Did the Cleveland Guardians get Lane Thomas & Alex Cobb at the trade deadline, but was that ENOUGH?

The last two days were exciting. If you're a baseball fan, if you're a baseball transaction, nerd, like me, it was a lot of fun. There were a lot of trades, but the reality is there were no superstars traded, none of the best players got traded. The best pitcher that probably got traded at least based on the season they're having this year is Jack Flaherty. Am I disappointed the Guardians couldn't get him? Uh Ye yes. Uh does it seem like the package, the Dodgers ultimately gave up to get him when other pitchers, at least on paper, you know, people always talk about the package you gave up and they gave up a lot. When you give up minor leaguers, you think you gave up a lot or a little, we don't know, you know, until the guys perform or don't in the majors. I don't know what they gave up, but I, I know they give up minor leaguers who have never played in the majors or whatever. Uh I don't, the Guardians didn't give up any highly talented prospects. I'll be honest, I never even heard of the guy they traded for Alex Cobb. I never even heard of that. Nobody in their grand. So that's fine. But I supposedly the Guardians made an offer for Jack Flaherty. They felt like they made a better offer than the Dodgers did. The way that situation, there's a lot of rumblings around the league that the Tigers screwed themselves on the Jack Flaherty situation that they were trying to r team once the Kuchi trade happened and the, the, the industry felt like the Astros made a major overpay for Kuchi. Once that happened, the Tigers thought they should get even more for Flaherty, which makes sense because Flaherty is better than Kuchi and every and, and they were holding up teams for a lot. This is what I've heard and in the end they were holding the bag because a lot of teams said, no thanks. No thanks. No, thanks. And the Dodgers were basically like, here, take it or leave it. And I listen, I, the reason the cobb move is risky is not because you gave up anything. It's risky because your biggest hole was your starting pitching. And the, the only guy you acquired is coming off AAA major injury late in his career hasn't pitched this year and he's pitched in the minors and, and he has done major ins correct. Now, the reports are, he's looked good in the minors. Ok. That's fine. That's good. That's promising. Um, if you had traded for a Jack Flaherty or a pitcher better than Alex Cobb. Then you, you give the Alex Cobb trade gr grade, I, I give it like a B minus or AC or like AC plus. I give it AC plus because it was the only pitching move they made. If they had traded for Jack Flower or another good pitcher, then I would have given the Cobb and move an A because if it was their second, then I love it, then it's a great move because it's additional, you're now gonna be relying, you. The hope is you want four starters in the playoffs. So you're hoping the four starters you're gonna be relying on. Are Tanner Bebe who's pitched a year and change. Gavin Williams who's pitched a year and change and he's missed some time with injury. Ben Lively who's been fantastic but has never been good before this year. And Alex Cobb who's coming off an injury, it's you, you're nervous about all of them to some degree. It's risky. Now, if it works, the Guardians can win it all people saying today the Guardians can't win the World Series are stupid. You're wrong. And let me tell you something else. The Yankees and Orioles also like the Guardians got better at the trade deadline, but like the Guardians, neither of those team and I know Jazz Chisholm is often a great start for the Yankees. He hit four home runs in his first three or four games, whatever, since he's been there. Nice job he has not had a particularly great season. He didn't have a particularly great season last year. He might be sensational for the Yankees. It's a great ballpark. He's, you know, I, I don't love their lineup outside of judging soto, but there's sometimes guys get the y it's funny with the Yankees, there's some guys that go there and get that Yankee boost and there's some guys that go there that go, that can't handle playing for the Yankees. He might be one of those guys that gets kind of jazzed up if you will playing for the Yankees, but neither the Yankees or the or made a move that you're like, wow, they got way better. They didn't get, they didn't get flared. So am I gonna kill the Guardians today? No, we said they had to make moves. I tweeted, they got to get a starting pitcher and 10 minutes later they traded for Alex Cobb. Was he my first choice? No, I wasn't even thinking about, I was co because he'd been hurt all year. He was off my radar. Uh I like him. I've always liked him. I think he's a good pitcher if he's healthy if three or four starts and he looks healthy all good. But I would have still liked him to either get another starter or a reliever and maybe even a shortstop, they should bring up Kyle Manzo today. As for the Lane Thomas deal, I don't want to go into it too long because you've talked about it. I talked about it on the Guardian show this morning. I like that move a lot. Zach and I were talking about it. I would play him nearly every day. I'd sit him against very tough righties. He is elite against lefties. Uh, now he's had enough at bats against righties that we know he's league average. Could he get better? Sure. He's still young enough. Unlike some of the other guys, the Guardians, he reminds me he's a better version. You may remember in 2016 when the Guardians, the Indians went to the World Series, they acquired, obviously the big trade was Andrew Miller, but they also made a trade for a right handed hitter named Brandon Guyer from Tampa Bay who killed lefties. Now, this guy is similar, but he's better because he does other things. He's a good defender. Although metrics are not great this year, he, I believe has more in the outfield than anybody got a cannon. He's got a cannon in the outfield. He is third, I think in, in the majors, in stolen bases. A lot of caught stealing, too aggressive though, but he fits what they do. They're a very aggressive team on the base. Explain to him, you know, when you talk about all these things, why is it that, um, you know, they gave up on him because they didn't trade a trade a lot for him either. Well, Alex Clem is a decent prospect. Second round pick last year. And you just, he's an outfielder who's not, who's a good player, not a great player on a bad team on a bad team. They, you know, they were ready to move on. Give some young guy, they have some young outfielders on their team. They're ready to get an opportunity. So they got a pitcher that they think, you know, obviously they think highly of Alex Clem, they think he's gonna be good. So we'll see. And Jose 10, the infielder, they got another guy that potential and they might have him up in the big leagues this year. He's been in the big leagues. So, uh, uh, you know, Lane Thomas hit for a ton of power last year. The powers down his walks are up this year. His strikeout rate is down. I think he'll be great against lefties. I like that. They hit him second when he's in the lineup. I bat him second even against righties even though he's not as good against righties. Uh, like I said, I would have traded Will Brennan or Tyler Freeman and tried to get another pitcher overall solid trade deadline not killing the team today. They did enough to keep the fans in the mix, not enough to get us overly excited, but they didn't drop the ball. So in between before the deadline, Guardians were contenders, they had the second best record in baseball after the last two wins. They actually now have the best record in baseball. They got better with the two deadline acquisitions no matter the, the gravity and how much better we can debate. But there's no argument that Guardians are better today than they were 48 hours ago. Prior to the Lane Thomas, the acquisition and the Alex Cobb acquisition, the Guardians are putting a lot of stock into those two players in particular, re refining their 2023 form where Lane Thomas hit 28 home runs where Alice Cobb pitched at an all-star level. He tailed off towards the end of the season, but the first half of the season last year for San Francisco, he was one of the better pitchers in the national league. When you look at the proverbial power ranking in the American League, you can't mention the top two without putting the Guardians either one or two and you can try and talk yourself into the Yankees. But the Guardians for what they've done to the 1st 110 games of the season have solidified a spot in that top two and the acquisitions they made. But although risky and certainly have downside if they don't pan out, put them in a better position to compete with the Baltimore with the New York with whoever else they'll face in the playoffs than they were beforehand. So I wish they did a little more, but they did enough to satisfy the, the basic needs of this team needs improvements, ok? They needed a power hitting outfielder, ok. You need to start pitcher. You got it even if it wasn't the a ball sky and the prize in the sky that we may have wanted. They did enough like the, unlike the Cavaliers, you do ultimate cals. Uh these, these are the moves that you need to make them catch teams. They felt like, hey, look, we wanted to keep up with Baltimore, we want to keep up with the Yankees. And I said yesterday, I said, look, man, the Guardians have an opportunity to move into that two spot in the city. And I think they did just enough to do that because they're showing me that they're conscious of, of fixing some of the holes and being ultra competitive and making the team better. I'd be interested to see the crowds. Crowds have been big yet awesome series. Orioles have a day off today. Four game, their schedule is really tough the rest of the way. There's gonna be a lot of great games. You got a seven game home stand four against Baltimore, three against Arizona, which is really exciting coming up before they go to Minnesota and then the Cubs come to town, the only team under 500 they're playing in the next real I think, you know, all of all that's pivotal. The Minnesota series is very pivotal. A 6.5 game lead over both Minnesota and Kansas City right now. And as you said, Mike, the biggest concern I had going into the trade deadline was that the Yankees or Orioles would get a superstar pitcher and neither of them did. The Yankees got a nice relief pitcher. Mark Leer Junior from the Cubs. I like him. Most people don't know him that well, he's under the radar. He's very good. Chisholm was a good addition. Jazz Chisholm was a good addition. The Orioles added a bunch of like fringe guys, kind of like the Guardians did. They added more guys like that, but they didn't have anybody. Great. Zac Efron is, you know, he's like Alex Cobb but healthy, I mean, he's, I think Cobb's a little better of healthy but they're, they're similar level. They brought in Eloy Jimenez, uh yesterday who at one point was a top prospect in the Cub system, but he's been a huge bust in Chicago. He never stays healthy. Trevor Rogers, they traded for Trevor Rogers. They gave him one of their better prospects for him. I don't think he's very good. So they, they had, and their biggest weakness also was their bullpen and they didn't, they, they brought in some guys but nobody great to blow you away. So, uh I don't think the Orioles improved that much. Uh I did like the addition of Chisholm and, and lighter for the Yankees, but it, it listen, power rankings don't matter. Here's the only power ranking that matters when we're 100 and 10 games in the season. Who's got the best record? That's the Guardian, they're the best team in the American League. I don't want to hear that the Orioles are better. The Guardians have a better record and it's not even like you say, well, the division, ok, you play more games in your division but it's not like it used to be where it's a huge amount. The Guardians are playing, they play every team and by the end of the year, the Guardians will, you know, their s you look at the rest of the schedule, they have three games left with the White Sox. They have none left with the Tigers. They have none left with Oakland. They're, they're only playing three games against terrible teams. These are their next eight series. Are you ready for this home? Vers Baltimore home versus Arizona who made the World Series last year head to Minnesota home versus the Cubs on the road at Milwaukee on the road against the Yankees at home for the Rangers, at home for the Royals and they don't play the Dodgers after that, I only went to the next eight. Maybe even the Dodgers after that, maybe the player play the White Sox and then the Dodgers. Ok. The Cubs I believe are the only team they're playing in the next month. That's under 500. Milwaukee is above the Cubs are the worst team there and they're not terrible. They're just below average, so they're not playing any terrible teams the entire month of August, they're playing one bad one, not good team and then seven teams that are good or better. So, you're gonna be challenged here. I'm excited to see it. I'm very excited about this Orioles series. They beat the Orioles the last time they played and they won that series. They just beat the Phillies in a three game series. They finally took care of business against a bad team with Detroit. I think there's a lot if you're negative today, I get it. You, we all wanted them to do more but nobody else did more. None of the superstar pitchers were traded and they have the best record and I don't know how you can be that upset that I don't think you can get negative. People will. Well, look, you know, yesterday they got a bat. I was thinking they was getting one person. The Guardians ain't never went and got no, went out and got 23 dudes at the trade deadline like that since 2016. So when they got the bat, I was like, man, this might be Kyle Manzo today. Get him up here. We might not be even, we might, I get a picture. They got an arm, it might not be the name you want, but they try, they did what they need to do. I would be fascinated to know how many players of a bigger stature, whether it be flaherty, who I do believe the Guardians were in on or Fetty or whoever Chris Antonetti and Mike turn off made legitimate offers for and either got outbid and, or were told, ok, we're not gonna listen unless the package starts with player X and how many guys they were actually in on but didn't feel that the value in terms of prospects they had to give up was equal to the player they were getting in return because you know, sometimes we could say, hey, go get school bow or go get. But if Troy's asking for your top seven guys, you're not going, I would have, I would have given up anything but I, I don't think you get my premise of what I'm saying. I'm just throwing out names and hypotheticals here. How many guys were they actually in on or did they go into this deadline? Saying we're not touching our top 6789 guys. Clem, he is the the best guy we're gonna trade. What can we get for this as opposed to? Ok, we actually are interested in players Xy and Z but you want to know, get an answer. I'm just curious to know how they approach the dead since we know now I'm transitioning since we know that these young guys that are on a roster that have been playing, they're going to still continue to be here. Is it too early? To start saying, ok, well, who's making like, I assume they're going to be in a postseason? Which one of these guys do you see snap, the Lion's share of the minutes at certain positions? And is it too early to be like who's making a postseason roster? Because they're bringing, they got a lot of guys we talked about, you just said over Martinez, you got Noel, you got sne, you got, you got four guys for two infielder spots, essentially Martinez, Martinez Freeman and Roch Martinez and Freeman. I kept saying the same, you got those three for kind of two spots and then you got right field to deal with in your own, right? And then Manzo should be called up by 100% agree and he needs to be getting consistent at bats. I don't feel you could kind of play him and not play him if they call him up. He's so he's not gonna play against lefties if, when they call him up, this is not gonna happen. But what I think they're gonna do is, well, this is what, uh, Zach suggested this morning on the Guardian Show and I agree with him. You play Lane Thomas, most of Lane Thomas is gonna play every game versus a lefty. He's gonna play against some righties. Ok? He's gonna play right field. What you do is against the tough righties. You play either you play either, um David Fry or Jo Kenzie Noel in right field against the righties and you have Manzo DH. So Will Brennan is off the mix. Well, he's in the minors. He got sent down. Will Brennan's out of the mix. He's out of the mix. All right, Tyler Freeman is, is pretty much out of the mix. I think Angel Martinez is gonna play most of the time in center field. I think they're gonna live with Roch. O as the shortstop Arias is out of the mix. Arias is out of the mix. You can Freeman play short. I know he played third last night. Yeah, I mean, two nights ago. Not, not really. I, I don't think they're gonna use him there. I think Roo is gonna play short even with his lack of hitting. I think it's unfortunate. I think, uh, Zach and I talked about calling up Jose Tana. I mean, not Jose Tana. Um, what's I just forgot their other? They got so many minor league they got 96. I'm, no, no, no. Well, that would be great. That would be, let's give him a little time anyway. I would have, I would call up Manzo and I would DH him against righties right away. Uh, and then I would play, you know, Fry is playing most of the time, obviously does Schieman fit into this? I think Schieman is more of a utility, so he's gonna make the postseason. R I would have Fry Fry to me, Fry. I use fry between Catcher DH and right field. You know, depending on who else I'm playing that day. I play Manzo against most righties. I play fry, fry almost every day. Move him around between Catcher DH and, and right field. Right. I have bow nailer who does most of the catching against. Right. They don't keep edges. Well, hedges stays is the third catcher. But, but I'm saying that in that case you would, would be the most. So, so you, you right. But well, but hedges shouldn't start at all. Yeah, I wouldn't start hedges at all or almost never. So to me, you, you, you're gonna have 13 hitters, right? For most of the way. So obviously you have, you have Juan, you have Martinez, you have Lane Thomas is ba basically you're starting out. You have, you should have Manzo and Naylor. That's five. Jimenez, Roch 07. Ramirez and Fry is nine. Naylor and Hedge is 11 steen 12. And then who did I leave out? Freeman? There's your 13th and Jozy Noel, that's it. I get free. II I move on, you know, Freeman. I call it Manzo, I send down Freeman because they, they really ha I'd rather get rid of Roo, but Roo plays a high, a great defensive shortstop. If I'm hitting everywhere else, I can live with a weak hitting, defensive shortstop at least for this year. And that's it. And then I, I play Noel, you know, he's gonna play a little hedges will not play much. Um I played Noel once in a while, you know, and I use Manzo against Righties. I sit uh uh uh uh lane against the tough righties. You mix and match a little bit flexibility with that. I think that I think those are the 13 guys that, that are my core, uh you know, hedges stinks, but there is something apparently to him, you gotta keep him. I just, I would just not use, I would almost never play him because I keep him on the roster and there you go. And then listen, if it's the biggest, if, but if, if by Williams lively and Cobb are healthy and pitching well and, and they've all pitched, you know, lively and b have pitched very well, very well's last start. If Cobb could be healthy, I expect him to pitch. Well, if he's healthy, they could win the World Series. The team is good enough because they have just enough hitting. They have the defense, they have the base running, they have the bullpen. If they ha if the starting pitching is solid, it doesn't need to be great. If it's solid, they can win the World Series. If they can get those four guys, I would put them, the starting pitching would be like from the playoff teams. I would say the starting pitching would probably be third or fourth out of the, the teams that would be in it. I mean, the hitting would be, I would hitting, I would say is probably third or fourth bullpen is number one, defensively, I think that they're top one defensively. Number one baserunning, number one bullpen. Number one. Yeah, they're not number one starting or hitting, but it's, it's just got to be good enough. Just good enough. I said yesterday, I think the Guardian's bullpen is the single best unit of any unit lineup starting rotation or bullpen in baseball. So, out of the 90 possible units, I think the Guardian's bullpen is the number one, maybe take the Orioles offense, but it's right there. I'd still take the Guardian's bullpen, but going back to Cobb in the playoffs, he's made two career playoff starts 13 years ago. The first one I was at the game, it was the wild card game against the Guardian. They were the Indians great. The starting pitcher for the Indians that day was Danny Salazar. There was, it was my first playoff game after moving to Cleveland. I had been here two years. It was electric that night at the stadium. Um, it was, it was great. It was great. That was the playing game, wasn't it? It was a wild card, didn't they lose, they lost, they lost. And he pitched again in the divisional series against the Red Sox and pitched pretty good, but he hasn't been in the playoffs since it was 2013. He is not pitched in the postseason 11 years, however, he's pitched a ton of games. I mean, I don't think the moment would be too big for a guy like that who just has that plethora of experience. He's pitched in the bigs now for 12 seasons. Like he is no stranger to the big moments in the big playoff. He's not right. He's a grinder. Uh, he'll be fine as in terms of this, the way they played on the field. They had been playing lousy for a few weeks. Nice for these last five days. Uh, they took two or three for the Phillies. They swept the Tigers overall. They've won six of eight. So they seem to be right in the ship. They've been hitting better lately. They need the super, you know, Jose, the problem was all their superstars went into a slump for, it was the first time, all season for a few weeks there that all their best theater. I shouldn't say all the superstars. They have one superstar, Jose Ramirez, they have two other legitimate all stars in Kwn and Naylor and then Fry, who was an all star this year, all four of them were not playing well. Fry Kan's batting average went down. He doesn't even lead the league anymore. Bobby Witt by Woot Junior has been great, but I expect them all to bounce back, expect them all to pitch well, uh, hit well and, uh, hopefully we're gonna have a big stretch run. We got 5055 games left, I think, I believe the guard, the Guardians have to go. I think it's 55 games left. They have to go 35 and 20 to win 100 games. That's not easy. But they played better than that this year. And at 35 and 20 at one point in time I had them, like, for winning like 100 and 304 games. I think they're gonna win between 97 and 100. By the way, bring that up, bring that graphic up for a second because this is a little stat people may or may not care about, but I'll share it with you. The Chicago White Sox have a chance to have the worst record in the modern era of major league baseball. So forget the third of the century, all that nonsense. Early teams were in and out of the league since we've gone to 100 and 62 game schedule, right? The modern era, the worst team, the worst record ever in one season was the, the expansion 1962 Mets. Now, for some reason, they only played 100 and 60 games that year instead of 100 and 62. But the 1960 you remember there was an expansion team, they went 4120 worst winning percentage in the modern era of major league baseball. The White Sox are 27 and 83. So they have to win 41 games to avoid having the worst winning percentage in the modern era of baseball. They have played 100 and 10 games. That means they have 52 games left. So to avoid that, they have to go uh 14 and 36 which means they have to win about a third of their games. I don't think they're gonna do that. That's crazy. They have lost 16 in a row and 19 of 20. I think they're gonna be the first team in the modern era to not win 40 games. It's a, they haven't won in almost three weeks now, like three weeks of real time. Why, why don't you just do the same thing with, with the fan do with the A you did with the, with the White Sox this year? Well, yeah, that's true. You know, remember on, I think it was July 3rd, the White Sox beat the Guardians. Eric Fetty pitched for the White Sox. The White Sox have won two games since then. Two games since July 3rd. That's four weeks. It's absurd. Uh So anyway, but uh there were some other teams at the trade deadline that did some weird things. The Cubs kind of did an old Guardian's move of buying and selling at the same time. I don't know why the Rockies didn't like, why didn't the Rockies trade? Cal Quantrell? Why do they? He's a free agent. I don't, I don't understand what they're doing. I don't understand why the A's didn't trade Brent Rooker. I don't know what they're doing. But anyway, uh, there you go. Uh, but good, good four out of five and six out of eight for the Guardians. One last thing on the series with the Orioles game last night. I know it's two starts against Detroit and another lineup is by no means World Beaters. Gavin Williams is starting around at the four promising. I don't like that. He only went five innings as dominant as he was. The pitch counts too high. He's something he's got to work on. I know it's very, yes, very encouraging start. He pitched very well.