The Cleveland Guardians season is over, so what’s next?

The Cleveland Guardians season is over, so what’s next?

Welcome everybody to the latest live edition of the ultimate Cleveland Guardian show. It is the postseason time. Well, you know, the season’s over. There is postseason games going on, but not for the Guardians, unfortunately. What do we have left? Rooting against the Yankees who salvaged game three. Are you locked into the Blue Jays Yankees right now, Zack? It has been pretty entertaining. I’m not after a long season of watching so much baseball. Sometimes I struggle watching the postseason. I’ve tuned in a little bit, but not not a ton. I’ve only watched the first inning of the two Cubs Brewers games because they haven’t been worth watching after that. It’s the ultimate Cleveland Guardian show. All right, welcome back. Here we are. Uh it is time for you know we talked most of the season it was like trending towards a lot of offseason talk and we started doing that as early as uh August and then it all went away because the team played great in September and we got back into inseason mode and then we got into you know postseason playing mode and we wrapped it up after the uh the Guardians got eliminated. But you know, for Guardian, for the Guardians and Guardians fans, the same question we always ask this time of year. Will the Guardians participate in free agency? The answer is usually no, at least in terms of significant free agency. They haven’t played in significant free agency in eight years when they signed Edwin Encarnion. Um, so before we get further down that road, Zach, let’s go back to yesterday where uh the Guardians held their postseason a press conference and just to clarify and because you just clarified to me and even I didn’t remember this and so fans need to know this there are two different postseason press conferences correct yeah so just in case you I don’t know I I don’t know what takes place in the other one right you know those are the ones you tend to see videos of on social media because there’s one for the writers the beat people who are there day by day throughout the season. And then there’s one for TV radio extraneous. Um, so I would just caution, you know, just because you see a video clip on Twitter or something, that doesn’t mean that that’s the only content out there. Um, not to say that this is ever the most revealing press conference. It’s not. It’s it’s we ask everything there is to ask. Like I know our writer session went over an hour. I think the second session went like 25 minutes. So, um we try. There’s just, you know, you’re getting your typical typical answers. Nothing that’s going to, you know, be a crazy headline. So, you know, you should keep your expectations low for this kind of thing every year. Yeah. And just to further that point, like I saw two people sent me a tweet saying, “Hey, our beat reporters are not asking anything.” Well, the things you’re watching are the TV people who don’t cover the team regularly. Don’t know the team as well. And probably it’s a lot of like people that do the the sports on TV and they’re on for two minutes talking sports. They’re not doing any serious analysis of the team. No offense to I’m not insulting them. I’m just saying that’s the reality of the There’s different needs. You know, people need the clip for the three minute sports at the end of the 11:00 news, right? So, you know, I I’ll just reiterate like ours went over an hour. It goes over an hour every year. I also This is my 15th one of these and never has there been never have I come out of that being like, whoa, we got some good stuff. And that that we we that is like it. So the the other part of this is I think the second session they got vote and antennetti were like sitting up at a I don’t know on a stage or something like we had vote antonyetti Mike Chernoff Matt Foreman um but these guys are well schooled in yeah how to not answer stuff. So yeah listen Zack could ask the same question about payroll 17 different ways not getting an answer. I mean, I literally did. I ran out of At one point, I think Anton Eddetti was like, “Did you did you have another question about this?” Because he could see that the wheels were spinning. And I’m like, “Yeah, yeah. I I’ve I’ve exhausted every way I can, right? Ask if you’re going to have financial flexibility because well, whatever.” Without going on a on a rant against them. Yeah. I mean, so you’re not going to give a straight answer. So, there’s just so much you can do. You try. You make the effort. You did. I also think listeners and readers are smart enough to many of them are smart enough to like be able to cut through the BS, right? Or read between the lines or just understand that this is this is what most people in these positions in sports do now. I mean, when was the last time you listened to a Kevin Stfansky or Andrew Barry press conference that was revealing that you learn a lot. Yeah. Antonetti and Chernoff go to the same school as Barry and Stfansky. They go to, you know, they took advanced nerd, you know, 306. They they understand the what not to say. They give no answers. It’s frustrating. Um, in reality, you know, it’s in some cases it’s actually smart not to reveal anything. You know, when it comes to like what stuff in terms of draft picks or trades, like you’re not going to say, well, we’re putting this guy on the trading block. Like that doesn’t help your team. There are times when I feel like it would do this organization in particular and and and I say that without like truly thinking through how it would play out, but yeah, they are so buttoned up and we get to the B. I joined you a couple minutes into our postgame show after game three. Yeah. And the first words I heard out of your mouth are Pete Alonzo. And you’re not alone, right? Like sometimes I almost want to just throw him a bone when they signed Encarnasion. It was like delirium. Yeah. People, it was Christmas and people were lining up at the ballpark tickets. And so I’m not saying that you have to make moves just to satisfy the fans, but once in a blue moon, especially when you’re in a position like this where there is a level of optimism, I think people can see like, hm, there’s some young talent around here. Can you build around it? And yeah, um, seize that opportunity. Yeah, I think I think there’s a way to build excitement and momentum that this organization always refuses to do. And it’s not even just that, but like we were walking out of the ballpark yesterday. A few of us writers, we were saying like, “All right, well, won’t be back here till April or whatever.” And yeah, then we remembered, wait, you know, they actually held one of these sorts of press conferences last February. We’re like, wait, why did they do that? And then we remembered, oh, because they canceled GuardsFest. And then we were thinking, so then someone asked, well, is there GuardsFest this year? We said, nope, remember it’s it’s now every three years because that’s what the fans want. That’s what they said. So, it’s like it’s another one of those where it’s like just maybe you lose 50 grand, 100 grand paying for GuardsFest, but like sometimes you got to just throw the fan base a bone and make them happy and have them excited for the new season. Even if you take a little bit of a loss, it’s going to pay off eventually. You know, it’s funny. I I I know um like many people were sick of hearing about the Browns, but I’m just going to use this as an example because I oddly enough just brought this up yesterday. We were talking to Adidi King Kabala on UCSS. And I said, you know, give Dylan Gabriel a couple more weeks. Let’s see how he does. Whatever. At some point, the fans want to see Shador Sanders play. The team stinks. They lose every year. I said I like let the kid let him play. Let the fans see what they want. If he sucks, he sucks. So be it. And if you’re three and 11, who cares, right? Who cares? And she is coming at this from like the brain standpoint, which I get. She’s like, well, that’s not may not be good for the organization, blah blah blah blah blah. But sometimes guys that run these teams are so caught up in the the nerd speak and so caught up in like the Browns, they’re so smart, but yet they’ve done everything wrong for for ever. And so sometimes maybe just say and the same thing here. I mean obviously the Guardians are much better run organization. I’m not saying they do stupid things. They generally do smart things. But like sometimes yeah as you say like I get it. You know, if the owners refuses to spend money, ultimately there’s nothing the front office can do. But come on, there’s Yeah, there’s a way to frame this. You give them reason to go. There’s a because now everyone has resigned and this is I think people love this team from February to October. You get frustrated when they don’t play well, etc. But more often than not, the journey is worth following in those months, right? People hate this team and this organization from October to until February. And part of that, a lot of that self-inflicted. A lot of that is also just the dynamics of baseball. And the Guardians are not alone in this. and you’re already hearing teams talk about the looming work stoppage a year plus from now and TV stuff and there’s always an excuse. I I could argue we don’t need to launch into this. I could argue actually makes more sense maybe to to spend some money and take some risks now because you might not have to pay those players as the full salary in 2027 if there’s a work stoppage. But that’s whatever. Uh I I I look at our uh what you put down on on today’s show and and you you mentioned the Guardians payroll’s at 50 to 60 million right now and I’ve done the math on this like 12 times. Yeah. To make sure it’s right because yes, they they have three players who are guaranteed money. It’s Jose Ramirez, it’s Tanner Bbeby, it’s Trevor Stefen and those guys add up to like 29 million. Then you have eight players eligible for arbitration. They’re not going to keep all eight players. Even if they did, those guys are projected to earn about 20, right? Most of that’s Quan. Yeah. Quan’s like almost nine. Yeah. And then there’s like a bunch of guys for 2 million or so, but like I don’t know that they’re going to keep Ben Lively. I don’t know that they’re going to keep Nolan Jones, Colobby Allard, Will Brennan. So, so even if they did, let’s now we’re up to the 20 plus the 29 is 49. Yeah. You fill out the rest of the roster with guys making the the league minimum because as they love to remind you, they have one of the youngest rosters in the league. That’s right. You do that on purpose. Um because that means it’s also one of the cheapest rosters in the league. So you fill out the rest of the roster with guys making the minimum that takes you to 60 million. Yeah. And one way to frame this, the organization never does this, and I think that’s part of the issue is they have run a payroll the last few years between 90 and 100 million. So when I asked the question, one of the six times I tried to ask about payroll, one of my phrasings was just asking like, is there financial flexibility? And it’s it’s always too early. I could ask this at the postmortem in early October and it’s too early to say. I will ask this again at the winter meetings in December and then it will be too early to say. Yeah, it’s always too early. And then you get to February and it’s spring training and it’s well, you know, here we are. Yeah. But anyone could look at this and say, “Okay, well, you already cut back because of the TV stuff.” You’re not losing more money on that, right? If anything, you might get a They even said yesterday like there might be a windfall from a the new setup. ESPN’s involved. They don’t know yet. Mhm. Okay. You’re not losing more from that, right? The work stoppage is is coming probably. People seem to think so. That’s that’s after next season. That also like shouldn’t preclude you from like you don’t need to cut back because of that, right? Because you’re not going to have to pay your players during a lifestyle. Exactly. You’re you’re my guess is you’re not going to have to pay Emanuel class A6.5 million, right? Um you have a $6 million option on John Means. The point is, if you’re even keeping if you’re keeping pace with the 90 to hundred million payroll that you’ve run in recent years, which you and I have yelled about many times, is so far below even the league average and do I expect them to spend 180 million every year? No. But in a time like this where you just went to the ALCS and then you came back and you won another division title and like all this young talent is sitting there. I’m excited about Chase Delauer coming up, George Valera coming up, and Travis Bazanna coming up and the what the rotation was able to do. And building off of that, if you could even sniff like a little below league average, imagine what you could do because your payroll right now, as it says up there, is going to be 50 to 60 million. So, if you’re the front office and maybe you’re you want fans to think a little bit differently in the offseason for once and maybe it helps spur ticket sales, you could frame this by answering my questions as, well, in the last few years we’ve we’ve run the payroll that we’ve run and you’re asking about financial flexibility. And as it stands right now, we expect to have 30 to 50 million uh in wiggle room if we want to run the same payroll. Yeah. Imagine that quote. Then all of a sudden fans are like, “Hm, maybe we can talk about Pete Alonzo Kyle Schwarber.” And that and that wouldn’t would just put them where they were. And yet you’d still get excited, right? Because just think think about it as I said, you know, for the for the millionth time here in the last week. I if if if they if the Guardians just did what I suggested the other day, which was sign Pete Alonzo, sign JT Realmuto to platoon with Bon Naylor and then a a good solid veteran relief pitcher in the mix. Their payroll would still be roughly what it was last year, depending on what you have to pay Alonzo. Like maybe it’s a little higher, maybe it puts you at 110, maybe it puts you at 115. That’s Yeah. And and it just drew two million fans in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2007. Exactly. And how excited. Even if they just did that, like I I I know Alonzo would be the biggest move they’ve ever made. But if they did that, brought in Real Muto and brought in, as I mentioned, Alio Pagan, but whatever, you’d go way over two million in attendance next season. People would be beyond excited. And that’s only one significant price tag. It’s significant. I get it. But it totally changes the way you’d feel about this team going into next year. You’re beyond excited. Can I interest you in an Austin Hayes or uh Christian Vasquez? I’m trying to think of like people that they actually sign. I’m horrified. I know. So instead, they answer these questions by saying, “We’re not going to deviate from the way we build our teams, which is from within, and we don’t want to block some of the young players that we’re excited about.” And they say this every year. And there is truth to that, right? Like, sure, I want to see Dau. I want to see Valera. I also know that those guys are as injuryprone as it gets. So, I can’t go into a season banking on them being healthy. They already did that this year. That’s right. You can’t bank on all those guys being successful. It’s just not realistic. God forbid Jose Ramirez suffers an injury or shows some decline. You have no recourse. That’s right. Speaking of which, um there was that video and that’s old. That was before this past season for those there was a video of I don’t know who those guys were that Jose was talking to. I’m not I don’t know. But it it was a spa interview in Spanish and I was gonna I was going to ask a friend of mine to translate it, but then Mike Mike told me it’s like six months old and I’m like, “Oh, why is this circulating right now?” But he can’t be happy though about what’s going on. I know he loves the year, but he’s got to be frustrated by the fact that they haven’t put it. And and I I really think the more I think about this, I really think and maybe it’s an excuse for him that that I shouldn’t give him, but I think it’s a big part of why he has struggled in recent years in the postseason because, you know, in the regular season, we always say, “Why would you pitch to Jose? Why would you pitch to Jose?” In the regular season, you’re not going to be as like intense with that. But in the playoffs, you’re literally not going to give him any walked. You walked like what, four or five times in the series against the uh the Tigers? Tigers. Yeah. Um Okay. So, a few things here. Number one, whoever posted this the other day tagged me and you. Me, too. Yeah. Right. And I didn’t really understand why once I learned it was from March. My first thing is why is this surfacing now? Um, I apologize that no one knew about this back in March, but I also don’t tend to listen to or know about Spanish-speaking baseball podcasts. Um, look, I think I hinted at this or wrote it or said it back in July. If they traded Steven Quan, there was going to be some issues. Um, the dude wants to win. He is 33 years old now. He has three years remaining on his contracts. He’s not going anywhere. And I will say I was told back in July that like he is already thinking about the extension or the next deal that takes him to the end of his career, right? He has not shown any signs of decline. He still hit 30 homers. He set a new career high with 44 stolen bases. His slash line looks like it looks every year at this point. Probably finish third or fourth in the MVP voting. So there’s no signs of decline. So he’s already thinking about how does he get to the end of his career? And I was told like it’s not going to be another well, we’ll tack on two more years at a discount because you love it here. It’s going to be what am I worth? The the issue is what you’re worth when you’re 36 might not be what you think you are worth now. And so like the Guardians obviously want to keep him through the end of his career. He really wants to stay in one place. he thinks that would help him with his Hall of Fame case because just players don’t do that anymore. Um, and so the bottom line is like, yeah, the guy wants to win. He has done an exceptional job mentoring the younger players. Like he has, you would think I actually remember when he goes home to the Dominican Republic in the offseason like kids follow him everywhere cuz he’ll like play on baseball fields with random people and like kids flock. It’s like a mother and ducklings. Yeah. And that’s how it is in in like around the clubhouse too. like Anal Martinez, George Valera, Brian Rokio, like these guys are following his every move. So, he’s done a great job with that. I can understand he wants another proven adult in the room or two. And the issue is, and I I can’t dispute anything the guy may have said, like he’s right. Like, there have been opportunities when you see this team on the cusp and it’s like, “Hey, can you put us over the top?” doesn’t just have to be a free agent. You could make a trade. You could trade some prospects and land some proven talent. They haven’t done either. Um but it is important to remember that when he signed his extension, which he forced. Yeah. Like that that’s I I’ve always given him credit and the organization criticism because they were ready to trade him. He was going to Toronto or to San Diego. And he forced the issue and he said like, “Let’s get this done. I want to stay here. I’ll take this much less money. They were coming off a seven or a losing season in 2021 when he signed. No one thought they were going to be good in 2022. So, it’s not like he signed this deal in October and was like, “Okay, I saved you a bunch of money. Now, go sign all these free agents.” Um, they certainly haven’t held up their end of the bargain on that front as we’ve been discussing this entire episode. But uh I just I don’t know. That was in March. A lot happened since then. You know, there was a lot of frustration. If Quan was traded, there were going to be some uncomfortable conversations. Oh, yeah. It didn’t get to that point. And now with the way the team is set up, they’re set up in a dream scenario. Every other front office would love to have the collection of young talent and the tiny payroll they have so that you can add to that group, but we’ll see if they do it. Yeah. Part of this offseason plan should be to lock up Quan. And Quan can’t be like Quan is not He’s a smart dude. He knows he’s not getting a huge Nobody’s paying him crazy money. He’s a singles hitter who has never hit 300. Let’s face the reality of it. He’s a great fielder, but he plays left field. That’s not a priority defensive position. Like he’s Nobody’s paying him. He can’t be your second best hitter. That’s That’s the issue. They just like I I I love the idea of like dreaming what Delau can do and Valer and stuff, but they they got holes and like you can’t assume everything’s going to trend in the right direction just because it ended on a good note in September. Yes. You can’t assume that these like Parker, Mess, and Joey Canillo and those guys are all gonna all take steps forward and all stay healthy. Just doesn’t work that way. Yeah. So, like, god forbid you stockpile enough depth so that Valera has to fight for a spot on the team so that you know, you don’t have Jonathan Rodriguez hitting fourth in a playoff game. I mean, it’s, you know, you’ve got Daniel Schnean and Angel Martinez hitting second. Yeah. Platooning and like, yeah, the offense was historically bad. It was the worst offense this franchise has ever had. This franchise has existed since 1901. So they recognize that and Mike Chernoff even threw out some stats saying like they were 28th in runs per game, but like they they realized that. So the question is, do they realize that you can’t just remedy it with young players developing and then maybe like a a right-handed platoon bat backup catcher bringing hedges back? I can’t do the platoon anymore. I can’t do it. I could live with it at catcher. Uh but I can’t I can’t do it anywhere else. I you got to have legitimate starters the rest of the place places. Yeah. I don’t know that I don’t think long term was is going to need a platoon partner, but how can you ever trust him to play 150? You can’t you can’t. No, I I mean you can’t trust the Lauder. You can’t trust Valera. Um speaking of guys you can’t trust, I saw Daniel Espino pitched in the uh Arizona Fall League. That’d be quite a story if he made, you know, that guy at one point was their best prospect, certainly their best pitching prospect. I think you could see him in in the bullpen mix at some point next year. I think bullpen makes sense for him. He could end up being a very good weapon out of that pen. I The idea of making him a starter now doesn’t make any sense. I, you know, that ship has sailed. Uh, all right, let’s uh talk about FanDuel here, Zach. What do you think about that? Yeah. Well, the NFL season is here. The MLB playoffs are in full swing and FanDuel’s making sure you’re ready for kickoff or first pitch with a camp miss offer right now. New customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you’ll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So looking ahead to Sunday, Browns at Steelers. Browns going to be sleepy or are they going to be jazzed because they got a fifth round pick for Joe Flacco? Player props, same game parlays. You can jump in live as the action unfolds. It makes every game more exciting. Whether you’re watching your team or you’re shutting off the the Chicago Cubs after one inning because they gave up another three-run homer. It’s quick and easy and the best way to add a little more energy to your Sundays or any day. So, if you’re ready to play, download the FanDuel app now by visiting fanduel.comuss to get started. That’s fanduel.comuss to place your first $5 bet. All right, Zach. good job out of you. Uh who you who are you picking right now? Like obviously the Blue Jays looking good although they lost Yes. And they you wonder how that you know like they blew that they had a big lead. Well I think up six to one and you know they’ve been dominating the Yankees and nice comeback judge was clutch for once. Uh you think the Yankees come all the way back? I I don’t think they will but Blue Jays are doing a bullpen game today though and they had to use their bullpen quite a bit last night. Not want to see the Yankees come back and win that series. I can’t have it. The Cubs will not come back against the Brewers. They’re going to get swept. When the playoffs started, I said Mariners Dodgers. So, yeah, I’m going to stick with that. I said Mariners Phillies. And that’s not looking good because the Dodgers are up 200, obviously. We shall see. All right. Uh, let’s get some comments from the fans here. Uh, let’s see. Derek says, “Good morning, fellas.” Good morning, Derek. Uh, Evans says, “What’s up?” TT Wind says, “For Stfansky.” Uh, Roger Ohio says, “Keep Allard.” You think they’ll keep Kobe Allard? Do you care if they keep Kobe Allard? What’s your thoughts on him? The arbitration projection on him is 1.9 million. Yeah, that’s pennies in 2026 baseball, but I don’t know. I feel bad saying it. He’s such a nice guy and he was absolutely clutch for this team. 263 RA. I just that came out of nowhere. I just don’t know that he could do that again. No, it shouldn’t matter. Like if if the Guardians had a normal payroll, we’d be like, “Yeah, whatever. Bring him back.” But since every dollar matters with them, I don’t think I would. Yeah. Uh Nikki V, huge fan of the show. Can you clear up the clip of Jose talking about being disappointed in the front office? Is it an older reason? I obviously we cleared that up. Hopefully you heard what we said. And just for clarification too, because I’ve had people ask this, like I wrote this on the athletic, but I I asked about Jose and the sense of urgency and yeah, supplementing him while he is the face of the franchise and Anthony gave a quote about it. It’s, you know, I I was like the most interesting quote probably that came out of it, two things. One, Steven Vote said he doesn’t care about AL Central penance or whatever. like he wants real it. And it was funny cuz Antinetti was like, you know, there was a lot of disappointment, but we rallied and we made a historic run and we won an AL Central title. And like two minutes later, Vot’s like, I don’t care about AL Central titles. I’m with Vote. I don’t who gives a crap about that. Also, like the the history part is impressive and it’s they were resilient. Kudos, all that. You also had to stumble so profoundly to fall 15 and a half games back. That’s the part that no one mentions. Um, so yeah, but but Antinetti said like, you know, we feel urgency to win a World Series. It’s the goal, blah, blah, and he said, “I’ve been doing this for 27 years. I’m 0 for 27 for the final goal. So next year, we’re going to try to make it one for 20.” My dog is going nuts here. Crash. Got to yell at him. Come here, buddy. He’s sick of the antonyti. He just usually lays by my feet while I do the show. But something got him all riled up. He’s not He doesn’t bark a lot when he’s in the basement here with me. But anyway, uh sorry to. That’s what happens when you work from home. Sometimes you get a dog barking. Uh Sam Hill says, “Running of the bull and Zack attack.” Paramot says, “If they do what Bull says, season tickets incoming for me.” Derek, if they get Alonzo, I would seriously go to more games. Evan 419, I would absolutely consider a ticket package if they signed Alonzo. Look what you’ve done. Yeah, I know. I’m just gonna I’m sorry, folks. You’re just all gonna be disappointed. I know it. I maybe once they’ll shock us. They shocked us with Edardion. So, he signed it’s a one-year $30 million deal this year, right? And he Well, there was it was a longer deal, but with an opt out, which he’s going to opt out, right? Right. It’s a $24 million player option, which Right. Yeah. makes no sense. So, he he had 41 doubles, 38 homers. I I’m not an RBI’s guy, but 126 is nuts. Um, strikeouts are like nothing crazy. Yeah. 871 OPS. Yeah. I mean, that’s the guy’s an absolute stud. He’s been a stud from the moment he came into the league. Yeah. And he just like you every day, too. What’s that? He’s never been injured. Yeah. Always. Right. He’s always He always plays. He’s a big and just there’s something about having a guy like of that stature like his physicality I think creates a level of energy on the team and confidence on the team and I know the Mets completely crapped a bed and fell out of the playoffs but you I I just think fans would go bonkers this would be bigger than you think he’ll get three for 120 I I would I would think he could get something bigger than that but I’m not Sure. He’s a first baseman who’s what is he 29 30? He will be 31 in December. So like last year nobody wanted to give him that big contract. So I’m thinking like I’m thinking if you give him crazy amount per year maybe just I don’t know. I could be out of my mind. He might sign a fiveyear $200 million contract for all I know. But uh I mean what’s going to happen? Are they are they going to go bankrupt the Guardians if they spend a big contract? No. Let’s go. If this Zach, this is way bigger. If they did this somehow, this is way bigger than and Carnosion. Way bigger. Yeah, I agree with that. And Carnosion was older, too, when they signed him, I think. Yeah. And he had still been really good. I mean, he had a great year the year before they signed him. Yeah. Edwin was 34. Yeah, that’s a big difference. Big difference. you if you got even if you had to pay give somehow give Alonzo a five-year deal, right? So 31 32 33 34 3 I’m talking crazy now. I know it’s crazy, but I want Well, what changed? Why would he get a 5year deal now if he can only get a one-year deal? Well, that’s what I’m saying. So, I’m saying even if you had to, but like the one the one scenario I could see is again like I the sense I’ve gotten in talking to people around the league is everybody’s going to be a little hesitant on the long-term deals this year because no one knows what the league’s going to look like. Like there could be a salary cap after next season and how does that change your calculus if you’re going to sign guys, right? Obviously, that doesn’t matter to the Guardians because they’re never going to be anywhere near the salary cap. But what if you could give Alonzo a two-year deal worth crazy money over those two years? Yeah. Yeah. Even backloaded to the second like what if you go 2535 even higher maybe or or higher knowing that there is a chance that right half of that salary gets wiped out in 27, right? Let’s go. Give give him give him 30 30 in the first year and 45 in the second year like crazy. I hate that you’ve done this to me, but I I mean because you you think about a lineup where it’s like Quan Delau, Ramirez, Alonszo, Manzardo, Valera, you know, Kay, right? Well, I guess he he wouldn’t have a spot or Valera wouldn’t have a spot at that point, but um Well, no, one of them would. You’d have one of them, not both. One of them in right field. Yeah. Right. But that’s okay. Let guys fight. Let there be competition, right? And then eventually Bazanna, right? Yeah. So Bazanna Naylor Rokio. That’s not bad. That’s a lot of lefties rightanded now. Oh, I just cursed. Uh now if you catch or can’t hit. Okay. Well, he’s batting eighth and ninth. You know, like, okay, I could live with I could live with two guys at the bottom of the lineup. Yeah. Can’t hit that much. I’m I’m always, you know, at this point in my life, in my career, and being around this team, I’m I’m never going into an offseason being like, “This is the year they’re going to make some huge move.” I know, but I can’t ignore the fact that everybody in the universe recognizes the offense was pitiful. Yes. Everybody in the world recognizes there is something to actually build on. Everybody in the world recognizes what you did last offseason in not addressing the offense screwed you. Yeah. And everybody can recognize you’ve nothing on your payroll. That’s right. Something has to give here. But again, yeah, they love to underell and I can’t even say overd deliver. Yeah, they’re never going to oversell. They’re never going to get your hopes up. Uh Nikki V says, “I have the Marin I think the Mariners win tonight. Yankees have all the momentum, so I’m worried about I mean, momentum is the next day’s pitcher. Derek Parlo, Espino topped 99 last night. Um, be Skrils judge put fear in the Blue Jays bullpen. Uh, Patrick, we addressed Jose’s comments already. Okay, you saw that. Now, uh, Parajot says, “Lindor can tell Alonzo how great Cleveland is.” Uh, Bob M says, “I live in Connecticut. Every Mets fan I know hates Alonzo.” Well, they’re idiots. I know I know plenty of Mets fans. They don’t hate Alonzo. The smart fans don’t hate Alonzo. My oldest friend is a huge Mets fan and he loves Alonzo. So, I the idiot mouth breathers probably don’t like him because they’re, you know, they’re stupid. But, but, um, fans can dig out their yonder Alonzo jerseys and just change the number. All right. So, what what what’s the calendar looking like right now? Obviously, uh once we get to November, you’ll start thinking about the arbitration eligible players. Yeah, there’s deadlines in November for tendering those guys contracts, protecting players from the rule five draft, right? Uh it’s usually a couple weeks before the winter meeting. So, it’s late November. Our winter meetings are the second week of December from beautiful Disney World. Are you going? I assume. Mhm. Okay. Be a nice time to go to Disney World and then Yeah. spring training four months away. You think there’s a chance they sign Quan to an extension or or no? I don’t know. Probably not. He he probably he’s not happy with his season. He’s really frustrated. And so why you know if you’re him, you’re projected to make almost nine million in arbitration and you don’t have the leverage in negotiations because you’d had a down year. Yeah. Not really. Wouldn’t be motivated if I were him. Um but those are talks for spring training anyway. Yeah. That’s the other thing. You know, they’ve got all this financial wiggle room. They should. Mhm. But who are you signing to an extension? You know, Cade Smith, that’s not going to cost a ton. There’s really not, you know, Gavin Williams is a Scott Boris client, so that’s not happening. Yeah. So, Quan’s really the only guy. Yeah. Or they could do what, you know, we’ve seen the Braves do a lot is is sign some of these young hitters when they’ve barely played in the majors. Yeah. Problem is, you’re probably not doing that with Delau and because he’s an injury risk. Pazana signed what was what did he get for being the first pick? Yeah. 8 n million. So like there’s not much motivation there. Zardo. Yeah. DH. Do you need to do that? No. But if you don’t need to, but if you could lock them in at a very, you know, cheap rate, which you sometimes can when you sign these guys early, might not be bad. I mean, obviously they’ve had some success doing that. They did it with class A although now that’s out the window we think. Are we do we have any clue about uh did you did you guys talk to them about that yesterday about claw at all or they won’t talk? Yeah, a lot and there’s nothing they like those so those guys are going to apparently pitch in winter ball too and like one of them could blow out an elbow and there’s nothing the Guardians can do about it. Yeah. So yeah, they’re they’re moving forward as if they will never come back and then if something changes, then they’ll adjust. But man, they got to be wishing they traded him last off season. Yeah. All right, folks. Well, we do not have another scheduled Ultimate Guardian show um coming up, but if there is any significant news involving the Guardians, which will probably not be the case in October, and unfortunately probably won’t be the case in November, December either, but if they surprise us and there is uh big news, then we will jump on it. When they sign Tai France on January 18th, we will be here. Ty France, that does feel like a very Guardian move. You said Austin Hayes before. I could definitely see that. Uh, all right. Well, thanks everybody for joining us as always. I will talk to you next time on the Ultimate Cleveland Guardian Show.

The Cleveland Guardians have a big off season in front of them but an impending lock out after next season could play a big factor in their p;ans.

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