CLEVELAND, Ohio — Steven Kwan is doing everything possible to spark the Cleveland Guardians’ offense. The dynamic leadoff hitter extended his hitting streak to 11 games Monday night against Minnesota, continuing what has been a stellar start to his 2025 campaign. But as the Guardians’ recent offensive struggles have revealed, one man – even one as locked in as Kwan – simply isn’t enough. “Steven Kwan is looking locked in at the top of the lineup,” Joe Noga observed during the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “Obviously it’s way too early to start thinking about an All-Star bid or anything like that, but he is your prototypical leadoff hitter right now.” Paul Hoynes agreed wholeheartedly: “He’s doing a great job, it’s the third longest streak in his career... He’s getting on base. He’s doing everything he can to jump start the offense. He just needs some help behind him in the lineup, and right now they’re not getting it.” The issue goes far beyond Kwan’s performance. The Guardians’ lineup has been disjointed, failing to string together quality at-bats throughout the order. Particularly concerning is the gap between Kwan at the top and Jose Ramirez in the third spot. “Right now, they’re just not getting a lot of production,” Noga explained. “There’s not anybody to connect Kwan to Ramirez and anybody else down in the lower third of that lineup.” The ripple effects of this disconnect are significant. Ramirez, the team’s perennial MVP candidate, hasn’t been able to maximize his run-producing abilities. “They’ve turned Jose Ramirez into a singles hitter and he’s not getting opportunities to drive in a lot of runs lately,” Noga pointed out. Meanwhile, rookie first baseman Kyle Manzardo, who impressed early in the season, has hit a significant cold spell. “Manzaro is really cooled off, Joe,” Hoynes noted. “Since they got home after having a good series in Pittsburgh, we haven’t seen the pop from his bat. He’s making a lot of quick outs.” The power outage extends across the entire lineup. According to Hoynes: “We’re not seeing any pop from these guys. We’re not seeing anybody drive the ball out of the park with the exception of Nolan Jones with the three-run homer the other day.” The numbers tell a stark story about how badly the offense has struggled during this homestand. “The last four games they’ve been outscored 35 to 12,” Hoynes revealed. “The last two games they’ve been outscored 24 to 4. I mean they’ve been out of the game before it’s even started.” One potential bright spot has been Gabriel Arias, who appears to be finding his groove at the plate. “He looks really comfortable,” Hoynes said, “Something has clicked in with this guy and hopefully he can maintain it.” With prospect CJ Kaifus recently promoted to Triple-A after tearing up Double-A pitching, the Guardians could have reinforcements on the horizon. But for now, they need their current lineup to start connecting the dots between Kwan’s table-setting and Ramirez’s run-producing potential. For the complete breakdown of the Guardians’ offensive struggles and other team developments, check out the latest episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. If the player above doesn’t work, you can listen to the podcast here. See the transcript below Note: Artificial intelligence was used to help generate this story from the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast by cleveland.com. Visitors to cleveland.com have asked for more text stories based on website podcast discussions. Podcast transcript Joe Noga 0:05Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast.I’m Joe noga. Joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoinze the guardians.Another tough one last night.Second game in a row where it was over well before the the end of the ball game for Cleveland.They come out, lose to the the the twins 11 to one in the opener of a four-game series.Gavin Williams just did not have it from the start.Couldn’t locate his fastball, according to Williams. After the game, twins hitters were just, you know, spitting on his.Breaking pitches? Letting those go by and they were.Running fast balls.They were hunting him early and it it it resulted in a just a start of a of two innings through 45 pitches in the second inning and was gone, and once again the the Guardians bullpen was taxed throughout the entire game. Paul Hoynes 1:04Yeah, Jill, just, you know, look like A5 alarm fire for the the bullpen after Williams leaves after 61 pitches and two innings.Just just really didn’t give the bullpen a chance.You know then to add, you know, you know, kind of pour salt in the wounds.You know Paul Seewald, one of the one of their busiest relievers, leaves a game with a sole right shoulder.Jacob Junis one another really busy reliever, a guy that’s been used a lot, takes a line drive off above his left knee.He stays in the game. Fortunately, after the game, he said he was OK.And we end up with the for the second straight night with a position player pitching Joe.So it was not a good scenario for the Guardians. Joe Noga 1:57Yeah. And will Wilson actually went multiple innings as the position player pitching?He comes in after Austin Hedges pitched in the game on Sunday and Wilson comes in.He throws 2 innings and you know, at least rescues the bullpen in that regard.But like you said, let’s go back to Paul Seewald. You know, 30-4 years old. He comes in on a two year contract.And you know, they they were not shy about using him.Him throughout the 1st.2526 games.He’s, you know, out there tied for the team leading appearances, I believe with Kade Smith and he he comes out of the game after, you know, throwing one pitch to the third batter he faced there and and, you know, it was one of those things where he sort.Of signaled to the, to the dugout and the trainers came out and it was it was obvious he was coming right out of the game there. Paul Hoynes 2:56Yeah, he retires the first two guys in the 5th, Joe, and then, you know, then he just motioned to the bench that he something was wrong with his shoulder. He’s had enough injuries in the past couple years to know what’s what. And he just took himself basically out.Of the game and then Tim Heron had to come in.He got enough, you know, he got more than he got all the time. He needed to warm up.But you know he could.Maybe he could have used a couple more warm up pitches because.He walks the first guy.The next three guys get hits and he gives up two runs and you know, that’s the way the night went.For the Guardians and their bullpen and Joey, you know, this is this is a concern.Just and it and it happened so fast, you know, a couple short starts and the bullpen has been taxed.They’ve been calling guys up left and right, but you know, they haven’t been able to stem the flow here.You know, it looked like Colby Allard.You know, when he went six innings in game two of that Saturday’s doubleheader against Baltimore.You know, kind of saved the pen, but they were right back in hot water on Sunday when Logan Allen only went four and a third innings. And and you know.Vote had to empty the bullpen again and then use Austin Hedges to finish the game in the 9th inning. Joe Noga 4:22Yeah. And it’s it’s a situation where the the strength of this team from last season into this year was going to be the bullpen and and now they’re in a in a spot where they don’t have an off day until May 8th until, you know, a week from.Thursday, They’ve got games scheduled all the way through, and they’re they’re going to need some help again, if if Seawalld has to go on the injured list.You know, we’re, we’re still waiting on the results.Of imaging and testing for him, if if that’s the case, then you’re talking the possibility of maybe Joey Cantillo, who was optioned before the game, maybe coming back, you know, coming back up or you can return Zach Kent, who was just recently optioned back down, you know, bring.Him back.Get some innings there, but they’re going to need to make a roster move based on just how overused this bullpen has been lately. Paul Hoynes 5:22About it, Joe. Yeah, and Zack kantz.Another guy he wanted in his only his big league debut, he gives them three innings against the Yankees and he thought that would, you know, kind of reset the bullpen, but that didn’t happen either.So they are really searching here and you know, just, you know, I think the key here is is they’ve stayed away from Gaddis. They’ve stayed away from.Kade Smith Heron had to pitch last night.Emmanuel Clase where you know the.He’s only made one. What?One appearances whole homestand.So we’re still, I’m I imagine they still have their fingers crossed on him.The one appearance was encouraging, but it was an eighth inning set up job, so we still don’t know where he is in terms of closing, but this is a bullpen in flux right now, and what they need, Joe, they need a solid start. They need their starters.To go 6-7 innings.Like two or three days in a row here.So the bullpen can catch its breath and kind of just reset. Joe Noga 6:32Yeah, and. And even in the games where a starter goes, you know, six good innings, those are still nights where in in a lot of cases, Stephen Vogt uses 3 relievers to to finish off a game.So you know, finding guys that can go multiple innings as well and not in MOP up duty, but you know multiple innings in leverage where they’ve you know they’ve got a lead and they’re protecting the lead and they can win a ball game.But you know that’s predicated on the offense.We’ll get to the offense here in a moment before we wrap things up with the the bullpen, you know, another arm.That it was with the team at the beginning of the year and and now is is no longer Trista Mackenzie, who opened the season in the bullpen as a guy who, you know, was possibly going to be able to give them multiple innings. He’s now headed to Col.Designated for assignment last Monday, the Guardians had seven days to trade him.Him or release him or or assign him out right to Columbus.He accepted the assignment yesterday evening.Had to do that in order to collect the remainder of his $1.95 million salary.So Trista McKenzie remaining with the organization sort of similar to the way Zach Klec did a few years ago.When he was released, Mackenzie going to be down in Columbus.This may be an opportunity for him to work on some stuff, whether he’s on the development list or on the roster there, and just chance for him to to sort of get things right and maybe be an option later on down the road. Paul Hoynes 8:15Yeah, let’s hope so, Joe, you know.So you know, he’s got some stuff to work on, obviously.You know the fact that they offered him the outright though, you know, was was interesting.I mean, I think they still believe in this guy.They still think he could help them, but he’s got a long road back, Joe, and hopefully it starts in Columbus.He spent a lot of time there last season.I don’t know if it helped him.But you know, he’s kind of he’s he’s. He’s at a crossroads right now.A lot of pitchers have been in that situation and he’s, you know, you either you either go up or down.I mean, you know he.I think Tristan will.Hopefully he’s healthy.I think he’ll be able to turn it around, but it just might not be in Cleveland. Joe Noga 9:07Yeah, I I I wonder if a change of venue might benefit him in in a lot of different ways, but.It it it certainly.You know it.I.I don’t know if we’ll see him back up here if if they’re in a position where that’s.Something that’s an an option for them.But again, you know, it wasn’t just Cleveland that, that, that sort of passed on him in this way.There are other teams out there right now that need.Pitching help and and everyone of EM would had the opportunity to call Cleveland and, you know, either pick him up on their the waiver wire or, you know, offer a trade for him. And nobody at at at this point stepped up to do that.I know Seattle had seen on, on Twitter. There were a couple of, you know, tweets saying that, you know, maybe there was the possibility with Logan Gilbert going on the the injured list that.Mackenzie could be an option there.Toronto actually needs help in their rotation.Even even Miami would be a spot where you know, you could see Tristan Landing as as opposed to just going back down to the minors, but.None of these other clubs sort of had that sort of evaluation of him that they thought that they could, you know, do something with him.So right now it’s the the only path back is through the minors and and that’s where Tristan setting. Paul Hoynes 10:37Yeah, Joe, I mean and you know, he just, he just hasn’t had enough innings.He hasn’t had a start.He you know, I can see why these teams would would be reluctant to pick him up.They just they, they just don’t know what they’re going to get from Tristan.He’s got to go down there, establish a body of work, get back on the right track and then, you know, I then, you know, hopefully some teams are interested in him. Joe Noga 11:00Yeah, that’s the case.All right, offense, let’s start at the top.Let’s start where there’s positive good news and then we’ll go from there.Steven Kwan last night, middle of the game picks up a line, drive single, left his 11th straight game with a hit.This is a guy who’s got, you know, at least three streaks of five games, you know, five game hit streaks already this year.So you there’s, there’ve been a lot of games where.He’s gotten multiple hits.Steven Kwan looking locked in at the top of the lineup.Obviously, way too early to start thinking about, you know, All Star or anything like that. But he is your prototypical lead off hitter right now.Just the way he’s swinging the bat. Paul Hoynes 11:49Yeah, he’s doing a great job, Joe.It’s the third longest streak in his career.I think it’s the second longest in the active streak in the American League right now.And he’s getting on base.He’s doing everything he can to jumpstart the offense.He just needs some help behind him in the lineup and right now they’re not getting it. Joe Noga 12:10That’s where the the positive vibes sort of end. That number two spot right now. You know, it looks like Jose Ramirez is back to his comfortable number three spot. I think Stephen Vogt might be done experimenting and and tinkering with the lineup in that way trying to Len.The lineup by by putting Ramirez back down in that third spot and dropping.Carlos Santana down to the fifth spot. But.Right now, they’re just not getting a lot of production.There’s not a lot of connection between.Anybody to connect Quan to Ramirez? You know, to anybody else down in the lower third of that lineup.So you know right now that number two spot sort of seems to be in flux and they’ve tried to use Nolan Jones there.He gives you good, good at bats.He works the at bats.He’s at got a good, solid knowledge of the strike zone.He’s just hitting 180 and and and you know.Hitting into bad luck all season with, you know, either line drives at people or you know, pop outs in bad situations. Paul Hoynes 13:20Yeah, they just haven’t found a number two guy there.I I kind of like Angel Martinez there.Joe, I said.I did it again on hell, Martinez.You know, he’s a switch hitter.He’s he’s he’s swinging the bat well.I wonder you know if they would look at him a little more than they have in the number two spot. Joe Noga 13:39Yeah, betting you know two switch hitters back-to-back.Not ideal, but it’s been done before really. You know, without lane Thomas, who’s been injured and trying to recover from that bruised right wrist since the home opener.Really, they haven’t had.You know a guy who could step into that spot.You know, they’ve, they’ve, they’ve batted Thomas in that number two spot.A lot last year.Maybe he’s, you know, a guy who could. Maybe.Be inserted there. If he comes back off the injured list.But like you said, Martinez playing a good center field for the most part.You know, it looks like looks like he’s really comfortable there.Just hasn’t really gotten too many opportunities and then you get to a guy like Kyle Manzardo, who’s, you know, still one of the leaders on the team in in home runs and RBIs.But it’s been a struggle over this homestand. Paul Hoynes 14:36Yeah, Manzardo is really cooled off, Joe, since they got home after having a good series in Pittsburgh.We haven’t seen the pop from his bat. He’s making a lot of quick outs.I don’t know if you know there’s been some adjustment by the opposing teams, but you know or it’s just just a slump.So yeah, he’s got to get back on the horse, Joe and and drive this offense because.They certainly need it.Santana is showing a little bit of.Life, you know, he ended up over 25, two nights ago, had a couple hits last night.But we’re not seeing any pop from these guys, Joe.We’re not seeing anybody drive the ball out of the park with the exception of Jones, with the, with the, with the three run home or the other day. So you know they they need some production.They’re getting singles, but they’re not getting any production. Joe Noga 15:26Yeah, they’ve turned Jose Ramirez into a singles hitter and and he’s not getting opportunities to drive in a lot of runs.Lately, really a bright spot right now.Gabriel Arias.Steven Vogt was asked about Gabriel Arias in in the pregame yesterday, and he’s just going out there and executing his game plan at the plate, and that’s what, you know, Vogue keeps leaning on.He’s he’s spraying the ball all over the field.He’s picking up double S extra base hits.Gabriel Arias, it looks like, you know, don’t want to be too premature with this, but it looks like you know, the light bulb has kind of gone off and and he’s figuring things out at the plate for himself. Paul Hoynes 16:07Yeah, Joe, you missed a couple games with a sore left hip.He was back in the lineup last night, had a leadoff double in the fifth, came around to score. Cleveland’s only run on Arbi single by by John Kenzie. Noel.I really like. He looks really comfortable at the plate, Joe. And you’re right. He has something has clicked in with this guy and hopefully he can maintain it. Joe Noga 16:33Right, Speaking of clicking in let’s. Let’s see if Tanner Bibey can click in tonight.Start for him in in game two of the series. This is a spot where the guardians really need the guy who is there, wants to be their ace.This is a spot where they really need Tanner Bibey to step up and and give them a good, solid outing against the team that he’s had success against before. Paul Hoynes 17:00Yeah, Joe, you know, Bybee is coming off a, you know, quality start against the Yankees in which, you know, the Guardians won three to two. He went six innings, two runs.They need another start like that tonight.He, you know, he faced the twins four times last year.He was two and O against them. He’ll be facing Chris Paddock tonight.And it’s a it’s a game where they need some length from the rotation.Joe, there’s no there’s no doubt about it. Joe Noga 17:33Yeah. Paddock own 36.45 era in his last few starts.He’s he’s given up, you know, a bunch of, you know, earned runs and a couple of home runs, actually, as as I’m looking at the the numbers here, just just wondering, you know, what are they gonna do to, you know, sort of?They they build their lineup to to beat the starter every night in in Paddock but.Last night they really didn’t have a chance to Bailey Ober.Put the clamps on them for seven and 2/3 innings.What? What can they do differently against Chris Paddock here to to sort of have a different result? Paul Hoynes 18:16They got a score, Joe.I mean, they were down 4. Nothing after two innings against.You know against Ober and the twins last night, they just haven’t scored, you know, on top of the bullpen problems and the, you know, the the.Haven’t really scored a lot of runs.They haven’t had firepower the last four games. They’ve been outscored 35 to 12. You know, the last two games.They’ve been outscored.They they’ve been outscored 24 to 4:00.I mean, they’ve been out of the game before it’s even started.So they they need to score. Joe Noga 18:55Go up. You’ll go ahead. Paul Hoynes 18:58They need to score fast and to hold the lead. Joe Noga 19:01If you’re looking for, you know, potential offense somewhere down the road, CJ Kaifice, one of their top prospects, was recently promoted from Akron to Columbus.Caiaphas, you know, hitting the ball all over the ballpark and doing so with power. Paul Hoynes 19:20Yeah, just really had a great start to the AA season.Joe, this is a guy.We saw, you know, part time basis in in I mean in spring training with the Big League club, he goes up to Columbus after hitting 36424 for 66.With the rubber ducks, 4 double s, 4 triples, one Homer, 11 Rbi’s.Uh, his slash line was 360-4470.859.96 for for a 1.66 OPS.So.This is a guy that, you know had a great he had a really good season last year, kind of ran out of gas a little bit and the miners learned how to take care of himself a little better, learned how to, you know, keep the weight on during.The season and it definitely looks like those moves that he made in the offseason have really produced results in the early part of the 2025. Joe Noga 20:25Yeah, he’s the number 8 prospect in the the organization, according to.MLB pipeline and yeah, it’s it’ll be interesting to see how he progresses at Columbus.You know, maybe this is a guy who earns himself. If he continues to hit, earns himself a shot at a September call up, who knows.We’ll, we’ll, we’ll wait and see on CJ Kais.But you know, good, positive news out of the minors there.And of course, Travis Bazana still plugging away at at AA Akron as as the Guardians move forward.Alright, that’s gonna wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.Twinsie will check in with you after game two of the Minnesota series here tomorrow. Paul Hoynes 21:11Good deal, Joe.