Stephen Vogt’s third straight AL Central title with the Guardians says plenty. The more interesting story is how he keeps getting sharper while doing it.
On the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast, Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes dug into that progression, and the picture that emerged was of a manager who hasn’t changed his core beliefs, but has learned when to lean harder into them and when to ease off. The matchup game is still at the heart of everything.
Vogt still works the lefty-righty angles, and he still believes no roster spot should sit idle. That part, as Hoynes put it, is part of who he is and likely isn’t going anywhere.
But this season also showed a more settled approach in the everyday lineup.
“I did see a guy that kind of leaned more and more toward a set lineup,” Hoynes said. “When he got Adell, this guy was in there ... so you saw a guy that was kind of leaning more towards stability of a lineup than constantly platooning.”
That shift matters because it shows Vogt balancing the numbers with the people wearing the uniforms. Instead of constantly chasing the smallest edge, he started giving players more room to breathe and more chances to settle in.
That showed up most clearly with José Ramírez. When the seven-time All-Star was in a rough stretch, Vogt could have easily backed off and reduced his workload. He didn’t.
“Maybe another manager, when he saw Jose struggling, would have perhaps given him less playing time,” Hoynes said. “But he’s stuck with Ramirez. He knows what he means to the organization, knows what he means to the team.”
Vogt also kept proving he can solve problems on the fly when the pitching staff needed a different look. Last season, the answer was a six-man rotation to help manage the workload late in the year.
This time, the issue was Joey Cantillo not finding enough consistency as a starter. Vogt answered with an opener plan, using Daniel Espino to start games before turning things over to Cantillo.
The move paid off right away.
“This year, the pitching adjustment that he made was to go to the opener down the stretch with Joey Cantillo,” Noga said. “What we’ve seen out of Cantillo, 15 consecutive scoreless innings since he’s come in as a bulk reliever, it worked for him, and that’s what they’ve been able to go to.”
It’s the kind of adjustment that can get lost if you only look at the standings. But three years in a row, Vogt has found a different answer to a different problem, and he’s had the conviction to stick with it.
Noga’s assessment of where that leaves him now was simple: in a difficult spot, there isn’t much Vogt couldn’t handle and come out of with the right answer.
That’s why, heading into the ALDS, the Guardians can trust the manager they have.
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The encouraging part for Cleveland is that Williams did not fade as the schedule wore on. He sharpened in September, trimming his ERA and missing more bats while the Guardians were fighting for a playoff push, which only added to the sense that he was settling into the role they had been waiting for. For a club that has spent a lot of time searching for reliable rotation anchors, Williams just made the long view a little easier to picture. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Trade Deadline Looks Smarter As October Reality Hits Phillies
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Philadelphia offered a sharper contrast by unveiling its National League Wild Card Series roster without any of its deadline pickups, Caleb Kilian, Brooks Raley and Luis Arraez. Injuries have kept Kilian and Arraez out, while Raley was left off after a difficult stretch, a reminder that deadline deals can look good in July and much different by October. [Read more 🡒]