AL Central Discussion

[WiggyRuss]

Congratulations to the Cleveland Baseball Team!!!! At the beginning of the season, I pretty much gave the division to the Chicago White Sox. If Chicago fell, the Tigers we set to move in. Cleveland and Minnesota fighting for third and Kansas City cleaning up. Months later and looking up from the cellar, what a well play year by Cleveland. All my respect ... there is only one thing left to do

 

[Stakesarehigh]

The Tigers AA team (Erie) were one game away from a AA title and proceed to lose 15 to 0 and get no hit in their final game.

Lol. Way to go boys.

 

[WiggyRuss]

It never works out this way- and the prospects are going to have a tough time being better than Kwan, Oscar, etc.....but the top 5 most talented Guardians prospects coming into this year- still have not reached the majors. They still have 6 of the top 100 prospects- 3 SP, and 3 position players- that are coming up through the system.

Gimenez was a top 100 guy- but he has not been rookie eligible for a couple years. Obviously Kwan was a great rookie this year- but he was never in their top 5 prospects- though maybe he should have been. Clase never in their top 10 prospects.

IT never works out that all your best prospects end up being your best guys- but between Espino, Williams and Bibee on the mound, and Rocchio, Valera, and Naylor on the field- they stil have a lot of talent yet to add to the major league roster.

 

[navamind]

It never works out this way- and the prospects are going to have a tough time being better than Kwan, Oscar, etc.....but the top 5 most talented Guardians prospects coming into this year- still have not reached the majors. They still have 6 of the top 100 prospects- 3 SP, and 3 position players- that are coming up through the system.

Gimenez was a top 100 guy- but he has not been rookie eligible for a couple years. Obviously Kwan was a great rookie this year- but he was never in their top 5 prospects- though maybe he should have been. Clase never in their top 10 prospects.

IT never works out that all your best prospects end up being your best guys- but between Espino, Williams and Bibee on the mound, and Rocchio, Valera, and Naylor on the field- they stil have a lot of talent yet to add to the major league roster.

FWIW, Prospects Live and FanGraphs both had Kwan in their top 5 coming into the season. Kwan posted very low strikeout rates throughout the minors (only above 10% at one stop, and that was 10.4%) and he has a 9.4% K% as a rookie and a 91.6% contact rate. The hit tool is legitimate.

 

[WiggyRuss]

FWIW, Prospects Live and FanGraphs both had Kwan in their top 5 coming into the season. Kwan posted very low strikeout rates throughout the minors (only above 10% at one stop, and that was 10.4%) and he has a 9.4% K% as a rookie and a 91.6% contact rate. The hit tool is legitimate.

thats true- i am kind of looking a little bigger picture- before this year Kwan was not really on the radar- he rose quite a bit after last season.

The guys with the most long term pedigree are def. Espino, Williams, Rocchio and Valera. Naylor was up there but then pushed waaaay down after a bad year and an injured year and the covid year- but after a great season this season he is back up there.

Just saying- they still have quite a few blue chippers- maybe their best- still to come.

Casas has looked pretty good for the Red Sox......they have needed a legit 1B for a while now.

 

[mr.hockey4242]

Mariners tried to effecitvely punt game 1 of the DH by bringing in Torrens their catcher to pitch the 10th inning.

They won.

Tigers low point. Gregory Soto low point.

 

[Shanemansj13]

 

[Shanemansj13]

 

[Wamu]

Hope the Baseball Team can take care of business today.

Go Cleveland!

 

[Wamu]

@Shanemansj13 @dtgold88

Watching the game?

 

[Shanemansj13]

@Shanemansj13 @dtgold88

Watching the game?

Yep working from home and watching the game.

First team to score wins

 

[Wamu]

Yep working from home and watching the game.

First team to score wins

That's what it's looking like.

 

[catman]

With the Guardians' bullpen, nearly any lead is safe.

 

[Shanemansj13]

Bieber pitched a hell of a game. Gotta finish

 

[VikingFan2k2]

Man Tom Hamilton is great at his job! Congrats Tribe, best of luck against the Yanks.

 

[WiggyRuss]

Man Tom Hamilton is great at his job! Congrats Tribe, best of luck against the Yanks.

Hamilton is the best. Honestly I love listening to him. So good. By far the best Cleveland broadcaster of my lifetime.

 

[WiggyRuss]

@dtgold88 @Shanemansj13

I have a sneaky suspicion the Guardians are going to shop Shane Bieber in the offseason. I think deep down he wants to go back to the West coast where he went to college and grew up.

With Espino, Bibee, Williams- I think that the Guardians are adverse to paying Bieber 30 million a year- esp. considering his velocity declining and his shoulder injury last year.

I read that one of the comps for a deal would be Robbie Ray who got 5 years 115 million- but they said that would almost assuredly not be enough.

If they could get him 5 years 25 million a year- 125 total- is that even a deal the Guardians would think is a good idea? I dont know.


One of the ideas I had was to trade Bieber to the Jays for a package centered around Alejandro Kirk.

Some other teams I could see that would be interested:

-Basically the whole AL East beside the Rays.

-Cubs- there will be pressure for them to compete. Not sure what we would really want.

-Dodgers- have a lot of good young guys- and they have a lot of questions in the rotation. Kershaw is getting older. I believe Heaney and Anderson are free agents. Buehler might not pitch next year with his elbow surgery.

-Rangers- they spent a lot of money on the lineup last year to compete and need pitching badly. They have some interesting guys.

-Giants- another team that has money and prospects

-Angels- need to prove to Ohtani and Trout they are trying to win.

-Red Sox might be interesting- I like Triston Casas.

-Blue Jays- have to be disappointed how it ended and adding a pitcher like Bieber would be huge.

It would suck to trade him for the short term- but obviously if you plan on dealing him- you need to deal with him now with 2 years remaining. It might be a step-back for the team in the short term- but this run was premature considering the teams best prospects are still to come. I hope Bieber is open to an extension- and it would be interesting to see what he would say to 5 years 120 if the Guardians would go that far for him.

 

[WiggyRuss]

it comes down to- I trust them- Id like to keep Bieber- but they took major hits by the media when they dealt Kluber, Carrasco, Clevinger and Bauer- and it turns out trading all 4 of those guys when they did ended up being smart moves.

maybe with the depth they have- they just let Bieber play out the deal and leave but that is normally really not their MO.

 

[WiggyRuss]

on another note- Kwan is the first rookie that qualified for the batting title- since the 2007 season (Dustin Pedroia) to finish the season with more walks (62) than strikeouts (60).

 

[Shanemansj13]

@dtgold88 @Shanemansj13

I have a sneaky suspicion the Guardians are going to shop Shane Bieber in the offseason. I think deep down he wants to go back to the West coast where he went to college and grew up.

With Espino, Bibee, Williams- I think that the Guardians are adverse to paying Bieber 30 million a year- esp. considering his velocity declining and his shoulder injury last year.

I read that one of the comps for a deal would be Robbie Ray who got 5 years 115 million- but they said that would almost assuredly not be enough.

If they could get him 5 years 25 million a year- 125 total- is that even a deal the Guardians would think is a good idea? I dont know.


One of the ideas I had was to trade Bieber to the Jays for a package centered around Alejandro Kirk.

Some other teams I could see that would be interested:

-Basically the whole AL East beside the Rays.

-Cubs- there will be pressure for them to compete. Not sure what we would really want.

-Dodgers- have a lot of good young guys- and they have a lot of questions in the rotation. Kershaw is getting older. I believe Heaney and Anderson are free agents. Buehler might not pitch next year with his elbow surgery.

-Rangers- they spent a lot of money on the lineup last year to compete and need pitching badly. They have some interesting guys.

-Giants- another team that has money and prospects

-Angels- need to prove to Ohtani and Trout they are trying to win.

-Red Sox might be interesting- I like Triston Casas.

-Blue Jays- have to be disappointed how it ended and adding a pitcher like Bieber would be huge.

It would suck to trade him for the short term- but obviously if you plan on dealing him- you need to deal with him now with 2 years remaining. It might be a step-back for the team in the short term- but this run was premature considering the teams best prospects are still to come. I hope Bieber is open to an extension- and it would be interesting to see what he would say to 5 years 120 if the Guardians would go that far for him.

Honestly, I would probably do the Kirk deal but I dont know how they value Bo so hard to say. I dont think Dolan would pay Bieber but with the low spending they can afford to bring some power in their lineup, I would use if on that instead of paying Biebs. This is of course assuming Dolan is still cheap. Can’t wait until he is gone.