News and Notes: Well, That Was Not Fun

News and Notes for Saturday, September 13th, 2024

I’ll be honest... I’m not happy with the Cleveland Guardians.

Tampa Bay is a smart organization. They have seen that the Guardians designed this offense to rely on pulled fly balls. So, it’s very clear that every pitcher on the Rays is giving the Guardians almost nothing but offspeed pitches outside. On the rare occasion that a fastball comes over the middle of the plate, the Guardians are missing it right now. When they do hit it, it’s not at the right time.

Tanner Bibee wasn’t great, but he was good enough for this team to win a game they need in order to make the playoffs.

I’m not really sure why Juan Brito or, heck, Johnathan Rodriguez isn’t in Cleveland instead of Daniel Schneemann who was rightly given the opportunity to show if he was a rare late breakout. That ship has sailed. Or, possibly for Tyler Freeman who can’t seem to hit the broad side of a barn. But, none of that will matter if guys like Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, Josh Naylor and David Fry can’t figure things out, anyway.

Eli Morgan and Andrew Walters looked very good in relief. Jhonkensy Noel had two hits including a triple. That’s about all I can say, guys. Time to do some soul-searching and figure this thing out Saturday night.

Zack Meisel of the Athletic wrote about Steven Kwan’s struggles. Kwan was a late scratch Friday and manager Stephen Vogt said that he had a sore back and was undergoing tests. So... that’s not great. And probably explains some things.

AROUND MLB:

The Royals won.

The Twins lost.

As I write this, the Astros are beating the Angels. I’d expect that to persist.