Game Day: Friday, July 3rd

The Twins, the Tigers and the AL Central is one strange brew this season.  Only the Murakami Fan Club had the White Sox winning the Central this season.  It's the offense in Chicago that is winning games.  This team can get on base and hit the long ball.  If they add some pitching, they could prove to be the best team in the division by the end of September.  I'd say they have a legitimate opportunity to win the AL Central.  Murakami resumes his power hitting spectacle soon and Austin Hays should be returning to the lineup too.  This team has the hitters.  Can they add a few key cogs to their pitching staff and win it all?  I'm beginning to believe in this Cinderella story.  

The Twins have also outplayed expectations in some regard.  At (42-46), Minnesota has proven to have a competitive team this season despite what has been, for the most part, a complete overhaul of their pitching staff.  The Twins are going to sell at the trade deadline.  They are going to sell and they are going to compete with what remains down the stretch.  It would be an amazing accomplishment for this team to pull into the off-season as a .500 baseball team.

The Tigers could emerge late this season.  They need to make some big changes whether it be moving Verlander into a bullpen role or trading Tarik Skubal.  If they keep Skubal around, the rotation is set for the stretch run with Skubal, Valdez, Mize, Melton and Flaherty.  Keider Montero has pitched well as this teams' primary swingman.  Verlander could be good in middle relief down the stretch.  

The Tigers are an interesting team to follow in July and into the trade deadline.  If they can pull close to .500, keeping Skubal around for a late summer run at the post-season is a possibility.  If they are 10 games back in the division, well below .500 at the end of July, I'd expect Skubal to be traded.  Could the Tigers, with Justin Verlander replacing Tarik Skubal in the rotation, get healthy on the offensive side of the ball and make a run at the playoffs in August and September?  That would be a win-win and that would be, in a way, a storybook season for this Tigers' team.  

KC is flat out of contention.  They lost Cole Ragans and Randy Berget for the season.  Kris Bubic has spent time on the IR and that has been the norm.  Second-year starter Noah Cameron hasn't been effective this season.  Neither has Seth Lugo.  Carlos Estevez has been injured most of the year and the bullpen as a group has been mediocre at best.  KC will be selling at the deadline.  "Bullpen Arms!  Starters!  Sal Perez!" 

Let's hone in on the Cleveland Guardians.

I picked the Guardians to win this division at the beginning of the season and that pick was made somewhat in spite of my believing that the Tigers had the best team on paper.

In March, I believed that Cleveland's young pitchers were going to take a big step forward this season and they have.  Messick, Williams and Cecconi have been one of the better Top3's in all of MLB.  They fly under the radar but it's a group that can win games.  Cecconi has established himself as the three of this pitching staff and that slides Tanner Bibee into the four.  They extended Bibee just a season ago with the outlook that he was a top of the rotation talent and I believe he is.  Bibee as a four speaks to the strength of this pitching staff and Joey "Can" Cantillo in the five is getting better with every start.  He has given this team good innings all season.  I think Cantillo's floor is as a four.  It's a top heavy rotation that has stayed healthy all season.  If the Guardians have a weakness in the pitching department, it is a lack of quality depth in the rotation.  

The Guardians' bullpen is the best in the division. Daniel Espino is going to be a difference maker this season and he currently checks in at eight on the depth chart.  I find that to be very impressive.  I look at the Guards' bullpen as it sits today and can honestly say that I'd have confidence in all eight relievers on the active roster.  There aren't many teams with that kind of quality group.  

Jose Ramirez is currently on the IR due to hamate surgery but let's look at their lineup with Ramirez back on the active roster:

1 -- (2B) Travis Bazzana
2 -- (SS) Brayan Rocchio
3 -- (3B) Jose Ramirez
4 -- (1B) Rhys Hoskins
5 -- (DH) Kyle Manzardo
6 -- (RF) Chase DeLauter
7 -- (LF) David Fry
8 -- (C) Patrick Bailey
9 -- (CF) Steven Kwan

Rocchio's emergence is legitimate as is Travis Bazzana's ability to hit in the majors.  Bazzana is an aggressive hitter and is proving himself in his rookie season to be worthy of his 1/1 draft pedigree.  They are a pair of nice table-setters with OBPs of .350+ on the season.

Jose Ramirez is a perenniel all-star and a future Hall of Famer.  He is a great hitter in the three-hole when he is healthy and in the line up.  

Hoskins, Manzardo and DeLauter are all proving to be three-outcome hitters at the plate.  All are capable sluggers.  They have all been capable slumpers too.  There is no replacing those three this season.  If the Guards are going to win this division, they need this group to stay healthy and to hit homers.  This three-headed monster is the Guardians' lynch pin.  Shut them down and you can beat this Guardians' team.  

I like Kwan in the nine-hole as a table setter for the top of the lineup.  They sacrificed offense for defense at the catcher position and are without much depth in the outfield but Kwan has potential to hit and can get on base.  Batting him ninth in front of Bazzana and Rocchio is a better fit than having Kwan set the table for Fry and Bailey. 

If the Guards are going to make a splash at the trade deadline, it will be with the addition of a left fielder.  They could use a pair of bats.  A slugger and a super utility player.   

Byron Buxton would be an epic fit in Cleveland.  A fourth slugger in the middle would be formidable.  They need a righty power bat and there is none better than Buxton.  The Guardians have the pitching prospects to get the trade done but Buxton is expensive and has a no-trade clause.  The Twins might not want Buxton in the AL Central.  It's a good fit and the Guards' have the prospects to get a trade done but this trade is unlikely.

Harrison Bader or Heliot Ramos would fit well and are available.  I don't see the Cardinals selling high on their slugger, Jordan Walker, but I could see the A's trading Zach Gelof and Gelof would be a very good fit for Cleveland as well.  Jo Adell is interesting and so is Jose Siri.  Siri would come cheap and is a sneaky good add for this Guardians' team.

If the Guards really wanted to make an epic deal, they'd add Zach Gelof and Lawrence Butler in a trade with the Sacramento A's.  Taking on Butler's long-term money would soften the deal for Gelof and that duo could make the Guards a very good team.  Of all the potential trades I have touched on, I like Gelof and Butler for Cleveland the most. 

Hunter Brown at the top of this Guardians rotation would be as big of an addition as this team could possibly make.  Brown, Messick, Williams and Cecconi in the playoffs.  Bibee and Cantillo in the bullpen. 

Trading for Gelof and Brown would empty their farm system but the Guardians, with Brown, Gelof and Butler on their roster, would be as good of a team as the Dodgers, the Brewers and the Yankees.

If they can't get Brown, how about adding Jacob Lopez to the deal with the A's?  

That's it for Game Day on Thursday.   

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