Cleveland Guardians in trouble; Emmanuel Clase suspended and Cade Smith implodes

Cleveland Guardians in trouble; Emmanuel Clase suspended and Cade Smith implodes

Welcome everybody to the latest edition of the ultimate Cleveland Guardian show. We got a screwed up box there up there. That sounds bad. You see on today’s show, Claw suspended the Cade Smith blow save. It’s into the red. It’s into the red and so are the Guardians, Zack. It’s a big mess. Worse than that box. Emanuel Claus suspended. Cage Smith blows his first day of opportunity. Could things be worse right now for the Guardians? Uh, we’re going to find out. as Zach’s going to answer all our questions coming up on the ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show. I mean, where do we where do we begin? Oh, there we go. So there you go. By the way, um before we get into uh everything with the Guardians, I last night uh my all-time favorite player as a kid passed away. Ryan Sandberg died. I think Zach’s frozen now. I don’t know what is going on here, Zack. This is an important show and we’re having all kinds of issues. So, we’re going to we’re trying to get it together. But, um yeah, Ryan Sandberg died yesterday. My all-time favorite player. This was heartbreaking. you know, obviously much more of his family than me, but this was heartbreaking because the guy I I, you know, as a kid, as a Cubs fan in the 80s, I mean, he was it. I loved him. And I knew I was just saying to my wife yesterday afternoon that I think Ryan Samberg is going to die soon because I knew he had a very serious cancer. Um, and and you know, he wasn’t at any of the big events with the Cubs or the Hall of Fame. And then to hear that news yesterday, that was that was a killer. On top of everything else that happened yesterday baseball-wise, that was brutal. I don’t know if you have any thoughts on Samberg before we move on to the Guardians, but No, I it was a little before my time, right? Um, you know, I I remember coming home from school every day and turning on the Cubs in the 90s. Um, right. and and like he was still on those certain teams and stuff, but he wasn’t wasn’t the prominent player he was in the 80s certainly. Um, you know, I I I know he had a cup of coffee with the Phillies to start, but yeah, he did. It’s also a bygone era in many ways with Hall of Famers who play for essentially one team their entire career. And we may have one in Cleveland here, but uh you know, you just don’t see that a ton anymore. And so I’m sure that helps with, you know, your fandom in particular, but just anyone who, you know, it’s easy to gravitate to a guy like that, right? Right. And it’s easy to buy the jersey and know that you can you’re not going to have to get a new one. Yeah. I wore 23 as a kid, not because of it being a famous number for other people, but uh that was his number, so that’s what I wore as a kid. Anyway, let’s move on to the Guardians because there’s a lot to get to here. Uh obviously terrible news both off the field and on the field yesterday. First, uh, after already Luis Ortiz has been suspended for gambling allegations, uh, for about a month now, we get word that Emanuel Class has been suspended through at least the end of August for suspicion of gambling as well. Then on the field, obviously a after the Guardians come back against the Rockies, their old friend Tyler Freeman does them in and Cade Smith with his first opportunity to replace Emanuel Claus A blows up and blows the game. We’ll get to the onfield part uh later, but I the news came down. So, we’ll start with that here, Zach. Just the news. Uh I get to me it felt out of left field. I don’t know if you you got any hint of anything earlier, but uh they said they kind of had some idea that something like this was coming, but I mean, what a disaster. for Emanuel Claus and what a black eye for the organization. Yeah, I mean it it’s you know I I so Jason Lloyd was at Progressive Field with me yesterday and we were going over what to write and he’s trying to choose an angle for his column and was really struggling to narrow it down from about seven prominent questions or um just like you said it like frustrating, ugly, kind of depressing um paths that this goes down now. And I told him I’m like maybe that’s the story. Like this leaves us with so many questions and with so many emotions, all of them negative. I mean that was that was one of the darker days in I mean I’ve been covering the team for 15 years. Certainly 15 years. I know there were a lot of bad days from the 60s through the early 90s, but I mean, you’re talking about talking about a guy who was on a Hall of Fame track. And I don’t I know he had a peed suspension in the past. I don’t know how voters would have felt about that eventually, but I guess the way to put it is someone who’s at the age of 27 like could probably count on one finger the number of closers who are as accomplished through the age of 27 as he is, right? And very very very possibly just threw it all away. Oh yeah. Um, and I want to be careful not to just complete the investigation for MLB on their behalf. Like, we don’t know exactly what the details are, but like I’m willing to listen if someone can throw a scenario my way that doesn’t these two guys never pitching an MLB again. Um, so from the team perspective, uh, look, they had been fielding offers or heavy interest on Class A for weeks and I’m not sure that there’s a contender that did not at least reach out. Um, the Blue Jays really want bullpen help. The Yankees want bullpen help. The Red Sox want bullpen help. The Tigers want bullpen help. Maybe the Astros would be like lower on this list, but the Mets wanted class A. The Phillies wanted class A. I think the Brewers are looking for a reliever. The Cubs are looking they I think they want class A. The Dodgers. So like there was a market and the Guardians were doing what you would expect them to do, which is tell teams, the guy’s got three and a half years of control. We’re still kind of in this race. We’re not in a hurry to trade him. Um, obviously when this goes down and they get wind of it and when teams reached out, they said he is not available. So, and now that he’s on paid leave, he’s ineligible to be traded. So, that’s out the window. So, if you’re thinking of it from the team perspective, you think, well, you’ve either got a guy who has a Hall of Fame resume in the making at closer, the best closer in the league, I think, which is a good thing to have for three and a half more years, and he’s cheap. Like that’s a dream. That’s has so much trade value. Or you would trade him this summer or this winter for an absolute hall. Like I think you would get two good young position player prospects who could help you and maybe a couple lottery tickets or you know a back-end starter or something. Like you could have gotten a really nice package for him. And now you have none of the above. And not only is it crippling your chances this year and like it’s not, you know, it’s not a death sentence for like that in itself doesn’t say doesn’t mean hey the team needs to just tear it all down and start over, but like it’s pretty bad. Um, and you pair that with Ortiz who also was 26 years old and making the minimum and you had him for a long time and he looked like he had a really bright future and you just take those two pitchers off your roster and like I think it’s gutting both on the field and off like in that clubhouse like that’s just a complete like you can you can fake it and say well we got this is a rallying cry let’s let’s rally rally around this and let’s push forward. But man, that’s I don’t think that’s honestly possible at this point. And I I you know, I’m not going to say that that’s why they lost to the Colorado Rockies, but the cherry on top is losing to historically the worst team in baseball history and doing so in the fashion that they did. And then Tyler Freeman just to rub a little salt in the wound with go ahead hit. So, first of all, let me say that today’s show is brought to you by Epicor. It’s our title sponsor today. Next, let me say that I believe to me this is the final straw and I believe we need a cleaning of the house of the Guardians organization. I think the front office, which has had their time and they’ve had success, I think it’s time to clean house. I a few years ago we had the whole Mickey Callaway situation which for the most part got ignored here uh by most people. I think the timing helped because it was like during the pandemic and right yes that situation was a disgrace terrible for the organization and the fact that this is going on you now have two key players. You know, there were players suspended for gambling last year on other teams, but they were like marginal major leaguers, guys most people never heard of. Um, and they were and those examples of gambling were like, I’m injured and I’m going to bet on Reds Marlins, right? Even though I’m on the Athletics or you know the one guy who did bet on his team, Tu Tukupita Marano. Yeah. who he was banned for life and he was injured when he was betting on his team. But you can see how what Ortiz and we don’t know exactly what Class A is being looked at for but you can see how what these guys are allegedly alleged to have done is it’s it’s light years more serious, right? Like this is Oh, yeah. There’s a difference between a player sitting on his couch and being like, “Ah, I think my team’s going to win tonight.” which is obviously frowned upon and it’s in the rule book and it’s supposedly pounded into these players heads. Although we can debate if it’s done effectively enough, but there’s a difference between that and between having the ball in your hand. Yes. And knowing that there is a lot more writing on it than just ball one or strike one. That’s right. There’s no excuse for these players. I don’t want to hear every time somebody talks about this. I am so sick of this I’m sick of fan and and listen, I am as anti-owner as it gets. I’m sick of them. They’re all greedy. Okay, but stop telling me, well, gambling’s legal. Uh, and and uh the the league is in bed with these gambling companies. What does that have to do with this? That is a false equivalency. And I people bring this up all the time. I get it that it’s g the the players, they can bet on other things. They can bet on other sports. Uh if they have a problem with gambling, they could there’s there’s avenues that they can go down besides potentially throwing pitches that are B. And by the way, these guys I know neither Luis Ortiz nor Emanuel Claus, but especially Ortiz are making, you know, a ton of money in terms of compared to the average baseball player, but still, you’re making life-changing money. Why would you How stupid would you have to be to do these things? How much money could they possibly be making doing this? Not much. Yeah. I mean, that that’s there’s a lot we don’t know. Right. Right. And you know, given like I know Ortiz’s background is not didn’t have the greatest upbringing where he’s from like didn’t his family did not have much money. And so you wonder if there are other things at play, right? like are there some bad characters involved here? And you know, there’s there’s a lot. I would say I would say that MLB probably has a lot of what they need if they’re going to go ahead and suspend these guys like this, right? Um I don’t know. I’ll say this. Are you worried that more people are involved? Well, yeah. So, the Guardians after this comes out yesterday put out a statement saying that that’s it. It’s these two guys and nobody else. And then there’s a report, and I apologize, I forgot the name of the reporter, Hector Gomez. Thank you. Who’s, you know, a legitimate reporter. He’s not some guy out of left field. Um, says, “Well, there’s more names coming. There’s more and we’re going to find out about it soon.” So, if he’s I I Can I Can I Yeah, please go ahead. Tell me, Major League Baseball went out of its way to tell the Guardians there’s nobody else that they’re looking at here. Okay. And you wouldn’t do that if you didn’t have a pretty good handle on I would. Yeah. The investigation, right? Yeah. Um because they they didn’t do that the first time with Ortiz. I think at that point, if I remember correctly, asking Chris Antinetti in Chicago when the Ortiz stuff came down, I think they said something like they didn’t think anyone else was involved, but like also they didn’t know and I think they couldn’t couldn’t comment. Like they had very very little information when that went down. this time. Like I think it means something when MLB says like MLB informed the Guardians, nobody else. So I it was reiterated to me by some people very very very high up and not with the Guardians that what was originally put out there by the Guardians and MLB is the fact. Okay? And so I don’t want to get into a reporting war because this isn’t even reporting. This is the team and the league saying this is what the deal is and they’re the ones doing the investigation and that what would their motivation be to lie about this if it can then be proven it would be so it doesn’t make any sense. Yeah. Also if there are more names being revealed in the next few days why would the league say there are no more names? Right. Doesn’t make sense. they would be the ones in control of revealing the names. So, I I’m not I would not be concerned about that. Um, but, you know, we don’t we don’t know what has Ortiz cooperated with the league’s investigation. Has he What has he said? What does Class think about it? Like, we know nothing. And so, you know, we do know that I reported this yesterday that the team had suspicion that this was coming before it actually arrived with class A. So, they were aware of it over the weekend that it could happen. They didn’t know exact and Stephen, I want to give him credit because I also pressed him and pressed Chris Antinetti pretty hard about why did Class pitched twice Saturday and was warming Sunday in a game they were trailing by three. And so why are you doing that? And Vot’s answer was, well, we didn’t know if or when or how or why or what it was about. Because I think there’s a there’s a question to be and I’ve asked this, but you know, Ortiz is being investigated because he intentionally misfired some pitches, right? Yep. So if you have an inkling that Class A is part of this, isn’t this doesn’t stand a reason that he’d be looked at for the same thing? Yes. And that’s a guy you want to throw out there in the ninth inning of a close game. Someone who might be betting against themselves. No. And obviously he blew the save in the first game of that double header. Yeah. And the counter to that is, of course, the guy had a before Saturday, his RA since May 1st was 110, right? So even if he’s betting against himself, he’s he’s been really good and reliable. Well, to me, I don’t care how good he’s been. if he’s been betting against himself in some way, uh, he should be banned for life. So should Luis Ortiz if they if it’s proven that they did this. It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace of the organization. And to my initial point, I think Chris Antinetti and the entire front office need to be fired. I was I I know this is an I’m sure it’s not going to be a popular opinion. Uh, and I’m sure it’s not going to happen, but I was already I had already started losing faith in this front office and had said, “Hey, if they don’t turn this around soon, it’s time to make a change.” They have had more than ample opportunity. And I know they’ve had a good deal of success along the way. So I don’t say this lightly, but if you throw this in this disgrace that’s happened within the organization with the fact that the Mickey Callaway situ situation hand was taking place under their watch. The fact that that that in the last 10 years, last five years, their free agency forays have been awful. Um they have not been able to develop a single hitter outside of Steven Quan and I’ll I’ll even say Kyle Manzardo. um who who already was developed really by Tampa Bay mostly. But I’ll say t I’ll say him too uh in the last I don’t know 10 years. Um all those things combined I’m done. I’m done with this front office. Um uh and and I I think the the organization needs to needs a fresh start. They keep they’re so internal like every every change there’s there’s somebody in already here and there’s a lot of group think here and it’s not working and I and I know part of me says that’s crazy. They just had a great season last year and they almost went to the al uh they almost went to the World Series and and all this and and I get it. If you think I’m nuts because of that, I I understand where you’re coming from. I just look at generally where they’ve been headed in the last five years. throw in two major scandals and I don’t like it and I think it’s time to to make some changes. Again, I don’t think it’s going to happen, but I think it should. Uh, and we’ll see, you know, what happens here over the rest of the season and into the off season, but I don’t like where this organization is at all. This is the most down by far that I have been on this organization since Manny Acta, and that’s a long time ago. people have been fired for a lot less. They’ve had I mean it’s even if you just look at the the onfield or the transactional Mhm. things and also first of all like I don’t even know if we’re going to have time to get to the actual team that sits at 52 and 54 and is still trotting out the the Jonathan Rodriguez’s and just the Carlos Santana’s got to play every day. every day he’s got to play this guy. It’s abysmal. And so there there’s that. It’s just a reflection of they’ve had the anti-idas touch for a while now. I mean, it’s Yeah. Um, where’s the owner? No. Does he exist? Yeah, I know. Anyone ever hear from this guy? Look, I know that he said some dumb stuff to me six years ago, but like ever any accountability? Never. Never. I mean, does anyone get mad? It seems like no. Does anyone ever get fired? Does anyone ever get in trouble? Do you have to go to the principal’s office? Do you get a timeout, a detention? Like it it’s it’s a country club. I like country clubs, but it’s Yeah. I don’t know. I If Here’s the thing I I struggle with because I You have to give them credit for last year. You do. They they went to the ALCS. It was incredible. Uh Steven Vote looked like a perfect A+ hire. And I just thought the sum of the parts was just was so great last season where you look at the roster and you’re like, how are they doing this? But you know, you understand the bullpen and I thought I just thought the managing and the coaching and the preparation and so many things were great. The camaraderie last year was awesome. I also know that they went into that season not thinking they were going to be that good, right? So, it’s like I don’t want to give them full credit because they almost stumbled into it. But, you have you do have to give them credit though. I I just don’t understand what the plan has been. I don’t understand what the plan is. I mean, this obviously changes their plans and yeah, we can talk about the fact that I fully expect Shane Bieber to get traded and I fully expect them to spend the next three days pulling their hair out over whether this means they need to trade Steven Quan now. I think they would really really prefer to wait, but I don’t I don’t know that they can and it might just be a rip the band-aid situation. Um, you can’t get it. Jason’s been trying to talk to talk to me for a month that they can get something from Santana. What are they going to get for Santana? uh $25 gift card to Cracker Barrel. Yeah. I mean, he’s worth nothing. You can’t get anything from Lane Thomas. You can’t get anything from Paul C. Wall. Lane Thomas is like out until September. Yeah. I mean, they’re all completely useless in the trade front. Obviously, you’ve lost your best trade chip. We’ll see with Quan. As you say, they’ll get something for Bieber. Teams will be You don’t have like Delau’s not come. Like, at least you could look forward to August September and be like, “Hey, we get to watch Dau every day. Burrito every day. Those guys are injured. We’re not gonna see Bana just came back in double A like Yeah. We’re not gonna see Bazana. They have they seem to have no interest in uh calling up Kay. So they they’re content to be bad on offense. There’s just there there’s no accountability. Like I I I asked Chris Antinetti yesterday. I said obviously aside from the pitchers themselves, who’s to blame here? Is there anybody else who deserves some culpability? And he actually said it. I just pat myself on the back. He said, “That’s a great question, but he said he wanted to wait until this investigation is resolved and then let’s ask that question.” And that’s fair. I mean, I I you know, who knows what the details will be, but yeah. Um yeah, I mean, this this I don’t know. I I feel like there would be some stern talkings to at least from an owner who didn’t just let every like like and there you’re right it’s insular, right? Like they don’t change anything. They don’t get outside voices. I I’ve said this on the big show a few weeks ago. They had a perfect opportunity to go hire a new hitting coach from the outside. go hire someone from the Dodgers or the Rays who has experience with successful hitting development and you went internal and you know maybe Grant Frink will eventually be a really good hitting coach but like they they kept Ty Van Berkeley for a decade like you you had a chance go hire from the outside someone who has been part of an operation that can you can completely overhaul what you do what hasn’t worked forever. Yeah. And they didn’t do that and Yeah. I mean Steven votes the only outside the organization guy and that was the one time but you know who know who knows how much even say Chris Chris Valleica too but that wasn’t you know that was what four years ago and I think they’ve had more evidence that what they’re doing isn’t working that’s right since then. And so it’s not even just a hitting coach. It’s like go. They have a vice president of hitting, a senior vice president of hitting, a director of hitting, a hitting analyst, a hitting coach, an assistant hitting coach, another assistant. It’s like all these people and still can’t quite crack the code. So, go hire someone who can build his own department and figure this out. But that that’s just an again that’s like one little part of this, right? But the transactions haven’t worked. You know, I I like I don’t want to talk about payroll today, but like that that’s part of this too. Just like how they’ve spent their money has completely flopped, right? And we’ve talked about this last week. It it almost feels like like you asked Chris Anthony who’s to blame. We have a hard time sometime finding out who to blame because it’s like, well, can I I can’t blame front office because the owner doesn’t spend enough. But, you know, I can’t blame the manager because the team’s not good enough. Yeah. It’s convenient. They all escape blame because And I’m done with that. And I’m done with that. I’m I’m blaming the front office for all the for the two scandals now in five years. I’m blaming uh the manager. I I don’t even know if it’s his fault. I don’t care. The fact that Kyle Manzardo is by far their third best offensive player and he sits every time they face a lefty, whether the lefty’s any good or not, that’s ridiculous. I’ll blame the front office again for the lack of a and the coaching staff for the lack of development of offensive players. I’ll blame the front office again for the fact that they slow play almost every prospect they have wait forever for them to come up. I’ll blame the front office and the medical staff or whatever. The fact that so many of their key prospects keep getting hurt. We’ve se I mean all these top prospects. I’ll blame the front office again because they failed to make trades, but they I’m sure there have been many opportunities over the last few years to trade all these good prospects, none of which have panned out. None. None of them. Not Espino, not Rochio, not Arius, none of them. How many How many guys could they have made trades for good players over the last three, four years when these guys were top prospects? Espino, Rochio, Arius, uh Anel Martinez, all all along the line. None of them have done anything. None of them. And it if you look at their top 10 prospects from like three years ago, the only one that’s been any good is Gavin Williams. And even he’s not been as good as we thought he would be. But okay, I’m fine with him. He’s good. He’s good enough. And that’s it. Everybody else that was a top prospect is has little or no value at this point. And that’s that none of that’s the owner. The owner. Yeah. And you know, and you want to blame the blame the No, but it is it is the owner though. Well, it’s because the owner doesn’t they don’t fire anybody. They’ve had the same people in the organization in every department have worked there since 1986. Like it’s it’s Yeah, I I I bl you’re right. That’s the issue. It’s it’s the culture involved. And look, there’s it breeds a lot of good. They have continuity. They have stability. It allows it does allow the front office to, you know, I think the I don’t want I don’t want to even mention the word Browns here because yesterday I texted Zack Jackson yesterday. I was like, “So, this is what you do every year, huh?” Yes. Yes. Um, but I it breeds a lot of good because with the Browns, you get hired to run the front office and you’re immediately on the clock and you feel like you if you don’t make the right move that day, it could be the end of you, right? Yeah, like you have to be perfect. And I feel like that’s a lot of pressure that can lead to poor decision-m, but it’s almost swung too far the other direction here. Yes. Where there’s no pressure, there’s no urgency. Yes. And because of it, why trade these prospects when if we make a bad I mean, junior common, if we make a bad deal, that could come back to haunt us in the long term and just be terrible. Whereas, if we hold on to our prospects, like it buys us time and and you know, we’re not in a hurry here. We’ve got 20-year contracts in the front office. Yeah. I mean, it it’s the the the tough thing here is the timeline because you’ve got what certainly looks like an ugly lockout coming in about a year and a half. And you’ve got a potential transfer of ownership in two-ish years. And you know, maybe it’s David Blitzer’s call. Um, maybe he wants his own people and maybe the landscape of the sport looks very different. So, I don’t know. I No one When When was the last time a front office person got fired here? Like legitimately, I think it was the 80s. I Yeah. Never since I’ve been here. You know, you had Hank Peters and then John Hart and then Mark Shapyro and then Chris Hansenetti and then Mike Chernoff and it’s Yeah. This will be three the Supreme Court. And and here’s the thing, Zach. Three and and this will be three out of five years that the Guardians don’t make the playoffs, right? And the two years they did, you’re right, the front office gets credit, at least some level of credit. Frank Coleman in the one year vote the other. Both of those years were surprises. So, in other words, it’s it’s essentially five years in a row that the team didn’t really expect to be good. Yeah. And that’s so that’s where I would I I struggle where it’s like you didn’t expect to be good and you ended up being good. Okay, fine. But like when do you when are you going to expect to be good? That’s my question. Make moves. When are you going to make moves? Hope you stay good. But that is where ownership is just as responsible as the front office. And that’s where I just have not understood the plan of a you’re not building toward anything. No, you’re build you build towards something when you actually have legitimate prospects who you can develop and you can evaluate properly and they’ve done neither. So they’re not building toward anything. They enter every season with internal projections of like 82 83 wins and then some years they outperform that and it’s like oh look how good we are. This is great. But then they don’t build off of that and some years it doesn’t pan out and then you go into the next season with low expectations anyway. So, it’s just, yeah, they’re they’re stuck in this ugly cycle. And I I mean, honestly, maybe this gets them out of it. Maybe they’re like, “We kind of have to reset.” The the frustrating and probably depressing thing is that you’ve had a Hall of Fame talent on your roster for way below market value that you’re wasting. And, you know, you you want to build around that and they haven’t really done that. Yeah, that’s absolutely true. And and yeah, and since winning the World Series last year was the only time they’ve or since losing the World Series that last year was the only time they’ve gotten back even to the to the ALCS. Um let me let me let me give you a commercial here. Let’s talk about Epicor for a minute. Uh today’s episode brought to you by Epicor. Every team knows 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 alone. We’ve seen that. Working together makes getting the win easier. At Epicore, the allstars are the hardworking manufacturers and distributors who create and deliver 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. Responding to price changes is easier. From small businesses with big dreams to growing enterprises with global vision, we’ll equip you with the right tools to move forward, think ahead, and lead the way. Because as the clock ticks down, you need to make the most of every hardworking minute. Easier doesn’t cut corners. Easier finds the lane. Discover your success at easier with epicor.com. That’s e a s i e r w i t h e p i c o r easier with epicor.com. All right, let me also talk to you about game time, folks. If you’re looking for tickets, maybe you want to go watch another team uh because the Guardians are not fun to watch right now. But uh game time, if you’ve ever decided last minute to head to a ball game with family or friends, maybe it’s game day and you suddenly realize you want to be in the stands. It’s exactly where game time comes in. It’s the easiest way to grab last minute tickets without the stress. With the money you save on tickets, you can splurge on food, drinks, merchandise, or even an invite uh invite a bigger group to come with you. Game time makes it possible. Game time makes buying tickets fast and simple. Prices on the app actually drop the closer you get to the first pitch. And they’ve got incredible last minute deals, clear seat views, and a lowest price guarantee that takes the worrying out of buying. Seat views right in the app. see them so you know exactly where you’ll be. Take the the guesswork out of buying tickets with Game Time. Download the Game Time app. Create an account and use the code locked on NFL. That’s L O C K D O N for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create the account, redeem the code locked on NFL for $20 off. Download the Game Time app today. Last minute tickets, lowest prices guaranteed. All right, Zach, let’s uh get back to it. On the field last night, after this awful news, the Guardians get off to a rough start. They’re they’re behind the Rockies three nothing. They rally to take the lead. And have you had you ever heard of this guy on the Rockies? Their first baseman named Warming Bernab. Warming Warming Bernabble. Yeah. Uh I heard him because I keep uh rosters for every team on a spreadsheet and I tr update my transactions daily because I’m that kind of nerd. And so I knew he I knew they had called him up a couple of days ago. Uh but I didn’t know much about him. But uh obviously he hit a home run. They take the lead. The the Guardians come back with the big what was it? The sixth inning. What was it? The inning they came they had scored all his runs. I can’t remember now which inning it is. All a blur. Yeah, I think so. Seventh. And then Goodman hits the home run to cut it to one. Then in the ninth, Kate Smith gets his first opportunity to to nail down a save with Claus gone. And listen, I’m not saying Kate Smith might convert his next 20 saves. For all I know, he’s talented enough and good enough to do it. But just because you’re a talented pitcher doesn’t mean you could be a great closer. We’ve seen it many times with many pitchers. And last night, double right off the bat, the bunt single. throws the ball away. Two good bunts by Brentton Doyle in this game, which is, you know, an an unheard of heart at this point. And obviously, they tack on Tyler Freeman goes opposite field. Uh the Guardians get one back in the bottom of the ninth, but they lose the game. So, as you said, salt on the wounds with Kate Smith blowing this game in the ninth. Yeah, I don’t worry about him. Um, yeah. I uh that’s even if none of the stuff happened yesterday Mhm. and they just lose that game to the Rockies like that, that’s that’s still brutally painful. Oh my god. Um, remember the Rockies were on pace to have to break the record that was just broken last year by the White Socks for that win got them to 28 and 78. Yeah. 50 games under 500. So, it’s really interesting. I I’m not gonna spend a lot of time talking about Guardians Rockies because I don’t think it really matters. Um, it doesn’t I think it’s very interesting the contrast between the Guardians and the Royals. Um, I have not I even before all this, I had not heard much chatter about the Guardians interest in adding anybody. Mhm. Uh I know they had conversations with certain sellers. Like I know they talked to the Diamondbacks at least once or twice. Mhm. Um and you you do that you do your recon to know what every other team is thinking, but I had never heard like and and I’m not saying I normally do, but like you know there I remember them being really interested in Brian Reynolds in the past and Jesse Winker and stuff. Hadn’t really heard much of that this time. Right. So, I I’ve been pretty consistent saying I think they’re going to largely stand pat at this deadline. Obviously, this changes things, right? Um, but it was interesting to me being in Kansas City over the weekend and the Guardians being slightly ahead of the Royals in the standings and the Royals traded for Randall Grick. They traded for Adam Frasier a week earlier. They signed Seth Lugo to an extension when Gritic hit a home run by the way yesterday. Okay. and he was, you know, Luga was a very popular trade candidate. So, yeah. And then the Guardians are still trotting out Jonathan Rodriguez and yeah, Austin Hedges and Carlos Santana. So, it was just interesting the different mindsets between two teams that are essentially in the same spot in the standings and probably will continue to go in opposite directions here. you know, I don’t know how much buying or more buying the Royals will do, but um you know, the Guardians aren’t going to add here. So, it just just it was strange, but you know, I feel like if you’re a Royals fan, like you at least appreciate Yeah. that and even if if you’re a Royals player, you appreciate that the team still has some level of faith that you can hang around. Yeah. The Guardians, as you mentioned, are two games under 500 again. They’ve lost four of five after that real hot streak they were on. They’re 52 and 54. We got what? No, 58 games left. 56 games left in the season. Yeah, 56. They’re four games out of the wild card. The third wild card’s Boston. They’re behind Texas and Tampa. They’re a half game up on the Angels and Royals and one game up on Minnesota. Minnesota like the Guardians is are sellers while Kansas City is a buyer. I don’t the Angels feel like they never sell. I mean listen obviously this if they had any thoughts of not selling although again as we discussed they don’t have much to sell. Uh then the Class A suspension obviously put that over the top. So they are not going to be buyers even with their allegedly weak schedule. They’re not going to make the playoffs. I’ve said this consistently even with Class A now you just lost your be best relief pitcher so you lose all his innings and even if Kate Smith is great the rest of the season which I expect him to be it doesn’t matter because you now not that it doesn’t matter but it’s still you’ve lost your best reliever. So Cade Smith maybe does Emanuel Claus’s job and maybe Hunter Gatis does Cade Smith’s job maybe. But who’s doing Hunter Gatis’s job? Right. You had both of them. Yeah. Now you only have one. That’s right. And it’s not like, you know, it’s I’d feel differently if they had a healthy Andrew Walters or if Franco Alamon in Triple A was doing far better than he has been. But they just, you know, you’re going to get more Festa, more Junice. And who doesn’t love that? Oh, yeah. Exciting. Yeah. No, they and I I want to say even if he’s doing if he’s a if if he’s a highly regarded prospect, even if he’s doing well, they don’t, you know, he does there’s no guarantee that the guy’s called up. I mean, you know, yeah, I I think, you know, it’s rough, right? I It’s bleak. I think a lot of fans are frustrated and they’re Yeah. seeking some Guardians talk therapy. Mhm. Um I I almost think the the frustrating part here is one, it’s not like an injury. It’s one thing if if like Class A blew out his elbow and Ortiz blew out his elbow like you would just be mad at the the injury gods and you just you know but but this was this is sure looks like it’s self-inflicted and like 100% a lot more severe and devastating. And the other thing is that in many years like this, you turn your attention to Okay. Well, I mean, how many times have we seen this team, you know, even during the Tito era, there were a few years where they’d sell off some veterans at the deadline because they were just treading water. Yeah. And they wouldn’t get worse in the second half. And if anything, sometimes they got better. That’s true. Like I remember the year 15 they traded Swisser and Bourne and they had they had traded David Murphy and Brandon Moss and then then they got better like they they actually played well down the stretch and ended up like 81 and 80. And the problem is like there’s a lot of potential for August and September to be really interesting even if the team was out of it. But Delott and Breto are hurt and Bazan’s at double A and I don’t think we’re going to see him. Like I’m clinging to like Kay and maybe Parker Messik, you know? It’s like no. Yeah. Yeah. It’s hard. It I don’t understand why Santana is still on the team, frankly, but that’s baffled me for a month. Uh let’s let’s see some fan comments here before we go. Uh ura Hersburgger says, “We need some accountability from the top down.” That’s something we’ve talked about a lot that Zach has really went on about that today and he’s 100% right. Vills, I was devastated by the Class A News. Uh these are grown men, says Evan 419. They knew the rules. They’re posted. There is no excuse for these players. Zero. No, they knew what they were doing. I do wonder. So, so the unfortunate thing for Cleveland is that you are now the example here. Um because you would think and I I don’t know. I mean, we we need to see how this plays out, I guess. But I don’t think there’s a I don’t think there’s a gray area here. I think again I will reiterate like it is hard for me to wrap my head around a scenario that does not end in lifetime bands for these guys, right? Yeah. And let’s just say that that’s what happens. would be pretty sure that that is going to speak much louder to every player in baseball, minor league or major league, than some MLB official coming in on February 24th and saying, “Hey guys, you’re not allowed to bet and here are all the ways that you can get caught and blah blah blah.” Or the fact that there is a laminated poster on the wall of every clubhouse. I don’t think players are walking into the locker room every day and stopping and rereading that, you know, block of text, right? So, the thing that’s going to have the most impact is this. Yeah. And unfortunately for Cleveland, you’re the guinea pig. Yeah, that’s that’s true. Beast Grill says Nolan Jones stinks. Any thoughts on that? It’s it’s insane that he only has three home runs, man. for him this year. I don’t understand. And he hits the ball hard, but I feel like he doesn’t make enough contact. And I feel like I just constantly watch him foul back like 94 mph fast balls down the middle. So, I don’t know if it’s like a swing path thing or what. You look at him and you’re like, “Dude’s an athlete. He’s strong. He’s like an ox and he hits it hard. like why does it not work? And I just don’t understand it. For those who weren’t with us earlier, if you joined us late, go back and watch the whole thing. Um I think it’s been a great conversation about what’s the state of the Guardians. But uh one specific thing, uh the the the report by Michael Hector Gomez saying that there are more suspensions coming for the Guardians. Uh Zach said earlier that that he doesn’t think that’s the case. It doesn’t make sense after the what the gu I mean the Guardians put out a statement saying there’d be no more they if they had any clue they could any chance that there was going to be more even if they didn’t know one way or the other they wouldn’t MLB Yeah. MLB did not need to tell the Guardians there’s no one else involved. And you know what? You know what’s a shame, too? And I like I’m not going to criticize someone else’s reporting because I don’t know Yeah. the background on it, but that’s a serious allegation because if you’re a player in that clubhouse, you’re looking around like, “Wait, there’s more of us who are who can I trust, right?” Yeah. Like that’s you better be right on that. And MLB and the Guardians are saying you’re not. Sonic uh says, “Train wreck since last offseason. No additions for the offense. So, you get what you have now below 500. Um, Rob says, “I’ve never heard of two players from the same team, the same season getting suspended for allegedly gambling.” Uh, I can’t remember. I think there was a team last year that had two players, but two, you know, Jason Jason wrote a column and I think he had looked through it. I believe there were four or five guys suspended total last year, but no big names like this. No. Um, Adam said he hit the bell for us. We appreciate that. Hit the bell. Hit subscribe if you haven’t done so already. Rob says, “All are adults. All know the rules. The ultimate selfishness in these situations makes your blood boil. Buckeye guy. We lost at home to Colorado. Guardians are done.” Uh, Adam says, “Go for the Reds. That’s all I can suggest.” Um, Nathan, has Cade Smith made a better throw? Had Kate Smith made a better throw and he fielded the grounder in the top of the ninth, the team likely would have won the game. I mean, it would have been first and third, nobody out. Did Did you watch the game last night at all? Yeah. Was there a weird vibe? Yes. I don’t know if it was the rain delay, the class A stuff, or what, but it felt weird and I can’t put my finger on it. Did you get a chance to talk to the players at all yesterday? Yeah, but like nobody was They’re well trained. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I I mean I think when you start the game first of all what three hours late or whatever it was. I mean that always creates a weird vibe in the ballpark to begin with. And yeah there has to be a sense from some of the players of what is happening here because usually players no matter what another player does on their team, they always got their back. But the some of these guys at least got to be like, “F those guys, you know, like what what what is what are these guys doing that?” I don’t know. Um I I mean I I think that’s part of, you know, a question that has been brought up a lot and there’s not an answer yet because you don’t know, but it’s regardless of what happened, how do those guys walk back into that clubhouse ever? I mean, they might not be permitted to, right, but like Luis Ortiz still has a locker and his stuff’s still in it. Yeah. And at some point, either he’s going to come back or someone’s going to have to clean it out for him. And, you know, Yeah. trust is a big thing. Oh, yeah. When you are around your teammates and it is not like a It’s not like the NFL where the quarterback is just going to have the ball in his hands or the best player in the NBA is going to have the ball in his hands. Like, you don’t know who’s going to bat. You don’t know who’s going to pitch in a certain situation and you’re around these people for nine months every single day. Trust matters. Relationships matter. And you fracture that, I don’t think you get it back. Buckeye guy. Guardians aren’t going anywhere. We were shut out halfway through the game against Colorado. MK, the guards are basically aa team just with shitty veterans. Uh Andrew says, “How long has Anthony been in charge? our front office of our front office and the farm system is no hitting. Um well the the ironic thing is the farm system has a lot of hitting now. It’s just will they actually pan out, right? But all their I mean they’ve got a decent number of top 100 prospects and they’re all hitters. The question is will they become legitimate major leaguers or will they become more of what we’ve seen. Right. MadKill says, “This is the most logical and measured analysis of this team ever.” Thank you. We appreciate that. Madill Nathan, hopefully David Blitzer will spend the money like former team owner Richard Jacobs was. You know, I hope so, too, but I’m sick of like hoping that David Blitzer spends money to turn like we’ve been waiting for David Blitzer to spend money to turn I know he’s not the majority. Yeah. Like, can the Dolan just get the hell out? Can they get out? Can the Can Blitzer take over? And let’s let’s start fresh everywhere. Let’s get Let’s get the owner out. Let’s get the front office out. No offense to Stephen Vote, but I’m He’s got to be out, too. Start fresh. David, what about the team name? Oh god, don’t get me started. Don’t get me started. We’re keeping the team name. That’s the only thing I’m keeping is the team name. Um and and I want everybody else out. I want the I let I I wonder if David Blitzer right now what he’s thinking as the minority owner. I wonder if he’s thinking like, man, Dolan’s an idiot. What are we What are we doing here? I don’t know. I still don’t have proof that that guy exists. Yeah, I know. All right. Uh yeah, you know what? We should mention this in this sea of awfulness and we got to go, but Jason says, “Congrats to Tom Hamilton at least.” And yes, but that that legitimately is another reason why this sucks is, you know, Chris Hansenetti was driving back from Coopertown. Yeah. When he got the official call from MLB. Um, you know, Hammy’s the best there is. And great guy. I could talk about him forever. Yeah, I loved your column. I appreciate that. I mean, it’s don’t take my word for it. Take the word of so many hall other Hall of Fame broadcasters who make a point to go out of their way to one visit with him every time they’re in Cleveland and shoot the for two hours. I didn’t know that part. That part was very interesting reading about that. Or to listen to his calls or his his playbyplay. Yeah. I mean, you’ve got the most accomplished broadcasters in recent history getting in their car and going to find a Guardians game because they listen want to listen to Tom Hamilton. I mean, that’s you can’t pay a higher compliment than that. And yeah, um, so it’s welld deserved. I thought his speech was very him where it was so humble. He got in a few funny anecdotes. Um, and then I’m sure once he was off the stage and was hobnobbing with everybody at the bar the rest of the night, he was extremely self-deprecating and cracking a ton of jokes and letting his guard down a little bit. But he’s uncomfortable with the attention and he is he just does not think he deserves all of that. And I know for a fact that he was breathing a sigh of relief when it was all over and the the spotlight was not on him. Yeah, he’ll be looking forward to getting back in the booth. He was awesome. We’re all very excited for him. Great guy, great broadcaster. As good as it gets. Uh, congrats of course to CC Sabathia who whose car broke down. I can’t I don’t remember exactly what happened, but that was so funny. And he’s just, you know, I got to meet him finally in person earlier this year. He was awesome and I’m happy for him. Dave Parker’s son looks exactly like Dave Parker. That is crazy. He’s huge. And Eiro in English. It was a Wasn’t it a great just a great class of like diverse accomplishments and Billy Wagner played division three baseball. Yeah. Very very cool class. Um everybody had a great background story I feel like. Yeah. And and Dick Allen as well. So great class. Thanks everybody for joining us folks. Um I’ll be back on in five minutes on my on my podcast. Dustin and I in the bullpen in five minutes. I’ll Pickicket. What’s going on? What are they going to do? We’ll talk we’ll talk a little about the Guardian situation and then we’ll talk about Kenny Picket getting hurt and we’ll talk some Browns. At 11 o’clock, I’ll be on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. And then at 2 o’clock, I’m going to be on betting weekly hard ball. We’ll talk about the games on the doc today. I’m a busy day for me. I love it. Love being busy. The more busier I am, the less eating I do. Zack, uh, I’ll talk to you soon, buddy. That’s a great walk-off. There you go. Uh, thanks everybody for joining us. We really appreciate the love. We’ll talk to you next time. If there is a big trade involving the Guardian, I I we’ll do we may do a second show this week if there’s a big trade. At this point, I think that would only be Quan because we’re expecting Bieber to get traded. I don’t see what else could happen, but we’ll see. We’ll talk to you next time on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show.

It was a terrible Monday for the Cleveland Guardians. First they found out that star closer Emmanuel Clase would be suspended through at least the end of August for suspicion of gambling…then. later presumed replacement closer Cade Smith blew a save to the woeful Rockies.

FANATICS LINK: www.fanatics.com/UCSS Subscribe and ring the bell for the latest talk about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes: https://bit.ly/ucss_subscribe Follow on Twitter: @ultclesports Watch live on YouTube 11 a.m.-1 p.m. weekdays on YouTube and WKYC+ on your Roku and Fire TV apps! The Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show is your daily source of the best conversation about the Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Guardians, Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State Buckeyes, as well as sports throughout Northeast Ohio. Hosted by Jay Crawford, Adam the Bull, G Bush, Jason Lloyd, Brad Sellers and Tyvis Powell. NATIONAL DISCLAIMER: 21+ and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC. First online real money wager only. $10 first deposit required. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable bonus bets that expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee, and Virginia. Call 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 in Arizona, 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat in Connecticut, 1-800-9-WITH-IT in Indiana, 1-800-522-4700 or visit ksgamblinghelp.com in Kansas, 1-877-770-STOP in Louisiana, visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland, visit 1800gambler.net in West Virginia, or call 1-800-522-4700 in Wyoming. Hope is here. Visit GamblingHelpLineMA.org or call (800) 327-5050 for 24/7 support in Massachusetts or call 1-877-8HOPE-NY or text HOPENY in New York.