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 as we join
you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland after one week hiatus over to the Huntington
Convention Center for guards Fest last weekend. Hope you had a chance to make
it down on a blustery, snow east Saturday, but a lot of fans
did make it down, and so too did more than thirty players from the
Guardian's roster in their minor league organization, as well as most of the coaching
staff too. It was a great day, a lot of fun. We
did our show live on location from the convention Center at guards Fest last weekend
and had a great time visiting with Steven Vote, Craig Albernez, the new
bench coach on Steven Vote's staff, and also pitchers Sam Henches, Trevor Stephen,
and Tanner Biby. They all stopped by toward the end and we had
a great time talking baseball. Get you warmed up here. With the off
season starting to wind down. Now it's not long before pitchers and catchers officially
report to Goodyear, Arizona right on Valentine's Day, and the full squad not
too much after that. And our first game broadcast is the Cactus League opener
between the Guardians and the Cincinnati Reds on a Saturday afternoon, February the twenty
fourth, with a three to zero five first pitch. Hammy and I will
be there at Goodyear Ballpark bringing you all the action and now we cannot wait.
Now still some shows though here in northeast Ohio to get you two spring
training. On this week's show, in just a little bit, we'll hear
from Josh Naylor. We had a chance to catch up with him last week
at guards Fest and get his thoughts on the season pasted and what's ahead for
this ball club, as he's one of the senior leaders on this team now
with only five years in the big leagues under his belt. But that's a
leadership role on a very young roster. Once again, we'll also visit with
Paul Hoins from the Cleveland Plain Dealer and take an inside look at his Hall
of Fame ballot with the Hall of Famers announced earlier this week. The three
men going into Cooperstown with the voting completed include Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton,
and also Joe so a really good class and we'll talk to Oinsey about who
he voted for. You can vote for up to ten and we'll take a
look at his ballot and talk some good baseball with him as well. And
we will also hear from Penny Forster, who is in the Dominican Republic.
She's the director of Community Impact for the Guardians. A great trip to the
hometown of Jose Ramirez took place a couple of weeks back, and she'll fill
us in on all the good things happening in South America. A big part
of what the Guardians do that is community efforts and initiatives, and they took
it to another country, the home country of their star, Jose Ramirez.
We'll hear from her in just a little bit. But as promised, Josh
Naylor caught up with us at guards Fest and last year what a year for
Naylor hit threeh eight, a career best, drove in ninety seven runs,
that's a career best, hit seventeen homers and also stole ten bases to boot,
so obviously feeling much better after going through that severe ankle injuries a couple
of seasons ago. But Josh was such a key part of this ball club,
and you really you almost noticed it more when he was not available in
the month of August due to injury, when the offense got bogged down,
and he makes such an impact and figures to be in that same spot once
again. And he talked about not the numbers that he put up, but
were he really experienced some growth a season ago. I think I grew a
lot as a leader, and I think that helped my game. I think
I I let usually the game take care of itself. I mean, not
all days are going to be great, not all days are going to be
bad. So it's just like trying to stay even kealed. I think I
managed my emotions a lot better last year, and again, I think all
these these little things help attribute to my game on the field and performance wise.
So I just I try to grow its a person every year and every
day a little bit more and more. Again, no one's perfect, so
I think we can just understand that no one's perfect and just just be ourselves
and try to be our best self every day, then you'll improvement everything in
your life, whether it's baseball or sports in general, or whatever field you're
in, or just yeah, just you as a person. You mentioned being
a better leader may have helped you on the field. How so how does
that work the two of them together. I think if you take yourself out
of the equation and you start to look after everyone else and other people.
I know that's a lot, but it takes the stress off of you as
an individual when you're looking forward to seeing other people's success. Because when you
start to do that, I believe and I've experienced it, where if you
start feeding off other people's success and really happy, genuinely happy for them,
then the roles kind of get reversed and they're happy for you and your success.
So everyone becomes, you know, as happy as a team and happy
for each individual. And I think that's where great teams are built around.
Age wise, you're still young, but big league time wise, it's starting
to accumulate for you where you could say, Josh Naylor is a good veteran
player. Do you feel like a veteran player at this point in your career?
No, not really. I mean it's a blessing that I have the
experience that I have and the time that I have, I am forever grateful
for that. I just try to continue to pass down my knowledge, my
experiences, because I think the experiences they tell you a lot about a person
and what they've been through and how they're able to express that, especially for
someone who could have those experiences or get that exposure later in their life,
later in their career. So yeah, I'm grateful for that for the time
I've had so far. You care about all your teammates, but you had
a chance to see a young teammate, you're a brother, really progress in
the Major League a year ago, and as someone who's been down that road
and knows how hard it is, what did it mean to you to see
him overcome some things and really progress nicely? That's awesome. I tell him.
He often he's an MVP caliber player. He looked up through Busler Posey
as a youth and Yaulium Marlino, and I told him, like, you
can be even better than those guys. Those guys are phenomenal players and phenomenal
leaders in their own way, but you're just as good, and you have
a chance to do something, specially in this game. So I think giving
some of those reminders helps helps their mindset a little bit, helps them,
helps ease their mindset in a way where when they start to do through things
on the field production wise, they start to believe it. And it's my
goal, as as an older brother one and as a leader on this team
too, to make sure everyone believes they are who they think they are and
who they say they are. And it's up to me and others, really
everyone to keep harping on the positives and keep harping on that they are great
in their own way and they do something special in their own way that no
one else can kind of copy. So stick with that, you know,
understand yourself as a player and as a person, and believe in it to
the fullest and work your hardest and good things will happen. Josh Naylor joining
us, That was interesting. A little while ago you mentioned sometimes good teams
might have a year they're not happy with or a bad year. I don't
know if it was a bad year last year, but not where you wanted
it to end. What gives you confidence that this year's team can bounce back
and be the team you think it can be? Just a drive each player
has. We kind of got punched in the face a few times last year,
and it's again things happened, you know years, Certain years don't go
as planned as they can, but it's up to you to kind of find
that fire in you and that take that punch and throw a CounterPunch after that,
you know what I mean. It's just we we work hard together and
we encourage each other. We love this game as a team and we love
competing as a team and winning as a team. So I think this year
is gonna be awesome. We have a new staff, kind of like a
whole rebuild on the staff, which is great, and we're looking forward to
all the new experiences and opportunities we all go through together as a group,
and the relationships that are built within each other and getting to know people here
and there, and then getting to know us as a team. So I'm
excited for this year. Always fun to catch up with Josh Naylor, and
in future shows we'll hear from his brother Bo, who was also in Town
Court Guards Beest two and he figures to be a big key to this year's
ball club. Stay with us while we come back, we'll talk with Kenny
Forster, the director of Community Impact, about a great trip that the Guardians
just completed to the Dominican Republic. That's next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio
Network. Now the two old pitch swung at it plastered hid all right,
this is done. Can you believe it? 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 hoopk total 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 in auto
insurance with Progressive Swish Ace Savings, pkoh Aggressi, keshaal Tea Company affiliates and
other insurers not available in all states. Are situations the pitch swung Andrell the
first debt say fairball down the right field line and into the corner. Hose
run mirrors with a two run double. What a day for Hosey. And
he rifled one down the right field line and into the corner, and the
soccer song of Jose josejse Jose is ringing around Progressive Field. Welcome back to
Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhause, back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland.
Great to have you with us for baseball talk on the radio. And
just a couple of weeks ago, a contingent of front office folks from the
Cleveland Guardians went south of the border down to the Dominican Republic Guardians around the
Horn, a community trip to the dr in partnership with Eaton, and all
kinds of great things going on, including a visit to the hometown of Third
Basement and MVP candidate perennially Jose Ramirez in his hometown of Bonnie, Dominican Republic,
and filling us in on all the details of everything that happened down there.
The director of Community Impact for the Cleveland Guardians, Penny Forster, it
was an amazing trip, Rosie. We were there for a week. We
took about ten ton of us from the front office from different capacities. We
really wanted to capture content that we'll be sharing with our fans throughout the season,
but this was really a trip that had, like you mentioned, did
a lot of impact on the Island. I think Paul Dolan said it best.
You know, we've been taking top talent from the Dominican for a long
time and it's obviously helped in our success, so we want to make sure
we're giving back to that country as well. So what we did in partnership
with actually Eaton, who was another Northeast, Ohio based company. They have
a large footprint of the Dominican were down there visiting their plants, visiting all
the people that work for them there, but also schools that they've invested in.
So it's really important obviously for us and for them that education is obviously
something we stressed with all of the youth that we have as part of our
programs. They do the same on there, and so we visited schools.
We made donations to these schools. One of them will be for supplies and
resources that they need. The other is a high school that has a group
hoping to make it to a NASA competition in Alabama. They've actually created a
Mars rover on their own that they're hoping to compete with at a competition that
NASA is holding. So we were excited to do that, and then we
visited like I mentioned the plants, and then obviously Jose Ramirez is from Bonnie,
so he was down there, and we went to his hometown to a
field that he practices on today that he practiced on when he was little,
and did a playblow clinic for children of the neighborhood there and children of eaten
plants. The kids that work are the kids of the parents that work at
the plants. And then we also did a playblock clinic at our academy with
our new sinees the day after they signed. So it's kind of cool to
see them their first official day as a guardian. They're doing a community project,
they're giving back and they're signing their first autographs for ten and eleven year
old RBI kids from the Dominican Republic, which is pretty cool, tremendous,
tremendous stuff. You mentioned Jose Ramirez and visiting his hometown. We see him
here and obviously fans know what he does on the field, and last summer,
Jose Ramirez Field was unveiled in just outside of downtown Cleveland. What's it
like when you're on his home turf and you're in his world of where he
grew up. It's really amazing to see it. What shocks me the most,
and I should have known this, but the kids in the Dominican Republic,
baseball is their number one passion. You know, here in Cleveland,
a lot of kids, they're playing all kinds of sports. Baseball is just
one of the things they love. But down there, baseball truly is the
thing every kid is passionate out. So to see that, to see Jose
interacting with kids from the neighborhood he grew up and was really cool. He
was thrilled that we were there. I think Kose's always stressed that it's important
for him not only to give back in Cleveland, but obviously in his hometown
of Banni as well, So we're trying to do that for him, and
he was just thrilled that we were there. He interacted with all the kids,
He really gave a really good speech to them about listening to their parents
and staying in school and how to be successful, and then just had fun
and we gave them equipment, brand new bats, batting helmets, gloves,
just anything that they could need to continue on their quests to become hopefully professional
baseball players. What did when you give them a new a new bat or
glove or helmet. What does that mean to them? Maybe based on what
they've been able to acquire so far before you get there. No, you
could just hell as an immedia impact. Most of those kids have probably never
received a brand new piece of equipment in their life. You could tell the
coaches were thrilled at what the kids were getting because they're sharing, you know,
one bat for a team, we're one batting helmet for a team.
So to have the kids have their own equipment that they could take home and
be proud of was really something cool. You mentioned the kids who were just
signing, and many of them are sixteen years of age. That would be
the low end. And we'll talk with Paul Gillespie on a future show,
but about some of those signees and what they could be down the road.
But having them participate in that and maybe fill the fans in on what that
academy looks like, being a brand new facility and what that can mean to
a franchise in terms of development. Yeah, it's a beautiful facility. Obviously,
it was the first time I've seen it in person. It's really gorgeous.
There's a couple of fields, obviously a dorm for the younger kids as
they sign, And I think the coolest thing was seeing these kids. They've
never been asked for their autograph before, and here were ten or eleven year
old that are part of the Dominican Republic's RBI program asking them for their autograph
for the first time. So you could tell they were as excited as the
little kids were there and to be a part of it. They're doing their
first kind of community act as guardians, which kind of shows them how important
giving back is to our organization. And it was just really cool to see
them all interacting and leading the camp clinic, leading the different stations and talking
to the little kids. So you go down there for a week with with
nine or ten others from from the front office doing doing so many good things
down there. When you get back here, can you reflect on it and
how it impacted you in addition to how it impacted them down there. I
think for me personally, like I really didn't know what to expect, right,
I'd never been there before. I'd heard stories obviously from others that had,
but you really see the need as soon as you land, you understand
that it's not like it's not like here, the resources are not the same,
especially for the kids. One of the schools that we visited was in
a really really poor community where you know, the school's in pretty terrible condition,
so knowing that we're able to give back, but the level of fact
that the kids have for elders is so strong down there, and they were
also appreciative and happy to see us and meet us, and it was just
a really cool exchange of cultures, honestly, and just learning more about what
is important down there. Obviously, the passion that that entire island has for
baseball was really cool to see, and it's something that I think just kind
of re energized me to get started for this upcoming season here and giving back
here in Cleveland as well. And I know there'll be a ton of great
initiatives happening once the season begins, and even before the season begins. To
Penny, always great to have you on. Glad things went well on the
trip. I know it took a little bit to get there and to get
home, but everyone's back safely and it sounded like a great time. We
missed the heat. It's a little cold now that we're back home, but
it all is well. That is Penny Forster doing great work as the director
of Community Impact for the Cleveland Guardians. Guardians around the Horn their community trip
to the Dominican Republic in mid January, and it was a resound success on
so many levels. Stay tuned, We'll have more to come after this.
Say one, O five vote in the right center back at the truck.
His ball is gone and angry and Beltrez put the Rangers up five four in
the Senate genning of Game six. No bigger swing in his career, and
he's put Texas on top again by a rub. The O one is well
hit the right field. Did he get a enough of it? He did
touch him all time. Todd Helton leads off the bottom of the ninth inning
with a fall into the Rockies full fen high drive left center field, going
back as Bradley, going back as Bradley. It's god a walk off home
run for Joe Bower. How about that? Welcome back to Guardians Weekly and
a big week throughout Major League Baseball. As it was announced earlier this week,
those who will be heading to Cooper'stown this summer as members of the Hall
of Fame, Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer, all being
selected to Baseball's Hall of Fame by via the voting from members of the Baseball
Writers Association of America, including our own Paul Hoyns, who has penned out
a long career with the Cleveland Plaindealer now Cleveland dot Com. And Hoynes we
were talking earlier. It's more than thirty years now that you've been putting together
your ballot to send into Cooper's town, and from when you first started to
where you are now still very much an honor that you take extremely serious,
for sure, Rosie. You know, it's it's a privilege to vote for
the Hall of Fame. You know, every player on the on the ballot
each year is a great player and they deserve, you know, they deserve
your attention and as much a you know, as much you know as I
guess attention as you can give them. So they've earned it, and you
know, you have to kind of respect the process, so to speak.
And as you go through that process, not everybody fills out a full ballot,
and by that I mean selects ten players, but it seems like you
try to do that every year. And how come for you from your perspective.
Yeah, I like to do it, Rosie. You know, obviously
you know, ten players aren't going to get elected to the Hall of Fame.
You know, this year's class was three, and that's a big class
to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame. What's four? I guess with
with with Jim Leland getting in, you know from the Veterans Committee. But
that's a big class. So but I think, you know, players need
like five percent of the vote to stay on the ballot, and sometimes you
can help a guy stay on the ballot and get more consideration, you know,
as the years go by. You only, you know, a player
as long as he gets five percent and stay on the ballot for ten years.
And we've seen guys, you know, like Burt Blylevin get you know,
make it on his final year of eligibility. Gary Sheffield just came up
short this year, you know, on on on a you know, this
last year of eligibility, Billy Wagner's going to be just missed by what five
votes this year? Next year is going to be his last year of eligibility,
So every vote counts. Paul Hoyns joining us from Cleveland dot com,
longtime baseball writer here in Cleveland in more than thirty years now submitting a ballot
for Baseball's Hall of Fame, and Hoynes do we always ask, can we
go through step by step on who you voted for? Yeah? Sure,
all right, Well, well we'll start with at the top three players got
and we mentioned Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer. You voted
for two of the three, maur not quite quite on there for you this
year, and explain what went into the thinking there. Yeah, Rosie,
I voted for Beltray and Helton, they both got in, and I did
not vote for Mauer. I just you know, we saw him. We've
seen him a lot, as you know, the same in the same division
with the Guardians, you know, for for any number of years. I
thought that, you know, you know, obviously, if he had played
his whole career as a catcher, he would have he would have been in
no doubt about it. But I thought the last five or six years of
his career, when he moved the first base because of injuries, he was
pretty he was pretty much an ordinary player. So you know that factored into
my vote. I thought he would definitely stay on the ballot. I just
didn't think, you know, for next year. But I just didn't think
he was the first ballot Hall of Famer. Well, you were not alone.
He just made it in. And yeah, he just made it by
the skin of his teeth by four votes. Yeah, I think a lot
of voters were grappling with some of the same things that you were. What
made Beltray and Helton though, put them over the top this year for you,
Yeah, Beltray was a no brainer to me. Three thousand hits,
you know, two times silver Slugger, drove in one hundred runs, seven
times, nine time All Star, played twenty seven years you know, gold
Glove third base, and over three hundred stolen bases. So I just I
just thought he was definitely, definitely a guy that that you know, deserved
it. And Helton, you know, I thought, you know, he
came close last year. Uh uh set you played seventeen years, five time
All Star, and I know, obviously Corsfield helped him, you know,
helped his uh you know, his his his numbers, but he was just
the same almost the same kind of hitter on the road as he was at
home. And you can't really he can't, he can't hold where the guy
plays against him. You know, if a guy takes advantage of that,
fine, But the fact that he played just as well on the road,
you know, was a big factor for me. And he made some great
points about the challenges when you play for the Rockies, of how hard it
is to to hit when you go on the road because the pitches have such
different shape because of the altitude, and and just dealing with with altitude and
non altitude and what it does to your body. So there's certainly a tip
of the cap to him for his fine career. All right, the guys
who didn't make it, who were on your ballot, a trio of outfielders
who all three had maybe someday they get in Carlos Beltrand, Tory Hunter,
and Andrew Jones, who was the one that I think may make it,
but all three of you think down the road maybe might get there or still
just kind of maybe a little bit off. Andrew Jones, ten time Gold
Glove winner, just you know, I mean, just a great just a
great player. He receives what sixty two percent of the vote this year.
He's in the seventh year. He might make it, He might make it.
Rosie and Beltrand, you know, really, you know, he epitomized
the kind of a leadoff hitter to me, you know, a power you
know, a guy that stole steel spaces hits, home runs. I really
I loved watching him play. And you know Tory Hunter, you know,
another guy that played a long time nineteen years nine gold gloves, you know,
just another well rounded player. Relievers always seem to be tricky for the
Hall of Fame, the value of what they do and how many saves you
need to have and all that kind of good stuff. But boy, two
good ones, two battlers, Kay Rodden and Billy Wagner on your ballot,
And it looks like you mentioned earlier, Wagner may make it next season.
Hunt, Yeah, Billy Wagner. What gives ends up five votes short of
getting into into the Hall. Next year's is final year on the ballot with
seventy four percent of the vote, you know, over four hundred saves.
You know, just you know, really really a solid you know, just
a solid closer. And you know the guy I kind of goes under the
radar to me is Francisco Rodriguez Rosie. I mean, this guy, you
know, appeared in ten postseason games. You know, He's four fourth all
time and saves four hundred and thirty seven staves. He's got more saves than
Wagner. But you know, he bounced around a lot, and I think,
you know, after that initial success he had with the Angels when they
won the World Series in two thousand and two, I think people kind of
lost sight of him. But he was he's been. He was a quality
closer for a long time. Two more on on Paul Hoyness's ballot for the
Hall of Fame, and again it was Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton, and
Joe Mauer going into Baseball's Hall that was announced earlier this week. Mark Burley,
we were talking earlier about his candidacy, and you have some numbers that
you find very impressive and make him worthy to be on your ballot, and
who knows, maybe in the future make a little more headway. Yeah,
another kind of under the radar guy, Rosie. You know, he pitched
sixteen seasons in the big leagues. In fourteen of those seasons, he pitched
two hundred and more innings, and that's unheard of anymore. I mean,
you know, organizations don't even let guys pitch two hundred in ex Now you
pitching through a no hittery through a perfect game, five time All Star,
and probably one of the best fielding pitchers. You know you're gonna see what
about the Remember the play he made when he when he tossed throughout one of
the Cleveland runners. He fielded a ground ball and through it behind between his
legs the first base and got the guy out. That play always sticks in
my mind, kind of sums up how just how good he was with the
glove and the last one. I know, we talked about it last year,
and it really is an unfortunate case because if you just look at what
he meant, especially to fans here in Cleveland, all Marvis scal stays on
your ballot. But he's got some challenges, doesn't he. Yeah, you
know with Rosie, he to me, he's the best shortstop I've ever seen
play on a day to day you know, a Bassis played the most games
ever a shortstop, eleven time Gold Glove winner. But you know, if
not for you know, the spousal abuse charges and the sexual harassment charges,
you know, with the bat boy and when he was playing, when he
was managing in the in the Chicago White Sox minor league system. He'd already
be in the Hall of Fame. He was, you know, three or
four years into his eligibility, he was at fifty percent. Now he's back.
Now he's he went He's down to seventeen point eighteen percent of the vote
right now. You know he is you know what is in his h He's
in his seventh year. He's got three more years left, Rosie. But
I don't think he's he's gonna make it. It's just a shame that it
happened, you know, you feel you know, and but you know Omar
probably only has him to blame for it. Well, that a tough deal
for sure, especially for fans here in Cleveland. So another year in the
books close with this, and maybe this happens every year because of the debate.
And it's not a cut and dry thing in terms of who you should
vote for and who you shouldn't. But every once in a while you hear
people say, well, they need to change the way they do this.
But what do you think, Well, how solid is the method of balloting
and who gets to vote on potential Hall of famers as time goes by,
you know, Rosie, the Hall of Fame, what for nineteen thirty six
when when the Hall of Fame opened, you know, they they turned to
the Baseball ris you know, Association of America to you know, they put
the voting in their hands, and it's remained that way since. I mean,
there's been controversy. There's been guys, you know, great players that
have been left off. There's been guys that are probably in the Hall of
Fame that should be in the Hall of Fame. But it's you know,
I think the process isn't perfect, but I think it's it's as good as
it gets. You know. The people that you know, they've they've really
you know, paired the field down that of voters. I mean, I
remember when it was, you know, the field was four hundred to five
hundred you know people that voted on the awards. But you know, they
they've really kind of regimented that they cut it down to there was you know,
almost you know, just just under four hundred people voted this past for
this for this year's ballot, and I think, you know, I'm probably
I'm probably prejudiced, but I liked it this way. I mean, you
know, and if the Hall of Fame wants to change it, they can
change it, because you know, they're in charge of Baseball writers, not
in charge. You know, the Hall of Fame asked them to do this,
and uh, you know, and with that Rosie, you know,
we've all we've almost been come, you know, judge jury and hangman on
this thing. You know. Yeah, I don't think a lot of voters
ever wanted to get into that position, especially with the steroid you know,
the steroid scandal and this and all the players that well we're starting to you
know, those guys are starting to fall off the ballot now. But you
know, for a long time, you know, the best players in baseball
weren't getting in because they were linked to steroids. And you know, and
that was you know, that was that landed on the writer's doorstep. And
I don't know how many other people would have wanted that responsibility. And I'm
sure from a fans perspective, I think as long as obviously we have you
on, and I think hopefully fans can tell the thought and time you put
into it and how serious you take it. And I think that's for the
majority of those in the Baseball Writers Association of America when they come to voting
on the Hall of Fame and we always appreciate your insights. Hoaysee and won't
belong now man, we'll see out in spring training. Good deal, Rosie,
Thanks man. That's Paul Hoins from the Cleveland Plaindealer Cleveland dot com,
longtime baseball writer here in Cleveland in more than thirty years now casting a Hall
of Fame ballot. Adrian Beltray, Todd Helton, and Joe Maller going in
this season this summer in Cooper's Town. Stay tuned, all that more to
come after this progressive We love sports and saving you money, so we bundled
them together. Top of the seventh looks like a pitching change as they've set
up for a corner kick. The two black belts have entered the mat and
the slider is low and away he heads the ball to midfield. This is
quite a kumasay here comes to round here. Has it got enough guests to
get out of here? Unbelievable. They've bundled their home and auto insurance with
progressive kick savings, pitch Coarrate, progressive casualty in terms company affiliates and other
insurers not available in those states. Are situations Welcome back. It's our final
segment from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Jim Rosenhouse along with you on Guardians
Weekly as work continues on this ballpark. Full disclosure. We are recording our
show on Friday afternoon down at the ballpark, and I'm here along with mainly
construction workers as they continue to hammer away and try and make sure that everything
is taken care of and looking good for opening day. That'll be about the
halfway point of the two year renovation project, but a lot of the fan
facing features will be completed in time for opening day twenty twenty four, and
they are working hard to get that done. And actually not a bad day
to do it on Friday, as it was a little bit warmer downtown.
Some news and notes before we wrap it up for this week. The Guardians
earlier this week extended non roster invitations to spring training to twelve internal players for
this year's spring training in Goodyear, and that brings a non roster total to
fourteen. And some names that stand out on the pitching front. Franco Alaman,
who really put together a fine season, kind of got on that radar
a year ago, a hard thrower out of the bullpen. So we'll keep
an eye on him and old friend Anthony Goes, who is coming back from
Tommy John surgery. He's scheduled to be in camp as well, along with
four other pitchers as non roster invites. Three catchers will be on hand,
including Brian Lavastita, who made the opening day roster a couple of seasons ago.
And in terms of infielders, Kyle Manzardo who had that big Arizona Fall
league and certainly high hopes for Manzardo after a solid season once he got healthy
a season ago. He'll be in major league camp as well, along with
outfielder p d Halpin, who was in came over several times, not in
major league camp, but played in several major league games a year ago.
We'll see him again, a speedy outfielder who's trying to continue his progress towards
the major leagues. Just some of the twelve who have been invited to major
league camp next month in Goodyear, Arizona. That's going to do it for
our show this week until next week when we join you again. This is
Chim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic
Guardians Radio network. Guardians Weekly has been brought to you by Progressive Helping Guardians
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