Cleveland Sports Forum

BA's article on the top 10 NL "graduating prospects" include Nolan Jones at No. 10. The comparision of their preseason rating ["40" on the 20-80 scale, which means very marginal major leaguer] and "55" postseason means BA would have made the same deal that the Guardians and was equally surprised at Jones' success

10. Nolan Jones
LF | Rockies
2024 Age: 26 [old rookie]

Preseason: 40/Medium
Updated: 55/Medium

The Rockies added their best player in a minor trade with the Guardians last November. Cleveland viewed Jones as expendable following a couple of flat, injury-shortened seasons at Triple-A, the second of which saw him move from third base to right field. The Guardians traded him to Colorado for second baseman Juan Brito, who had a fine season at Double-A in 2023. But Jones, drafted as an athletic prep shortstop just outside the top 50 picks in 2016, provided a spark for the Rockies when called up at the end of May, providing power, plate discipline and an elite outfield arm. He hit .297/.389/.542 with 20 homers, 20 steals and 53 walks in 106 games. The most notable aspect of Jones’ breakout was his production away from Coors Field. His .935 road OPS is one of the highest in Rockies franchise history.

GUARDIANS
Guardians coaches Mike Sarbaugh, Rigo Beltran, replay coordinator Mike Barnett won’t be backUpdated: Nov. 01, 2023, 4:09 a.m.|Published: Oct. 31, 2023, 7:51 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com


CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Guardians still haven’t named a manager to replace Terry Francona, but there are changes taking place on his old coaching staff.

Third base coach Mike Sarbaugh, bullpen coach Rigo Beltran and replay coordinator Mike Barnett will not be back with the team next year.


Sarbaugh, 56, has been with the organization for 33 years. He was a player, manager, coach and big league coach for Cleveland. This was Sarbaugh’s 11th year on Francona’s staff, the last nine as third base coach.


He was also Cleveland’s infield coach.

In 2020 the Guardians were awarded the first American League team Gold Glove for defense. They featured Gold Glove winners in catcher Roberto Perez, shortstop Francisco Lindor and second baseman Cesar Hernandez.



Beltran, 54, was in his first year as bullpen coach, but he had been in the organization since 2014 as a minor league pitching coach. Before this year, Beltran spent the last four years at Class AAA Columbus or the alternate training site in 2020.

Barnett, 64, just finished his eighth season as replay coordinator and staff assistant. He also helped Cleveland’s hitting coaches in preparing scouting reports.

Other changes in the staff are expected when a new manager is named. Craig Counsell, veteran manager of the Milwaukee Brewers, interviewed in Cleveland on Monday.

Sarbaugh, who managed nine years in Cleveland’s minor league system, was not asked to interview after Francona stepped down at the end of this season.

Sandy Alomar, another longtime Cleveland coach, declined to interview for the job as well. Alomar, who just completed his 14th year on the coaching staff, is expected to be a member of the 2024 staff regardless of who is hired as manager.


Sarbaugh played six years in the minors, but never made it to the big leagues. Beltran appeared in parts of five season in the big leagues with St. Louis, the Mets, Colorado and Montreal. He pitched professionally for 16 years and joined Cleveland in 2014 after spending seven seasons as a minor league pitching coach with Cincinnati.

In the last two years, the Guardians won 57% (50 for 87) of their replay challenges with Barnett at the controls.

When Cleveland bench coach Brad Mills retired before the 2020 season, Barnett filled in as bench coach. Before joining Cleveland, he was Toronto’s minor league hitting coordinator from 2013-15.

Barnett was Toronto’s hitting coach from 2002-05 following stops with Kansas City and Houston, when Mills managed the Astros.

sorry to see Sarbaugh go. Among other high points in his long Cleveland history were his participation in spring training with the replacement Indians during the baseball strike whenever that was.

Something else must have happened with Sarbaugh. Says he was not asked to interview. Why not?

It's not that he was a Tito favorite and he had to go when Tito left. He was there long before Tito.

He paid his dues but was shuffled out the door.

May be wrong but I assume that the FO has it narrowed down to Counsell or Vogt and both may have said that they have a few coaches they wanted to bring with them.
FO may be clearing certain coaches so that new hire does not look like a bad guy.

very logical suggestion

I guess some coaches contracts ran out on November 1. So this may be a situation where the FO may bring certain coaches back if the new manager is interested in them.

An article that says out loud what many of us have been thinking.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/lif ... 38&ei=10

Not complete agreement. Lopez will be back if they can meet his terms, but that's uncertain.
Sandy Leon is already gone; he's a minor league free agent
I would expect Straw to return as a backup. They don't know that they have his replacement on hand yet, although DeLauter will be sooner or later
Bieber? Not sure the rest of the baseball world is sure of his health; he may return to start the season and not be traded until the summer.
Karinchak? They seem to be tired of him, but might be willing to try again in the spring.
They may be feeling similarly about Oscar Gonzalez; perhaps they'll overreact to the trade of young OFs last winter, but I wouldn't be stunned if Oscar is gone.

I'll post Mandy Bell's comments next

Which players are free agents?

Three new faces who joined the Guardians late in the season will enter free agency, including INF/OF Kole Calhoun, LHP Lucas Giolito and RHP Reynaldo López.

Are any of those free agents expected to be re-signed?

Calhoun and Giolito will probably find homes elsewhere. In a perfect world, López would be a perfect fit in Cleveland’s bullpen, but he’ll probably demand a higher price than the organization typically pays free agent relievers, so the best guess is that he also will not return.

Which players have options?

None.



Who is eligible for salary arbitration?

RHP Shane Bieber, RHP Cal Quantrill, OF Ramón Laureano, 1B Josh Naylor, RHP James Karinchak, C Cam Gallagher, RHP Enyel De Los Santos and RHP Nick Sandlin.

Jan. 12 is the deadline for teams to agree on one-year contracts with arbitration-eligible players.

Are any of them non-tender candidates, and when does the club need to make that decision?

Gallagher is the most likely non-tender candidate. Bo Naylor will now be in the Majors full-time and can handle the majority of the playing time. Plus, David Fry made such a positive impression on the club and has earned the right to fight for more playing time, whether that be behind the plate or elsewhere in the field. The catching pipeline isn’t as strong as other areas for the Guardians, but it still wouldn’t be shocking to see Gallagher be non-tendered.

The other two possibilities are Karinchak and Laureano. Karinchak hasn’t been nearly as dominant in relief since June 2022. He was sent to Triple-A Columbus multiple times over the last two seasons to try to get back on the right path, but the righty has yet to show consistency with his command to gain the trust to be a late-inning reliever again. Maybe the Guardians aren’t ready to give up just yet, but his dip in performance will at least make him a consideration.

Laureano could be a solid fourth outfield option for the Guardians, but the team’s outfield situation isn’t the easiest to figure out. Steven Kwan is one of the best left fielders in the Majors, but Myles Straw has been locked in at center field -- despite his poor offense -- because he signed a five-year extension last year. If the Guardians are going to add to this lineup, right field may be the easiest spot to fill, but they will still have Will Brennan and Oscar Gonzalez to look at before George Valera gets into the mix. Because everything could get overcrowded, Laureano may get nudged out.

Non-tender decisions must be made before the Nov. 17 deadline.
Who needs to be added to the 40-man roster to avoid the Rule 5 Draft?

No. 3 (as ranked by MLB Pipeline) prospect RHP Daniel Espino, No. 19 RHP Tanner Burns, No. 24 OF Johnathan Rodriguez, INF Aaron Bracho, RHP Mason Hickman, INF/OF Micah Pries, INF Daniel Schneemann and RHP Cade Smith would all be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft this winter.

We know Espino, who has been held back by injuries the last few years, will be added. Smith could be an interesting bullpen arm for the Guardians and could make a case to be added, as well. But it’ll come down to Rodriguez to see if he earned his spot on the 40-man roster after a big Minor League season between Triple- and Double-A, hitting .286 with an .897 OPS.

Will the Guardians be active in free agency?

After their two big (and uncharacteristic) free-agent signings in Josh Bell and Mike Zunino failed to pan out for them this year, let’s assume they’ll avoid that for 2024.

Who might they be willing to trade?

If they’re going to add, they’re going to have to trade. As always, no one would be off the table other than José Ramírez. Bieber will be one to watch this winter. If he had stayed healthy in 2023, he would have probably been moved at the Trade Deadline. Instead, he missed two months in the second half of the season with a shoulder injury. How much will that diminish his trade value? Plus, now he only has one year of control remaining. Maybe Cleveland can’t get the bat it needs with a Bieber trade, forcing the club to look at other options. But Bieber will certainly be a talking point all winter long.

After their two big (and uncharacteristic) free-agent signings in Josh Bell and Mike Zunino failed to pan out for them this year, let’s assume they’ll avoid that for 2024.

Zunino was not a big free agent signing in terms of dollars.

This team won't win again if every personnel decision come down to dollars.

First offseason move is dumb; sounds like a nice minor league free agent to give the Clippers some power. Why would we want to add him to the 40 man roster?
He sounds like a younger version of Calhoun; but so what?

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians claimed first baseman/outfielder Alfonso Rivas on waivers Thursday from the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Rivas, 27, split the 2023 season between the San Diego and Pittsburgh organizations, hitting a combined .229 with three home runs, 10 doubles, a triple and 15 RBI in 48 games. Rivas spent three different stints in the major leagues with the Pirates and Padres last season, as well as earning time at Triple-A El Paso where he hit .332 (69-for-208) with nine home runs, 19 doubles, three triples and 40 RBI in just 58 games. Rivas posted a 1.043 OPS for the Chihuahuas.


The La Jolla, California, native was Oakland’s 2018 fourth round pick out of the University of Arizona and was later traded to the Cubs prior to the 2020 season for infielder Tony Kemp. Rivas signed with the Padres prior to the 2023 season after appearing in 119 games with the Cubs.
Pittsburgh acquired Rivas on Aug. 1 in a trade that sent lefty Rich Hill and first baseman Ji Man Choi to San Diego.

Starting to look like Manzardo will remain in Columbus for a month or 2 at the start of the season. Rivas replaces Calhoun.

Guardians Prospective
@CleGuardPro
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#Guardians trio of players elected free agency today

RHP Lucas Giolito
RHP Reynaldo Lopez
OF Kole Calhoun