Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio network. Guardians Weekly is brought to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi, everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosen House along with you this weekend from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Tax show lined up for you today. In the second half of our show, we will have a final look back
at the twenty twenty three season. We've been taking a look at some of the exciting great games of the season gone by, and we will complete that look in this our final show before our holiday break with a look back at an unexpectedly entertaining ballgame in early August against the Chicago White Sox. Spoiler alert. Jose Ramirez and Tim Anderson will be featured prominently, and then also we'll take a look back at Terry Francona's final home game as Cleveland Guardians manager this
past September. So a lot to get to in the second half of our show, but when we return after this short break, we'll hear from Zach Misel, the Guardians beat reporter for the Athletic He was at the Winter baseball meetings in Nashville, Tennessee earlier this week, and I'll bring us up to date on all the news from Nashville, including the Guardians surprisingly so winning the
draft lottery so they will pick first in next year's amateur draft. So a lot to hear from from Zach, and that's coming your way shortly after this time out on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Don't go away, folks, Progressive. We love sports and saving your money, so we bundled them together. Two seconds left on the clock, third field goal range, and it looks like he's gonna go with a five buyed. No wait, the
quarterback is skating back on the ice. He's talking with his caddy. They're pulling the goalie. He skates off the fairway, has to catcher lives off his foot right away. They've buggled their home and Autowa charts with progressive touchdown savings, berting go Forgrissa kesh ten Juran's company affiliates and other injuris just gont
not available in all states are situations. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, Zach Meisel joining us from the athletic just back from Nashville and the baseball winter meetings, and Zach, I think compared to past years in terms of blockbuster news, very quiet winter meetings, but some things happening for the Guardians. So I don't know, from your standpoint, an interesting week. Yeah, it's you never know what's going to happen, and yet things happen that no one
expected. For Cleveland, so you win the draft lottery when you had a two percent chance of doing so. I think they took a kid in the Rule five draft they really like. So they actually have had a recent history of being pretty active and in making trades or assigned Josh Bell during the winter meetings last season. So things tend to happen their new developments, maybe nobody rarely expected. So it's always busy one way or another. And you're at
one of the biggest hotels in America. So I would imagine if you keep track of your steps, which a lot of people do these days, you mean you might have broken some records. Huh, Yeah, not very many steps outdoors, But I think it's like four million square feet the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center, with more ballrooms than you can imagine, and paths that wind left and right, and you can get lost pretty easy. But hey, sometimes you get lost and you stumble into someone who can give you
some little tidbits of trade or free agent gossip. So it's quite the labyrinth of a building, and it's honestly, it's maybe the perfect setting for an event like this lottery. NBA I think rules the roost in terms of draft lottery and the exposure it gets. It seems like MLB is trying to get there maybe, But the Guardians they don't make the playoffs, but certainly not the worst team in baseball. Yet they will have the first pick in next
June's amateur draft. Tell us about just the the event that this year's draft lottery became, especially for fans here in Cleveland. So right, the Guardians had the ninth best chances of landing the top pick, So they weren't thinking about that whatsoever. You know they've been You start your scouting process about thirty seconds after each year's draft, looking ahead to the next year's draft. But they weren't sitting there thinking, well, we'll have whoever we want to take,
we'll be able to take. That's not how they were thinking about this, certainly, And so what happens is they have the broadcast on MLB network, and a few hours before that they actually do the drawing. And it's exactly how you think where they're they're putting ping pong balls into a hopper, you got air propelling them all over the place, and then they pull a few out of a tube. Those numbers create a combination that corresponds with a
team. It's extremely confusing, but what they do is each team is allowed to send a representative to be in this secret room when this is happening, just to make sure everything's going the way it should and to see how it works. You know, the Guardians are sitting there with two percent odds of getting the first pick. They sent their new scouting director, Ethan Purser, who had been on the job only a few days, and it was just
to watch how it happens and nothing more. Now the thing is, go watch this happen, campering your cell phone, campering your Apple watch, campering any method of communicating with the side world, because they need some time from the time that they do the drawing until the broadcast reveals publicly who has a which pick. You got to sit in a room and just keep to yourself. So this was about two point thirty on Tuesday Central Time. Ethan Purcer
goes in this room the two forty five. He knew the guardian said the first pick. He couldn't believe it. That's you know, this is the best news this organization is hurt in a while. And I'm sure he wanted to go to the top balcony in the resort and just shout it from the rooftops, and he couldn't tell anybody. He had to sit in this room.
There's about fifteen people in the room, and he had to sun that secret for two and a half hours because the broadcast needs time to set up graphics and the envelopes that country music star Brad Paisley would open on stage, and they had to get John McDonald and all the other on stage representatives in their seats, And so there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes. And meanwhile, the guardians had the first round pick, but only one person
knew it. That person couldn't tell anybody. And the crazy part too, is it was actually the Wington Nationals who got the first pick. But because of the way the lottery works, and it's a somewhat confusing system, it's it's I think the NBA is a little simpler, but with revenue sharing and where the Nationals are on that scale, and the fact that they were a lottery team last year, they were ineligible, so the Guardians another stroke of luck there, so you end up with the first pick. At about four
fifty seven pm Central, they released Ethan Purser from the room. He had been playing cards and board games for a couple hours, and then he's able to rush out of the room, go grab his cell phone. He had fifty some miss text messages, a bunch of missed calls, and then go celebrate with the front office, who certainly wasn't planning a five pm celebration, but I think they were more than happy to Zach Meisel joining us just back
from Nashville in the baseball Winter meetings, he writes for the Athletic. Other news for the Guardians. In the Rule five draft they were a participant and they pick up a young man from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Was very highly regarded there. Davis Sindlo Santos. Where does he fit, Zach? He has to stay on the roster to keep him. Is there a fit? You think, Well, there's always a fit for someone who could hit for as much power as he can, a really strong kid. But that last word
is important too. He's gonna spend the first half of next season as a twenty year old and this team is already young. That's really young, and he's never played above double A, so I'm curious too. I mean, he's not a strong defender, but what he can give you with the bat, Understanding that there's probably some fine tuning to do, some growing pains to
go through, some polish that's needed. You know, there's a lot of potential in there with someone who's who's got the just the power ability that he has and can he tap into it consistently? So the Rule five makes things tricky. He has to stay on the big league roster, you know, if he's injured. That we've seen that. You know, the Guardians lost Anthony Santander in the rule five years back in the Orioles. He was injured, The Orioles stowed him on the injured list all year and then he eventually
blossomed into a really good outfielder with Dyal Santos. I mean, it's it's tough. I don't know if he fits at first base DH. Obviously they have some some players, some young players there too, but maybe you bring him along slowly, make him a part time guy, let him, let him platoon or something. But I think they just felt like the bat had too much potential not to take this sort of risk and just hope that they
can figure it out. And just because if he stays on the major league roster this year, it doesn't mean he can't go down to TRIPAA at some point if he does need that fine tuning in the future. When you look at Steven Vote in the new staff, those that were there, did you get to spend much time and get a feel for how things are going for him, very very early on in his career as manager here. You know,
it's funny. It's, first of all, you have thirty managers under one roof, and it seems like every single one is either someone Steven Vote played for or someone he played with. It's unbelievable, And I guess that's what happens when you bounce around the major leagues. You play for a long time, and you're a manager who just retired from baseball fourteen months ago. So yeah, it's sometimes you get tired of, like say, saying this, but no one has a bad thing to say about the guy, and
it's it is true. I mean I feel like we over use that sort of death phrase, but it's it's remarkable. I mean, everybody loves him. He can't walk down a hallway for more than a minute without someone coming and giving him a bear hug, or shaking his hand, or or or catching up with him. So it's I think he's really excited about the staff in place. I think there's a nice blend of different perspectives. I mean,
he can't stop raving about Carl Willis. We obviously have known a long time, but but talking about the youth and the energy of Craig albern As his new bench coach, or Kai Korea, a new field coordinator, and how those guys It's it's not just being young and being having fresh perspectives, but guys that he's known, who he knows can challenge him on decisions he makes ideas he has. I think that's important for a staff too. The one other thing with him is I think it's helpful in some ways that he
has played so recently. He was saying he's reached out to pretty much every player on the roster, and it's been interesting learning about the responses the players have had. He said. Some guys say, yeah, call me any time, like let's catch up, but let's talk for an hour. And some guys are like cool, great to hear from you, like we'll be a touch, and then other people are just responding, all right, see you in February, and it's you know, that's everybody's different and there's a
different personality. But he was even saying, you know, I'm not certainly not offended by that because when I was a player, the last thing I wanted to do in November and December was have long chats with my manager. I'm just trying to escape and clear my head. So I think he's got a good view and good good outlook on what players need and what they're thinking
because he played so recently and roster wise. The two names that you heard a little bit about that might be available Shane Bieber, a manual class A. What was the buzz down there, maybe more so from other teams than the guardians about those two. Yeah, I think especially with with Bieber, you know, there's like a an order of operations here because a lot of every team has different ways of procuring the player that fits their roster. Right.
So some teams say, well, we're going to go the free agent route first because we have money to spend, and if that doesn't work, then we'll look at the trade market and we'll acquire who's available. And I think other teams maybe don't want to pay twenty five thirty million dollars per season for a free agent, and so they're going to trade route. So that's what I think leads to a lot of this unfolding at such a deliberate pace during the off season, is the market has to set itself and you have
to go in order of who's available. And so I think with Bieber there's certain interest from teams, and it's some teams that would prefer to sign a free agent. It's other teams who are waiting for other dominoes to fall. But certainly someone of his caliber, there's going to be interest. It's just
doesn't move the needle for the Guardians. Does it make them a better team in twenty twenty four or beyond if it's prospects that they settle on with Class A. I think it's more they know they have certain holes on the roster. They need to upgrade the outfield, which combined for eighteen home runs last season. They know they they need They have some holes in the lineup, and I don't think they're going to go to the free agent route to fill
them. So you're just you know, you're compared it to a game of whack a mole. You're trying to hit one of the moles before another one springs up, but inevitably the game never ends, and there are moles popping up all over the place. So you have to decide are you blown away by an offer for your closer and is it convincing enough to move him? Knowing that then you're going to have a hole in your bullpen that you're going to have to fill, or you know, it depends on the deals that
you get. I don't think they're out there calling every team begging them to take their all star closer, but you have to consider things. And this is a front office that will listen to a phone call from pretty much every front office across the league at any time. So I think that's how you wind up with someone of class's ability maybe being discussed a little bit. All
right, we'll finish with this two part question. Can you reveal if indeed you did have a meeting with show hey Otani and if not, were you allowed to obviously your home, but did it take an effort to be allowed to leave before he made his decision on which team he's going to play for at the Winter Meetings. I can't decide if I think it's more fascinating to have this spectacle shrouded in secrecy, or or if it's better to just let it play out the natural way, where you get all sorts of rumors of
flying all over the place. I think I like the secret. I think I like the fact that teams are hesitant to even reveal who met with who and where they met and where they're doing. A zoom call from I did not meet with shohe Otani. I don't have six hundred million dollars in my bank account yet, and if I did, I think I would spend it in other ways. What a thing for him? Huh? Quite an off
season. Well, Zach, listen, welcome home. Good to have you back in town, and thanks so much for the update on the Winter meetings in Nashville. You got a rosie. That's Zach Misel from the Athletic Stay tuned a lot more to come after this. Welcome back to Guardian's weekly Jim
Rosenhouse. Back with you from Progressive Field in downtown and Cleveland, where the renovation work continues throughout the off season major changes to the ballpark which will be completed in two years, but certainly a lot of crane activity and activity in the upper decks, both in right field and left field taking place as we record this week's show, our final show of twenty twenty three, and just a reminder, we will be dark now until January the sixth, so certainly
happy holiday wishes going out in a happy new year to everyone, and thanks as always for tuning in. So we leave you in the second half of our show this week with our final games of the year that we look back on exciting ball games and none more exciting even though it was a Guardian's defeat to the Chicago White Sox than the game on Saturday, August the fifth, and I'm sure many of you are starting to put it together now with White
Sox in town August. Great game and maybe really it was just a great ten minutes of action unexpectedly so that did not really involve baseball. We'll get to that in just a bit, but first to set the scene, the White Sox struggling mightily with their season well off the pace and out of playoff contention, the Guardians still trying to hang in there. They were only two games under the five hundred market this point. At fifty four and fifty six.
It was game two of a three game series at Progressive Field. The Guardians won the opener of the previous night four to two, and the pitchers in this one Michael Kopek for the White Sox and newly acquired Noah Cinderguard, making his second start for Cleveland since joining the ball club. Cindergard was trying to help out the young rotation in the final couple of months of the season, and he got a big lift from his defense early on to keep the
socks off the board. In the first inning, the set the pitch and it's slung on Grinded to third, Ramirez to second. One he Menus turns the double play bass has loaded nobody out. White Sox not able to score, and after a half inning, Noah Cinderguard continues to what gun finn ice
but it hasn't broken yet. But then the White Sox power bats came to life, as over the next five innings they hit three solo home runs Luis Robert, Andrew Vaughan and Oscar Colos, all going deep, and a two run blast from Elvis Andrews, and all of a sudden, it was five to nothing White Sox heading to the bottom of the sixth inning. But the
fans on hand, they had no idea what was coming next. As the Guardians were looking to cut into the lead, they got things started with a double for Andre se Menez and then jose Ramirez stepped in for what became a memorable at bat that ignited the fireworks. Josey again awaits the two to two pitch from Copek. Here it comes. I was swinging a smash to first by the diving Vaun down the right field line, kicks into the corner. Ramirez on his wait a second head first slide, say Fenning. The score
is Jim Andz and another household double right over the bag at first. Now Hosey and Anderson's square off. They're fighting. They're swinging down Gozanderson down, Goesanderson. Ramirez went in with a head first slide. Hosey never gets upset about anything. They came up chewing. Anderson squared off, Hosey dictum. It's a five to one Chicago lead. But everybody from the dugouts and the bullpens congregated around second base. You never see Jose Ramirez get upset like that.
And Tim Anderson was on the wrong side of that punch. And we'll see how this is all sorted out. Hosey went in with a head first slide and it was a bang bang play at second Not sure what was said that prompted it, but Josey popped up immediately, he said something. The next thing you know, Anderson squared off and Jose Ramirez dictum. And now Anderson's being dragged to the first base dugout. Now Tim Anderson doesn't want any advice rate now, but the advice would be, don't mess with Jose Ramirez.
You've already learned once the hard way. Everybody else, for the most part, is just kind of standing around. Well, the fans that came for Rock and Blast and now here we go again's at the mound and the manager Tito Francona and Pedro graffal pointing fingers at each other and being separated and
everybody now goes to the pitcher's mound. So this escalated after it de escalated, and now the two managers are now we got another scrum at the first base fouly and here comes another blast, Gonzalez trying to get in it. And we have got scrums all over the field, breaking up in different areas around the first base foul line. And this is one of the few times
you're truly seeing a baseball brawl. Normally it's a lot of shouting, a lot of pointing fingers, but this one had numerous skirmishes that have been broken up and then restarted. And when Tito and Griffal got after it, that's when it started up around the pitcher's mound, then moved to the first base foul line, and Anderson's back out of the dugout and he is nearly being
tackled by his teammates. He's being carried off the field by Andrew Vaughan, and this thing is going to take a little while now to get sorted out. There were so many skirmishes that broke out, and now injured in all of this was Aloi Jimenez, who's had a history of not being able to stay healthy, and something happened to Hi Metez with a leg or a foot that he had to hobble off the field. Meanwhile, Jose Ramirez is going back out to second base, and we have got more pushing and shoving.
Now Emanuel Closse is being dragged out of there by his teammates. It's Josh Naylor dragging Klasse out of there with an oplaque injury. And we have not seen anything remotely like this, with the escalation that took place numerous times, and the guys that are going to have to sort this all out, the four umpires have got their work cut out for them. Several ejections on both sides followed, including Ramirez, so Jose Tana came on to run for him,
and Cole Calhoun delivered to pull the Guardians a little bit closer. Now the pitch Calhoun with a bullet to right. There's his first Cleveland one pase hit teena will score, gunsale smoters to third, throw comes all the way to whole plate, backed up by the catcher Grandall and it's a five two
ball game. And Cole Calhoun gets into the spirit, ripping another bashit to right all four hits have been shots to right field, and Calhoun with his first Darby I and first base hit in the major leagues in twenty twenty three. But the White Sox pulled away with two runs in the top half of the eighth inning. Guardians scored two and they're half of the eighth to make it seven to four, but that would be the final score. The following
day, Tom Hamilton talked with Terry Francona about the wild game. Just another routine night last night. He don't that was incredible, Just another whole hum night at the ballpark. Huh, Yeah, that was That's not what you expect when you show up with the ballparking. That's the first time in eleven years since I've been here the day, you know, something's kind of got
out of hand like that. And again, you know, you hope one that nobody ever gets hurt, because that's the biggest thing, I think, because people are going to say things, do things that when you're got emotions going, you just hope everybody comes out of it, you know, where it doesn't get in the way of future games. So while it was a Guardian's loss on August the fifth, certainly a memorable night will always go down
as the night Jose Ramirez dropped Tim Anderson with one punch. Down goes Anderson, and that was something else great call Miami that he certainly gained some notoriety for. And we jumped ahead to the final week of the season and the final home game of twenty twenty three for both the Guardians and manager Terry Francona, Tito retiring after eleven seasons at the Helm for the Guardians. Prior to that the Indians, and before the game, we had a chance to talk
with owner Paul Dolan as he reflected on Tito's time as Cleveland manager. You couldn't have scripted, you know that the Terry Francona a tenure with the Cleveland Indians now Guardians any better than what it was. And you know part of that script was that he was playing where his dad played. And there are pictures of Tito as a kid in the dugout all over our organization. It
really really has meant so much to our organization, into our community. And Tito's last home game came on Wednesday, September the twenty seventh, the Reds in town at eighty one and seventy seven, the Guardians out of playoff contention at seventy four and eighty four, Andrew Abbott against Shane Bieber. That was the pitching matchup, Bieber making just his second start after returning from a long stint on the injured list that began in early July. And we picked things
up in a scoreless game. Second inning, the Guardians looking to get the scoring, started with Ramon Loriano leading things off with a double. He stole third and that brought Tyler Freeman to the plate. Down the three to one. A swing in a shot up the middle base hit Rick Ache's off the bag at second, Karen's into center field, and the Guardians tago one nothing lead on Tyler Freeman's RBI single to centers, scoring Ramon Loreano Freeman's fourteenth RBI.
Next up another of the Guardians young infielders, Brian Rocchio, now the one. Ozero hit on a line toward the right center base hit Freeman hits thirties being waved home. Here's Friedo's throw out of the plate, cut off at the mound and then the throw by Incarnassion strand A Dela Cruz at second and they tag out Rochio no idea why Rochio was going the second there. That's just over aggressiveness. But give the kid an RBI single to put Cleveland
on top two to nothing. As Rochio just up from Columbus as his sixth RBI on the single to right center, Cleveland was looking for more in the bottom. The third was Stephen Kuan in scoring position at second base and Josh Naylor at the plate. A swing in a long drive to right. This ball is off the wall into scores Kwan. Naylor holds with a long single as he nearly knocked down the wall and right, and Cleveland leads three and
to nothing. Josh Naylor's ninety seventh RBI as he hit a two iron that just didn't get high enough to get out of here, but he has knocked Andrew Abbott out of this game. In the fourth, they had another runner in scoring position and yet another youngster coming through in Jose Tena. Here's the old one swung on. There's a chopper near the middle and under the glove
of India. How it goes into the outfield. Scoring on the play is Rochio onto third goes Straw and it's an RBI single for Jose Taena just passed the second baseman, Jonathan India, and the Guardians now lead it four nothing, FOURTEENA. That's his third run batted in in the big leagues and he's now two for two on the night. The red scratched out a run in the sixth to make it four to one, but Bieber was still out there
for the Guardians, and he looked sharp heading into the offseason. Bieber's ready now the two strike three ball he was guessing breaking ball locked them up with a fastball and canasion Is biab seventh strake out victim. The Reds, still battling for a playoff spot, got back in it with two runs in the eighth inning to make it a one run ball game. So in the ninth it was up to Emmanuel Classe trying to nail down his career high forty third.
Say the pitch down in the dirt ball one fans on their feet, channing Tito, you know how badly this Cleveland club wants to win it for Tito and twenty nine on their feet want it just as badly. The pitch swing a little tamper right side, trickling down the line, fair ball. Naylor grabs it, steps on the back ball game, Dela Cruz never left home plate, David Bell coming out to argue once at a foul ball off
the foot. Cleveland will celebrate as the game ends in a weird fashion and Emanuel claus A will get his forty third save, a new career high, and Cleveland hangs on to win four to three. David Bell is pleading his case with the entire umpiring crew as the fans are on their feet shanding Tito. Tito. So the ball game ends and the Rents, frustrated, will
head to the clubhouse. Final tonight, Cleveland four, Cincinnati three. What a way for Tito to wrap up his managerial career at Progressive Field, and after the game, he talked about how special the night was for him. Well, I guess what I'm just trying to convey is the eleven years here are what is the best part. It's not like the last day. It's everything that I lived through here with the people that I was with, and
that's what that's what I care about. I Mean, I know I'm not the smartest person in the room by far, but I was smart enough to pick a place where I believed in the people, and that only grew and I think anybody's ever spent ten minutes with me knows how much I like it here. It's so close to kind of how where I grew up two hours away, and it was a good decision. It just seems like it got better. You kind of said a little your last message be to the fans
now, I think tonight it would just be thank you. I have tried to do my best all the time. Sometimes it's been better than others. But I appreciate my time here very much. I hope that they support these guys moving forward because there's a lot to like. We didn't get things accomplished this year like we wanted. That doesn't mean it's not going to happen very
much. A special night for Terry Francona, wrapping up the home portion of his Cleveland managerial career eleven memorable seasons with Tito at the helm of this ball club. He will be missed greatly, but the contributions he made to this organization over his eleven seasons may not ever be matched, as he will step down as the winningest manager in Cleveland Indians and Guardians history. Stay tuned will have some final thoughts after this time out on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Folks, this puppy isn't over Progressive. We love sports and saving you money, so we bundled them together. It's forty love here in the third set, and there's the bell. She's coming off the bench hop looking for a quick knockdown. But wait, she's driving to the hoop. Co tew goes the champ. That's another double fault. She'll be shooting too to serve
us up and here comes the left hook. She's bundled her home and auto insurance with Progressive Swish ace savings to BKO for christ keshl Teensurns company up the l It's other insurans discompment not availble in all statser situations. Kim Rose announced back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. It is our final show of the twenty twenty three calendar year. We'll take a hiatus for the Christmas
holiday and New Year's as well. Our next show January the sixth. We look forward to chatting with you then and things will start to happen pretty quickly. We may have some news on player moves and such coming out of the winter meetings and things that happen over the holidays. Guards Fest is coming your
way on January the twentieth, is Saturday afternoon and morning. If you're a season ticket holder and if you want more information and the opportunity to purchase tickets for that great event, which will feature most of the new coaching staff, including new manager Steven Vote, and a lot of the current roster as well. They'll be on hand. Always a great time, highlighted by that tremendous field in the middle of the Huntington Convention Center, and all kinds of opportunities
to meet and greet and bump into some of your favorite Cleveland Guardians. That's all part of Guardsfest coming your way on January the twentieth. Just go to cl Guardians dot com for information and tickets, and then it won't be long after that. Spring training begins in mid February, and we'll have spring training broadcasts coming your way to starting at the end of February, so a lot of baseball will look forward to but enjoy the holiday season and the new year.
As always. Thanks to Brian Motse, my good friend, for it helping to put together our show each and every week. Matze you have a good holiday as well, and we will talk to him after the break. As well as everyone else out there who tunes in each week to Guardians Weekly. This is Jim Rosenhause. Have a great holiday everyone. Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive Helping Guardians. Fans say hundreds on car insurance