News and Notes: It’s Officially A Rough Stretch Now

News and Notes for Saturday, May 4th, 2024

Shut down the Braves, get tattooed by the Angels: Ah, the duality of man seen in Tanner Bibee.

The less said about last night’s 6-0 loss to the lowly Angels by the Guardians, the better. It was good to see Bo Naylor (two 107 mph hits resulting in a single and an error) and Jose Ramirez (two lineouts at 104 and 103 mph) hit the ball hard. Steven Kwan had another couple hits and a walk. Gabriel Arias had a single... and three strikeouts... and Brayan Rocchio went 1 for 3 with a hard-hit single. I’m completely supportive of giving these two continued chances but, man, is it hard to believe either one is the answer as Gimenez’s double-play partner right now. The bullpen was good and Hunter Gaddis had a scoreless two thirds of an inning, while newcomer Peter Strzelecki (added to roster for Tyler Beede prior to the game) was able to give the team two innings of work.

But, the Guardians offense was mostly missing in action and Tanner Bibee couldn’t command his slider, making for a very frustrating return to Progressive Field.

Very frustrating to have a return to poor performance by a starting pitcher after the recent run of non-Carrasco starter success, but Bibee is only a second-year player, and some inconsistent stretches are to be expected. He’s going to need to figure things out quickly, however, if the Guardians want to push for the division title.

It’s not exactly an ideal night for the Guardians to get their hitters back on track, given they are facing the best pitcher on the Angels in Reid Detmers. But, hey, this is why Stephen Vogt gets paid the big bucks; it’s his first real test at trying to keep a big league team focused during adversity.

Meanwhile, Charlie Condon hit another home run for Georgia (at home, for what it’s worth):

Would be nice to see Kyle Manzardo promoted today, in my humble opinion. The Guardians now have an open 40-man spot with the DFA of Tyler Beede...

Around MLB:

The Twins won their eleventh in a row and beat an actually decent team for once.

The Royals crushed the Rangers.

The Tigers lost a close one to the Yankees.

Itchy Trigger Finger Preller of the Padres made the Marlins an offer for Luis Arraez they couldn’t refuse. Pretty unusual to see a trade like this in May.