The Cleveland Guardians win the series over the A’s | Steven Kwan entire series

The Cleveland Guardians win the series over the A’s | Steven Kwan entire series

All right, everybody. Welcome to a slightly delayed live edition of the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show along with Zach Meisel. I’m Adam the Bull. And Zach, how did you celebrate your selection to the media all-star uh team? I don’t know. That didn’t go well. Yeah, I’m gonna I actually decided I’m going to skip it. My fingers are a little sore. I’ve been typing too much and I just wanted to spend some time with my family. They announced that Paul Hines would be your replacement on on the squad or everything. Well, no, he got the he got the uh the honorary legends. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The Kershaw. He got the Kershaw. And he’s going to be miked up. That would be good. That would be good. All right. Lot to get to today. Steven Quan not playing, but the Guardians are winning. Trade deadline is 10 days away. We’ll get to all of it on today’s Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show. By the way, I like that uh I don’t know if it was yesterday you tweeted this out or Saturday, I can’t remember now, but uh I like that Cliff Lee, what was the the jersey number? I can’t remember. It was 65. He wore it in uh 2002 and 2003, which was like the infancy of his big league career. So that’s that’s I mean I’ve been doing random jersey sightings. I was just telling someone this. I I’ve been doing this for like a decade now and at the end of every year I compile a top 25 list and at the end of every year I think there’s just no like we’ve exhausted everyone. There’s no way I’ll see something new, right? And every year I’m just blown away. And and I I wonder what percentage of the people that have these random jerseys bought it for that reason or they just randomly bought it and didn’t realize it was an obscure one. So, here’s the thing because I think sometimes people try to discount this whole exercise and because I have fun with it and I love it. Not take it seriously here. Yeah. Um, and by the way, I I haven’t been tweeting them out as much this year, but I have been collecting them and we’ve got just juggernaut after juggernaut still. Um, and people will say, “Oh, like it’s not that impressive. They like they sell these at the team shop.” It’s like, yeah, that’s fine. you still have to make the decision to pay a $100 for a tommoa jersey, right? Like it’s I give you credit if if you’re gonna do that just for the bit that I I agree. Uh and and Cliffley probably wore that number because he was, you know, in spring training and he got stuck with a bad number and then eventually he was like, you know what, I’ll take a number I like. Yeah. you. I mean, so what’s crazy is uh someone I I couldn’t tell the name on it, but I was in from the press box looking down below a lot of times during the anthem, I’ll scan the crowd and see if I can find anything random. And I saw someone wearing 62. And I was like, who who could that be? I can’t read the name from here. And so I looked up who’s worn 62 in in team history. And you know who wore 62? Jose Ramirez when he first got called up. Did he really? I don’t I don’t think it was a Jose Ramirez jersey or Yeah, I don’t know. But a lot of times you get called up and you just get whatever number they that is not occupied. You don’t get a say in it and then you you get your feet wet in the majors and you come back for your first real full season and that’s when you you always see like this guy switched to this number and that that becomes your permanent number. So, but that that makes it fun like Yeah. Oh, you got a Jose Ramirez 62 jersey. That’s pretty random. I bet most people didn’t even remember that. H how do you know how many games he played in ‘ 62? like no I mean he got called up that year in September. He was 20 years old and he was a pinch runner. Yeah. Um so I would imagine 20 games maybe. All right. Good stuff. Let’s let’s get to the big topic that everybody’s talking about and it’s not the trade deadline. It’s not that the Guardians have won three series in a row. Uh it’s the Steven Quan controversy. Steven Quan has missed the first three games after the All-Star break due to some wrist soreness. A lot of fans are angry at Steven Quan. They’ve cleared. Is it a lot or is it just the whole social media is not the real world? That’s a fair point. I I’ll say there are some fans that are annoyed at Steven Quan. I’ve seen some on my timeline. It is You’re right. It’s probably not a lot. I’ve seen one guy uh call him selfish and my reaction to the whole thing and before I get yours and give us the update on Quan is that this is completely ridiculous. Uh I I I am never you know some people were critical of Jose for not playing and making the All-Star game, you know, less important because we want to see the stars out there. Um, I I have no beef with Stephen Quan playing a couple of innings in an All-Star game. Uh, yes, it’s unfortunate that he’s missed the games, but to kill him for that or call him selfish for that, I think is really stupid. I There’s got to be like something to this where maybe he didn’t realize it was as bad as bad. Maybe he tweaked it, whatever. You you’ll clarify. Somebody called me a hypocrite for defending Stephen Quan because I kind of gave Jared Allen a hard time for playing in all all 82 games this year. Uh but to me that’s a huge difference. So playing a few innings in an All-Star game versus I got to play every game during the regular season is a huge difference. So I have zero beef with Steven Quan and I think it’s ridiculous that people that anybody would get on him. Uh one of the few quality players in this lineup. So what say you and what’s the latest? So there are two hitters in this lineup who are who should be immune from and no one’s immune from criticism but immune from like unnecessary pil. So let’s start with Jose Ramirez because this was interesting to me. So, Joseé Ramirez on Friday was was talking to Paul Hinesme and was saying he’s getting absolutely crushed by the media in the Dominican Republic because he skipped the All-Star game. Oh, wow. Interesting. And you know, Jose decided he was appreciative that he got elected and I think the media down there, their reasoning was we we voted you in and you’re just going to skip it and it’s kind of an insult. And Jose was telling us, he’s like, “Look, they don’t they don’t understand. Like, I’ve got this hurts. This hurts. I got hit here, rolled my ankle, and you know, remember, he had a sprained wrist to start in Kansas City.” And he’s beat up. And he’s also been there seven times. And so he went home for a few days, took his private jet to the Dominican, learned he has a farm with 200 cows, and he sells milk and steak and whatever other side hustle make up for the hund00 million he left on the table when he decided to sign an extension. And he enjoyed a few days of relaxation, right? And he felt he needed that. and he said, “Next year, if I am an all-star, I will and I’m not nursing any injuries, I will gladly go play. I’ll participate in the home run derby.” Um, he was talking about how if they ever go back to the the 10 outs instead of the timed rounds. Yeah. Confident he’d win the home run derby. Um, because he feels like it’s just the the the pace that you have to swing at that Right. Yeah. makes someone of his stature maybe tire quicker and and it’s it’s not not the best format for him. Anyway, that’s beside the point. Yeah. So, think about that just to Quan’s situation, right? So, let’s rewind. Quan first injured his wrist in late May. It was against the Dodgers in Cleveland trying to steal second base and his his hand kind of got caught under him and folded under and and his wrist got jammed. Okay. So he’s nursing this and gets to the Houston series two weeks ago and at that point he felt like he was trending in the right direction and thought he was close to putting it behind him cuz the pain has come and gone and it’s ebbed and flowed and some days it feels great, some days it feels terrible and then on a certain swing in Houston he just felt it again and aggravated it and that’s when he knew like this is going to be something and that’s when the team agreed like over the all-star break let’s just get checked. Okay. It’s important to remember I said late May he first suffered this, right? Mhm. You could argue that for nearly two months he played through this. That’s right. That gets lost on people. Yes. Who are complaining that he doesn’t care about the team or this or that. He played through this. He could have gone on the injured list. Yeah. Um but he knew, and he won’t say this, but I’ll say it for him. This lineup could not afford to lose him or Jose Ramirez for an extended period. Yeah. So, he played through it. Then the All-Star game comes about. And if you want to make the argument that he should have skipped it and gone and seen the doctor right away, I’ll hear it. I don’t think it would have made much or any difference. I think what would have happened is they would have given him Monday to relax, given him Monday for the wrist to recover and have a day off since he just played a bunch of games in a row. and then he would have seen a doctor Tuesday and gotten the injection Tuesday. Instead, he got the injection Wednesday. I don’t know that a day would have made much of a difference. I also know that I am some schmuck in Cleveland who has very few athletic bones in his body and will never be invited to play in an all-star game and spend a couple days around people better than me. Right? I would love to pick the brains of the greatest sports writers and podcasters in America for two days and hope that something sticks that makes me better. So, I struggle to criticize someone for wanting to go rub elbows with Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh and everybody else for two, especially when the physical demand of being there was minimal. He didn’t take batting practice. He didn’t do any defensive drills or anything like that. And before the game, he told Steven Vote, who was on the coaching staff, and he told Aaron Boon, the AL manager, “Look, got this discomfort in my wrist. If you need like a late home run, if if the American League needs an extra base hit, I’m probably not the guy to call upon.” So, the agreement was Riley Green was the starter in left field. If you notice, he got an extra at bat. The plan was most reserves got two at bats. Quan was only going to get one. They’re down six nothing. Quan comes into the game. It looks like the perfect scenario. Like get your one at bat. Like we don’t need anything crazy from you and that’ll be that. Play a couple innings on defense and we’ll go home and you’ll go see the doctors and get taken care of. And then of course the American League storms back and there’s Quan again, heartbeating out of his chest, batting with the game on the line and in a situation no one could have expected, right? So, I I don’t like it’s it’s not like he had to do anything physically demanding that was going to make it worse. Um like would he maybe have played Sunday against the A’s? I don’t know. I just don’t think it’s that big of a deal. And I don’t think we need to malign one of the two productive hitters in the lineup. And I also think that this is only a thing because I think we we we do this in Cleveland. We did it with Josh Naylor where once it looked like he was on his way out and wasn’t going to be yep destined for this roster for long. Then everyone starts talking about his weight and talking about well like look at his size compared to this year and you know he struggled in the second half and it’s like if you look at his overall numbers the last few years that’s a hitter you want on your team and you don’t need to disparage the guy just because they’re probably going to trade him. Hey, we did it to to some degree, especially after more after he got traded with Lindor. 100%. Right. Yeah. And I So, I think I don’t know why that exists. I I think people are trying to connect some dots with Quan that don’t exist. People I’ve heard over and over lately, he loves the West Coast. He just wants He wants to leave Cleveland. He’s got a foot out the door and he wants to go play on the West Coast. And look, maybe he does. He’s from Northern California. Like I I can understand if there have been times in his life where he’s dreamed of playing for the Giants and being in that stadium where he grew up, right? Like that would be natural. I think Tanner Bbeby had the same thoughts about the Dodgers and look he signed an extension. I think Shane Bieber had dreams of when he was a kid of pitching for the Angels. Who doesn’t? Like I was in my backyard emulating David Justice and Manny Ramirez with my stance. Like if I became a major leager and I played for the Rockies, there would probably be like daydreams once in a while about playing for Cleveland at some point, right? But guess what, Bull? Do you know where he lives during the offseason? Stephen Quan, here. No, he doesn’t live in Cleveland. He doesn’t live in Fremont, California, where he’s from. He lives in Chicago. Okay. He is he is perfectly capable of spending his off seasons and living in California. He lives in Chicago. So, I think people are just trying to connect some dots that don’t exist. And maybe in two and a half years he becomes a free agent and one of those California teams has money and gives him a contract. But there’s a lot that has to play out before you get to that point, right? He’s got to play better so that he can get the contract he’s dreaming of or get the contract he thinks he deserves from the Guardians. And that’s a long ways away. Like, who knows if he’s going to be traded before then? Who knows if like it’s possible that there’s still a contract extension. Like I wouldn’t put good odds on it, but like you never know is what I’m saying. And so I think for some reason we just do this with athletes and like again the guy played through this injury. He he wanted to be in the lineup for more than a month and a half. So I just think it’s wasted energy. It’s wasted energy for me me to rant about it probably for this long, but it’s wasted energy for fans to get mad. Get mad at Jonathan Rodriguez. Get mad at Will Wilson. Get mad at the front office for putting this lineup around Quan and Ramirez. Um I don’t think Get mad at the owner. Yeah, I just don’t think this is worth anybody’s energy. It was a great rant. I’m glad you did it. It really put Stephen Quan appropriately in a great light. I mean, listen, this guy, and you know, obviously, you know him way way better than I have, than I do, but I’ve interviewed him a few times. He’s great. I love talking to him. He, again, I don’t know, really know him, but he seems like a great guy. I have He’s a normal dude, right? Like, he comes off as just an average Joe, which you got to love. If the Guardians don’t sign him, it’s probably because the front office won’t spend the money. And the thing is Steven Quam because he’s not a power hitter, he’s not getting some crazy big contract wherever he goes. So the he, you know, he the Guardians can afford to pay him. What that right number is, you know, who knows what that is. But like you said, um he if he if he was so obsessed with with Northern California, he wouldn’t be living in Chicago. You know, it’s not Chicago is a nice city, but you certainly don’t want to be there in the winter. Um, and and to me, if the Guardians make a good offer to Steven Quan, like a legitimate offer, there’s no reason why he wouldn’t sign it. He knows all the players here. He’s probably very comfortable. He’s come up in the organization. Why wouldn’t he want to stay? I I had a Guardians player once. I I can’t even remember. I probably, you probably talked about this off the air. if if if I haven’t for whatever reason, I’ll I’ll tell you later. But there was a player when we were covering when Dustin and I went to spring training one year, you know, the first few years, I think 12, 13, 14, they they actually paid for us to go down there, the the Indians at the time, believe it or not. And I remember talking to a player, and I’m obviously I’m not going to say who it is. And um the player told me, he’s like, “Yeah, I hate I hate playing in Cleveland.” Did I tell you this? No. But I can guess with pretty good confidence I know who it is. But this guy was very popular player, great player, great guy, and he kept and he stayed here for most of his career. And you wouldn’t have known it. It doesn’t matter. Like even if the players don’t like Cleveland or or don’t like playing at, you know, whatever whatever the thing is, it doesn’t matter. You know, there’s still Stephen Quan. Again, I got you would know better than me, but I I just if they made him a an offer that he thought was right, fair, he would sign it. I’m I’m certain of that. I think so, too. So, I I I I think there’s it’s a little nuanced because he on one hand Yeah. We talked a lot about his all-star experience, he and I, over the weekend because he went for the first he’s with Jose like he’s been there so many times. Yeah. that there’s not going to be any surprises. And at this point in Jose’s career, I don’t think there’s anybody who he’s like, “Oh man, I I really want to meet this guy. He’s met everybody and he’s People want to meet him.” With Quan, he told himself last year like, “This might be your only All-Star experience. You need to soak it in.” Yeah. And he admitted to me, we sat down in the spring and talked about it and he said, “I really struggled to do that. It was just such a whirlwind and I felt like I didn’t belong. Like he’s got major imposttor syndrome and again like he’s a regular dude. He’s he’s like a inner pessimist. Like he’s he’s got a lot of self-doubt which on one hand he says fuels him. Like it allows him to not be complacent to not feel like he’s some bigger than life superstar which is that’s the thing I feel like a lot of fans are like this guy feels like he’s he’s like too good for Cleveland. is out and like that could not be further from the truth. Exactly. Um and so he goes back this year and like you’d think like you’re more comfortable like you you’re a returning all-star and he said no it’s the same thing. He’s like I I’m looking at these players and they’re huge like look at Aaron Judge’s stats. Look at Cal Raleigh 38 home runs. Look at all these guys. And he’s like am I supposed to be here? He’s you know Julio Rodriguez was named an all-star and his numbers are not good. No. Yeah. And Quan was like, “My numbers aren’t that different than his.” Like, there are probably people who were snubbed who deserve to be here more than I do. So, you hear that and you’re like, “Well, this guy would sign for whatever he deems as fair, right?” Like, he’s not going to hold out for some mega extension, right, when he clearly has an objective view of his value. Maybe even maybe even subjective in the negative way of his value. Sure. um with that imposttor syndrome. The the one thing maybe preventing that is he’s also a union rep and like that’s true. Um you know a lot of times the the veterans in those positions are the ones who like everybody else is looking to you to hold out for the right deal or to hit free agency. You know you’ve got the whole CBA is expiring after next season and yeah, you know, he’ll have one more year of of control after that. So there’s a lot of the timing of it makes it tricky. Yeah. Um but I don’t think this is some guy who’s just like, you know, with Lindor, there were times when he said stuff that you’re like, “All right, he’s playing to the crowd here. He’s trying to get the audience.” It felt like he and the organization were like posturing to look like the the right side of those negotiations for years before he was ever traded where he’d be like, “Yeah, if they give me a fair offer, I’ll I’ll sign. I love Cleveland.” And the front office is like, “Well, we’re doing everything we can to try to sign him.” Right. Right. And then at some points, Lindor was like, I think we asked him like, “Well, what’s fair?” And he’s like, “Oh, like 500 million or something.” It’s like, “Okay, well, you’re not getting that here.” And then they trade him and then you hear the leaks of like, “Well, we offered him north of 200 million.” And it’s Yeah. Yeah. Right. It’s like, “Okay, we’ll spend that somewhere else then.” And like, so it it’s I don’t think you get that with Quan. I think he’s just I really think he’s a down to earth dude. And I just think any vitrial you have, there are so many other places to apply it and I wouldn’t waste your time doing it with him. Well said. All right. So, they won they won two or three and he wouldn’t have made any difference in any of those three games. The game that they lost, they had a couple of hits and they lost by six. That’s true. All right. Let’s just read some comments from fans on this subject and then we’ll move on to some some other things. Uh let’s see. Uh, your dog’s pretty outspoken on it, huh? Yeah, my dog’s fired up because we got baby bunnies in the backyard, so he’s looking to get at him. Uh, Stephen Allen Spencer says, “Jose is immune in my book.” Uh, Sven Reek says, “It makes sense because in that period, Quan was pretty hard at the plate when they lost 10 in a row.” Uh, John says, “What does the winner of the All-Star game get now?” Nothing. that that is now gone. Pride. Yeah. Right. But you can tell it was interesting and Quan said this a little bit. Yeah. Guys care more than I think. Yeah. That was a great comeback by the American League. He was he was saying like he was very nervous about being the last out. Yeah. And badly didn’t want to like let people down. And then you know if you’re the last out you’re that highlight on every show where Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It matters, I guess. Yep. The $400 million Jet says, “I’m mad at the owner, especially the arbitrary hundred million payroll that never raises.” Uh, Nathan says, “One thing I want for Christmas is the cheap ass Dolan to sell the team to someone who will spend money to put a perennial contender on the field and bring a World Series title to Cleveland.” Uh, John says Cleveland didn’t even offer Quan yet. I don’t Is that true? Do we know that? I don’t know that. is that they’ve talked the last couple springs, but I don’t think there’s anything worth reporting. Uh, and Nathan says, “The Dolan family are the biggest imped impediments to our beloved Cleveland Indians/Guardians from having success.” All right. Uh, folks, we’re going to move on to what the Guardians did on the field. But before we do that, uh, let me talk to you about Epicor. Uh, everything is easier with Epicor, without a doubt. And if you are if you’re a part of a team, you know the value of hard work, of taking pride in what you build and practicing every detail to get the best results. But no one player, no matter how amazing, can do it all alone. We’ve seen that. Working together makes getting the win easier. At Epicor, the allstars are the hardworking manufacturers and distributors who create and deliver the things we all need. From aerospace to electrical to medical devices, Epicor ERP solutions are created by industry experts to help make every day easier. Seeing your whole supply chain is easier. Managing logistics is easier. 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And I think they’re going to get the opportunity to prove that because I think the front office wants to see how they perform over the next 10 days. But more than anything, if you look at the American League Bull, and I know you can’t even hear me right now, I can’t. Okay. The Guardians are 48 and 50. Yeah. Twins are 48 and 51. Mhm. The Royals are 48 and 52. The Rangers are 50 and 50. The Angels are 49 and 50. Tampa’s 52 and 48. There is you’ve got your three division leaders, you’ve got your three wild card teams, and then there’s six teams after that that have to decide are you in the race? Is it worth scratching and clawing trying to get one of those wild card spots? And so it’s not even just what do the Guardians feel like they want to do, but what are all those other teams around them going to do? Are all those other team like it looks like the Royals are probably going to like they’ve got some tough decisions. They might need to trade Seth Lugo for instance. Um I I never know what the Angels are going to do. The Rangers I feel like they’re not going to sell. They’re gonna they’re either going to stay a pad, maybe buy a little bit. The Rangers. Yeah, I think the Rangers go for it. Yeah, you just have to figure out like how many of those teams are actually still going to be a threat down the stretch. Um and then, you know, if the answer is only like two, okay, well then you have less competition, right? So then is it is it worth standing pad? Is it worth trying to add something? Um I I don’t know. It’s it’s this is going to go down to the wire here. This was a good start. I still have the same questions that I’ve had for months. Like how I don’t believe that this is a playoff caliber lineup. I don’t think that’s crazy to say. I also don’t know that this lineup is going to look any different on like September 15th, especially with Chase Delotter now going to see a hand specialist, especially with Juan Burrito’s uh season in doubt. Um, so I I don’t know. Like I It was funny like the the All-Star break ended. It’s the first game of the second half and there’s almost this sense of like all right, it’s go time. Like it’s let’s see like this is the race to you knew there were two weeks until the trade deadline. Like they they’re coming off a good week. Like this is this is the time to really turn it on and then I get the lineup for Friday and it’s like all right, Jonathan Rodriguez sixth, Will Wilson seventh. And it’s just like, all right, it’s more of the same. Yeah, they to me clearly they’re making no effort to put their best foot forward because that would include and and to to I guess be a little fair to the front office. It’s been a weird season. It It’s been a bad season, frankly, for rookies. Most of these top rookie prospects that have come up outside of Jacob Miserowski for the Brewers and you want to say Jacob Wilson with the A’s. Um Curts. Yeah. But most of the guys that have come up have struggled. Okay. Now that being said, the Guardians continue to cycle through these 4A players instead of giving any of these guys a chance. And it feels like somewhere that the the front office is like, “See, we told you about the Lauder. That’s why we didn’t bring him up, you know, which is ridiculous obviously because you don’t want your best players to get hurt.” But like, we hear we’ve heard about him for so long. We’ve heard we heard about Valera forever. Now he’s completely off. Salon getting hurt in Triple A was the worst case scenario. Oh my. At least let him get hurt in the major leagues. Exactly. Exactly. And and by the way, so they have to trade or cut. I don’t even care. Santana needs to be gone. Uh I What is the point of keeping him? Even Even if you’re not selling what is is moving on from Santana making the team any worse? No. And I think I think you need to look at 2026 as much or if not more than you’re looking at 2025 here over the next two plus months. And I think parting with Santana and calling up CJ Kay, yeah, I don’t think it makes you worse in 2025. And I think it helps you for 2026 because at least he gets, you know, like Manardo needed that first trial run last year and and this is what Let Cus get that out of the way. And again, speaking of Manardo, why is he consistently sitting against lefties? I don’t David Fry because they don’t want to give Santana days off for some reason. And David Fry DHes. Yeah, it’s I mean it is this is this is it it’s it man between the dog and the phone on fire today man. Why don’t you set off your smoke alarm? God, what is this? I don’t know why I have that on my computer. You’d think I’d be more computer savvy. Um it it’s it’s just crazy. I I can’t understand it. I can’t understand. Kyle Manzardo is clearly their third best offensive player. I I don’t even think it’s Is there even a debate? No. Who Who else would be in the running? I don’t know. I mean, Nolan Jones Nolan Jones started both games against lefties and Kyle Manardo did not, which makes no sense to me. It’s just insane. What are they doing? Why are they doing this? They ne they barely ever let him play first base. So, okay. And it’s everything is headscratching that they do. So clearly they’re not going for anything. Clearly they’re not going to buy any players and they shouldn’t frankly or nothing that would be a short-term you know move. They want to make a you know move for long-term buy then that’s fine. But um yeah the the listen I I think Santana’s going to be gone and I get rid certainly anybody else that’s a free agent at the end of the year. you might as well move on from uh I and I of course would listen to offers for Emanuel Claus A. But you but they’re not going to be desperate. There’s no reason to be desperate and unless they get blown away for him. I wouldn’t trade him. But if Santana’s on this team in 10 days, I’m going to lose my I’ll tell you that right now. Yeah. I I don’t know. I what I the intel I’ve gathered to this point is first of all they’re they’re going to they’re doing their homework on everything so that in eight or nine days then they can pick a lane but they’re probably not going to pick a lane before then because they do have this soft part of the schedule and maybe they create some separation between them and those other teams caught in the middle right um but you’re not getting anything for Santana Junis. No, you know, Paul Seawald is going to be out a while now. No, Lane Thomas is still like he’s not even rehabbing yet from his latest injury. So, I don’t think you’re getting much for your impending free agents. And so, the one thing I mean, every there are some teams really trying to get Quan that I don’t think I don’t think the Guardians are going to bite on that at this point. And then it’s the relievers. You know, I think teams are interested in Class and Cade Smith. Um, I I’m curious to see if Hunter Gatis is part of this equation, too. And if you look at the contenders, the Mets, the Phillies, the Dodgers, those teams, um, they’re all lining up. They they all have interest in class A and Cade Smith especially. So, uh, and it’s not limited to those teams by any means either. Um, so it just becomes like if you’re the Guardians, you sit there and you say, “Okay, what will you offer?” and you you spark a bidding war that you don’t necessarily have any intention of actually finishing, but you have to do the homework now. Yeah. And just see what people are willing to part with and how desperate they are. And look, if you’re playing really if you keep this up for another 10 days, then you probably just don’t do anything. Uh, but if you know, if you lose three or four to the Orioles, then maybe you start to think about what you have to do and and how your team can be better in 2026 instead of trying to salvage something out of 2025. Yeah, I think that’s the right move. I I I think they I think if they got blown away for Quan, I mean, for uh for class A, they would do it no matter what they do in the next 10 days. Yeah, I mean I guess it would depend on what blown away means really because odds are that trade will still exist over the winter. Um and I Yeah, I just I I think it’s hard for me to see a scenario where they’re adding. Right. Right. Um, there have been times in the past, like 2021, remember they they dumped Eddie Rosario, uh, Cesar Hernandez, Jordan Luplo, I think we talked about this, and they they tried to get Brian Reynolds, they tried to get, uh, was it Jesse Winker? There was someone else, and they settled for Miles Straw. So, like, we’ve seen them buy and sell at the same time, right? Um, I just don’t know. You know, anyone that they would try to buy, you’re probably going to get outbid by an actual legitimate contender. Yes. So, I think that makes it tough. Um, the selling part of it like, yeah, it depends what you get back in terms of like, are you getting back major league ready hitters? Are you getting back some 20-year-olds? Like, I think that factors into this, too. Do you think um one guy I’m just I’m just thinking about like and this might be an offseason move for the Guardians and they were interested in Shawn Murphy in the past. He’s making he’s making 15 million a year for the next three years and then there’s a team option that fourth year. So that’s not crazy money. Um I and the Braves are probably looking to move off Murphy because they got Drake Baldwin who’s who’s played really well. Um he would be a he’d really and and he’s in decline a little bit so I’m a little nervous about it. Decline how? Um looks great offensively. I’ve been seeing his defensive stuff. Yeah. I mean I mean he’s going to turn 31 in October. So certainly um No, you’re right. I don’t know what am I talking about. No, he’s not. Maybe I only I only challenge you because I’ve No, you should have challenged I thought he was a great target a few years ago. I still think he is. I think I I’ll be honest. I think I just assumed he was not playing as well and I hadn’t really looked at it because he wasn’t playing quite as much. I actually think I actually think the Braves are an interesting match here. And and when I say that like if you get creative, you could still buy even if you sell or stamp pat. Yeah, cuz the Braves are in a weird spot, right? Like there’s a lot of rumblings that they want to move Azie Alb’s, their second baseman who’s having a miserable season, but like that’s a really intriguing by low candidate to me. And you don’t have an answer at second base until Travis Bazana is ready. And I don’t know when Travis Pazana is going to be ready. And Alb’s is under team control through 2027 and it’s at 7 million a year. That like that’s the dream for the Guardians, is it not? This is a guy who’s been a pretty product. I mean, he’s been an above average hitter throughout his career um really until this year. So that would be interesting. You know, Michael Harris, their center fielder, is having a dreadful season at the plate, but he was really good his first two years. He was about league average last year. Um that he’s another dude who’s he’s under team control through 2032. The Braves get all these guys on the cheap. I don’t know how they do. So like what do you think? I mean, so like any Murphy and Alb’s or Murphy, you know, I So the question is what do you have to give up because it’s a buy low candidate, but with the contracts in place, like those are guys that are still going to have value and the Braves aren’t just going to dump dudes uh because they’re having a down year. Murphy’s different because they have a rookie catcher who’s been really good. Um, but I would I’d inquire about all three of those guys, honestly, and and see what you can do because they that’s the type of move where like, you know, if you’re the Dodgers and you need an outfielder, you’re probably like Michael Harris isn’t going to be your top target because you need someone now. Yes. But maybe a team like the Guardians that’s looking like maybe a little more toward the future than the present, like that could be an interesting candidate. and the Braves. I mean, you know, could that be a situation where you trade where, you know, they their bullpen, they need a closer like do do you trade Class A like you have this blockbuster deal where it’s like Class and some minor leaguers for Shawn Murphy? Um either Alb’s or uh who we just talking about, the outfielder Harris. uh Michael Harris, you know, something something really big like that that that Well, the Braves need the bullpen help for the future, the Guardians need the hitting help for the future, and maybe maybe both teams get helped, you know, in that situation. Yeah, it’s tough to like I don’t know what the I don’t know what the Braves are looking to do here with those guys either. I don’t think they’re the Braves and the Braves, you know, they’re looking to contend next year. Same as the Guardians. So, finding the right match is probably tricky. Murphy might be a different case, though, just because they don’t they don’t need him. They don’t need to replace him at catcher. So, yeah, I I don’t know. Uh I just think that’s a team I would definitely have conversations with. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see what they do here at the deadline. All right, let’s uh see some of the comments from the fans. Uh uh $400 million jet guards got to get a bat or are they going to be big dumpers? We just talked about that. Luke said Gavin pitched a gem yesterday. Yes, he did. That I mean, listen, overall the rotation has done their part. The rotation’s been good. The pitching’s been good. Just, you know, overall it’s just and the lineup obviously has been better lately, which is why they’ve won some games, but I don’t think anybody’s got faith in this lineup. I mean, it’s just there’s just not enough hitting. They c they can’t. And the frustrating part is that there’s nobody in my mind. Even the Tigers and the Blue Jays who have the two best records in the American League or the Astros, you know, like those teams are good. They’re not that good. None of these teams are that good in the American League. No, the American League is so wide open. I mean, the Tigers have been playing their worst baseball. Yeah. Blue 20 guys in the injured list. I mean, yeah, I mean that but that’s even we were saying both at the beginning of the year. I remember in spring training saying like there’s no like really great teams in the American League which makes it more frustrating. Yes. That you just sat on your hands over the winter. Especially when you have this rotation like what what could have been right. Let’s say Bieber comes back in August and he’s great. The way Sakone’s pitched you know your rotation in the playoffs. I mean, Bieber, BBY, Sakone, and Williams. I mean, could have been really good in the playoffs, but um let’s see. Yeah, G JG from Space. Our pitching is what’s keeping us somewhat competitive. That is correct. Um my two cents, how long does it take to investigate whether Ortiz bet on baseball? Yeah, they pushed. So, he’s suspended now through at least the end of uh August, right? What have you heard anything else on that? No. And you won’t. Um I I don’t see a scenario where he pitches again this season. I I’m waiting to hear a want to be careful with how I put this. Uh, can someone present to me a scenario where he’s not banned from baseball or a scenario where he’s innocent? I I haven’t heard that yet. Yeah, I I can’t see that at all. Do you think he’ll ever pitch again for Cleveland or in the major leagues? No, I think he’s done. I don’t see how they could see that anywhere else. I don’t I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The Guardians were caught off guard and kind of panicked when they learned the news because it it was brought to their attention the night before he was supposed to start at Wrigley. Yeah. At the beginning of the month. And as I’m looking through this, you notice the two pitches that publicly are in question. Yeah. So far, um, were from two of his most three recent starts. And so what that tells me is they felt like they could not let that guy take the mound again. You know what I mean? Like he that the St. Louis start at the end of June. There was at least one pitching question there and then they waited until the last possible minute they could to pull the plug on it. Yeah. Because they felt like he can’t take them out against the Cubs. What could What could he possibly have, man? I I just throw away your whole career. Uh just unbelievable. Uh my two cents sent a series of tweets. He’s angry at me. He says, ‘I sound silly because they’ve won eight of 10 and I’m saying they’re not trying to win. The organization’s first priority is not winning. It’s that simple. The owners first priority is not winning. Pretty simple. I’m glad they won eight of 10. That Astro Series was excellent. They’re playing better baseball. I don’t believe it’s going to hold up. Yeah. I mean, I I think this is just a team. They kind of are what they are, aren’t they? They’re 48 and 50. They’ve been about it. They’ve been a mediocre team this year. There have been stretches where they’ve looked pretty good and I think the reason they’ve had those stretches is usually because of their starting pitching and they’ve had a lot of stretches where they’ve looked miserable and usually it’s because they can’t hit right. Hlam’s a criminal says my two cents has no clue. Yeah, he’s terrible too. They’re terrible for different reasons. Jimmy Hasslam’s a terrible owner and Dolan’s a terrible owner for different reasons. Hamlam spends everything else he does is terrible. Training camp this week. Let’s go both. Yeah. Veterans report tomorrow. We got four quarterbacks to talk about. I know. Sure. One will get a lot more conversation than the other three combin. But uh do you want to talk about the nonsense from Trump or you know he’s he’s look he said look here. Look here folks. Look here. I I they’re not changing military bases back to Confederate soldiers. I love when when when they do that, the excuse is always it’s part of history, so we have to honor history of traitors. I don’t understand. That doesn’t make any sense. But uh I don’t know. When they when they became a team as the charter member of the American League in 1901, they were the Cleveland Blues Bluebirds and then the Broncos and then the Knaps. Like they’ve been a lot of things. Yeah. But by the way, they’re they’re they’re not they’re not changing back. This is just silly. It’s nonsense. Uh we did, by the way, for our fall baseball league that I’m the president of, we named some of our teams are named like we have the Cleveland SP we have the the Spiders. We have the Blues. We don’t have the Guardians or the Indians. But what did you want when you knew they were changing the name? Did you have a favorite? I can’t remember at the time. I don’t I don’t I I don’t think so. I didn’t like Guardians at first, but it’s grown on me. It’s grown on me. It’s fine. They rushed They rushed the logo. Yeah, they need to get rid of that. They probably changed the logo, but um but uh I like the Guardian though, the the City Connect. Yeah. And they’re using that more and more, and that’s not It’s better. Fans like that better. It’s not a coincidence. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I wanted like something weird like walleye or something strange. I don’t know. Or the the lake effects or like the something something weird. I don’t know. Well, John John Stewart’s doing not John Stewart. Um what’s John Oliver? John Oliver, right? Right. Doing this thing with the Eerie Seaw Wolves. They changed their name to the the Moon Mammoths or whatever. Something like that. Uh, Bobby says, “I hate the Guardians. Uh, Spiders actually sounds better, but the the Spiders were not a precursor for the Indians/Gardians. They were a different team.” So, they were Yeah. And I when we were we were doing a story on The Athletic last year about when the White Socks were about to set the record for the most losses and we were looking at the worst teams in sports history and the Spiders ranked number one, right? And it was because the owners of that team were just trading all the good players to their team in St. Louis. And so you were just left with these right slappies who couldn’t play. And yeah, they went like 20 and 134. So like as the now Guardians were trying to figure out like, all right, what do we want to go with here? Part of the thing that they couldn’t get over was if they go spiders, they’re going to be associated with just a team that’s known for being embarrassingly bad. Why would you want to do that? Uh, we got some other uh things. John says the Cyclones. That does nothing for me. That feels like a little league team name. We don’t get those here. You got to go with the climate. Yeah, I know. $400 million jet. Rename them the rename the team the Epstein Files. More off the rails here. Yeah. Clink tattoos. I love the Guardians name. It’s grown on me. Yes, I agree with that. It has grown on me, too. Uh, John says Cleveland mij farmers. The Midgetes could have Jabba Chamberlain’s picture as the logo. There you go. See, that would be Wouldn’t that be fun? Like minor league teams do that all the time where you like Yeah. Yeah. switch for a night to something bizarre. They They should do that. That would be fun. Yeah. Um, all right. That’s going to do it for now. Zack, good stuff as always. We’ll uh we may do a special show next week. We got to figure something out. We’ll talk about next week obviously if there’s uh a trade. Uh, until then, thanks everybody for joining us. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. We’ll talk to you next time on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show. Trump is

The Guardians continued their recent improved play by taking of 3 from the Athletics to start the post All Star break portion of the season, despite the fact that they were without All Star Steven Kwan.

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