Guardians On Pace for a Good Time

Small sample sizes are fun, and they lie. By the end of the season, no one will really remember the specifics of what happened in this season-opening series against the barely-in-Oakland Athletics. The individual stats and the 3-1 record will all be properly cooked into the stew of the whole season, a fleeting dash of flavor forgotten by the next spoonful. That’s why it’s so important to have fun with what we’ve seen already right now, as soon as the moment is over. Trying to determine what the taste in our mouth is going to be as soon as the ingredients are getting warm in the Crock Pot means nothing for how the meal tastes at dinner, but we can lie right now about knowing what it WILL taste like. Instead of hot meals, let’s make some hot takes, based only on what we saw in the Guardians' first four games of the season.Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez are going to hit 40 home runs a piece. That’s what they’re on pace for 4 games in, so it must be true (a lie). While Ramirez could realistically reach that number that no Cleveland baseball player has reached since Travis Hafner in 2006 (42),  he’s only ever made it to 39, and that 6 seasons ago. Still, we will not doubt the Gangster in this article. Kwan, however, would be up for quite a few Myles Garrett “random drug tests” if he started flirting with 40 homers this year. However, after hitting a total of 11 dingers in his first two years combined, Kwan saw early results of a more aggressive power approach by launching a home run 424ft on Saturday. That was the third-longest ball hit on the day in the entire MLB, according to Statcast. If he can find that kind of pop consistently, Kwan and JRam might have formed the new Bash Brothers in this Oakland series. It could happen!Bunting is still in fashion with Stephen Vogt, or at least the hitters have the freedom to choose it. Steven Kwan started the season attempting (unsuccessfully) to bunt for a base hit on the first pitch of the year. Vogt put on a safety squeeze in the 9th inning with runners on first and third and Gabriel Arias up to bat. It led to Bo Naylor being thrown out wandering too far off third as Arias missed the bunt, but that was a play put on, not a bold idea from players. Arias and Andres Gimenez both faked squaring for bunts multiple times over the series. While fans were quite vocal about their disdain for the bunt in Terry Francona’s tenure as manager, it does not appear that Vogt is about to abandon the play. But hopefully that 9th inning play stays in the back pocket for a while.This team is a band on the run. Over the 4 game set, the Guardians totaled 8 stolen bases, being caught 3 times. ((This does not include Bo’s miscue, as that counted as a pickoff)) That thievery puts them on pace for 324 steals, more than doubling their total from last season (142). The bigger bases and the pickoff and pitch clock limits do put more value in the stolen base these days, but last year’s total team leader was the Reds with 190, so maybe we should only expect 250 or so from this year’s Guards. The fun thing is, all 8 steals were by 8 different players this series. All were by players known to swipe bases well, minus David Fry. It is therefore not too much of a lie to tell yourself this team could steal a lot of bases and may flirt with the major league lead after top 5 finishes in each of the last 3 seasons. While the “disgusting” brand of baseball remains playing a terror on the basepaths, straight-up steals appear to be on the increase as well. The bullpen is going to overcome its injury concerns and still be great thanks to new additions and players in new roles. Emmanuel Clase escaped his first tiff with batted ball luck on Friday, Hunter Gaddis looks at home in his new middle relief role, and rookie Cade Smith struck out five batters in his first big league appearance, going two innings. ((I love how on the telecast, Andre Knott talked about Tim Herrin negging Smith about his 5 Ks not being as good as his 4 straight Ks in his debut. Fun baseball stuff!)) It’s all coming up roses! What’s that you say about Scott Barlow giving up a run in each appearance he’s made, including a walkathon to lose the game on Sunday? I say to you, that’s just silly small sample size stuff, it will balance out. ((Defeated by my own logic in my own article, ya hate to see it)) We might see a few more rookies and late spring additions get time in Cleveland with so many guys still having options to get sent up and down I-71, but the young arms in the pen right now look ready to contribute until more help comes with health later this month or this year.The proof of the season will be in the pudding later on, but for one weekend, it looks like we as fans have a lot to enjoy along the way. This article didn’t even get into the meat and potatoes of the year, which will be how the starting rotation performs and if they can stay healthy. They came out of the series without a loss to their records, and we even got a little taste of a Cookie as a treat. And just like I lie to everyone about how much I like their potato salad that is always hailed as the best when I don’t even like mayo or mustard, I will lie to myself that these good times will last all year, just one disappointment every 4 games. 122-40, here we come! That’s the pace, and numbers don’t lie. Ok, just a taste.