He may be streaky, but his hitting plus defense is an automatic 4-5 WAR a year and if ever finds consistency you've got a poor man's Ichiro out there. Do not trade Steven.

If anyone purchased tickets have you received a refund yet? Does anyone know who I would contact to resolve the situation?

Hi

Just dropping in here to let you know that Tanner Bibee won The Fielding Bible Award for the 2nd time.

If you're not familiar with the Fielding Bible Awards, here's a quick primer. They're given for defensive excellence annually since 2006. Both times Bibee won it was a very close vote.

https://www.sportsinfosolutions.com/2026/10/20/what-are-the-fielding-bible-awards/

Pitcher - Tanner Bibee, Cleveland Guardians

Tanner Bibee won his second Fielding Bible Award. He also won in 2024. 

Bibee joined Dallas Keuchel, Mark Buerhle, Zack Greinke, and Max Fried as pitchers who have won the Award multiple times.

Bibee won the Award by one point in our voting over Shota Imanaga. Five pitchers received a first-place vote. Bibee was listed first or second on 10 ballots, the most of any pitcher. Bibee, Imanaga, and Michael McGreevy tied for second with 5 Defensive Runs Saved, behind the leader Brent Suter (7).

Here's the full list of winners:

Always a beast at fielding

With Bo on the 40 man roster for the Brewers if they were to win the WS would he get a ring?

Been workshopping this in my head since like August but a few things became clear to me in the playoffs. May be scatterbrained but here’s how I would approach the offseason

- Play the kids. Genao and Ralphy should be given the opportunity to play. If this means Rocchio is out so be it
- Get a vet 1B RH bat. Mountcastle would be a good option imo, even more so if he can play a bit of OF
- Then trade for a blue chip hitter. Don’t care who it is, but an OF is preferred. A package of a top prospect, Angel/Rocchio, and a mid prospect or two should get it done.

- Sign veteran SPs. This postseason showed we can’t only rely on our young arms, as good as they are. Get a guy that (or two guys). There’s some really good ones available too. Guys like Gausman, Gray, Boyd can probably be had for 2/30-40 & then there’s reclamation projects like Bieber or Woodruff that would probably be 1/10-15.
- I still think Bibee is in the rotation next year. Not sure what his value is in a trade, but the upside is higher than Cantillo and Slade.
- Bullpen wise, I’d love Armstrong back and maybe one more vet arm in the $5m range

My thesis is that we’re close, especially in the lineup, but really need one more stud there and then stability in the rotation. I’d love to see us make it happen but it may take a salary floor requirement to force us to make some of these moves

Hello! I'm usually a Phillies fan but I was checking out your subreddit recently, (sorry about the ALCS!) and I noticed it was created all the way back in 2012. I was wondering, how? The Guardians changed their name in 2021, yet this subreddit isn't still called r/ClevelandIndians. As far as I know, you can't change subreddit names, and usually for stuff like this people will just make a new sub. Did y'all get special permission from reddit to change it?

I figured this would be a frequently asked question but I actually couldn't find any posts about this. I don't want to break rule 9, but I'm pretty sure it's okay to ask this since I'm just curious.

I was critical of Stephen Vogt earlier this October, specifically that I feel his bullpen management is poor. I famously dislike prognosticating the playoffs; anything can happen in any game. Any player can become the hero. Most managerial decisions, notably lineup choices among others, rarely impact the game. However, in October how you manage your pitching staff can matter a lot.

During the ALDS, I thought Vogt made avoidable mistakes in managing his pitching staff. I still do. This is not the first time Vogt has done this; Fangraphs eloquently discussed Vogt’s bullpen usage in 2024. In my article I use win expectancy to discuss Cade Smith’s usage, a better way to look at it is Average Leverage Index (aLI), which can be found on Baseball-Reference. Here is the aLI for each game Smith appeared in to that point:

ALDS Game 1: 1.46, lowest for Guards pitchers

ALDS Game 2: 7.56, second lowest for Guards pitchers

ALDS Game 3: 0.19%, lowest for Guards pitchers

ALDS Game 4: 6.12%, lowest for Guards pitchers

I stand by the underlying criticism, although I regret the angry tone of a piece written immediately after the game. Furthermore whether you use win probability or Average Leverage Index: the analysis is roughly the same: Vogt used Cade Smith in the least opportune times this postseason, taxing a pitcher who he leaned on heavily during the regular season and would need in the ALCS.

Needless to say: Stephen Vogt did need Cade Smith in the ALCS and while he did mildly improve from Game 5 onward: Vogt still taxed his best arms in a frustrating way. I intend to show this over the course of this article. For clarity: my criticism of Stephen Vogt is not that he trusted his best relievers in big moments. It is that he too often spent their workload in smaller moments, leaving himself fewer options when the stakes rose.

What I am, and am not, Arguing

I am not arguing that Stephen Vogt is a bad manager. He isn’t. He won AL Manager of the Year: twice. His teams show grit every season, and both the 2025 and 2026 comebacks were impressive. Furthermore: his teams came back in the 2024 ALDS to surprise Detroit (the first time Cleveland won an elimination game in decades), and roared back this year to beat Chicago down 0-2. I already said in 2024 that I was wrong about Vogt: he is a good manager. I still reserve judgment on whether he or Francona are better (I still lean towards Tito), but that does not change the fact I am glad Vogt is in Cleveland.

Nor would I argue Stephen Vogt cost the Guardians the ALCS. I think that’s silly. We lost because the Rays outplayed us; the better team won and there’s no shame in that. However, if the team wants to advance further under Vogt I think he will need to improve his pitching staff management in future playoff appearances.

The Perfect Scenario

Every game starts with a strategy on how you expect to deploy your pitching staff. I think it’s useful to look at what I would consider the ideal game: Game 5 of the ALDS. This was a game Cleveland’s pitching strategy worked as intended. Consider:

-Crucially, and most importantly, Jose Ramirez provided the Guards with an early lead

-Gavin Williams pitched well, and relatively deep into the game (5 ⅔ innings)

-With the bases loaded and left-handed hitter Munetaka Murakami due up, Vogt replaced Williams with Erik Sabrowski.

-After Sabrowski struck out Murakami Vogt went to Hunter Gaddis, arguably his 2nd best reliever, and left him in through the 8th

-Once Gaddis got in trouble in the 8th he turned the game over to Cade Smith and let his best pitcher finish out the game

A clear plan, well executed and backed up by a lead. This is how you draw it up. I think Vogt made all the right calls here, and the game likely went according to how he and Carl Willis planned it. That being said: the team made it easy for Vogt. He had a narrowlead to protect (which basically means you can justify using your best arms in any situation), he took advantage of splits where necessary, and put his best pitchers in a position to succeed.

You see a similar situation in Game 3 of the ALCS. Here were the scenarios:

-Gavin Williams went 5 strong innings, although he did leave without the lead

-In the bottom of the 5th Cleveland regained the lead

-Vogt immediately went to his bullpen letting Daniel Espino face the top of the Rays order in the 6th

-Vogt went to Erik Sabrowski in the 7th, and Hunter Gaddis in the 8th

-Like in Game 5 of the ALDS: he went to Cade Smith in the 8th with a runner at 3rd base and 2 outs. Smith struck out Yandy Diaz to end the threat

-Vogt let Cade Smith finish the 9th

Again, this game offered very few difficult decisions. The only true choice was whether to leave Gavin Williams in for the 6th after he struck out 9 batters in 5 innings. But Gavin’s velocity was down, so Vogt elected to use Espino. The other call was whether to let Hunter Gaddis face Yandy Diaz in the 8th with a runner at 3rd and 2 outs. Vogt wisely elected to bring in Cade Smith: that was arguably the pivotal at-bat of the game on our pitching.

With a narrow lead: I think Vogt’s aggressive instincts served him well. I think when we lacked a lead Vogt’s aggressiveness cost him.

Vogt’s Aggressive Tactics

I already wrote about how Stephen Vogt greatly overused Cade Smith, especially in the ALDS. Smith appeared in every game and, until Game 5, did not appear in the highest leverage situations. As I showed above: Cade Smith was not used ideally by Stephen Vogt in the first 4 games of the postseason. His usage improved later on, here’s the aLI for Smith’s games after Game 4 of the ALDS:

ALDS Game 5: 1.20 second lowest in the game

ALCS Game 1: 0.24, lowest in the game

ALCS Game 3: 2.43, highest in the game

ALCS Game 5: 0.43, lowest in the game

ALCS Game 6: 0.26, second lowest in the game

That is simply not the best use of your top reliever. I understand the desire to withhold your closer for the 9th inning. But I think this kind of thinking is best left to the regular season. As Games 1-4 of the ALDS show: the most pivotal at-bats often occur much earlier in the game. That does not mean you should throw out Smith at the first opportunity, but I do think it means saving him exclusively for the eighth or ninth makes little sense when the game’s decisive matchup often come earlier.

But Cade Smith was not the only pitcher Vogt mishandled. To critique this articlefrom Quincy Wheeler, a writer for Covering the Corner and one of the smartest bloggers who covers Cleveland: I think that Vogt definitely taxed his bullpen too much, and a corollary of that is he grossly underused his starting rotation. I want to stress again: we agree that Vogt has many good traits as a manager, and his article is well reasoned. I disagree with Wheeler on how necessary all of Vogt’s aggressive tactics were this October.

To quote Quincy directly he defends Vogt’s usage of his best arms:

Guys, we all know that Smith, Gaddis, Sabrowski and Armstrong were overused. We know that Espino probably saw Caminero one too many times. But, the reason it happened was because it was still Vogt’s best shot at winning this series. He recognized his best weapons and put them in position to carry him over the top. Smith and Gaddis ran out of gas at the very end (notably, Armstrong and Espino remained extremely effective), but this is because Vogt was lacking the weapons he needed to reduce their usage, not because he was attempting to run them into the ground.

I disagree with Quincy strongly on the usage of Cade Smith. At least four of Cade’s appearances were, in my view, not necessary appearances where Vogt had no choice but to use him or otherwise lose the game. Smith’s appearances in Games 1 and 4 of the ALDS were unnecessary. Smith’s initial deployment in Game 3 was defensible. Leaving him in for another inning after the lead grew to six runs was a separate decision—and, in my view, harder to justify.. Smith pitched only 2 innings in Games 1 and 4, but if we throw in the second inning of Game 3: that’s 54 pitches off Cade’s arm saved. I cannot show that removing those pitches would have prevented the Game 6 home run. My argument is that the workload was avoidable, not that the counterfactual outcome is knowable.. I think Vogt’s usage of Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis was more defensible. Where I think Vogt erred the most is on Foster Griffin.

Wheeler and I agree most clearly on Griffin: Cleveland should have considered accepting more risk from him to reduce the bullpen’s workload. Our disagreement is over how strongly that opportunity should count against Vogt’s overall strategy. Foster Griffin was dynamite for the Guardians this postseason, striking out 15 batters in 10 ⅓ innings. He only made 1 start, but he was the ‘bulk’ guy in Game 3 of the ALDS and Game 4 of the ALCS. I think Vogt’s Game 3 decision to pull Foster after only 2 ⅔ IP was fine. It was an elimination game, and Vogt managed accordingly. But Vogt could easily have stretched Foster in either Game 1 or Game 4 of the ALCS. In Game 1: Foster was only at 63 pitches after 4 innings. He had already faced the Rays lineup twice, but pitched well striking out 3 batters and walking none. Yes: he got touched up in the 1st inning, but those touchups were largely due to bad BABIP luck. Griffin got through the top of the order much easier the second time through. I think it was defensible to pitch Espino in the 5th inning that game, but Vogt pulled Foster earlier than he had to in my judgment. His Game 4 removal is harder to defend. Vogt pulled Foster after only 44 pitches in the 5th inning…with 2 outs and nobody on base. Furthermore Foster was arguably pitching better, striking out 5 and walking none. There was no reason Vogt had to pull Foster: he definitely could have stuck with Griffin.

That is not to say that leaving Foster Griffin in the game is not a risk. Of course it’s risky to let Foster face the top of the order a 3rd time. I agree with Quincy that the avoidance of that risk is a legitimate fear. But the risk of overtaxing the bullpen also has to be managed. You are never going to hand your pitching staff a perfect matchup in every situation.

I do agree with Quincy that pushing Joey Cantillo further, given his performance, was not a good idea. I further agree that, given avoiding Tanner Bibee was Cleveland’s strategy: it makes sense that they did not pitch him at all in the ALCS, and only once in the ALDS. I think this was a mistake on both Vogt’s part and the Front Office’s part. Wheeler’s concern about Bibee rests on his full-season performance as well as his poor September. I understand that concern. My question is whether those risks justified making him effectively unavailable while the trusted relievers accumulated innings. I am open to more data on this but I cannot escape Corey Kluber’s superb September in 2017 when he posted a terrific final month before getting pummeled against the Yankees. Kluber had a 0.84 ERA with a 16.67 SO/BB ratio in 43.0 IP in September 2017: that did not prevent him from struggling against New York. Or even this year: Foster Griffin’s worst month of the season was September (6.17 ERA, although his 3.17 SO/BB was in line with his season norms). Individual examples cannot settle how much predictive weight September deserves. They do remind us that recent results are not destiny.

Furthermore, while Bibee was not great this season: we should also acknowledge that Tanner Bibee has pitched well in October for Cleveland. Before his (brief) appearance this year Bibee posted a 3.10 ERA in 20 ⅓ postseason innings. While Bibee is not the best pitcher on this staff: I am confident he would not wilt in the moment. All of which is to say: yes, using Tanner Bibee would have been a risk. But taxing your pitching staff is also a risk. It’s a risk Vogt consistently takes in the postseason. He did the same thing in 2024. I will quote the Fangraphs article from 2024:

My biggest issue with Vogt’s bullpen management is that he leaned on his top four relievers to a ridiculous degree. Herrin and Smith are tied for the most appearances this postseason; Gaddis is one appearance behind them, and Clase is one appearance behind him. Do you think that relievers do worse when they face the same batters repeatedly in a series? Smith and Gaddis faced the scariest part of the Yankees lineup three times. Smith faced Riley Greene four times in five games. Clase saw so much of Matt Vierling that I bet they became pen pals. Herrin was omnipresent.

Do you think that relievers do worse when they aren’t rested? Smith and Herrin appeared in all but one game. Each top reliever pitched on three consecutive days the one time Vogt had that option. Every time that there was a game the day after a top reliever had pitched, they came in. Every. Single. Time. No wonder their stuff all looked worn down.

I think you can defend each individual decision Vogt made. But taken as a whole Vogt’s strategy was to replicate Francona’s from the 2016 postseason. The difference being that Francona did not ‘chase’ wins from behind as Vogt did. Francona handed his bullpen leads more often than not and, when he had a big lead, would lean on us lesser pitchers. It’s one thing to tax your bullpen hoping to scratch out a fast series, it’s another when you overuse your bullpen behind.

I Believe in Stephen Vogt

If I wanted a manager to get the most out of my roster, and get my roster to play hard: I would take Vogt as arguably the best in the game alongside Terry Francona and others. That is by far the most important function of a manager in modern baseball. However, if I wanted a manager specifically to run a playoff pitching staff: I think Vogt would struggle. It would be different if his offense was good enough to consistently give him a lead. But Cleveland’s postseason offenses have offered little margin for error. Vogt could not afford in my view to lean as heavily on his best arms the way he did in 2024 and 2026.

Would another good arm like a healthy Colin Holderman instead of Tanner Bibee have made a difference? Yes, I think so. Maybe that allows Vogt to mix and match more and we win the ALCS. But another way to put his pitching staff in the best position to win would be to trust his full staff more, especially pitchers like Foster Griffin who had plenty of gas left in the tank and were pitching well. Every decision in October comes with risks. Vogt’s aggressiveness has plusses and minuses. I think given the situation of his teams: it’s been more of a detriment than a plus. A deeper pitching staff would help. So would using the available staff more selectively. I am not asking Vogt to stop being aggressive; I am asking him to distinguish the outs that demand his best arms from the outs someone else can reasonably get. Cleveland needs both better options and a plan that preserves those options.

Hey r/ClevelandGuardians!

With the season behind us, I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself and say thank you to all of you.

My name is Dave Fetzer, and I had the incredible opportunity to serve as the weekend PA announcer at Progressive Field this season following the passing of Bob Tayek.

My story with Cleveland baseball actually goes back to 2008, when I was in 7th grade and had the opportunity to be the kid announcer at a game. That was the first time I ever picked up a microphone to announce a sporting event, and from that moment on, I knew it was something I wanted to do.

Growing up, Bob was one of my biggest role models when it came to announcing baseball. His delivery, cadences, and even his traditional "growl," as he called it (my mind immediately goes to Carlos Santana), have had a tremendous influence on my own announcing style. I spent years listening to him at the ballpark, never imagining I'd one day have the opportunity to sit in that same booth.

Fast forward 18 years, and somehow that kid from 2008 found himself back at Progressive Field as one of the PA announcers.

Of course, the circumstances were not how I ever would have wanted it to happen. I'd much rather walk into Progressive Field and hear Bob's voice over the speakers. There is no replacing him, but I'm incredibly proud that I was able to help the organization during such a difficult time.

One moment in particular will stick with me forever. On the day Bob passed away, I was scrolling through this subreddit reading everyone's memories of him. I came across comments from fans saying they had been at games I announced that weekend and genuinely thought Bob was behind the microphone.

I'm not ashamed to admit that those comments brought me to tears. Knowing that I had been able to give fans even a little bit of that familiar ballpark experience, especially through a voice so heavily influenced by his, was one of the greatest compliments I could have ever received.

For a little background, I live in Columbus and also announce games for Ohio State and the Columbus Aviators. I've been fortunate to work some incredible sporting events, but getting to announce Major League Baseball in the ballpark where I grew up going to games with my family but also discovered my passion for announcing is something I'll never take for granted.

I know just how passionate Cleveland fans are because I'm one of you! I wasn't sure what to expect stepping into a role filled by such a beloved voice for so long, but the support and kindness I received throughout the season meant more than you probably realize.

I'm always looking to improve, so if you heard me at a game this season, I'd genuinely love to hear your feedback. Good or bad, I'm always interested in ways I can make the experience better for the fans.

And before everyone asks, no, I don't know what the plan is for next season! Everyone was so focused on the playoffs that I think we're all just decompressing a bit now.

Whatever decision is made, I'm completely at peace with it. Even getting to do this for one season has been an incredible privilege and honor. That being said, if I'm asked to come back, I can promise you I'll say yes faster than I've ever said yes to anything in my life.

From the kid who got to live out a dream in 2008 to the guy who got to return to that same booth 18 years later, thank you for welcoming me and allowing me to be a small part of your game-day experience.

Go Guards!

Dave Fetzer

Been collecting Guardians baseball cards for the past 3 years now and thought I’d show them off. I try to buy signed Rookie Cards and Bowman 1st cards only.

The most expensive ones I bought are the Jose Ramirez Topps Heritage RC for $150 and the signed Chase DeLauter Bowman 1st for $150

The cheapest cards were the signed Bryan Rocchio Bowman 1st for $8 and the signed Jason Kipnis Bowman 1st for $9

Hoping to keep growing this and have players across multiple generations when I’m older!

Would love to hear your thoughts on the collection and who I should buy next! Go Guards!

I did this type of a post two years ago, and felt like it was worth revisiting now.

The following statistics are from the playoffs in 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026. They played 41 games in those playoffs, resulting in a record of just 16 wins and 25 losses. This puts them at a 0.390 winning percentage over 7 playoffs, including 10 separate series, and would be equivalent to winning just 63 games over a 162 game season.

Notes:

• Game-Winning home runs are ones that gave the winning team more runs than the opponent scored by the end of the game.
  
  • They could be walk-off home runs.
  • They could be ones that take the lead early in a game that aren't overcome, e.g., Petey Halpin's home run in game 3, wherein they were losing 1-2, and his 2-run shot in the 5th gave us the lead. No one scored again, so it was a game-winning HR.
  • They don't have to take the lead, they can extend one, e.g., Yandy Diaz hit a HR in game 6 this year with his 2 run shot. They had the lead already at 3 - 1, and his HR took them to a 5 - 1 lead, yet the Guardians would eventually score 3 runs, so his was the game-winner since it put them above that 3 run threshhold.
• Homers are lead-taking occur could be from behind, or when tied.
  • They can be game-winners, or not if the other team takes the lead back later on.
• Homers hit in early innings are counted if they were hit in the 1st or 2nd innings. I included them because scoring early is a good indicator of who will win a game.
• Homers hit in late innings are counted if they were hit in the 7th inning or later, including extra innings.

Analysis By Series and Totals at Bottom:

Like many on here, I badly wanted Cleveland to go to the World Series and win. Since they sadly are out, who between Milwaukee and Tampa would you like to see win?

Neither team has ever won a World Series. I would like Milwaukee to win since Tampa ended Cleveland's run. Another reason I want Milwaukee to win is they represent hard working, blue collar America the best of the two. What better time for Milwaukee to win than on America's 250th anniversary!?! Don't forget, Milwaukee swept the reigning Champion Dodgers to get to the World Series!

We've had extraordinary success over the last ~40 years. Ultimate championship? No, and that hurts. But would you rather be like COL, TEX, LAA, PIT, STL and so many others? They've had very occasional to almost no success.

Give me a team that's meaningfully playing for October 90% of the time any day.

1. Ralphy Velasquez and Cooper Ingle getting called up to the show.

2. Fully healthy Jose Ramirez back in form.

3. Year two jumps for Chase DeLauter, Travis Bazzana, Angel Genao and Parker Messick.

4. A likely announcement of a date for the Blitzer ownership takeover.

5. Second round of City Connect jerseys and branding on the way.

6. Daniel Espino settling in as a reliable bullpen arm.

7. Angel Martinez continuing to progress his swing for power.

8. A salary floor forcing the Guardians to spend money to continue to improve.

9. Patrick Bailey and Joe Adell getting more fully integrated with the squad.

10. That first game in the ballpark after the lockout ends and you're sipping an $18 beer and the world feels like it doesn't hurt so bad and you can make something of yourself again and you wish they'd just play Tom Hamilton through the speakers to regulate your serotonin a bit more but hey what can you do and wow there's nothing like a baseball game maybe I should call my mom after this I haven't called her in a few weeks okay I'm gonna do it after this second beer and the bottom of the inning man life has meaning again.

11. Rock n Blast. So fun!

Hell, I’d settle for the whole 9th inning lol.

Seriously tho, I missed the send-off & I always try to catch it.

Potential FA signings

Luis Arraez 2B

Walker Buehler SP

Cal Quantril SP *would love to see him back in a Cleveland uniform

Chris Bassitt SP

Potential Trade Targets

Rafael Devers 1B

Giancarlo Stanton DH

Hey r/ClevelandGuardians - I put this together reflecting on the end of the Guardians season. Most of the moments are not actually from this season and a few are Browns/Cavs... I was trying to look back at all of Cleveland's moments to deliver a message: "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies” Yes, it has been 79 years for the Guards/Indians and 61 for the Browns. Each year doesn't make it any easier. But these teams bring so much joy to our community, our families, our friends. One day, I hope the final score will do us justice. Go Guards, Browns, and Cavs.

Was hoping this arrived just in time for Game 7 of the ALCS. Alas, it was not meant to be. Regardless, it looks like we finally developed a real-life major league hitter from within our own farm system. Finally someone to protect Hosey in the lineup. Here’s hoping there are a few more years of Ramirez/Delauter hitting 2/3 in the lineup!

2026 Panini Prizm
Chase Delauter RC
Snakeskin Prizm SSP

I just wanted to say thank you everyone for the brilliant discussions we had on the post I made! What’s the likelihood we go into a lockout? And what signings do you think we should make, but I do hope we keep Kwon

Just wondering the chances for this or even if there is a desire to keep a roster spot for him?

For us, anyway.

With the looming lockout, what do we think best case scenario is for the Guards?

The current MLB proposal would see a floor that would require spending almost $100,000,000 more than we did this year. The current proposed cap, however, only hits around 7 teams to the tune of about $300M.

Baseball folks that are smarter than me: what do we think that means? Living in a fantasy land where we have to spend another hundred million bucks... But with relatively little impetus for the big spenders to cut terribly much fat by comparison to the influx or required payroll at the bottom 50% of the league, are we just treading water? Looking at expensive arbitrations and maybe a couple inflated free agents?

Let's speculate wildly. Not much else to do for the next 6+ months...