{"id":136527,"date":"2025-06-28T05:47:13","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T05:47:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/136527\/"},"modified":"2025-06-28T05:47:13","modified_gmt":"2025-06-28T05:47:13","slug":"guardians-players-meet-behind-closed-doors-its-no-secret-what-they-were-talking-about","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/136527\/","title":{"rendered":"Guardians\u2019 players meet behind closed doors: It\u2019s no secret what they were talking about"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Guardians<\/a> held a players-only meeting after Friday\u2019s 5-0 loss to the Cardinals<\/a> at Progressive Field.<\/p>\n

The players didn\u2019t want to say what caused the meeting or what was said.<\/p>\n

No problem there. They have a right to privacy, as catcher Austin Hedges, who called the meeting, said, \u201cYou can go ahead and say we had one, but this is our thing. It\u2019s not for anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n

One may argue that the sellout crowd of 34,787 fans who paid good money to sit through another sloppily played game with no offense should have been invited. But even in the Guardians\u2019 expanded new clubhouse, that would have been a tight fit.<\/p>\n

As for why the team meeting was called, well, the Guardians are 9-14 in June and averaging 2.9 runs per game.<\/p>\n

In the last two games, they have more errors (six) than hits (three) or runs (zero). If you\u2019re not going to call a meeting after that, well, you\u2019re probably the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n

Manager Stephen Vogt was talking to reporters after the game when the meeting started. From the questions he was getting, and the answers he was giving, it wasn\u2019t hard to decipher the gist of the meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s stressful on all of us,\u201d said Vogt, when asked about the lack of offense. \u201cWe need to score more. We need to have better at-bats.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re all trying to be perfect right now. Whether it\u2019s pitchers, position players, everybody is trying to be perfect. We need to relax. We need to take a step back, take a deep breath and just go play baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardians, according to the Fielding Bible, are ranked 18th in defensive runs saved. They finished the 2024 season ranked second.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mistakes we\u2019re making are mental; they\u2019re not physical, they\u2019re mental,\u201d said Vogt. \u201cWe\u2019re sped-up, and we just need to be better. We need to slow down, remember we\u2019re a good baseball team, and go play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luis Ortiz (4-9, 4.36) took the loss Friday, despite going seven innings in his longest start of the season. He struck out five, walked one and allowed four hits, including two homers.<\/p>\n

He met with reporters in the interview room after the meeting was over. Asked if he agreed with Vogt\u2019s assessment of the team, Ortiz, through interpreter\/coach Agustin Rivero, said, \u201cI agree. I feel we\u2019re a little tight. We have to go out and give 100%, but also enjoy the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems at times that we\u2019re kind of thinking too much about what has happened recently, and it\u2019s putting a little extra pressure on the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardians are in second place in the American League Central at 40-40, 9 1\/2 games behind Detroit. They are tied with the Angels, 1 1\/2 games behind Seattle (42-39) for the third wild card spot.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s downward trend in June, and trade deadline on July 31, has made it difficult to predict what path the front office will take. Will they add to the team? Or trade veterans and prepare for 2026 and beyond?<\/p>\n

Certainly that decision will be influenced by how the Guardians play in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot at all,\u201d said Vogt, when asked if he felt like the season was slipping away. \u201cI don\u2019t know the exact standings, but I know we\u2019re only a game or two out of a wild card spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still very much in this thing. There\u2019s a long way to go. That\u2019s why you have to play all 162. The month of June has not been our best month. It doesn\u2019t mean July won\u2019t be our best month and August and September even better.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe still have 82 games to turn this thing around. This is a really talented baseball team. We\u2019ve got a long way to go. It\u2019s not even close to slipping away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 The Guardians held a players-only meeting after Friday\u2019s 5-0 loss to the Cardinals at Progressive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136528,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,3188,2565,538,4,27546],"class_list":{"0":"post-136527","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians-2025","12":"tag-clevelandguardians","13":"tag-guardians","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-st-louis-cardinals-2025"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114759417559016426","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136527\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}