Cleveland Sports Forum

Time for Rocchio and one of the right fielders to head south to Columbus

Or both right fielders.
They both suck.
If you think Jones needs some time in Columbus, you should include Noel.
As bad as Jones has been, Noel's been worse.

AB 75; BA 160; W 13; SO 29; DBL 5; TPL 0; HR 1; RBI 5; OBP 284 = Jones

AB 65; BA 169; W 2; SO 20; DBL 1; TPL 0; HR 2; RBI 8; OBP 191 = Noel

Jones has the best OBP between the two because he draws more walks

Meanwhile, Rodriguez continues to hit well at Columbus batting .324
Over the last 4 years, JRod has been the most consistent hitters for Columbus.
Really, how much worse can it get?
2025: G 4; GS 1; AB 5 before he was demoted to Columbus.

There's still some hope for Rocchio. He proved in the playoffs that he's capable.

Let's face it, the bottom half of the order has been anything but consistent, pretty bad, all season long except for some magical moments, similar to 2024.

The pitching is, once again, the strength of the team. How long can it last? The arms are being tested. The bullpen is again taking on more than their fair share of the workload. It's beginning to look like a stroke of genius compiling all the arms this off season. Looks like we're going to need them. A;ll of them.

The offense is struggling again this year. De'ja Vous 2024. Clutch hitting from unexpected places and another consistent performance from the bullpen.

Fortunately, the combination is keeping us afloat.


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Shout out to Ryan for getting the site back up after being unavailable for a few days !

Offense has actually been somewhat above average among the 15 AL teams; we rank 6th in runs scored; 8th in home runs, 6th in walks, 8th in doubles, 5th in steals, 7th in on base pct, 7th in slugging, 6th in OPS
all of which is better than the 11th best average would suggest

Everyone has lots of holes in their lineups these days
Our starting pitching is where we rank below average; see The Athletic note posted in Articles

Team ERA is 11th in the AL; homers allowed 4th most; walks 4th most; WHIP is 13th as is batting average against.
I declared Williams as the key to the season; so far he's been unhelpful to the cause

Stories posted here and there about how Nolan J is turning it around. Well not quite, although he has finally hit a couple homers he's not making any major move'
For the season 163/287/302. Last 5 games 133/235/133.
He's out of options so demoting him would require DFA and perhaps some team not in contention would give him a flyer. His 2023 may be a mirage but it is a very compelling mirage

Noel is 174/194/290 Last 5 games 100/100/200

It hardly seems like a controversial step to ship him down I-71 and give JRod another look. JRod is drawing more walks than in his past which appeals generally to the Gs
Or maybe they're just waiting for Lane Thomas to come back. Yet when that happens I'd expect Will Wilson to return to the minors.

Just heard that Arias is in the top 4% of all infielders in terms of arm strength.

Enjoying the offensive boost Schnee and Arias up the middle are providing

I do not think that Noel has an option.

Guardians tied with the Royals 2 game behind the Tigers. Phillies and Brewers coming to town.

Most important series of the season. Crucial to say the least.

If the Guardians fall 5 or 6 games behind, the division could be in jeopardy if the starting rotation doesn't get their act together.
5 or 6 games behind normally takes weeks to make up with good starting rotations and consistent offenses.

For example, the Tigers took their first lead in the central on 4/5.

Their lead over the Guardians between 4/5 and 5/8 (5wks) was never greater than 2 1/2 games.

The Guardians did take a 1/2 game lead on 4/22 but fell back1/2 the next day.

Between 4/22 and today 5/8, the Guards have trailed by as little as 1/2 game and by as many as of 2 1/2 games.

So! In 4 1/2 weeks, the Guardians managed just 1 half game lead.

Just say'n, we can't manage to make up 2 1/2 games in 5 weeks, think how long a 5 or 6 game lead would take to make up

Today, the Guardians trail the Tigers by 2 1/2 games. It's not beyond the realm of possibility that the Guardians lose another 2 or 3 games by the time the Brewers and Phillies leave town. 5 games back ???

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You can not be serious !

Jhonkensy Noel has no remaining minor league options on his contract. He has been on the 40-man roster since November 2021, and a player loses an option each season they are on the 40-man roster and spend 20 days in the minors. He used up all three options in 2022, 2023, and 2024. This means that if he is sent to the minors in 2025, it would have to be an outright assignment, which would make him a free agent.

I didn't realize that; I guess he went on the roster when he was really young. that eliminates flexibility.

Extremely crucial in the first week of May? Be patient Joe.

Apparently Noel is NOT out of options. Here are the Cleveland players out of options - I also linked the page

Guardians

Gabriel Arias, IF/OF
Sam Hentges, RP
Ben Lively, SP
Triston McKenzie, SP


https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2025/02/ ... -2025.html

That's the list I'd seen earlier; and the source of the other list was Reddit so I was looking around for more credible source and hadn't found one.

mlbtraderumors is highly credible civ.

As for Noel, 2024 was his first year in MLB