News and Notes: Guardians’ Bullpen Increases Team’s Odds at Getting a Top Five MLB Draft Pick

The Guardians lost in extra innings in San Francisco, again. Enyel De Los Santos, Eli Morgan and Xzavion Curry were not good. But, hey, Jose Ramirez hit a home run, increasing his odds at getting a 25/25 season, Josh Naylor and Steven Kwan each added 2 hits and Gabriel Arias got a double off a LHP for once. Logan Allen was fine, if a bit wild, for 5 innings, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks and getting 5 K’s.

The Guardians have an off day today and return home to play the Texas Rangers, then head to Kansas City for 3, return home for the final homestand vs. the Orioles and Reds for 5 games, then finish the season for 3 on the road in Detroit.

Triston McKenzie looked very good in his rehab start for Akron, allowing 0 hits, 1 walk, 2 HBP’s and 4 K’s in 3 innings, throwing 44 pitches. He and Shane Bieber will now wait to see how they feel in recovery to see if they can each make a start or two before the season ends to feel better about their offseason recovery and training plans, or if one or both may still need surgery.

Kole Calhoun reached 10 years of service time, which is great. Now, we can DFA him and call up George Valera or Jhonkensy Noel. Right? Right???

In thinking about Tito’s eventual replacement as the Guardians’ manager, I thought this article from FanGraphs about the manager of the year award was enlightening.

Around the Minor Leagues:

The Clippers lost 5-3, Oscar Gonzalez is handling Triple-A pitching again, Angel Martinez, George Valera and Johnathan Rodriguez got hits, and Jhonkensy Noel hit one 104 mph that went 400 feet, but was caught. The Rubber Ducks lost 7-5 despite the aforementioned effort from McKenzie, Doug Nikhazy was destroyed in his relief outing which isn’t a great thing for a guy who has had a decent season. Juan Brito and Petey Halpin both had a hit and two walks and Chase DeLauter got another hit, going 1 for 5.