CLEVELAND, Ohio — Gabriel Arias’ cart ride off the field Sunday sent shockwaves through the Guardians organization, forcing an important roster decision at a critical juncture of their season. The shortstop’s lateral ankle sprain, while not requiring surgery, will land him on the injured list for at least a 10-day stint — and potentially much longer.
“It did not look good,” cleveland.com Guardians beat reporter Paul Hoynes said on the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
The timing couldn’t be more challenging for Cleveland. As they begin a pivotal July schedule against multiple division leaders, they’re forced to reconsider their shortstop situation while simultaneously addressing an offense that’s fallen flat during their recent 1-5 homestand.
The most logical replacement candidate is Brian Rocchio, Cleveland’s opening day shortstop who was sent down to Columbus in early May after hitting a dismal .165 and striking out 21 times in 91 at-bats. Since then, he’s shown significant improvement at the plate.
“Since he was sent down at the beginning of May to Columbus, he’s done nothing to hurt his chances to be called back up,” noted Joe Noga, cleveland.com Guardians beat reporter. “He’s hit the ball pretty well, seven home runs, 30 plus RBIs. And he’s showing a little more patience, a little bit better strikeout to walk ratio at the plate.”
Hoynes concurred with that assessment: “He’s a better hitter than what we saw at the start of the season. He went down to Columbus and hit .257 and did a nice job driving in runs.”
The decision isn’t quite as straightforward as it seems, however. The Guardians’ front office might view this as an opportunity to inject some desperately needed offense into a lineup that’s been anemic in recent weeks. This opens the door for highly-touted prospects like Chase DeLauter or CJ Kayfus to potentially get the call.
“If they’re looking for some offense, they’ve got some other options there,” Hoynes explained. “But the question is if they did bring the DeLauter or Kayfus up, would they play them against Matthew Boyd? It might not be an ideal matchup from that point of view. Maybe they would go with Rocchio, a switch hitter.”
The decision becomes even more complex when considering the strategic implications of the upcoming Cubs series at Wrigley Field, where the brick outfield walls present a unique safety concern — especially for a player like DeLauter who has already missed time with injury after colliding with a wall.
What makes this roster decision particularly significant is that it comes at what both Noga and Hoynes describe as “the fulcrum of the season” for Cleveland. The team’s identity and trade deadline direction hang in the balance.
Want to hear the full breakdown of the Guardians’ shortstop dilemma, including expert analysis on who they should call up and why? Don’t miss the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast where Noga and Hoynes dive deep into this decision and what it means for the team’s immediate future. Listen now to get the inside scoop on a critical turning point in the Guardians’ season!
Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions.
Podcast transcript
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes from Chicago where the Guardians are in town ready to take on the Chicago Cubs. A three game series. Hoynsie, a lot of national television opportunities during this series. A lot of chances for the Guardians to maybe get right from just a horrific homestand day off yesterday with their families. And now the, the chance to open up a series in Chicago where they haven’t played terribly the last couple of times out there. But this is, this is not the, the best time to be finding out what the, the friendly confines of really field are all about.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, they have, you know they didn’t play the cubs last year two years ago they went 3 and oh against some during a regular season. You know the, the lasting memory of playing the Cubs at Wrigley and at a progressive field is 2016 and that did not end well for the Indian Slash Guardians and all their fans. So you know, a lot the mojo is not good going into, you know, the Wrigley Field tonight, I don’t think and like you said, they’re going to give, they’re going to have a national TV audience so maybe that will, you know, convince them to play a little better than they, you know, than the streak they’ve been especially you know, coming off that 1 and 5 home stand.
Joe Noga: Yeah, 9 and 16 in the month of June. But the calendar is flipped. It’s, it’s July 1st and if you talk to Stephen Vogt, if you talk to, to some of the players in the clubhouse, you know they believe that moving forward July could be a completely different month for them. It’ll be a completely different month at least at, at one position on the field. We’ve got an update on Gabriel Arias, the shortstop who was injured in Sunday’s game in the third inning had to leave on a cart with a lower leg injury. Hoynsie, what’d you learn about Gabriel Arias?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I’ve learned Joe, yesterday that they are going to make a roster move today before the first game of the Cub series. Will you know it will involve Arias going on the il. He’s got a lateral sprain of the left ankle and obviously, you know, you saw the injury. It did not look good but you know, hope there was no, you know, X rays were negative but you know, the question is who do they call up, Joe? And you know, you know the, the logical choice to me would be Brian Rocchio, you know, Cleveland’s opening day shortstop. But you know, you, you never know. I mean they have a couple guys on the roster that can already play shortstop and Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martinez. So they, this is a chance for them perhaps to add a little offense. And when you’re talking offense, you’re talking about Chase the Lauder or maybe CJ Kayfus.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s that. That’s immediately where I think a lot who, who saw this, see this injury as maybe an opportunity just to. To wrap up with areas that they didn’t give you a timeline or anything like that on, on what to expect in terms of a return for him, right?
Paul Hoynes: No, no, no timeline at all. But what was a 10 day. At least a 10 day IL stint.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, depending on the severity of the sprain, it could be quite a bit longer than that. Plus however much rehab time he needs to, to get back on the field. You mentioned Rocco. Since he was sent down at the beginning of May to Columbus, he’s done, you know, nothing to hurt his chances to be called back up. He’s hit the ball pretty well, you know, eight.37 OPS, you know, seven home runs, 30 plus RBIs. And like you said yesterday, he’s showing a little more patience, a little bit, a little bit better strikeout to walk ratio at the plate. More along the lines of what they want to see out of him.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, I think he’s a better hitter than what we saw at the start of the season, Joe. I mean, this guy hit.165 and, you know, no home runs, eight RBIs as your regular shortstop, you know, you just can’t have that. He went down to Buffalo, to Buffalo, to Columbus and, you know, hit.257, seven home runs, you know, you know, did a nice job driving in runs. And, you know, he really, you know, almost as many strikeouts as walks. So his on base percentage is up and, you know, that’s the kind of play they need from a guy that, you know, obviously if, you know, if Brian gets the call, Frochio gets the call, he’s going to hit at the bottom of the order. He wants to get on base so they can turn that lineup over for the top of the lineup, y’ all.
Joe Noga: So you can’t leave out the defense as well. He’s a, you know, excellent defender, always has been. And we saw that not be the case maybe early on in the season because, you know, maybe things were just sort of piling up on him at the plate and he sort of carried that over onto the field.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. And, you know, that’s something a Lot happens a lot to young players. And you know, we just saw, we didn’t see that last year. You know, he didn’t hit for a big average through most of the season, but we saw Gold Glove defense out of him. I think he was pressing. He was definitely pressing earlier this year. And, you know, they got sent down. Looks like he got his feet back on the ground. So it’s going to be interesting to see what choice they make here. Uh, you know, like we said, the logical choice is Rocchio, but if they’re looking for some offense, Joe, you know, they, they’ve got some other options there. But, you know, the, the question is if they did bring the Dilaudo or Kaifus up, would they, would they play him against Matthew Boyd? So it might not be a, an ideal matchup from that point of view. And maybe they would go with Rocchio a switch hitter.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and you also got to think about the, the unusual sort of arrangement there at Wrigley Field. The, the brick walls out there in the outfield that are dangerous for outfielders. Your stated goal is to try and keep Chase the Lauder healthy, and he’s already demonstrated that he can run into a sidewall and be out with a broken toe for a while. So I got to keep that in mind as well. I think Chase the lotter makes sense. Brian Rocchio makes sense. Interested to see what move Chris Antonetti comes up with here ahead of this, this series and, and a big series for the Guardians and you know, the start of maybe a stretch of, you know, matchups where they’re really going to be tested. And this is sort of, we’ve written about it and talked about it in the last couple of days. Really sort of that, that turning point, the fulcrum of the season right now.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, they’re 40 and 42 game into the second half of the season and they’re facing three first place clubs here in the Cubs, the Tiger, then the Tigers come to town, then they go on the road against Houston. All those, all those three teams are leading their divisions and they have, you know, they have a history of playing well against Clevel. So big, big test here going into the break, Joe. And you know, just before the break, they, they come back to Chicago to play the White Sox. Just a really critical time of this season. If the Guardians are really going to, you know, kind of just, you know, you know, establishing an identity for themselves, are they a contender or are they a seller?
Joe Noga: And part of that identity is having all of your weapons available and using all of your weapons to win games. And, and that really hasn’t been the case during this tough stretch. Emmanuel Class A got into the game on Sunday just to get some work in. But you know, this is a guy they’ve, he’s basically been neutralized as your, your all star closer, your, your all mlb, you know, relief pitcher hasn’t had a chance to save many games because they, they haven’t really had had a lead late in games. Your bullpen becomes sort of irrelevant when you can’t score runs. And you know, this, you and I were talking about, you know, is this, is it the death of guards ball when you can’t put pressure on the opposing team, you can’t turn things over to your bullpen and play good defense to, to, to sort of eke out those wins that you’re used to. It sort of makes things harder for, for everybody to get, get their job done when the offense isn’t, isn’t pulling its weight.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, it’s, it’s, it’s like guards ball has been kidnapped, Joe. I mean, I don’t know what the ransom is either. I mean, are there are, is Stephen Vogt willing to pay off to get, to get his style of baseball back? Because you don’t get on base can’t, you can’t cause chaos. And if you can’t cause chaos, you’re not going to be able to take leads you’re not going to carry. You’re not going to be able to hand them over to the bullpen late and you’re not going to be able to bring class A to slam the door in the 9th. Their whole. They are up. They’re, they’re not, they’re, they’re, they’ve been turned upside down. It’s like an ant hill has been kicked over. Joe. And, and you know, they’re kind of running around in all different directions. They’ve got a, you know, reestablish their style of play and get back to winning baseball. And you just wonder, you know, can they do that? Is that or, you know, has something seriously gone wrong with this team or is it just a funk?
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, in talking to them after the game on Sunday, it sounded like they were confident they can get things turned around. So we’ll wait and see. The first step is tonight in Chicago against the Cubs. I wanted to take a minute and mention the passing of Dave. Dave Parker, a member of the upcoming class of 2025 for the Cooperstown hall of Fame. Parker was dealing with Parkinson’s disease. For a long time, obviously the, one of the giant personalities on that 1979 Pittsburgh World Series team, the Pirates, the We Are Family Pirates with Willie Stargell and all those guys. This guy in, it’s, it’s a, it’s shame to me that, you know, now we get to see all these videos and them talking about, you know, what a great player he was. Because for a stretch there, Dave Parker was as good as you get in baseball. Not only at the plate, but defense and just, you know, the epitome of a, like when I think of a 1970s baseball player, that’s who I think of.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe. This guy, you know, Cincinnati native who really. MVP in 1978, a two time batting champion. There was nothing this guy couldn’t do, Joe. He could steal bases, he could hit home runs, he could hit for average. And he was, you know, he was, you know, not only was he a presence on the field, but in that day and age, in that era, he’s 6, 5, 2, 30. Joe. There wasn’t a whole lot of players like that and if they were, you thought about him as first baseman. This guy was a Gold Glove outfielder. He was, you know, had one of the best arms in baseball. Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh hall of Famer brought him along and he just got inducted to the hall of Fame by the, one of the ERA committees. You know, he’d been waiting and waiting and waiting and unfortunately at the end of June, he passes on what a month short of being really inducted in having his day in Cooperstown.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and it’s, it’s definitely going to, you know, make the ceremony feel a little different out there in Cooperstown, but he’ll, he’ll certainly get his recognition, he’ll certainly get his due. I just would have been nice to, to have him there to sort of accept it and make that speech. Still had one of the greatest nicknames in, in, in baseball. How can you beat the Cobra man?
Paul Hoynes: Cobra is the greatest man.
Joe Noga: Isn’t that a great baseball name? That’s a great base. That’s right up there with Tugboat Hoyns. That’s that, that’s, you got to love that. So obviously, you know, just sad about Dave Parker, but you know, we know that he’s, he’s going to get certainly the, the red carpet treatment posthumously in, in, in Cooperstown. Coming up. At the end of this month, Tigers announced that they put Kerry Carpenter on the injured list. Paul, the, the Tigers are coming to Progressive Field on Friday night. We talked about Emmanuel Class A, probably, probably one guy in the ballpark, who will be thrilled the Carpenter’s not there? Emmanuel Class A Carpenter took him deep in the postseason and sort of started the downward spiral that lasted through maybe the first month of this year for Class A before he bounced back.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely. That’s going to be a really interesting matchup, Joe. And you know, as we said before, the guard have to get Class A back involved in this, in, in their games in a winning manner. They’ve got to get this guy back in the ninth inning with a one or two or three run lead so he can close the door. So you know, he’s, he’s kind of the, you know, the, the, you know, he’s, he’s the tip of the spear for them. You know, he’s, he, he kind of closes, he’s a finisher here and, and they haven’t been able to use them and it’s just a shame because you know that bullpen, obviously all bullpens are you know, built from the back out from the closer out, but especially Class A and the Guardians pan.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s a big part of what makes their, them successful. As far as Player of the Month awards announced are actually being voted on right now by media in the American League. We submitted our ballots. I turned in a vote for Cal Raleigh for the, the American League Player of the Month. Raleigh’s up to 33 home runs already. The stuff he’s doing at the plate has been pretty impressive. And you know, he, he led the American All American League hitters in WAR according to fan graphs by a, by a big stretch during the month of June. Uh, just uh, I believe it was a 1.7 war just uh, really significant. Uh, Aaron Judge, uh, 13th in, in as far as war goes, you know who. What do you think of Cal Riley’s performance in April?
Paul Hoynes: Just amazing performance, Joe. This guy is a catcher. You know, it seems like no one can find a catcher that can hit. And the young. The Mariners not only found a catcher that can hit, but he’s, you know, he can hit home runs. He’s, he’s just, you know, taken over, you know, that, that the spotlight. I mean this guy’s an MVP candidate. You know, you know, all the talk was judge, judge, judge. And now, you know, you know, the big dumper is. It’s come alive.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And you know, we saw him in Seattle have a lot of success against the, the Guardians during that three game sweep. Can he challenge Aaron Judge by the end of the year or did, did Judge just gain too much momentum early in the season.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, probably, you know, it’s going to be interesting to see, you know, Seattle’s going to have to, you know, they’re going to have to be a contender throughout the season. They’ve had a tough time doing that, but if they, you know, if they can stay in the AL west race, get to the postseason, and Raleigh keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s going to be a hard man to ignore. And obviously, you know, Judge has the name, has the Yankees behind him, and you know, he is, you know, he’s been known to have, you know, slumps, and when he comes back, he is, you know, no one is hotter than he can get. And he hits for power. Joe, he is, you know, this guy is 6, 8, what, 280 pounds? I mean, you can’t miss him on the field, and he is a dangerous, dangerous man when he gets. When he gets going with the bat.
Joe Noga: My pick for, you know, starting pitcher of the month in June was Jacob deGrom. Last seven starts for Jacob deGrom, 4 and 1 with a 1.83 ERA, only nine earned runs and a 0.77 WHIP. He’s been pretty dominant when he’s healthy, and this is what the, the Rangers thought they were getting when they paid for the guy a couple of years ago.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, deGrom, it’s good to see him back. I just wonder, how long is he going to be back? Joe, this is a guy that’s kind of. He. You. You see him pitch and he. And he’s pitching for your team, you’re kind of always on eggshells. You just don’t know how durable he is. But, boy, when he’s healthy and when he’s right, there are few pitchers better than him. And we’ve. We saw that with, with his stay with the Mets. And now, you know, the. The Rangers are finally getting a little return for the investment.
Joe Noga: Yeah. And. And, you know, they spent big and it. It sort of paid off there, or it’s sort of paying off for them now. And. And the thing is, their. Their offense is catching up to what. What needs to be being done in order to. To make deGrom effective. So you got to be happy with that there. My pick for relief pitcher of the month of June was Aroldes. Chapman did not allow an earned run in the month over, you know, quite a few appearances. I think here was, you know, 11 innings pitched, no earned runs, and his strikeout to walk was better than 12. Just a dominant month with six saves and one hold for the big Lefty who going into Wrigley Field tonight, you got to have memories of a world as Chapman in the back of your head.
Paul Hoynes: So, man, yeah, Raja Davis, right? The, the home run. And they had, they had Chapman on the ropes. They just couldn’t finish him off in game seven. And, you know, the Cubs end up winning, winning the World Series, and the Guardians are still waiting for, for their chance. So. Yeah, Chapman doesn’t. He never gets old Joe. Every time you think, you know, he’s on the. He’s on the backside of his career, he does something like this. I mean, the guy’s a monster. You know, he’s, he’s a huge presence on the mound. He’s big, he’s durable. You know, he’s bounced around. Think of, you know, he kind of reminds me of Lee Smith at this stage of his career. He kind of, you know, have, have. Have gun, will travel. He’s one of those guys that, you know, he’s, he’s. He. When, when a team needs a closer, he ends up there. And it’s, it’s not. It could be for one year, could be for two years, but, you know, he does the job. What he was with Pittsburgh last year, right?
Joe Noga: Yeah, right. And Kelly Jansen, another guy like that I think of in the same sort of, you know, vein in terms of hired gun, can add Danny Bullpen. My final pick for players of the month, Jacob Wilson for a rookie of the month for the Athletics, he In his last 30 games, Jacob Wilson batting.319 with a.437 slugging percentage, three home runs, 12 RBI over that stretch. So Jacob Wilson might be playing his way into a spot in the All Star Game. Coming up in atlant among shortstops in the American League, very highly regarded and playing very well for the Athletics.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, no doubt about it. They’ve got a lot of young, good young players on that team. If they can get their, you know, that bullpen straightened out, you know, I think, you know, by the time they get to Vegas in two or three years, they could be a force.
Joe Noga: Yeah. All right, Hoynes, that brings us to what I wanted to wrap up today, mentioning the moon Mammoths got a release from Major League Baseball. I don’t know if we’ve talked about this a couple of. Couple of weeks ago, the show, the HBO show, last week, tonight with John Oliver put out a call to minor league baseball teams and said, hey, if you commit to us for a rebrand, we’ll put together a whole new look for your team, a new name, a New mascot, colors, everything. They basically rebrand a minor league baseball team. And minor league teams are used to doing this on their own every so often. I know the Rubber Ducks, they, they play a game as the Akron Galley Boys with the, you know, the, the pimento cheeseburger and all that. They rebrand pretty often and they have regular ones that they come back to and, and ones that they do once a year. So the Erie Sea Wolves, the, the double A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers in the Eastern League, they play against the Rubber Ducks. It’s the Sea Wolves were the team that were selected by John Oliver. They’re going to go ahead and rebrand as the Eerie Moon Mammoths for one game on July 19th. So the, I’m going to try and share the, the image here. Let’s see if we can do that. The, the Moon Mammoths are going to look like this as, as far as the, the logo, it’s a, it’s a woolly mammoth in a astronauts like sort of space helmet. It’s purple. It’s very cool. Cute, but you know, whatever the history is. In Erie, Pennsylvania, in 1991, George Moon was scuba diving and discovered a skeletal. The skeletal remains of a woolly mammoth. Almost perfectly preserved, 75% of the skeleton and everything. And you know, it’s part of the history of the Erie area. Hoynsey, what do you think of a minor league team rebranding as the Moon Mammoths for one game? And all thanks to a comedian from, from London who doesn’t know anything about minor league baseball, but, you know, sort of embracing the idea of new opportunities.
Paul Hoynes: I love it, Joe. I think that’s a great, you know, that’s a great thing about minor league baseball, minor league teams, you can change your identity for a night. You can do something crazy to get fans to the ballpark and you can do, you know, something, you know, you can think outside the box almost every night it seems like. And you know, this is, you know, I’d love to be there for that game, for the, to see the, the Moon Mammoths. I think that would be cool. I want to see the mascot.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I want to see what they do with the mascot. They’ve invited John Oliver and his, his show, I’m sure will be there to film an episode. But I, I want to see what the mascot looks like. I want to see what the uniforms look like. And I, I would cut off a finger to get one of those caps. That would be cool. Maybe. I gotta believe it’s gotta be a purple cap with that logo on it. Oh, I’m sort of into minor league baseball caps, and that would be one to definitely go with. So, yeah, I. I just think we’ll look forward to July 19th. We’ll look forward to what’s out there. The the Erie Moon Mammoths and Hoynsey. That’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We’ll check back in with you after game one of this series against the C tomorrow Deal Show.
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