In retrospect, perhaps trading away Andres Gimenez and Josh Naylor, only signing two oft-injured starters and a 39-year-old defensive whiz, and re-emphasizing a youth movement that hasn't been trusted to star in games yet wasn't a very good idea.
So now here we are. The Cleveland Guardians lost 10 games in a row, as the AL Central gets further and further out of their grasp. The truth is that there really isn't much to this team anymore. At best you'll get a good start from Gavin Williams or Tanner Bibee, or a mondo-RBI event from Jose Ramirez. At worst you'll see them get absolutely clobbered with no run support to speak of. This was a team that nearly dethroned the Yankees last year, and did so with guys nobody had heard of like Jhonkensy Noel, Joey Cantillo, Kyle Manzardo and Tim Herrin, and now literally none of them really factor into this team.
And that's really the issue with this contact-first metric the Guardians have gone with: it's not consistent. With the exception of Ramirez and Steven Kwan, guys who'll have a contact frenzy one year will completely bottom out the next one. Brayan Rocchio, David Fry, Angel Martinez and Lane Thomas are all having really disappointing seasons. Rocchio was expected to step up following Gimenez's trade, and he now just looks lost out there. He's not hitting, he's below average defensively, it's pointless. Fry, an all-star last season, is hitting .150 as a bench bat.
The most frustrating development has been the regression of Emmanuel Clase, who, for two months, was blowing saves left and right after years of dominance in the ninth. He's catching up since June, has lowered his ERA to 3.19, and at the very least has 19 saves, but Clase looks human again. Even if he excels the rest of the season, which is likely, people will remember his April slip-ups. And it's not like we haven't seen this before from Clase, but it happening now when so much more is expected of him hurts more. The bullpen in general is just spottier than usual, with a lot of ERAs closer to 3 and 4 than last year's sea of 1.50s. Gavin Williams is the only pitcher on this staff with a WAR higher than 1.
It is nice, though, that the Guardians seem to be turning things around now that the Astros are playing them. They've won their last 2 games, and have just looked a ton better. I'd love for a sweep to happen and for the momentum to shift a little. But at this point, the Guardians are just looking to finish over .500, which is a far cry from where they were last year.
Coming Tomorrow- One of the most talented young infielders in the game right now.
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