These Cleveland Guardians NEED to step up after the All-Star break to keep us in the Wild Card race

These Cleveland Guardians NEED to step up after the All-Star break to keep us in the Wild Card race

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So I wanted to talk about the Cleveland Guardians and I kinda like the way we closed out 6 and 1, going into the All-Star break, we are 4.5 out the wild card, and I think we have the easiest strength of schedule, uh, the remaining way of the Major League Baseball season. I’m sorry. So Mia asked you all last night to send us a list of three players who you think need to step up the most, and we’re gonna start with Jason. Now, you know, when Mike is in his seat, everything is foremost spelled right. When Ant is here, some things are spelled right, spelled wrong, depends on his mood. But for me, he got his own Ebonics. I got my I got my own ebonics and when I was going through this list, you know, my mama used to say, Earl, you gotta get it together. So I’m calling this list the, the 3 players who need to get it together. We’re gonna go with Jason’s first. Jason, this is your list. Talk to me. These are the 3 guys that gotta get it together for the Guardians to make the playoffs. Yeah, those, I mean, this was easy for me. Those are the 3 names that kinda came to the top of my head was Tanner Bobby, Bo Naylor, and Brian Rocchio. Uh, really, when you say get it together, they got 2 weeks. The trade. I’m serious. The, the Major League Baseball’s trade deadline is in 2 weeks, so they have 2 weeks to declare if they’re in or if they’re out. So really it’s, it’s a tight window that we’re operating under for the, for the purposes of this conversation. Now, obviously the Tigers sold and still made the playoffs last year. That’s highly unusual, uh, so I guess you know that could happen again. And I don’t know how much they really have to sell at the deadline. Carlos Santana, I would imagine, is in his final days. I would think that he would be traded here within the next couple of weeks. But when I look specifically at those three guys, Tanner Bybe we’ve said it all along. It may be unfair, but he’s the ace, uh, until Shane Bieber gets back until Gavin Williams takes that next step, Bibi’s your ace. And when you have an ace, you’re not supposed to have 10 game losing streaks because it’s on that ace to come out and deliver. If you’ve lost 3 in a row, it’s on him to stop that streak and that hasn’t been the case. He’s been highly inconsistent this year. Uh, he’s better in his last start, but he’s just got ripped by. Uh, I think the Dodgers and the Astros have both gotten to him. Now, of course those are very good teams, but when you’re the ace, you can’t have these outings where you’re giving up 567 runs in, in 3 innings. Naylor has been frustrating all year. Uh, I’ve seen defensive lapses, uh, the play where Manzardo had two errors on one play. Manzardo gets charged with the error because Bowe’s got his head down, kicking the dirt. He’s not even paying attention to what’s going on. The pass ball was brutal, uh, a few days ago on, on Close was, uh, trying to close it out. And, and Royo has actually been better since he brought him back up from Columbus in July. He’s got an OPS of about 780. It’s above average. That has to continue. And as frustrated as I’ve gotten with Royo and a number of other people have, he’s still only played about 190 games into his career. He’s still very young. Uh, he’s only I think 24 years old, so, but it’s, it’s like you, you wanna start seeing some signs of growth. Obviously he had the big, the playoff series last year, and then he was terrible again for most of this year. The Aus injury opened the door for him. If he can continue. To string together good at bats, quality at bats here, those are the three guys for me would really transform the offense if you can inject some life from Naylor and Royo. Naylor’s got the 9 home runs. He’s hitting under 200 though. His OPS is around like 620 or so, uh, so I would love to see Bibi really sort of emerge as the guy we’ve been talking about it for 2 years now, and then Royo and Naylor could really inject some life into the lineup. So what’s up Tyvis? What you got? We’re your peoples. So Tyvis, he sent in his gotta get it together. I it is. You know it’s crazy. Is that I am really becoming a baseball expert. My list is pretty similar to to Jason who considers himself a baseball expert. We got one name different. I, for the same reasons I went with Bo Naylor, Rocqueo and I went with Kyle Manzardo. I’ll start with Kyle Manzardo. The reason that I went with Kyle Manzardo is I’m fully expecting the Guardians to trade Carlos Santana at the deadline, fully. So what that means is Kyle Manzardo should become the everyday starter at first base. And the last time we see him at first. First base was not good at all. So he definitely got to get it together and I just feel like at the beginning of the season, this man was on fire. I think he hit more home runs than anybody else in baseball in the first, what, 2 weeks, month, whatever it was, and since then it’s just plateaued. Now, don’t get me wrong, last game, he knocked one right out the park, but since then it’s just been nothing really from him and so I think to keep this lineup lengthened and trying to make sure that we don’t. All the way miss Josh Naylor. He’s got to step up in a big way and continue to start hitting them home runs and at least get some RBIs. Uh, Rocchio, I agree with him. Ever since he’s come back up, he has played a lot better. Um, I know Jason was done with him. A lot of his fan base was done with him, but you know, he’s done a really good job of coming back up. I think since he’s been up, I’ve only seen him miss. Be watching personally, I think I’ve seen him miss one play where the ball went over his glove and he gave up a base hit for RBI. Outside of that, he’s been really good, but he needs to also get back to his playoff performances when it comes to the bat, how he was playing in the playoffs, hitting them home runs, getting them big hits. They’re gonna need that if they’re gonna try to make this push to try to make that last wild card and then Bo Naylor. Mm. We need somebody at the end of the lineup to do something. He’s the only, he’s the only guy at the end of the lineup because they won’t put, they won’t make big Christmas play every day. So Bo Naylor gotta be the guy that steps up and hit some home runs and he’s gotta get that bad average of all of that stuff, but you gotta hit the ball, bro. Like you gotta start hitting the ball. And we started getting more hits, you see how, you see how y’all beat the Astros cause everybody started to contribute to the hitting side. The pitching was good. It might have not, it was times where guys fell off the cliff but we didn’t really notice it as much because the hitting was over there, hit you guys was getting hits, getting on base, hitting home runs and things like that. And to me, the hitting has been the biggest problem of this team this year. I do hear you on the 10 or By thing. I, I should have put him. But I work with Klez. — Look at
— these baseball experts out here. Now, hang on real quick. I wanna, I wanna mention one thing off his list. Manzardo. I hear you. I like it. He, they won’t put him in the lineup every day. I, he, he produces when he’s in there. Even if they trade Carlos Santana. I, — I think they’ll bring up Cas and Cas will be the primary first baseman in
— Manzardo. Wait a minute. Hold on, hold, hold, hold. I think middle name is Platoon. Wait a minute, no, is left-handed too. Hold on, hold on, let me get this right. Kyle Menardo’s been playing in the majors this entire year. He’s been platoon. He’s been splitting. You mean to tell me that they gonna, they would trade Carlos Santana and bring in a guy from the minors and — let him start every day over Kyle
— No Manzardo will still play first base. I think Cas, if they’re both in the lineup, Cavis will be the primary defensive first baseman because Manzardo is not great defensively. We’ve all seen that. Well, I mean, he got to work on it. I, I agree. You know how you get better. I, I totally agree. I totally agree. I mean, listen, the wild card that we were 4.5 out right now, — there’s a lot of go ahead
— and you know there’s a lot of teams for that 4.5 gap though. They got a lot of teams to climb over. Alright, before we show G Liz, you know, I love you like a big brother. You’re always there for me. You’re always looking out for me. But you struggle, man, to do the simplest things like get simple three names in in time. So you ended up sending it in and we’re gonna show the world your real list. But I’ll put together a list for you. This is G’s list. I gotta get it together. If you’ve ever seen Dave Chappelle, you know this shit. Now if you didn’t give me a real list, we was just going off this. So you want to show the people your real list or you want to explain this list first? Listen, first of all, who’s the hottest rapper in the world? I spit on fire. Yo, you know, I, I, I listen, I told, did you really send him? Is that, you know, see Mike or they would have just concocted a real graphic, but I’m like, no, I got to have some fun with G, you know what I mean? Like you got to do better. It was 3 names. I, — I sent the rundown at 8:30
— last night and he called me and I. To the man he talked to me. We was on the phone like, — you should have
— asked him. — Why didn’t
— you tell him to text you? That’s usually what they be doing. Like they’d be I’m I’m gonna blame him. I’m like, listen, I told, I was like, I’m like Dustin. I’m like, listen, you gotta tell me 6 times and then like just get me right. McNuggets would be like, I need your graphics. He’s like, no, just come upstairs with me, dog. Just come upstairs. We’ll type the graphic up. But I did get it in and I did wear this hat today. Because this hat right here, people say, what is this? This is, this is wolves in sheep’s clothing and Ty this is not no baseball aficionado. I am. I show, let me show you here’s why my list is crazy. — I show
— you. I can’t believe he wasn’t on your list. That’s the other thing I was gonna say. I thought about it. This right here is it. This is. First of all, you already, you already beat a dead horse with Kyle Manzardo, 15 home runs. He is the only person that I can, I could feasibly look at at this point in time. That I could even hope and wish and squint and be like, OK, can he give me 25 home runs? Give me 30, can you give me 25 to 30 home runs, right? If you can get that type of production out of him to even, I would never, Jose Ramirez would never see a pitch for me. I would he would be Barry Bonds status. Intentionally, he would not see fastballs, none of that. They have no power in order. They got two hitters. They got Quan, they got Ramirez, and man’s. Dale is is offering the, the, the minimal amount of power that we can now he only batting 2 217, but at the end of the day, I’m gonna take the power numbers. Now here the crazy thing is, I wouldn’t have mentioned him and the reason he made my list was because I feel in my heart of hearts, they’re not bringing none of these dudes up. They playing with our emotions. They are not bringing these dudes up. They waited him out. Of course he got hurt. They waited him out. He was down there chomping at the bit to get on and he pulled a hay. Like come on, bro, right? No, but listen, but in the Guardians, and the Guardians in the Guardians, and you got a sore hand, that’s 2 to 4 weeks. We got we got we got to nurse you back to health. So anyway, we need more power out Kyle Manzardo, 2 home runs in the last couple. Games, I like it. Gavin Williams, bro, you’re 6’6. You’re 66,240. You could play tight end. You could play, you could play small forward. You, your name is the big rig. Why are you not delivering? You should not have Tanner Bybe out here being the ace. Guess what? Tanner Bybe got that, that Guardian’s extension. You know what the Guardian’s extension is. It’d be like 15 years, $5 million. Take it or leave it. We talk about we got we got 24 arbitrations. Yeah, you paid him annihilators, bro, and, and Jolly Ranchers, bro. This dude Tanner Bobby to get an extension that that extension is he going back. That’s play money. That’s monopoly money. He ain’t getting nothing off. Like Gavin Williams was like, I’m kind of glad I’m sucking right now. I’m. They can’t they ain’t going to be on the side here because he’s there’s. So if he gets nice, this is a.s they play gladiator baseball, not guardians. They gladiator. They put $15 in the ring and tell you to fight to the death over it. Who gonna get it first? Wait, have we ever signed a Boris? I mean, not that I can. So it’s like in terms of taking an extension, no, no, bro, no, they don’t, Boris don’t take extensions. Boris guys go to free agency. — These dudes our
— chances of keeping him slim and Slim just walked out the door. — Drew Rosenhaus
— clearly they broke the bank. — How
— many years we got left? Gavin, uh, he hasn’t reached arbitration yet, so. 3 or 4. Hey, by the way, it’s nasty work how baseball just, just ruins your whole life. Like, bro, they’d be arbitration to you to, you be, you come into the organization, you’d be 19. You get to walk in free agency when you’re 32. How do you control a man’s 19 to 32? Like this is crazy. Like I just started, I got my temps. I got my temps when I started with the Guardians. I am now 35 and they’re like, you just hit the market, bro. Congratulations. Tired. So, but listen, Gavin Williams, I need something more from you because if we can get these pitching rotation down and ready to go, Gavin Williams, uh, he’s balling. I, I, I look at him as a guy that should be a number one ace. He has, he has the pitches, he has the, the size, the makeup, he looks like somebody to a novice when you, when you say I got this prospect down in the minors, his pitcher pulls up. He looks like he can hit for power and throw 90,000 miles an hour. He doesn’t do it. I need more out of you, bro. And then Shane Bieber. This is wishing upon a star. I know Jay, I, I, I, I did this for Jay Crawford because he, I don’t know what Jay thinks he’s gonna come back and Shane Bieber is gonna have this golden arm. He gonna come back and Shane Bieber gonna be Shane Bieber three years ago. I’m like, listen, did we not learn that with Nick Chuck? Now, if he can come back and give us a couple of innings here or there, but they need to be, so he ain’t gonna be the ace. No, they need to be even. They like they’re behind so many teams in this wild card, they need to be like one game out and then I can start saying, oh well Shane Bieber might go into. Into the mix because right now if I’m Shane Bieber, I’m pitching 3 or 4 games and I’m trying to get up out of here too because he won a bad. What’s the it’s the A’s and who’s after the A’s? No, like what’s the series? — Is it the
— they play a bunch of garbage so — they got a chance to
— like, but the the the Bieber thing. There’s a schedule. Baltimore, which is worse than they should be, uh, Kansas City, Colorado, they can, they can make up a lot of ground. Well, they better because Bieber may not throw another pitch for them. I’m saying? But like this, like the Bieber thing we had, uh, we had Zach Meisel on the show a couple weeks ago and Like he’s not gonna be healthy before the trade deadline. He’s not gonna be ready to go. Like he’s still making rehab starts. He’s just now restarting his rehab assignment. So he’s, they’re gonna, the trade deadline is gonna come and go before Shane’s ready to pitch. So what do you do with Shane Bieber? Like, do you, because you made the investment in him, because you made the $14 million investment in him for this year, put him out there, are you going to keep him and try and make a run at this in August? Do you trade him at the end of July and get what you can for him? Like it’s a, it’s, and Zach was saying who would trade for him without seeing him pitch. Oh, I think teams would. Now you’re not gonna get a, you’re not gonna get a war chest for him, but teams with there’s a dearth of pitching at the trade deadline. Teams are always looking for arms. He would be what, and you can send scouts to see his rehab outings so you can get an idea of what those radar gun readings are and where he’s at. — So
— what would, what would you do? Would it behoove him. — I’ll tell you in 2 weeks
— to chill out if you were Shane Bieber and you was his agent. Does it, does it, Rosenhaus is his agent actually Rosen company. Oh, OK. Well, we know it’s not his direct agent, but his agent works for Drew Rosenhaus. So do you think it would be more advantageous for him? To be like, alright, well I’m gonna just wait till next year. No, no, he, he need to get, he needs to get on the mound. He’s he’s got a player option for. He’s trying to get, he’s trying to get the bag. He’s never been paid. Like he’s never gotten that big free agent deal. How old? How does a 335. Now this is this is why this is why he must be facts. Like it’d be packaged different and y’all just think I’m playing. I think about this. This man don’t want Cy Young and think of how many years ago he he tore up his his elbow. That was 2 years ago. How old is he? He’s 30. But, but all his glory days is like that, but Shane was a, he was an older prospect when he came up. He spent, I think, 3 or 4 years in college, and then they control your rights for, uh, the Shane came up early. I don’t remember if they got an extra year of control on him or not. It doesn’t matter. Uh, so yeah, I mean baseball controls you for 6 or 7 years. That’s your service time. So and then he resigned. No one ever thought he would sign a contract extension. The only reason he did because he got hurt. So he signed a one plus one. He’s got money this year and he’s got the player option next year. Shane wants to get back as soon as possible. He needs to make as many starts as he can this year to prove that he’s healthy. Hopefully he pitches well and then he can turn that into a long term extension. So yeah, there is no sitting out. As soon as he’s ready he’ll be back. Dang, Earl, I didn’t know they were signing baseball players the 360 deals. Hey, first of all, this ended up being a great segment, man. This segment was really entertaining. Y’all got Ant back here, uh, laughing his ass off. Honorable mention from Ant, uh, Stephen Vogt. The managerial decisions for him. It’s been horrible. Uh, I asked the check who they think need to get it together in a mama voice. Nolan Jones. I couldn’t agree with that. I think Stephen Kwan got a higher slugger percentage than Nolan Jones. Go figure it out. See, I, I, I, I was talking. Oh, if you look at his numbers, it should be. Well, the numbers were, I’m done with that. Like I like eventually, like eventually you gotta have you gotta produce. listen, and I told you eventually you come to the realization that you’re not getting that 4500. That 4500 is not coming down the pipeline. It’s. I’m the pivot. I mean, he’s only playing against right-handers and he’s still his numbers are what they are. So I, it’s, uh, the ship has sailed as far as I’m concerned on, on Nolan in terms of a guy who’s gotta get together like it’s just not, it’s just not happening. — We’re
— gonna get together, get us together with one of these reeds, Earl man.

The MLB trade deadline is two weeks away. The UCSS panel goes over their picks for who needs to step up after this MLB All-star break in order to keep the team in the wild card race.

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