Cleveland Guardians (2025 Season Thread)

[TDunk]

Fuck this team. Not feeling it.






*I tend to be bad luck when watching em. So let's keep it going and hope everyone develops Taylors' bad knees and no live chickens.

 

[Zippercat]

I’m about to jinx it, but schedule is incredibly in our favor…

Just need average starting pitching, with a solid bullpen, combined with decent hitting on our side, and this could get fun.

It’s not college football, but postseason baseball is incredible….hoping we claw our way into it.

Awwwww, you used that magic phrase “decent hitting.” So far this season nearly every (and I mean EVERY) time this gang of noodle bats faces a half decent pitcher -particularly if that pitcher is a lefty- the hitting becomes as rare as a rational scUM fan.

Look for such incompetence to appear often at CF, RF, C, SS, 2B, 1B and DH.

 

[BuckBackHome]

1/2 game back from Wildcard. 6 games back from Tigers for first place in the Central.

 

[buckeyemania11]

 

[BuckBackHome]

Swept by the Braves. Definitely the wrong direction to grab that final wildcard spot.

 

[billmac91]

It’s over.

Solid run but they dug too deep a hole and the suspension of Clase is just nuts.

I think Vogt is very legit….too bad they took a step back this year. The trade of Naylor prior to season was a gut punch.

 

[Zippercat]

It’s over.

As my post above pretty strongly suggests, I agree that they have the slimmest of chances to grab a WC spot. The noodle bats are pretty much what I expected from last year’s team, then the entire ‘24 bullpen put together what might be the best pen season in MLB history and carried the team to the ALCS.

Even with a full season from Clase it wouldn’t have been rational to project a repeat of the ‘24 pen this year. Josh Naylor would have helped, but all the other noodle bats wouldn’t have been much different. Can guys like Arius or or Roccio develop into at least league average hitters? Sure, but they’re not that this year. Will Bo Naylor or Big Christmas ever get to ML average hitting for a full season? My opinion: if either of them do it will be their career best year.

Manzardo looks legit and should continue to improve his hitting and 1B defense. Kayfus is off to a good start at the plate and is looking better in RF than I expected (not seen him at 1B enough yet to comment). Martinez has shown flashes that look like he could be a decent CF and his hitting looked ok the first half of the season; he’s been lost at sea with a noodle bat since.

The pitching pipeline is not empty for the future. Hopefully Carl Willis is not ready to retire soon and Kwan won’t be traded in the off season. So, maybe next year?