News and Notes: Happy Fourth of July, Guardians Fans
Sorry your party sucks
“Happy Fourth of July, America. Sorry your party sucks.” - Michael Scott paraphrase.
Why is this a bad Independence Day, you ask? Because the Guardians are a bad baseball team. When the Guardians are a bad baseball team, AMERICA loses.
The Guardians lost 1-0 to the Cubs yesterday because of course they did. We will see if they are willing to call up Chase DeLauter today and give him a chance to provide a spark.
The Guardians cut Kolby Allard yesterday to add Doug Nikhazy to the roster, while Joey Cantillo took the place of Luis Ortiz, placed on a paid, non-disciplinary leave, which reporting says is connected to gambling... specifically to two pitches as seen here
MLB's investigation into Luis Ortiz is about these two individual pitches which received action flagged by a betting-integrity firm, per @JeffPassan pic.twitter.com/2zvZhmrTlJ
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) July 3, 2025
and in this ESPN article. I will be honest... I don't think they let this come to light unless they have some pretty decent evidence.
No excuses for Ortiz if he did it. He betrayed his teammates, his fans, and the game of baseball if this is true, and Kolby Allard paid the price. But, I also wish MLB would admit the gambling partnerships are a big mistake. ...they won't.
The vibes of demoting Nic Enright after his best outing and cutting Allard after his are not great. I know why the team did it, and I’m not even a believer in Allard, per se, but this isn’t ideal for a team to see someone save their keisters twice and then get summarily banished.
Chris Antonetti was on WTAM 1100 in the afternoon, making his way to Chicago to talk to the players about Ortiz’s absence. He said two things I found notable:
1. The team hasn’t made any hitting philosophy changes with the change from Chris Valaika to Grant Fink.
2. The organization first heard about MLB’s investigation of Ortiz on Wednesday night and were learning on the additional information reported from social media, just like the rest of us.
The rest was the usual GM gobbeldygook.
Jose Ramirez is still clearly hurt, as he kept pulling his right hand off the bat as he swung last night, and did so the previous two nights as well. Here’s hoping his arm/hand will improve in time, and/or the team can get him to go on the IL to rest until it does.
MLB Pipeline offered a mock draft, having outfielder Ethan Conrad going to Cleveland and mentioning Andrew Fischer, Devin Taylor, Cam Cannarella, Mason Neville, Caden Bodine, and Luke Stevenson as players who have been connected to them.