday afternoon. They aren’t his favorite pair of cleats; he prefers the lilac and gray ones because they’re simultaneously soft and loud and grab his attention.
Everything about Lindor is bright and colorful or, as his former manager, Terry Francona, described him, “bubbly.” He’s always been that way, since he was chasing his dad’s grounders at the bottom of a hill in Puerto Rico; since he was racing around his elementary school’s courtyard every morning; and since he strolled into the visitors’ clubhouse in Detroit on a Sunday morning in June 2015 with a designer suitcase and sunglasses ahead of his major-league debut. On Friday afternoon, he sported a rainbow-colored headband wrapped around his blonde-tinted curls.
He’s had days like this before, even in little ol’ Cleveland, days in which it seems as though the world gravitates toward him. He held court with a media contingent curious about his feelings toward facing his former club. When they dispersed, Eduardo Escobar sat at his adjacent locker, slapped hands with his infield mate and told him, “You’re looking good today!” Clubhouse attendants, broadcasters, reporters, teammates and others filtered through his space until he finally escaped to take his pregame hacks.
At one point, Tommy Hunter, a former Cleveland reliever who occupies a nearby locker, grabbed his glove, power-walked through the area and joked to an unsuspecting crowd, “Sorry, my availability is cut short today, but maybe tomorrow.”
Not much has changed. Sure, Lindor has an Upper East Side address now and a second child on the way. He can wander through Central Park on the morning of a home game and sometimes go unnoticed. But he’s the same guy. He carried that big-market aura in Cleveland, the billboard-worthy smile, the outgoing personality, the polish in dealing with the media and sidestepping public drama.
Francisco Lindor celebrates after hitting a walk-off single in the 10th inning. (Brad Penner / USA Today)
The only changes have been the faces in the dugout. Only José Ramírez, Shane Bieber, Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, Cal Quantrill and Josh Naylor remain on Cleveland’s roster, and Lindor barely played with the last four. He knows and keeps in touch with more Cleveland coaches and clubhouse staffers than Cleveland players at this point. He said he follows the Guardians more than he does any other team.
“I do pay attention to how they’ve done and how they’re doing,” he said. “I want them to do good.”
Players move on. Rosters turn over. And, two years after Cleveland and New York executed a six-player swap, everyone involved in the deal tends to agree it was a necessary move for all parties.
“I’m happy where I’m at,” Lindor said. “I’m blessed to be here.”
In a bit of serendipity, in Lindor’s first two at-bats on Friday he hit a ball to the two players who replaced him in Cleveland’s middle infield, Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez.
Giménez made his big-league debut for the Mets in 2020, during the pandemic-altered season. Because of social distancing and league health and safety protocols, he was stationed in the visitors’ clubhouse.
“Ironically, I think I was in the same locker,” he said.
That made the trek to the third-base side of Citi Field a little less strange.
For Rosario, who spent four seasons with the Mets after rising to the top of many prospect rankings, it was a return to where his “dream of being a baseball player came true.” He said he wasn’t sure how fans would greet him, but after a decent round of applause in the first inning, he smacked a first-pitch sinker up the middle for a single.
For both Cleveland players, the trade opened doors to opportunities they didn’t think they would receive with the Mets. They’ve been the Guardians’ middle-infield tandem ever since.
“At the moment, I didn’t understand what was happening, in reality, in my career,” Giménez said. “But that trade was vital for my development and the opportunity they gave me to establish myself as an everyday player.”
When it included Carlos Carrasco in the trade, Cleveland, with its pitching factory constantly pumping out capable starters, offered a reminder that any veteran pitcher is on borrowed time on its roster. Carrasco was no exception, despite signing a pair of team-friendly contract extensions, enduring an emotional leukemia battle during the 2019 season, and becoming a regular visitor to the pediatric cancer ward at the Cleveland Clinic.
Before Friday’s game, Francona said of Carrasco: “I hope we beat his brains out tonight, but, I love the kid and I think there are a lot of people who feel that way in and around Cleveland because of the kind of kid he is, what he does for other people, what he’s gone through.”
Naylor greeted Carrasco, who still uses Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69” as his warmup song, with a three-run blast in the first inning. Carrasco said he peered into the Guardians’ dugout at the start of the game and saw Francona and other familiar coaches. He felt a surge of emotion rush to his chest and had to check himself to avoid disobeying the pitch clock.
go-deeper
GO DEEPER
Carlos Carrasco: ‘If I could do it, they could do it too’
Baseball sticks a group of people in small quarters — a clubhouse, a dugout, a plane — for eight months a year and then, without warning, scatters them across the country through trades, waivers and free agency, only to reunite them, mostly in passing, for a few days every couple years. Lindor was a member of Cleveland’s organization for a decade before the trade; Carrasco for 12 years. The Mets were all Giménez and Rosario ever knew.
But sometimes change is beneficial. And so is reflecting on the journey.
Guardians assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez emerged from the visitors’ dugout on Friday afternoon and scanned the field, in search of Lindor. He reminisced about Lindor’s home run in Puerto Rico in April 2018, seven months after Hurricane Maria, when much of the region was powerless and, as Rodriguez recalled, “the only electricity was at the ballpark, and he got all the fans going.”
He got his fans going again on Friday, this time against his old squad.
“A lot of good memories. They helped me grow,” Lindor said. “They helped shape me into the man I am today. There’s a lot of good things that happened over there, whether it was in the minor leagues or in the big leagues. I was blessed to come through the Cleveland organization.”
May 19, 2023
NEW YORK — Francisco Lindor still resides in a corner locker, nearest to the exit. His residence at Citi Field includes two rows of cleats, each pair brighter than the previous one: some orange, some yellow, some lilac and several shades of blue. For Friday’s game, which he ended with a walk-off single in the 10th inning to give the Mets a 10-9 victory, he opted for orange ones the hue of a blinding summer sun just before it disappears beneath the horizon.
Next to his locker is a double-doored, caramel-colored cabinet filled with even more cleats, gloves and other gear, everything displaying a New Balance logo. He’s been the face of their baseball department since he had a corner locker in Cleveland.
Lindor chose forest green batting gloves and mint green shoes for batting practice on Friday afternoon. They aren’t his favorite pair of cleats; he prefers the lilac and gray ones because they’re simultaneously soft and loud and grab his attention.
Everything about Lindor is bright and colorful or, as his former manager, Terry Francona, described him, “bubbly.” He’s always been that way, since he was chasing his dad’s grounders at the bottom of a hill in Puerto Rico; since he was racing around his elementary school’s courtyard every morning; and since he strolled into the visitors’ clubhouse in Detroit on a Sunday morning in June 2015 with a designer suitcase and sunglasses ahead of his major-league debut. On Friday afternoon, he sported a rainbow-colored headband wrapped around his blonde-tinted curls.
He’s had days like this before, even in little ol’ Cleveland, days in which it seems as though the world gravitates toward him. He held court with a media contingent curious about his feelings toward facing his former club. When they dispersed, Eduardo Escobar sat at his adjacent locker, slapped hands with his infield mate and told him, “You’re looking good today!” Clubhouse attendants, broadcasters, reporters, teammates and others filtered through his space until he finally escaped to take his pregame hacks.
At one point, Tommy Hunter, a former Cleveland reliever who occupies a nearby locker, grabbed his glove, power-walked through the area and joked to an unsuspecting crowd, “Sorry, my availability is cut short today, but maybe tomorrow.”
Not much has changed. Sure, Lindor has an Upper East Side address now and a second child on the way. He can wander through Central Park on the morning of a home game and sometimes go unnoticed. But he’s the same guy. He carried that big-market aura in Cleveland, the billboard-worthy smile, the outgoing personality, the polish in dealing with the media and sidestepping public drama.
Francisco Lindor celebrates after hitting a walk-off single in the 10th inning. (Brad Penner / USA Today)
The only changes have been the faces in the dugout. Only José Ramírez, Shane Bieber, Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, Cal Quantrill and Josh Naylor remain on Cleveland’s roster, and Lindor barely played with the last four. He knows and keeps in touch with more Cleveland coaches and clubhouse staffers than Cleveland players at this point. He said he follows the Guardians more than he does any other team.
“I do pay attention to how they’ve done and how they’re doing,” he said. “I want them to do good.”
Players move on. Rosters turn over. And, two years after Cleveland and New York executed a six-player swap, everyone involved in the deal tends to agree it was a necessary move for all parties.
“I’m happy where I’m at,” Lindor said. “I’m blessed to be here.”
In a bit of serendipity, in Lindor’s first two at-bats on Friday he hit a ball to the two players who replaced him in Cleveland’s middle infield, Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez.
Giménez made his big-league debut for the Mets in 2020, during the pandemic-altered season. Because of social distancing and league health and safety protocols, he was stationed in the visitors’ clubhouse.
“Ironically, I think I was in the same locker,” he said.
That made the trek to the third-base side of Citi Field a little less strange.
For Rosario, who spent four seasons with the Mets after rising to the top of many prospect rankings, it was a return to where his “dream of being a baseball player came true.” He said he wasn’t sure how fans would greet him, but after a decent round of applause in the first inning, he smacked a first-pitch sinker up the middle for a single.
For both Cleveland players, the trade opened doors to opportunities they didn’t think they would receive with the Mets. They’ve been the Guardians’ middle-infield tandem ever since.
“At the moment, I didn’t understand what was happening, in reality, in my career,” Giménez said. “But that trade was vital for my development and the opportunity they gave me to establish myself as an everyday player.”
When it included Carlos Carrasco in the trade, Cleveland, with its pitching factory constantly pumping out capable starters, offered a reminder that any veteran pitcher is on borrowed time on its roster. Carrasco was no exception, despite signing a pair of team-friendly contract extensions, enduring an emotional leukemia battle during the 2019 season, and becoming a regular visitor to the pediatric cancer ward at the Cleveland Clinic.
Before Friday’s game, Francona said of Carrasco: “I hope we beat his brains out tonight, but, I love the kid and I think there are a lot of people who feel that way in and around Cleveland because of the kind of kid he is, what he does for other people, what he’s gone through.”
Naylor greeted Carrasco, who still uses Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69” as his warmup song, with a three-run blast in the first inning. Carrasco said he peered into the Guardians’ dugout at the start of the game and saw Francona and other familiar coaches. He felt a surge of emotion rush to his chest and had to check himself to avoid disobeying the pitch clock.
go-deeper
GO DEEPER
Carlos Carrasco: ‘If I could do it, they could do it too’
Baseball sticks a group of people in small quarters — a clubhouse, a dugout, a plane — for eight months a year and then, without warning, scatters them across the country through trades, waivers and free agency, only to reunite them, mostly in passing, for a few days every couple years. Lindor was a member of Cleveland’s organization for a decade before the trade; Carrasco for 12 years. The Mets were all Giménez and Rosario ever knew.
But sometimes change is beneficial. And so is reflecting on the journey.
Guardians assistant hitting coach Victor Rodriguez emerged from the visitors’ dugout on Friday afternoon and scanned the field, in search of Lindor. He reminisced about Lindor’s home run in Puerto Rico in April 2018, seven months after Hurricane Maria, when much of the region was powerless and, as Rodriguez recalled, “the only electricity was at the ballpark, and he got all the fans going.”
He got his fans going again on Friday, this time against his old squad.
“A lot of good memories. They helped me grow,” Lindor said. “They helped shape me into the man I am today. There’s a lot of good things that happened over there, whether it was in the minor leagues or in the big leagues. I was blessed to come through the Cleveland organization.”
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain
Re: Articles
9614It's obvious from the camaraderie amongst the players, to them, it really doesn't matter which team they play on.
Fans are the only ones that care which team they play on.
Fans are the only ones that care which team they play on.
Re: Articles
9615Very true. Players stay friends even when they move on and they know it's part of the business. Sometimes they move on in free agency of their own free will but sometimes they are shipped out and have nothing to say about it. It is what it is.
That said, recently the trend of long term contracts to younger kids has pretty drastically increased. That does keep them around.
That said, recently the trend of long term contracts to younger kids has pretty drastically increased. That does keep them around.
"I've suffered a great many tragedies in my life....most of them never happened". Mark Twain