Smoke Signals

The Guardians of the Future podcast is back. You can now find my Cleveland Guardians minor league coverage over at the newsletter, Next Year in Cleveland (https://nextyearincleveland.substack.com). On the first episode of Guardians of the Future in 2023, I went over some housekeeping items about the podcast and coverage of the Cleveland Guardians farm system at Next Year in Cleveland. Find all about what you can expect from this podcast going forward as well as my writing about the Cleveland Guardians farm system.   I also put out a call for some prospect questions for the podcast, and we did answer a few of those on the 2022 draft picks, Tanner Bibee, and Chase DeLauter.   Towards the end, I talked about one of the writing projects I have been working on, which is the prospect report reviews of 2022 Cleveland Guardians that exhausted prospect eligibility last year. The ones that are still in Cleveland are Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Richie Palacios and Konnor Pilington (and I will touch on Kirk

Justin Lada and Willie Hood speculate live about who the Cleveland Guardians will protect from the Rule 5 draft on the roster deadline day, November 15 at 6PM ET.  The guys live react to news of the Carlos Vargas for Ross Carver swap with the Arizona Diamondbacks, and then the other 3 additions of Angel Martinez, Joey Cantillo, and Tim Herrin. The Nolan Jones to Colorado trade for Juan Brito was announced after we finished live recording, so you won't hear that reaction here.

The Guardians of the Future podcast is back. Justin Lada and Willie Hood breakdown the Cleveland Guardians 2022/2023 offseason ahead. What moves the Guardians will make to open spots on the 40 man roster A deep, deep dive on the Guardians will protect ahead of the Rule 5 draft and who they won't Talking trade and free agent targets for the Guardians

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: Bo Naylor's callup and why now What does Naylor's arrival say about Bryan Lavastida's future? Will Brennan's hot start and his future The shape of the postseason roster And we take a look back at our preseason prospect draft.

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: The Guardians prospects help lead them to an improbably division title Will Brennan's call-up and future What it means for Nolan Jones and George Valera Playoff roster  Players of the Year in the minors at each level for the Guardians Revisiting our pre-season predictions 

On this episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood disucss The Guardians delivery of a knockout blow to the Minnesota Twins Cody Morris' future role The future catching tandem How to fit Will Brennan on to the roster Guardians Arizona Fall League 2022 participants Lake County Captains and Lynchburg Hillcats playing for championships. 

On this week’s episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Willie Hood joins Justin Lada to talk about: The Guardians pitching plans to cover Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac’s innings Which pitching prospect should come up to start this week Prospects in the Guardians org impacted by the new rules (shift ban, specifically) Rodney Boone and Will Dion’s arsenal and success Ryan Webb’s late season success Carlos Vargas’ timeline Will Brennan’s 16 hit series and future

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, IBI/GBI's first Carolina League reporter, Josiah Elmore, joins Justin Lada to discuss: Basically every player who played in Lynchburg this year Will Dion Jack Leftiwch Rodney Boone Jake Fox The bullpen Isaiah Greene Carson Tucker Dayan Frias We also run through Cody Morris' first start in the majors, Cleveland's pitching plans with Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale down, and other players debuts at new levels.

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: An Amed Rosario extension vs. the Guardians shortstop prospect group Promotions of Doug Nikhazy, Will Dion, Angel Genao and Joe Lampe Who will join Cody Morris as a September callup Which Guardians prospects will be playing in the AFL? Minor league is unionizing? Finally!

On this 8/22/22 episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Will Cunningham (https://twitter.com/willocunningham) joined Justin Lada to talk about: - The Lake County Captains 2022 season thus far - Promotions of Johnathan Rodriguez, Angel Martinez and Mason Hickman - Mason Hickman taking off as a reliever? - Why Rodriguez>Planez - Petey Halpin's late season run of success - What players have stood out for Will this season - Other moving parts in the Guardians system including Nolan Jones, Richie Palacios and Cody Morris

This week on the Guardians of the Future podcast, Guardians Baseball Insider's Akron RubberDucks beat reporter John Elrod joins Justin Lada to discuss: - Debuts of Xzavion Curry and Hunter Gaddis - George Valera and Johnathan Rodriguez's promotion - Tanner Bibee's impressive run at Akron - What they learned about Micah Pries - The health of Joey Cantillo - Who might make the next MLB debut for Cleveland - What will the roster in Cleveland look like a year from now

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the future podcast Justin Lada and Willie Hood - Discuss the promotions of Will Benson, Tyler Freeman and Hunter Gaddis - How these moves affect the 40 man roster - How Cody Morris might impact the roster - Could we see Bo Naylor in Toronto? - The Framil Reyes decison - How Joey Cantillo's recent arm troubles make him more attractive in the Rule 5 draft. - and more...

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood: - Record live as the buzzer ticked down on the MLB trading deadline - Reacted to Cleveland's inactive deadline - Figuring out how the 40 man roster is going to shape up - Discuss the callup of Will Benson - What is the future of Franmil Reyes? 

On this week's Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood look back at the Cleveland Guardians 2022 draft class, give their favorite picks, their biggest upside and risks, where they rank among the Guardians current prospects and more.  Here's a link back to the Twitter Spaces Justin and Willie hosted on Night 1 of the MLB draft to talk about Chase DeLauter, Justin Campbell and Parker Messick https://twitter.com/JL_Baseball/status/1548850629782736896?s=20&t=jE_dMSEZ1CJ3HM0SrPBl0g

On this week's Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: Alex Call's callup Nolan Jones' debut Columbus' catching situation Some injured arms are returning to affiliates Talking MLB Draft targets for the Cleveland Guardians

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: Some odd roster moves by the Guardians including Gabriel Arias' recent big league stint Reclaiming Oscar Mercado vs. calling up Alex Call Recent pitching promotions in the minors When we will see Jones, Brennan and Naylor Why trading Amed Rosario is difficult More 2022 MLB draft discussion for the Cleveland Guardians https://www.gofundme.com/f/lenny-torres-srs-cancer-fight?qid=1aa3426ebc68266b39731ba5cd0d0ea4

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada and Willie Hood of Guardians Baseball Insider discuss The Guardians letdown against the Red Sox over the weekend How things are shaping up for the trading deadline Jhonkensy Noel's promotion to Double-A Micah Pries' hot streak Daniel Espino's health and subsequent prospect ranking Prepping for the Prospects Live 2022 MLB Mock Draft https://twitter.com/longenhagen/status/1436794462714281985

On this week's episode of the Guardians of the Future podcast, Justin Lada is joined by GBI's Columbus Clippers beat writer Megan Husslein (https://twitter.com/meganhusslein) to check in on some of the storylines in Columbus lately.  - Franmil Reyes' rehab - The Clippers loaded outfield of Will Brennan, Will Benson, Nolan Jones, and Alex Call - Tyler Freeman's recent hot streak - James Karinchak's rehab - Update on Bryan Lavastida's hamstring injury and Bo Naylor's promotion - Some arms in Columbus that are struggling and thriving - Carlos Vargas' return and some questions...

Justin Lada returns from vacation and is joined by Willie Hood to talk about Will Brennan's recent tear in Columbus, Oscar Gonzalez's hot start in Cleveland, if they're worried about Brayan Rocchio or Tyler Freeman, Jack Leftwich's future, Nolan Jones' return and new swing, and more...

This week, Justin Lada and Willie Hood discuss: Oscar Gonzalez callup What have we seen so far? What do we expect? Some thoughts promotions Will Brennan to Columbus Kevin Kelly and Tim Herrin to Columbus Robert Broom and Brett Daniels back to Akron Junior Sanquentin to LYN Gavin Williams appears to be OK, on schedule to start Friday Tanner Burns appears to be starting this week George Valera back in lineup tonight Daniel Espino thew a bullpen today, good sign Next set of promotions?