@syd said:

That is  STILL  one creepy looking mascot !

@dutch-oven said:

Reds playing AAA teams in Indianapolis next year, are they syd? ?

1. Oakland Athletics (18.3%) → ★ Guardians
2. Kansas City Royals (18.3%) → Reds
3. Colorado Rockies (18.3%) → Rockies
4. Chicago White Sox (14.7%) → Athletics,  moved from 1 to 4.  Not huge moves except for CLE and MIN  (the ALC loser.)
5. St. Louis Cardinals (8.3%) → ▪︎ White Sox,  moved from 4 to 5
6. Los Angeles Angels (6.1%) → ▪︎ Royals,  moved from 2 to 6.   DET ended up at 11,  not a huge deal.
7. The Washington Nationals 

@dutch-oven said:

Holy shitballs, this is fantastic (potentially) news!

*Yes,  the morale of this entire  MLB  2024  Draft  story ..... and the repercussions that might go on for this year and maybe for  years (and trades)  to come.   With a clever  FO  and staff  a team like the  Cleveland  GUARDIANS  might do alright.  Especially with an office and a chair for a recently  retired  manager  that will just hang around  in    "an advisory capacity"   just looking for something to do.  Eh ?   Catch my drift ?

And  the next part,  the (pontentially)  fantastic news,  putting it all together.   Taking the good luck and the pieces and making it work ..... even better !

Take what happened already ......

*The  Mets held the seventh-best odds in the 2024 lottery, the Padres 14th and the Yankees 15th, but the twist was they needed to win a top 6 pick in the lottery to avoid having their picks moved back 10 slots because they exceeded a certain luxury tax threshold. And since none of them had a ping-pong ball fall in their favor, they will now pick 19th (Mets), 24th (Padres) and 25th (Yankees).

   ▪︎  Full 2024 MLB Draft order   ●-->   featuring the  *AL Central

★  1. Cleveland Guardians ..... an incredible stroke of  GOOD luck to start the 2024 season.
2. Cincinnati Reds ...... a great pick  BUT  still could not win the state of OH-IO .... lol.
3. Colorado Rockies <--> Rockies
4. Oakland Athletics
● 5. Chicago White Sox ..... not bad.
● 6. Kansas City Royals ...... not bad.
● 11. Detroit Tigers ...... still rebuilding.
●  21. Minnesota Twins .....  20  picks behind  Cleveland,  and a lot of good picks will go by...... lol.

▪︎  Keep on going for the original  PRE-ORNAMENT  Guardians at 2%  long shot chance to #1,  right.

An incredi-bull  piece of  golden good  luck  for Cleveland.         Like the '83 NFL QB Draft ?  Why not.

@syd said:

Reds gonna sweep the plates with the indians  next year

Reds playing AAA teams in Indianapolis next year, are they syd? ?

@syd said:

Reds gonna sweep the plates with the indians  next year

Well we shall see what the bonus  #1  MLB  Draft  pick brings to the Guardians ....

..... but the  #2  MLB Draft pick by the Reds is pretty good too.    A  #1  vs  #2  showdown in 2024 to see who's pick is better,  NICE !    

@mjp28 said:

The pre drawing  Cincinnati Reds. 0.9%  almost pulled off a pretty big miracle,  in fact at Pick #2  did OK.

But they didn't win the  OH-IO. poll.      

Reds gonna sweep the plates with the indians  next year

But they didn't win the  OH-IO. poll.      

                    And here it is !    

......  is that cool or what !   Well  virtually stealing   the  #1 pick   in the MLB Draft will do that.

I'm still in shock after seeing that tiny Christmas ornament with the tiny   2%   on it, oh yeah.   ?

@dutch-oven said:

Tell that to those 90s Indians teams. 

The 90s INDIANS we as scary or more scary than the '29 Yanks   -but-  they did not have a true #1  starter.  And repeatidly could not win game 1,  a tough assignment in playoff baseball.  

The recent INDIANS were just snakebit.

@browns149 said:

That was a different era. Starters back then were dominant. They are not even close to that now 

It’s all about offense now and to some extent relief pitching. 
A dominant starting pitcher, nowadays, is almost extinct. Drafting one first overall would be a mistake. IMO

Do you really want to compare offense now to offense in the mid 90s - early 2000s?

I mean, feel free to, but you are going to lose that debate badly.

But from what I've seen, as of now, it seems more likely that the Gs would take a hitter from what is available in the upcoming draft. Of course, things can change during the coming college season, but it seems like a hitter heavy top of the draft. 

@dutch-oven said:

Tell that to those 90s Indians teams. 

That was a different era. Starters back then were dominant. They are not even close to that now 

It’s all about offense now and to some extent relief pitching. 
A dominant starting pitcher, nowadays, is almost extinct. Drafting one first overall would be a mistake. IMO

@browns149 said:

You can’t win if you don’t score 

The pitching has been great for years and they haven’t won the World Series. 

The Rangers were in the top 3 in OPS,Slug, runs, RBI, Avg. They were 18th in ERA. 

Hitting wins more then pitching does

Tell that to those 90s Indians teams. 

@dutch-oven said:

Can never have enough pitching..

You can’t win if you don’t score 

The pitching has been great for years and they haven’t won the World Series. 

The Rangers were in the top 3 in OPS,Slug, runs, RBI, Avg. They were 18th in ERA. 

Hitting wins more then pitching does

               ■  ■  ■ -->   CURRENTLY  UNDER REPAIR !  We will be done shortly . ●-->           OK GUYS, my revised version #1.

CLEVELAND, OHIO - SEPTEMBER 6: A detail of the Cleveland Guardians logo patch on the uniform during the seventh inning against the Minnesota Twins at Progressive Field on September 6, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)The No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft will don a Guardians uniform after the lottery. (Photo by Brandon Sloter/Image Of Sport/Getty Images)The Cleveland Guardians rode some great luck to their first top pick in the MLB Draft in franchise history.          ■ ■ ■   still under repair  !    ■ ■ ■      ?
 

And .....   Entering the lottery with the ninth-best odds at 2.0% for the first overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, the Guardians emerged victorious on Tuesday at the Winter Meetings in Nashville.The Cincinnati Reds also jumped up from the 13th-best odds for the top pick (0.9%) to No. 2 overall, a nice reward after finishing this year with a winning record, but out of the playoffs. The next four picks landed with the Colorado Rockies, Oakland Athletics, Chicago White Sox and Kansas City Royals, the four teams that entered the lottery with the best odds.
Where the top 6 picks went in the 2024 MLB Draft lottery
Here you can see where each team would have previously selected in the 2024 MLB Draft and which teams ended up getting the top six picks, with their odds at the top pick in parenthesis.

1. Oakland Athletics (18.3%) → Guardians
2. Kansas City Royals (18.3%) → Reds
3. Colorado Rockies (18.3%) → Rockies
4. Chicago White Sox (14.7%) → Athletics
5. St. Louis Cardinals (8.3%) → White Sox
6. Los Angeles Angels (6.1%) → Royals
7. The Washington Nationals 
would have had the fifth-best odds for the first pick, but their winning of the No. 2 pick last year and their status as a revenue-sharing payor made them ineligible to win a pick this year and guaranteed they would pick no earlier than 10th.

The biggest loser of the 2024 MLB Draft lottery: the A's
At first glance, the A's appeared to do ... fine. It hurts to lose 112 games in 2023 and then end up with the No. 4 overall pick, but teams have overcome larger obstacles. That wasn't the bad news, however.

Because MLB really, really wanted to discourage tanking in the vein of what the A's are doing now, strip-mining their MLB team for years for prospects and, more importantly, salary reduction, the league added a few rules to the lottery. Not only can revenue-sharing payors like the Nationals not win top 6 picks in back-to-back drafts, no team at all can win picks in three drafts in a row.

So because the A's "won" a pick here and the No. 6 pick last year (when they were again tied for the best odds at the top pick), they are now ineligible for any pick higher than No. 10 last year. It actually would have benefited them to completely lose the lottery, which would have landed them at No. 7, because they would have been eligible for the next lottery, where they would have likely had good odds again.

Under the previous system, the A's would have had the No. 2 pick in 2023, the No. 1 pick in 2024 and, most likely, a top 3 pick in 2025. Instead, their respective picks will be No. 6 (which turned into shortstop Jacob Wilson), No. 4 and No. 10. Given that the league made these rules exactly for teams like the A's, not many tears are going to be shed around the league.

Why the Mets, Padres and Yankees fell more than anyone
The A's fell into a nightmare scenario in Nashville, but the actual biggest fallers were the New York Mets, San Diego Padres and New York Yankees, not coincidentally the teams with the three biggest payrolls last season.

The Mets held the seventh-best odds in the lottery, the Padres 14th and the Yankees 15th, but the twist was they needed to win a top 6 pick in the lottery to avoid having their picks moved back 10 slots because they exceeded a certain luxury tax threshold. And since none of them had a ping-pong ball fall in their favor, they will now pick 19th (Mets), 24th (Padres) and 25th (Yankees).

▪︎. Full 2024 MLB Draft order   ●-->   featuring the  *AL Central
★  1. Cleveland Guardians. ★
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Colorado Rockies
4. Oakland Athletics
● 5. Chicago White Sox
● 6. Kansas City Royals
● 11. Detroit Tigers
●  21. Minnesota Twins

@dutch-oven said:

Can never have enough pitching..

Oh yes, their pitching has carried this team through decades of  Cy Young caliber  pitchers and great trade bait when they are  NEAR  empty.

But In 2024 .... a can't miss 5 tool slugger ......   hmmmm ?   But still a can't miss pitcher  -or- a loaded trade ?

Nice problems to have.      LET'S GO TRIBE !

.......  edit, add .....  now to untangle this article,  but I did it quick,  couldn't wait to get it up here.

@browns149 said:

They will probably draft another pitcher. 

Can never have enough pitching..

@mjp28 said:

Oh yes,  in so many ways.  I love the  2024  AL Central  order.  I was looking at the Christmas tree article with all of the bulbs .....  could barely find the Guardians tiny ornament and the little. 2%  writing.   I was going to put it up here. AFTER  the order came out.    Well,   ?    ho-ho-ho.     

Hopefully a good middle-of-the-order bat with power ends up in the Guardians stocking. 

@dutch-oven said:

Holy shitballs, this is fantastic (potentially) news!

Oh yes,  in so many ways.  I love the  2024  AL Central  order.  I was looking at the Christmas tree article with all of the bulbs .....  could barely find the Guardians tiny ornament and the little. 2%  writing.   I was going to put it up here. AFTER  the order came out.    Well,   ?    ho-ho-ho.