Athletics & Guardians
Submitted by: grover
Athletics
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Myles Straw | 29 | Majors | CF | Low | 3 | 9.2 | 19.2 | -10 | -12 | -10 | -8 | |
| Jaison Chourio | 18 | Minors | OF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 11.2 | 14 | 16.8 | ||
| Alexander Clemmey | 0 | Minors | SP | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5.2 | 4.2 | 5.2 | 6.2 |
Total Value:
9.2
Guardians
| Name | Age | Level | P1 | P2 | Availability | Years | AFV | Salary | Surplus | Low | Median | High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Blackburn | 30 | Majors | LRP | SP | Medium | 2 | 15.6 | 8 | 7.6 | 6.1 | 7.6 | 9.1 |
Total Value:
7.6
Comments
18
An earlier trade proposal said the A's "should" be all over an opportunity to acquire Jaison Chourio. I think Jaison is a fine prospect, not on the level of his brother but talented, and I agree that the A's "should" be interested. We'll, if we're talking about what teams should do then I'd argue that a team with an Opening Day payroll under $100 MM for three years running can't afford to carry Myles Straw through the 2026 season if they're trying to contend. It's hard for a team to part with a 2023 draft pick, especially one that needed an over-slot bonus to sign. So I'm willing to swap out Clemmey for Cleveland's 2024 Comp A pick.
I'll be sincere, Clemmey and Chourio wouldn't be available for a SP that has the two years of control left... Plus Cleveland would never add prospects to cut Straws contract... They would eat it rather than add his contract...
I understand the logic in not including those players for a 4/5 SP with two seasons of control. But a team that expects to contend on a payroll under $100 MM needs to be efficient in their spending and paying Straw is the opposite of that.
Straw's contract isn't a burden to Cleveland... They sincerely will eat his contract and when they DFA'D him and didn't trade him, they accepted the fact. Plus even after Straw got the outright to AAA, Straw and Antonetti were seen at a game talking... Cleveland sincerely likes Straw and won't dump him just cause of his contract. They will find him a new home IF he is getting a MLB job, but not at the expense of a top prospect.
The thread above is getting skinny... Cleveland has had a productive farm system for a while now but with DDLS back with the Diamondbacks, the Guardians don't have a RHH power bat within 3 years of making the Show. Signing Hernandez or making a waiver claim on JD Davis wasn't going to block anyone in the Guardians' system. It was an inability to spend that drove those decisions.
Cleveland has Noel and Johnathan Rodriguez at the AAA level and both have massive power... But needs to grow some with contact and batters eye... Cleveland didn't even offer on JD Davis it feels like... JD Davis plays 1B, 3B and LF and all those spots are taken. Cleveland isn't going to cover DH right now cause they want guys to get ABs. Now internally, both Arias and Fry have enough natural power to hit 20+ HRs so I can see why Davis wouldn't be a target since Fry can play C... (Aka Fry has looked extremely good in spring and the start of the season). I get you are saying they didn't do enough to cover for the lack of power, that's for sure, but they also didn't go backwards with the lineup either from 23. They still went forwards since you are talking about a super young group... They are the youngest team in baseball for the 3rd season in a row even with Carrasco... Also the GM has even said he has money to spend IF the right player comes along... I don't think they are against spending, they just actually wanna see who they internally have first with the position players. I really do feel they will be looking to upgrade the roster at the trade deadline...
I've given plenty of praise to Cleveland prospects during our discussions... J. Noel and J. Rodriguez are why I said adding bats like David or Hernandez wouldn't be blocking anyone in the Guardians' system. I won't go so far as to say it'll never happen for Noel or Rodriguez because look at what Brent Rooker did last year after logging the AAA/MLB shuttle miles for 3 years... but they have a lot of work to do and the clock is running, especially as Noel is on his last option year.
Hence why i emjoy chatting with you since you actually know about the prospects. I actually think they didn't want a pure DH that sometimes plays the field... They were really only looking at a RH RF with pop and nothing came up, hence why the trade for Florial happened plus the DDLS pickup... since he naturally has some pop to his bat. Also I think internally they actually believe Fry could possibly be am answer at well... He hit a 420+ ft HR into the wind the other day and he is the DH today. Also he has worked really hard at playing C, and has significant time at 1B and 3B... I think he could at least be the lefty killer Cleveland has been needing...
It's just my opinion, but the fact that Rodriguez didn't leave ST with the club and they picked up Florial is a high crime. Noel and Rodriguez are nothing alike except both have prodigious power from the right side. Take a look at Rodriguez's performance the last 2 seasons along with his age and level. He'll be in Cleveland by the break. They rostered him for good reason.
NEWSLETTER? SURE, SIGN ME UP!
Cleveland's Owner is willing to do 100M+ every single season IF they are playoff contenders... People are forgetting majority of the roster is in pre-arb right now just cause of their ages... Plus they spent 10 Million to get Kalil Watson essentially... The contract of Straw, is not a problem since they are well below the top end of their budget
Cleveland's owners haven't shown that willingness post COVID.
That's where you are misunderstanding. National media spins it that way, but they were rebuilding/retooling after Lindor got dealt... They decided to allow the internal candidates to grow and see what they can do... Cleveland builds a team from within then supplements with Free Agents. They added Zunino and Bell last season (that was 22 million between those two) and it didn't work, but they spent. They swapped Bell for Segura and Watson and cut Segura (they owe him 10 million this season) They didn't spend this off season because of the fact there wasn't a player within a need that was available at a price they were willing to spend, plus they wanted to see what the young guys could do. They actually had legit bids on Jose Abreu before 23 (from what I know it was the same years and numbers of the contract he took) and likely had bids on players like Teoscar Hernandez, just wasn't the winning bid. Cleveland prefers to develop and extend rather than spend in free agency. They will take on money if that means getting legit prospects or playoff wins...
That sounds like a team that continuously came up short in Free Agency when they tried to add needed help. Maybe if they had had a few more dollars in the War Chest they could have added some offense to the line-up.
There is some merit to your words, but Cleveland's FO is notorious for their never changing their price attitude. Plus they are a super young team, so they don't exactly want to block the young guys plus the targets in free agency they lost on because they wanted stop gaps and none of the "stop gaps" signed one year deals... Cleveland doesn't sign long term deals with Free Agents normally, just how they do things... hence why they got DDLS in the Rule 5 since he was in the style of the player they wanted to sign. Even though it's very possible that internally they may have already found the player anyways...
They don't know what to add or even if they need to add at this time grover. That's the point you're missing. The OF consists of Kwan, Freeman, Brennan, Laureano, Florial, Rodriguez, DeLauter, and maybe Valera if he ever gets and stays healthy. Both Martinez and Brito are getting reps in the OF. Manzardo is pretty much ready. There is a lot of offensive potential yet to reveal itself and 2024 was never considered a year of contention anyway unless the youth outperformed expectations like they did in 22. Besides, not ML team is giving up talent like Chourio and Clemmey for Blackburn under any circumstance. That's just wishful thinking.
You're going to chastise me for wishful thinking and talk about Valera getting/staying healthy in the same comment?
Maybe you should reread my post and quit trying to peddle a less than mediocre BOR SP for good prospects that are likely to crack the top 100 before too long. Blackburn isn't very good and you're not touching Clemmey and Chourio with him, but you already knew that which is why you added Straw's negative value and still couldn't get it down far enough. Valera is a talented hitter that can't stay healthy. Regardless, he is part of the OF depth for Cleveland which is what I listed.
You're wrong. I don't think Blackburn could land Clemmey or Chourio or Cantillo or the Comp A pick, in spite of what the numbers say. Be cause that's not the way Cleveland does business. However, if I'm going to get push back about how the A's should do things then that opens the door for me to fire back. The Guardians should either increase payroll OR they need to clear Straw off the books. In this scenario I said I'd swap Clemmey for the lower value Comp pick, which would change the values to 8.0 vs. 7.6... that's a fair deal. My point about Valera is, counting on him as OF depth is truly wishful thinking because the guy has his name inked in as a starter on the IL. Talent means nothing if it can't get on the field.