REALITY CHECK: After Cleveland Guardians UNDERWHELMING Offseason, What Are Spring Training Hopes?
Cleveland Guardians fans wait for a breakout move as the team enters spring training with a quiet offseason and major questions about the roster’s offensive firepower. Can young prospects like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and Juan Brio inject enough life into the lineup, or will injuries and inexperience hold them back? Justin Lada and Jeff Ellis debate the impact of not being able to add bats like Austin Hays, or Eugenio Suarez. We also get into why why skepticism about top prospect Travis Bazzana doesn’t add up, how the TV contract situation may be shaping payroll decisions, and whether the front office can still find upgrades before Opening Day.
03:06 Guardians’ Bullpen Depth
06:19 Roster Decisions and Player Rotation
13:55 Guardians’ Expectations vs. White Sox Rebuild
16:27 White Sox Weaknesses and Frustration
20:02 Guardians’ Payroll and Roster Strategy
25:51 Resilient Player with Strong Stats
28:57 Mississippi Prospects and Draft Doubts
29:55 Too Early to Judge Bazzana
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14 comments
Can't wait for baseball!
Looking forward to the five shows tis week. Thanks guys.
LOG Thankyou, that's all.
Cleveland is + 320 not -320. I had to double check that lol great pod btw
Gruber Law makes the argument that the Bazzana pick looks worse by the day. He is an almost 24 year old who hit .220 last year in the minors. Someone needs to be fired for drafting him 1:1 tomorrow.
I am not worried about Bazzana, so much that I will start a brand new account to comment and leave reviews with called "Bazzana's Killer Kangaroo Kick". Hooray for 5 days a week, let's go internal improvements!
Thinking outside of the box when Travis Bazzana comes up make Rocchio the super utility player and leave Arias at short. I just don't want to part with Gabby's defense and arm at the position. I've never felt confident with Rocchio at shortstop.
Kurtz had his career year ehh? I'll take that bet. 🤣🤣
Other than Jose’s contract extension, wake me up in August. And another year of hoping call ups from AAA get us to the playoffs.
Why is everyone so excited about Bazzana? He’s been bad in the minors. Nowhere near major league ready and he’s 24 years old and a number one pick. These people clearly haven’t followed him, they just know he was a number one pick so “he must be great”
Thanks LoG! Appreciate the words of measured analysis on the Bazzana situation.
Nice to see the Guards first couple spring training games appear on my banner at the top at ESPN's website. Spring training is coming!
I know it's not the perfect fit but common, Cleveland couldn't do a one year-deal for Suarez?! 15 mil wouldn't even take Cleveland to 100mil
I’m more excited about this spring than I’ve been in years. We have four young prospects, all of whose spent time on the MLB top prospects list, all of whom play positions that we’ve needed to fill for years, and most importantly all of whom are ready to contribute at the MLB level. Between DeLauter/Kayfus/Valera/Bazzana, the most any of these dudes have played at the MLB level is Kayfus, and that’s less than 50 games. Even if “only” two hit, we are talking about two guys productively filling positions that have been offensive black holes for years getting added to a lineup that has won two straight divisions. Add other young, exciting players like Daniel Espino, Parker Messick, Manzardo, and Ralphy Valasquez, and there is more to be excited about this spring than we’ve seen since 2017. Certainly more to be excited about than if we had procured a Brendan Donovan but don’t have all these high ceiling dudes.
If they can’t sign the big free agents, I’d rather run it back with our players last year than hire a few serviceable players to 1 year deals. The deal that would get me a bit excited is if they took Jeff’s advice and traded for Call
I’m feeling as confident as Antonetti in the development of their young group.