CLEVELAND, Ohio — Do you have a Guardians question that you’d like to have answered in Hey, Hoynsie? You can subscribe to Subtext here, text Hoynsie at 216-208-4346 for a two-week free trial or email him at phoynes@cleveland.com.
Hey, Hoynsie: Is there any Guardians minor leaguer you definitely would not trade? — Darren Donato, Reading, Pennsylvania.
Hey, Darren: If you’re running the baseball operations of a big league ballclub, you take every phone and listen to every potential deal. No one is untouchable.
Still, there are certain players more available than others. From what I saw of Chase DeLauter in spring training, I would have a hard time parting with him. I know he’s been hurt. I know he’s had trouble staying on the field, but it would take a lot to convince me to let him go.
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Hey, Hoynsie: With the trade deadline looming in a sellers market, how aggressive do you expect the Guards will be? — Jim Z., Durham, New Hampshire.
Hey, Jim: I expect them to be as aggressive as they need to be. They’re in an interesting position, especially concerning the rotation. Do they wait to see if/when Triston McKenzie or Logan Allen can find themselves at Class AAA Columbus? Or do they try to upgrade the rotation before the July 30 deadline? Stay tuned.
Hey, Hoynsie: The G’s position players who may be shopped fall into two groups. Gabriel Arias, Will Brennan, and Tyler Freeman each have over 500 career plate appearances. Five prospects in Jhonkensy Noel, Johnathan Rodriguez, Angel Martinez, Daniel Schneemann and Kyle Manzardo have each flashed promise. Where will the greatest trade interest be? — David England, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Hey, David: I think the biggest trade interest is in prospects. And I still think Arias, Brennan and Freeman are young enough and untested enough to fall into that category.
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Hey, Hoynsie: Why wasn’t Andres Gimenez shifted to shortstop in spring training to allow Brayan Rocchio to learn second base? — Bud, Arizona
Hey, Bud: I think Gimenez has stayed at second for the same reason Steven Kwan has stayed in left field instead of moving to center field. They dominate their position defensively.
The Guardians felt Rocchio could handle shortstop coming out of spring training. I’m sure he could play second as well, but there would have to be a learning curve. So why weaken your defense in the middle of the diamond, when you’re getting above-average defense at short and Gold/Platinum Glove defense at second?
Hey, Hoynsie: What is the average number of years for a first round pick to get to the big leagues? Can Travis Bazzana beat that timetable? — Marv, Phoenix.
Hey, Marv: A story in FanGraphs, written in 2015, calculated that it takes the first overall pick in the draft an average of 3.6 years to reach the big leagues.
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A story in Baseball America, following the 2023 draft, calculated that 81.3% of the pitchers taken in the first round will record at least one strikeout in the big leagues. But only 14.3% will strike out 1,000 batters in their careers.
Regarding hitters, 81% of the hitters taken in the first round will get at least one big league hit. But only 22.5% will reach 1,000 hits.
The Guardians are starting Bazzana at High A (Class A Lake County). We’ll have to see where this takes us. But this is not an organization that pushes its prospects.
The American League’s Jarren Duran, of the Boston Red Sox, holds the award for the Most Valuable Player in the MLB All-Star Game on Tuesday at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. AP
Hey, Hoynsie: Those Walmart-style All-Star uniforms for the American and National League were an embarrassment. Can’t they just go back to players wearing their individual team uniforms? — Tom Koch.
Hey, Tom: I didn’t mind the NL uniforms, but the AL unis looked washed out and see through. I think they can do better.
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Hey, Hoynsie: Every time I see Jose Ramirez being interviewed on TV or read about him, he uses an interpreter. Does Jose speak English? Is he just not comfortable being interviewed on camera or in English? — Ed Wittenberg, Cleveland Heights.
Hey, Ed: Ramirez speaks English. He uses an interpreter so nothing is lost in translation. But with his teammates in the clubhouse, his conversations flow between Spanish and English.
Hey, Hoynsie: Why do people say it would be hard for the Guardians to make a trade with the White Sox because they’re in the same division and it would cost more? I understand that if the White Sox traded a front-line player to Cleveland that they may have to face him for an extended period of time. But wouldn’t the Guardians run the same risk with the prospects they send the White Sox? — Matt Kasza.
Hey, Matt: I see your point, but prospects are prospects for a reason. Some make it, some of them don’t.
If the Guardians acquired Erick Fende or Luis Robert Jr. from Chicago, they are both signed through 2025. Robert has club options for 2026 and 2027. Let’s say Fende continues his career revival and signs an extension with Cleveland. Or Robert stays healthy, rediscovers his power stroke and the Guardians exercise his club options. Meanwhile, all the White Sox have to show for the deal is a handful of magic beans/prospects.
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All executives make bad trades, but it’s worse when they’re reminded of them 13 times a year. That’s why it’s hard to make big trades within any division and that’s why the team selling assets always asks for more.
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Make that a trio of commitment in the Class of 2027 this week for the Louisville football program.
Cleveland (Oh.) Brush defensive end Munir Lewis announced Wednesday that he has committed to the Cardinals. He’s the third commit in the last four days for UofL, Bradenton (Fla.) Cardinal Mooney defensive lineman Kaleb Exume committing on Sunday and Tampa (Fla.) Carrollwood Day two-way athlete Brooklyn Maxey doing so on Monday.
Lewis chose Louisville out of a top seven that also consisted of Ohio State, Michigan State, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech and Purdue. He also held offers from Cincinnati, Minnesota, Wisconsin plus several others, and made multiple visits to UofL’s campus – including this past Friday for the spring game. He’s set to return for an official visit this May.
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The 6-foot-5, 245-pound defensive end is regarded as the 23rd-ranked prospect in the state of Ohio, the No. 50 edge rusher in the Class of 2027, and the No. 592 recruit in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite.
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Lewis was an explosive force for Brush as a junior this past season. He collected 55 total tackles, 13.5 for loss, nine sacks, four pass breakup, a forced fumbles and over 20 quarterback pressures. He helped Brush finish the 2025 season with a 6-4 record.
Lewis is the 12th commitment in Louisville’s 2027 recruiting class, which is on pace to be the best in school history. he joins a class that not only ranks as the best class in the ACC, but the No. 8 class in the nation, per the 247Sports Composite. Four of their commitments are regarded as four-star prospects by the composite.
He’s also the latest in a budding pipeline to the state of Ohio, which has been championed by Executive Director of Football Personnel and Recruiting Vince Marrow. Five of Louisville’s 12 commitments in the 2027 cycle are from the Buckeye State, with three hailing from the Cincinnati area and the other two coming from Cleveland.
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Garion Thorne gives you a preview, prediction and pick for tonight’s game between the Houston Astros and the Cleveland Guardians.
Few teams needed a win last night more than the Astros.
Houston came into Monday’s action having lost 12 of its past 14 games, while also having lost nearly as many pitchers — at least it feels that way. Just take a quick glance at this club’s IL. Hunter Brown (shoulder), Tatsuya Imai (fatigue), Cristian Javier (shoulder). Those aren’t losses that are easy to survive, and the Astros have understandably been struggling. However, after a dominating 9-2 victory, Houston can at least take a small breath.
Can the Astros make it two in a row this evening? Or will the Guardians bounce back? Let’s preview this AL clash and make a couple picks on the DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Astros vs. Guardians prediction, preview
So, remember that list of injured Astros pitchers I just recited? The consequence of the length of that list, is that you have to start people like Ryan Weiss. That’s not to suggest that Weiss is completely without promise — he was a stud in the KBO in 2024 and 2025 — it’s just that the right-hander’s MLB career has gotten off to a slightly rocky start, and it’s clear that Houston currently prefers the 29-year-old as a reliever. In 14.2 innings of work, Weiss has racked up 18 strikeouts, but he’s also surrendered four home runs, 11 earned runs, and a sixth percentile opponent hard hit rate (54.5%). Weiss isn’t quite built up to be a starter, either. Well, at least not fully, as he threw a season-high 76 pitches in his last outing. That means we’re probably going to have to see a lot of the Astros’ bullpen on Tuesday, which is not a good thing. Houston’s RPs rank 29th in ERA (5.66) and they’ve served up a league-high 1.89 opponent home runs per nine. Yikes.
On the other side of this pitching matchup, we find another starter with little major league experience. That said, Parker Messick already looks like another developmental success story of the Guardians’ pitcher factory. The former second-round pick debuted in 2025, maintaining a 2.72 ERA and a 2.98 FIP across seven starts. If possible, Messick’s looked even better so far in 2026, allowing a mere three earned runs over 25.2 innings. Now, a .200 BABIP isn’t going to sustain. Neither is a 91.4% strand rate. However, when you’re limiting opponents to a 3.3% barrel rate and a 29.5% hard hit rate, you might just get a little “lucky” from time to time. It’s not like the southpaw has been skating by on a soft schedule, either. Messick has faced the Dodgers, the Braves, the Cubs and the Orioles. There isn’t a single cakewalk in there.
That pattern of difficult matchups will continue on Tuesday, as well. For as underwhelming as the Astros’ record is, it’s mostly a byproduct of poor pitching. The offense has actually been one of the best in all of baseball. Houston actually leads all American League teams in wOBA (.350) and wRC+ (124), with Yordan Alvarez leading the charge. He’s been fantastic in left-on-left scenarios, too. In his 36 plate appearances within the split, Alvarez is slashing .448/.528/1.034 with a 315 wRC+. I don’t want to discount Jose Ramirez, who has six homers and 10 stolen bases for the Guardians, yet a healthy Alvarez is easily the best bat in this series. He’s that good.
Astros vs. Guardians pick, best bet
Best Bet: Jose Ramirez 2+ Total Bases (+107)
Weiss has a 6.27 FIP. The Astros’ bullpen has given up the most opponent home runs per nine (1.89). Ramirez probably won’t be in a single bad matchup this evening, and that’s before you factor in that the All-Star is a switch-hitter.
Strong Lean: Ryan Weiss 4+ Strikeouts (+123)
While Weiss’ surface numbers aren’t great, he has managed four strikeouts in two of his three outings where he’s thrown 60+ pitches. He’s struck out 18 in 14.2 innings and I expect he’ll flirt with the 90-pitch plateau on Tuesday.
