Guardians postmortem 2024: What we learned about Cleveland’s upcoming offseason priorities (Podcast)

Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Joe Noga 0:04 Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul. We had a chance on Tuesday to meet with Guardians President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, general manager Mike Chernov and manager Steven Vogt. Sort of our our yearly post mortem after the the final out of the season and you know, just sort of wrap things up and and. Get an idea of where things are headed into the postseason. And it covered a variety of topics wide-ranging from, you know, the successes of 2024. Into some of the areas where there are still questions now as we we head into this. This postseason, after the World Series wraps up over the next two weeks, a lot of big decisions still left out there to be be made about the roster. And and really the future of the franchise and how they how they get back to. Contending again for a A World Series title. It’s it’s not like you get a year like this every year. It was a special season and it was a a time to sort of reflect and and and you know, sort of celebrate the successes that they had, but also to to ask questions about, you know, why they wound up losing in five games to the. To the Yankees and the ALCS.

Paul Hoynes 1:37 Yeah, Joe, it just really, you know, kind of you know, like we do every year post mortem on the season and you know the thing I I really picked up on from the front office was they do not want this to be. You know, just a one and done. You know, I think in in a lot of ways 2022, there was a lot of talk about you know, we just don’t want to be a feel good story after, you know, coming out of nowhere and winning the. Division. 2022 and then they kind of fell on her face in 2023, losing 86 games. I get the I got the impression that they want to have 2024 be a be a real springboard for 2025 and beyond, and they’re working toward, you know, carrying that momentum from this year over the next year and and not have a. Let down and you know, I think they’re putting a lot of obviously. The burden falls on the players and I think. You know, perhaps this player group, this group of players, is better prepared to carry that momentum from 2024 to 2025.

Joe Noga 2:49 Yeah, what? What? What gives you that sort of impression or that feeling that that this group of of young guys is is better able to to sort of do that and not let the? You know the same thing happen that happened in 2023 where, you know the, the, the, the backsliding that sort of did occur. In in you know with this team as opposed to, you know, sort of keeping things rolling under Stephen Vogt in year 2.

Paul Hoynes 3:18 Yeah, I think a lot of the, you know, 111 of the big reasons is that a lot of the same players are involved in it. You know Stephen Kwan and and David Fry, you know Jimenez. You’ve got a. You know, you’ve got Jose Ramirez. All those guys have been through this and I think, you know, you know, all that that that whole group of young players will Brennan, I think all of them kind of learn something from 2023. They kind of committed themselves over the offseason coming into 2024, and I believe they’ll do that again headed into 2025. I mean, there’s no, there’s no better teacher than experience. And you know, they’ve they’ve they’ve gone through it once and they know what they have to do to keep that level of play at a high level. And of course, you know, the 2023 season. You know, was kind of marred by injury, too, and there’s there’s not too much you can do about that. But I think the level. A performance by by the players you know is is something that you know they they can set and try to live up to.

Joe Noga 4:30 Yeah. And Austin Hedges and Stephen Kwan, both both said that. Exactly that is now that they’ve, they’ve got the road map. Now they’ve they’ve seen where it it, it needs to go in order to lead them back to this postseason. And and they did take things a step further this year than they did in in 2022. So you know, if you follow the natural progression. Actually, if you follow the pattern. 2025 should be a down year and then 2026 they should go to the World Series. But it’s, you know, you’re hoping to avoid that. I guess it was the whole point of yesterday’s meeting. Let’s kick it off with, you know, just asking about the physical. I mean, obviously that’s the one of the, you know, the big pillars of this. You mentioned being healthy throughout the season. A couple of the guys fought nagging injuries and, you know, one in particular in David Fry. You know, he was limited for the majority of the the second-half of the season. Because of his his sore elbow. What was? What did we learn about David Fry and and what’s gonna happen to him?

Paul Hoynes 5:40 Toward you know, it’s gonna get examined. Examined by a doctor. Keith Meister. I would assume that’s in Dallas. That’s where Meister operates out of, and he’ll get that elbow checked out next week. And they’ll have to see if surgery is needed or some kind of rehab program is required.

Joe Noga 6:01 Yeah. Generally, when you’re talking to Doctor Meister, that’s. The the the undertone there is Tommy John surgery and we’ve seen that not just for pitchers, but for players as well. We saw even Bryce Harper, you know, a couple years back. Miss a part of the season of the after having offseason elbow surgery and then, you know, come back and you know he he had to play first base after that and he changed positions because of. The the elbow surgery. You know, we can’t speculate. We can speculate, but we can’t. You know, know for sure until he meets with Doctor Meister and and if he has to have surgery or if he has to rehab. But you know this, this effects an impact, not just David Fry because. It sort of takes away what makes David Fry special defensively and and Steven Boat admitted that in the second-half of the year. They were limited, sort of in the ways that they could move him around and and the versatility that it gave their lineup in terms of pinch hitting and and situations that. Happened later in games. So if David Fry, let’s say Doomsday, worst case scenario, David Fry has to have surgery in the next couple of weeks and he’s lost for the first half of, you know, 2025. And when he does come back, he’s limited. Do once again only only ADH role he can’t catch and maybe can only play a little first base as a backup. What does that do to, you know, the guardians in 2025, in terms of their roster flexibility?

Paul Hoynes 7:48 Oh, we definitely heard it. You know, Fry had a really, you know, just a really had a lot of, you know impact on this ball club fourteen home runs during the regular season, 51 Rbi’s. He appeared in 122 games. He played 6-7 different positions and as you were saying, Joe, when he when he had when he had this, when he had to be, you know, confined to DH in a little first base that. Really hurt their flexibility so. I I would think you know if if Fry has to undergo surgery, probably the days of carrying three catchers on the roster are over for 2025 and they’re going to have to find another way of implementing, you know, getting getting more bats for more people. And luckily or fortunately, they have a very flexible lineup. They’ve got Angel Martinez. They’ve got Tyler freeman. They’ve got a bunch of got, you know, Daniel Schneeman. They’ve got a bunch of guys that can, you know, place multiple positions. But the key factor is that I don’t think they have a, you know, a guy that can go behind the plate like fry does, and that would be an obvious loss to this club. You know, regarding how much time Fry would miss.

Joe Noga 9:11 Yeah. And you know, just being able to keep a guy who’s whose bat is more productive than, say, an Austin hedges in a game and in situations later in a game where critical at bats would come up. And we saw that happen in the in the postseason a couple of times where, you know, Austin Hedges had to take it. Bats late in games? That you, you you would have necessarily liked to have seen the the flexibility to to put David Frye behind the plate. For for an inning and bring another bat off the bench. So. Yeah, things happen, and hopefully there’s there’s good news coming from. David Fry’s meeting with Doctor Meister, but. Generally, if if he’s meeting with Doctor Meister, that means that there’s some sort of surgery, you know, possibly ahead and you know that that will impact his ability to to catch particularly from the throwing aspect of that in the future moving forward. Forward, we also asked about the coaching staff. Big, big, important news when you know when we have these sort of season wrap ups is you know who’s leaving, who’s going, who’s being looked at for, for jobs at with other other teams. And one of the things that Steve Chris Antonette said was, you know, they kind. Of expect that this coaching staff will have some changes because they had they had success. Other teams see that success. And there are opportunities for these guys to to move on. Who do you expect? To to not be back from Steven Voge staff in in 2024.

Paul Hoynes 10:55 Oh man, that’s a that’s a tough question, Joe. I you know, I would think usually the bench coach gets looked at Cray. Craig Albert, you know, he interviewed for the Cleveland job before and went to vote, you know, voting him or tight. But I think Albernez obviously you know I think has has you know managing on his mind, I would think if he gets an opportunity, he’d probably you know. Would definitely interview. You know, and you know Kai Correa. His interesting, you know, role on this team. Major League field coordinator. I believe you know he was the interim manager with the Giants at the end of 2023.

Joe Noga 11:34 Mm hmm.

Paul Hoynes 11:39 I would think he would be a, you know, a candidate. And you know, so we’ll have to see. You know what? It’ll be an interesting. Winner for the coaching staff, Joe and these. They have so many coaches, Joe. I don’t think I ever. I don’t know if I ever introduced myself to all of them. Like 1920 different coaches, so.

Joe Noga 11:59 1919 coaches in a in a in a roster of 26. Think about that.

Paul Hoynes 12:04 So you know if it would be strange if they all did return. I think you know vote would vote would like that, but I would think it would be, you know, kind of unprecedented if they all did return and especially like you said with the team having success and everybody wants a part of that and you know we’ve seen it.

Joe Noga 12:09 Yeah, that.

Paul Hoynes 12:23 Happen before on this, on this staff, on this, on Tito’s staff. He’s lost different. He lost different members. As you know, they they went through season after season, making a post season.

Joe Noga 12:37 Well, it’s interesting that you bring up Tito. We’ll get to him in a second. I I wanna you know, echo something you said there are 19 coaches on staff and all the different people that Steven boat you know had had to interact with, you know, before a game during the playoffs, we would go back and and talk to Steven, you know prior. To each game, just get a A you know, 5-10 minutes in his office and and check in with him and he mentioned. You know, the one day about, you know, 19 guys on staff and I have to. Yeah, I have to check in with each guy and say something or, you know, and get the, you know, the temperature of the day, you know, each day with them. That’s that’s a lot of different directions. The manager gets, gets pulled in. So for him to to have navigated the season doing that everyday, I I couldn’t imagine how how complicated that is. The other name I want to bring up is is the obvious one is is car. Willis. He vital to what was what happened this year with the the young pitching staff and. You know the relievers and and navigating the whole injuries to all the starting pitchers. Was the security blanket really for for Steven boat in a lot of ways when it came to the pitching staff with Carl Willis? I I think you know if if Carl Willis decides that that was it and and he’s ready to to either retire or head in a different direction, that’s a that would be a major loss for Steven Vogt and for for the Guardians, something that you know could. Really sort of color the entire 2025 season if that’s the case. And and you you mentioned Terry Francona taking the job in, in, in Cincinnati they’ve got. A. A pitching coach. I believe they’re they’re pitching coaches is staying as the only real holdover from the staff from David Bell. That that Francona’s gonna work with down there. But you know certainly. If it. If if Terry Francona called Carl Willis, you know, would answer the phone so. I got to wonder if if if Carl Willis isn’t back in Cleveland, could he be back in some sort of advisory role or something like that with the Reds? Or, you know, does he walk away? Does he stick around for at least another year? That’s a. That’s a big one right there in what’s going to happen to Carl Willis.

Paul Hoynes 15:08 I got the impression that Carl really is committed to Cleveland. I think he really got along well with Steven boat this year. I think he had some questions about, you know, when Tito stepped down, you know, some different staff members left, some veteran guys left the staff, they had to replace him. But I think, Carl, you know, made the commitment to come back to see how this was going to work. I think he was really happy here and just from talking to him. You know, after they clinched a couple times, he says he wants to see this through. He wants to get to the ultimate destination, which is winning a World Series, you know, for Cleveland, for the Dolan family. So, you know, at least you know at that point of the season, it seemed like he would be back. But you know, people change. You know, you know and you know, who knows? Who knows what Karl Karl wants to do now? Perhaps he does want to retire, but I would think if he if he has a choice. In the matter, I think he’ll come back to Cleveland. I think he’s welcomed here. He spent, you know, the bulk of his career as a coach in Cleveland.

Joe Noga 16:22 Mm hmm.

Paul Hoynes 16:22 So I think he’s got deep roots here.

Joe Noga 16:25 Yeah, another name basically under Carl Willis to to, to sort of keep an eye on Brad Goldberg, the the bullpen coach this past season. Really, he is a local guy and from northeast Ohio and. Really sort of proved himself in that bullpen coach role. He could be looking elsewhere at at possibly moving up. This is a guy who I I know you know, really does want to be a Major League pitching, you know? You know, head a Major League pitching coaching staff, so. That that could be a guy that they would consider that or that could be considered for a job elsewhere as well.

Paul Hoynes 17:08 And Joe Torres, Joe Torres has has been here for awhile.

Joe Noga 17:09 Mm hmm.

Paul Hoynes 17:11 The assistant pitching coach, those guys really work well together with Eric Bindar from the front office. They’ve got a really solid pitching group there, so I think if they, they do lose some people, you know, they will find, you know, some really, really good replacements.

Joe Noga 17:29 Alright, Speaking of pictures. Three names. Matthew Boyd, Alex Cobb, Shane Bieber, all guys who are are potentially free agents now. And would you know, probably would, would, would garner interest from other teams. But it sounds like the Guardians have interest in bringing. 1-2 or if not all three of them back in some capacity. Year.

Paul Hoynes 18:01 Yeah. You know Stephen, Vault was open about that said, you know they they talked to him in their exit meetings, said they they interested in bringing them back. He said there was interest, you know, reciprocated by all three. The the thing that worries me, Joe, is that two of these guys are hurt. You know Bieber and Cobb.

Joe Noga 18:19 Mm hmm.

Paul Hoynes 18:20 You know, Cobb had to be replaced in the ALCS roster because of a back Beaver. You know, we still don’t know when he’ll be able to pitch here. What the Tommy John in April, so you know. Looking at next April, you know, as a year then you know perhaps what maybe half. So you’re looking at the All Star break maybe?

Joe Noga 18:38 Yeah, you wouldn’t see him until you wouldn’t see him until June, right?

Paul Hoynes 18:41 Yeah, yeah. So you know that’s a that’s a concern. You know, Boyd is the guy that really interests me. You know, I would definitely.

Joe Noga 18:48 Mm hmm.

Paul Hoynes 18:49 You know, you know, really put it, put the full court press on and try to bring him back. But you know, Scott Boros is his agent and you know he’s shown that he’s healthy. He made what 3-4 starts in the postseason, so I think there’s going to be a market for him.

Joe Noga 19:06 Yeah, you said the two magic words in any sort of negotiation with Matthew Boyd. Scott. Boris, I I can’t imagine Boris just letting him come back to Cleveland for less than some sort of, you know, big, splashy show of he after what Matthew Boyd went through to to. Get back to the major leagues. I’m sure he’s very grateful. For what Cleveland did for him, but. I I can definitely see him taking the the highest dollar possible. Somewhere else and and and bringing that that same influence and same. Calming aspect to a rotation and and a clubhouse somewhere else in the league of the three right now, if if if you had your you know your the genie gave you 3 wishes and you use one of them on a pitcher, which of those three would you most? Like to see back in a Cleveland uniform next year.

Paul Hoynes 20:05 Oh boy, you know, I I I guess you know, my heart, says Bieber. But my brain, says Boyd. So I would.

Joe Noga 20:13 There you go.

Paul Hoynes 20:14 You know, I’d, I’d love to see Bieber back here. I’d love love to see him finish his career here. I think he means a lot to this rotation, a lot to this team. And but we haven’t seen what he looks like, you know, coming out of the other end of the Tommy John. Vote. I mean, Boyd has. You know, we’ve got a little more track record. A little better feel for it. And like you said, Joe, he’s a good guy. He fits in well in this locker room. He really enjoyed pitching in the postseason, and I think that that would weigh into his final decision on whether he would come back or not because. This team has a chance to do a lot of winning in the next 3-4, five years. Joe.

Joe Noga 20:57 Yeah, two more pitchers with their names that were tossed around in that conversation. Trista Mackenzie and Logan Allen. Of course, both finished on the triple-A roster last year. What? What do you see as the future for Mackenzie and Allen? Based on what we learned in our meeting yesterday?

Paul Hoynes 21:18 I’m still confused Joe. They really didn’t come out and tell us what? What, you know where they’re standing. I mean, obviously they’re both still on the 40 man roster. They’re still young. We did learn, at least from the guardians point of view, that Mackenzie’s elbow is healthy. That, but he just never really got his feet under him. He really never his stuff in his in his delivery, never, you know, kind of came together with where we saw the, you know, the Tristan McKenzie we saw two years ago. You know where we thought he was at breakout and be you know. A number two or three starter. Alan, I’m. I’m still wondering about this guy. This guy that won eight games in the big leagues. Joe, this this past season. But he had trouble keeping the ball in the park. They were talking about him really concentrating on having a great offseason and coming to spring training in a good spot to compete for a job. But Joe, I mean these guys got sent down. What Mackenzie got sent down at the end of June, we never saw him again. And basically pretty much the same scenario for Alan. We saw him in a couple spot starts, but then spent the whole second-half of the season. At Columbus and you know, this was a team screaming for starting pitching and they didn’t get a sniff. So I’m I’m I’m wondering where these guys stand and like they said this is a huge winner for these guys and it’s going to be a huge winner and a huge spring training. I just don’t know where they fit.

Joe Noga 22:50 I can see one or. Probably only one of the two of them competing and fighting for a rotation spot at the end of spring training. Unless they do something to overhaul the entire, you know, rotation beyond Bybee and and Williams for next season. So yeah, big questions surround Logan Allen and and Tristan McKenzie and and we’ll see if they get answered with with moves or with. Attrition, I guess. Josh Naylor, his name came up as well, and really he was asked. Antonetti and Chernoff were asked about Josh Naylor’s conditioning, and they were asked about his health, and then they were asked if he’s a a candidate for trade based on his situation entering his final year of arbitration eligibility and expected to make around $12 million.

Paul Hoynes 23:50 Yeah. And I think, you know, Antoinette gave that that answer that we’ve heard so many times before that. The Guardians expect Josh Naylor to be an anchor for the 2025 Guardians for for 2025 and hopefully be beyond that. So to me, that sounds like he’s going to be back next year, Joe, that you know they would listen to offers for him, but I do not think. They’re actively going to try to trade this guy.

Joe Noga 24:24 Yeah, that was the other part. That answer was, yeah, he’s he’s an anchor for this team in 2025, hopefully and beyond that, but also we recognize that other teams will make calls on him because, you know, they see the reasons that I just mentioned plus you. Don’t have a lot of, you know, thirty home, run, hundred RBI guys who are in his situation, who aren’t already locked up. In in some sort of long term contract. You know, basically available for prospects if if you’re another team looking so. That’s a rare situation in the league, and Josh Naylor is in a unique spot. So. I. I I wouldn’t put the chances of Josh Naylor being traded at 0, but. I I like you said, just based on what? Chris Anthony said if the right deal comes along, they’re gonna pull the trigger because it could get them a piece for the rotation that they need. Or or somewhere else in the lineup they have Kyle Manzardo at first base, you know, ready, sort of waiting in the wings. They have CJ Kyffes at the upper levels of the minor leagues. You know, sort of pushing and and and getting ready to to be that next guy in the pipeline. There are. There are options beyond Josh Naylor, but right now, Josh Naylor is the best option.

Paul Hoynes 25:50 Yeah. I mean, I think, you know, let’s, let’s be frank, you didn’t have that great enough postseason. He didn’t, you know, he didn’t drive the ball out of the park. We didn’t see a lot of production from him, but during the season, you know, he provided protection for Jose Ramirez. He you know, he set career highs and what RBIs and and home runs. He was a force. He stayed in the lineup, you know, he was in the lineup every day, didn’t spend any time on the IL. I think he showed. You know he can go wire to wire. And you know, I don’t see anybody right now in this organization replacing that kind of production, Joe. So I think you know, ideally he would stay with the ball club, perhaps they would work out an extension. But like you said, I mean talent is talent. If you if you the right deal comes along, you’ve got to take a look at it.

Joe Noga 26:52 Yeah, I no one in that room for a second question, Josh Naylor’s toughness. We know that he battled, you know, nagging injuries, you know, foot, hand, wrist. Ankle everything. The the verbal gymnastics that Antonette had to go through to to sort of convince everyone who who was there, you know that that conditioning wasn’t a a a factor in his his post season performance. Because let’s be honest. The quality of the bats in the postseason was not the same as the quality of the bats from him during the regular season. He if if something wasn’t definitely bothering him at the plate, then you know something’s changed in in a from an approach standpoint that needs to be addressed, you know, moving forward but. No one questions his leadership in that clubhouse. Everybody, all the young guys sort of look to him as. You know, maybe not the, you know, the vocal leader that you know, Austin Hedges was or is, but it definitely the the sort of the the Big Brother menacing threat leadership. I guess you don’t step out of line because if you do, Josh is going to be the one to push you into your locker. I guess as the the vibe that you kind of get from that clubhouse and. At the same time he’s he’s got a real good sense of. You know the way everything is perceived and and how he he wants to be recognized as a leader. So yeah, I do. I see Josh Naylor back in Cleveland at the start of next season. Yes, that’s I. I I do because I don’t think I antonell pull the trigger on a a a big trade like that in the offseason, but it it it could happen. I I just. I gotta leave it at that.

Paul Hoynes 28:51 Yeah, I am not. You know, he was. You know, it’s it’s interesting, Joe. You know, I’ve been through these these conversations about. Players conditioning since for as long as I’ve I’ve covered base. I. Sabathia, Bartolo, Cologne. Fran mill. Reyes. You know Carlos varega. There was always questions. Are these guys in shape? Are they too heavy? You know, does you know? Can it be a better version of themselves if they lost weight and you know you know what, Joe, I think these guys have, they basically stayed the same size and weight throughout their whole careers. They had some say had success, some had more success than others. Some were great players. CC. You know, really. I mean was a better player at 300 lbs than he was when he what pitched at 2:50 or 260 so you know. Everybody, every player is different. I think Josh is just a big man. And you know it. Doug, does his conditioning hurt himself? I don’t think so. But you know that that that, you know, that’s from the outside looking in the guys, you know, the trainers and the people that that that you know run these you know condition the players they know better than anybody. And so I you know you’ve got I think you. Got to go with with what they say and you know, just to go from there, I mean. I mean, people are different.

Joe Noga 30:21 Yeah. And. And we’ve seen the instances where it can go in the other extreme too. Guy comes in early in the offseason. He’s lost a bunch of weight and the the pop or the effectiveness at the plate isn’t isn’t there, as it once was? That you don’t want to change and and tinker too much with what makes a guy like Josh Naylor a guy like Josh Naylor.

Paul Hoynes 30:43 Yeah. And you know, so, you know, I I think his body will tell him when he’s if he needs to lose weight or whatever he has to do. But you know, he stayed in the lineup every day this past season. That’s a hard thing to do in in in this in a game where you’re playing every day. So, you know, I think, you know, he’s found. Perhaps he’s found, you know, the right way to keep himself on the field.

Joe Noga 31:10 Couple other areas that we we discussed, you know revenue from playing into the postseason A10 game, sort of extra addition to the season. How is that going to help things? Antonetti said. It can. It’s certainly helpful to to generate additional revenue. Was the the quote from Antonetti. Everything that the guardians make, they they dump back into the on field product. So that’s, you know, a a nice positive to have from 5 sold out five sold out. Postseason home dates. The Guardians TV deal with MLB to to sort of distribute the games next season. A lot of unanswered questions that we’re going to be following in the offseason there. As to how fans are going to be able to access games and and what the the revenue from that is going to be after the Diamond Sports Group essentially dropped Cleveland from its list of regional sports networks. So how that impacts the payroll and the finances of the team moving into 20245, we’ll we’ll find out more as we go forward. We learned as far as the players and and who will and won’t be participating in winter ball and you know extra sort of work during the offseason right now. Chase Lauder, playing about two days a week out in the Arizona Fall League. Brian Rocchio, who who played a lot of winter ball and played over 200 some games this year. Between Venezuelan winter ball and the Caribbean Series, and then 10 games in the postseason, rocchio’s finally gonna get a break and is not gonna play winter ball this year. But other guys like Gabriel Arias and you know, a couple other guys, I think. Travis Bazan is gonna play in a an Australian tournament with Team Australia before heading to the Arizona complex and getting ahead an early head start on. Spring training. So we found out. Sort of what the the offseason program is gonna look like for a couple of those guys. Any surprises among those those guys that are gonna be playing winter ball or not playing winter ball?

Paul Hoynes 33:31 But not really, Joe. I kind of like the way they’ve set it up with the Lauder. He’s going to play what he’s going to DH 2 * A a week for the in the Arizona Fall League. And then the rest of the time, he’s going to spend at the Goodyear facility working out, working out his conditioning, you know, his, his, his, his overall body strength and just his ability to stay on the field. This is. A. This is a guy that has to stay on the field. We’ve seen what he can do. When he’s healthy and he’s playing every day, I mean, this is a this is a. This is a key part to their future and it seems like they’re doing everything they can to take care of them, to make sure he can stay healthy and to make sure you. Know whatever his problems are with his feet, you know, with the with the fractures that hopefully you know, they can find a solution because this is a big time talent.

Joe Noga 34:26 Yeah, the the word that they used in terms of when he’s at the Guardians training facility, they’re they’re looking at a holistic approach to making sure his his he’s able to stay in shape and stay healthy and and stay away from injuries, avoid injuries. And and have a healthy season next year because like you said, the Sky’s the limit with Chase de Lauder and and they’ve seen that sort of the big.

Paul Hoynes 34:50 Joe, Joe. When? When, Joe? When somebody says holistic report. Holistic approach. You know, I I hear wind chimes banging in the background and incense and like monks humming. Don’t you’re chanting, don’t you?

Joe Noga 35:04 Yeah, yeah, a A a shaman with dreadlocks and you know, not a lot of showers I guess would be the, the the feeling that, that, that sort of word evokes. Yeah. Hoynes holistic. That’s holistic approach to the off season. That’s that’s what we’re all going to be taking here in a moment. Just to sort of sum up, I guess it was that idea of, you know, asking Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernowff and and. And really, Steven, vote. How they can make sure that the success that they, that they experience in 2024 is a building block for 2025 as opposed to, you know, taking a step back. And I think a lot of that has to do with Steven boat being the guy. At the top and proving in his first year that you know he’s he’s he’s capable, he’s able and he’s he’s got all the tools there. To take this team where it needs to be.

Paul Hoynes 36:09 Yeah. I I really like what he said at the end of the press conference that, you know, he’s looking forward to having a couple couple weeks off to take a deep breath to decompress. And then right away, he’s going to start calling it, calling the players, checking in to see how they’re doing, to see if they’re, you know, come, you know, to to point them in the right direction because, Joe. Antoinette. He can say all everything he wants. Sure enough can say everything he wants. The manager can say all this all this stuff, but it’s up to the players. It’s up to the players to commit themselves to this offseason and I think they did it last year. If they can repeat that kind of commitment going into spring training, I think that’s what. Helps bridge the gap. That’s what helps. Not you know to to avoid a let down like they had in going from 2022 to 2023. I think that’s how you continue. Momentum.

Joe Noga 37:12 All right. Well, we’re going to continue the momentum all through the postseason and and right into the start of the offseason. And you know, free agency, all the awards and roster moves and everything that we’re going to handle coming up here on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. Honey, we’re looking. Forward to hearing more from you for the rest of the offseason.

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