Is Tanner Bibee ready to bounce back from a disappointing 2025 season?

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1:14Welcome back to the Cleveland baseball talk podcast. I'm Joe Novget joined by Paul Hoynes. Hoynes, the guardians come out winners in their fourth cataclyte game nine to five yesterday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Four and O in their first four games. Jose Ramirez with a big day at the plate. A four Cleveland probably should have had two home runs in the game. He ends up two for three with a double home run for RBI's in the nine five win. Just what do you see from Jose and these first couple of games? Does he look like he's settled in and ready to go after after signing the big contract extension in the office season? Yeah, I was talking to Jose Joe and he said he really didn't have it. It sounded like he wasn't really happy with the you know he didn't have a lot of work. I guess I should say he didn't get the kind of work he usually gets in the you know during the winter. He was in Cleveland a lot of the time. His wife was you know getting ready to deliver their four child. So he was in Cleveland for a long time and I you know I don't know if he

2:19you know got a chance to work out as much as he usually does. But he certainly didn't look like that yesterday you know two you know he hammered two balls. The first one you know followed a chase the lottery double in the third inning it you know everyone who saw it felt it was a home run but you know it was rule the ground rule double. And then in his next next hit batty left no doubt he had a three run homer to pretty much the same spot but he elevated it you know to over the right field wall. So you know he looks he looks fine to what yeah he looks he looks and you know like he's ready to go. Yeah it sounded like it was you know typical Jose fashion. Well if you're going to call this first one a double I'm going to erase all doubt with the second one and put it well out of the ballpark for a home run there. Just how reassuring is that for everybody in that clubhouse to to see that you know nothing nothing changes with Jose you know the offseason workout routine might have been a little interrupted or different

3:23but he still comes to camp and when when he locks in everybody sort of gets in line behind him. Yeah yeah definitely he's still the focal point of that team and he you know he is he's in good spirits when he walks in the clubhouse he's he's talking to everybody you know everybody kind of gravitates toward him you know the all you know there's no clicks when it comes to Jose he talks to everyone and he just kind of fires everybody up he's talking to people I know when Nolan Jones had that big game against Milwaukee over the weekend the next day he Jose walks into the locker and said Nolan Jones is back Jones he's back so so you know he he doesn't miss a thing man he's he you know he's right up to date and so he looks in good shape and he's Joey's he's wearing a green glove like an emerald green green glove out there at third base I'm not I'm not sure what that means or if it's a fashion statement or he's just breaking in a new glove but interesting

4:29maybe that's the spring training glove maybe he's getting ready for a same Patrick state who knows that's coming up I know his his batting gloves his signature batting gloves from Franklin just dropped and you know they're out there unavailable I saw some photos of them and I've actually seen him up close and in person they're they're pretty impressive they're sort of this gradient bright vivid colors he likes the vivid colors on on some of the shoes and sometimes the the arms sleeves and things like that he likes to express himself that way hey that's great man whatever you like whatever keeps you happy keeps you hitting the ball and and that's fine by all of us to go ahead and and put on whatever you like in terms of colors chased a lot or one for three with a double and an RBI run scored in the game you know it looks like they've plugged chased a lotter into the the top of that lineup and they're expecting him to hit and and he's delivering yeah just you know you know Joe every time you see him you know go into the corner after a fly ball or go first to third you know you're you're wondering if he's you kind of hold your breath

5:32wonder if he's going to come up you know limp in or something but you know so far so good for for the lotter he's looked you know he's mobile he's you know he went first to third and in the in the Milwaukee game just he's been he's been off to a good start at a double yesterday he uh you know so far so good Joe and boy this guy can stay healthy you're exactly right you know he wherever they put him in the lineup he's going to help and uh he is just he's gotten off to a good start he said a good start to camp and exciting player Joe really really an exciting guy you can see why the Guardians are you know like this guy and have you know done everything in their power to keep him healthy another guy that that has had a big uh big start to the uh the cactus league season bone nailer another couple of hits two for three a double in a strikeout and and really that double he smoked it uh up the alley he hit the ball hard so far uh in the in the spring couple of games for bone nailer hitting 750 with a uh 2.050 OPS I think the Guardians would take that

6:39uh it really but really the uh the the point here is bone nailer looks and feels very comfortable at the plate right now he's sort of eliminated that high leg kick he looks like he's uh his swings a little more compact and a little quicker just you know what are you seeing from bone nailer so far in this progression as uh you know spring gets underway yeah Joe I think you know he looks uh he looks loose and free you know uh Steven Voda said he thinks this is going to be a breakout season for uh for nailer and uh you know so uh you know I I'm sure he's you know probably a little head of schedule because he's leaving for uh you know team Canada in the WBC I think around March 1st so you know he's probably been out you know he's been in a good year for a while now little head of schedule so uh but it's really good to see him swing the bat Joe because we saw what he it can mean to the ball club in September when he hit 290 going down the stretch

7:41had a lot of big hits key hits RBI well driving in runs and if he can get going if he can ever tap into that potential that made him a number one pick uh you know that's just going to help Cleveland and we're talking also a little bit of a power boost as well because he's one of the guys where you know in that lineup where you would expect you know a few more doubles a few more home runs as he continues on his progression I just I think you know this is a guy he like both said he could have a breakout season but you could definitely see that that OPS start to climb for sure because he's he's had it at every level that he's he's hit at you know the OPS has been pretty high there's no reason why it shouldn't translate and you know his third or fourth season here on the majors yeah and you know we saw it last year what he hit 14 home runs I mean he was like you know top five on the ball club I mean they didn't hit a ton of home runs but you know that shows you something I mean the average wasn't there but the the thing that I took encouragement from is the way he came on when they needed him the most going down the stretch in August I thought

8:46I mean in September I thought that was a huge for him huge for his confidence and you know Joe we talked to him during that during that last month of the season and he seemed a lot more relaxed you know like he had you know I think he's one of those guys that got maybe got overcoached a little bit you know he was listening to a lot of different people and finally you know he just kind of took a deep breath and kind of okay let's let's do it my way here take everything I've learned and just kind of free my mind up and you know and swing the back yeah it's definitely feels like what his approach wasn't that in that you know hot September that he had speaking to guys who had big September and looking for big years out of them this year Tanner Bobby goes out made his first appearance in the cactus league faced seven batters over two scoreless innings a lot of one hit one strike out he's you know there's he's a guy who who tends to put a lot of pressure on himself and and I think that's what happened last season you saw the ERA balloon over four and

9:51that's not the Tanner Bobby that we're used to know with the the contract extension he signed in the offseason last year how it played on his mind and and and put pressure on him none of that seems to be the case right now just after one outing what's the vibe you got from Tanner Bobby yesterday yeah I got a really good vibe from Bobby we talked to him after his two innings and he said you know that he let you know he didn't handle a lot of the adversity he faced last year really well it was he said he was it was adversity I could control and and couldn't control and I didn't really do a good job of handling either one but he said he finally got kind of came to terms with it in the second half of the season and he you know he really pitched well down the stretch he went three and all with a 1.3 OERA in his last four starts so he had a really good run after the break where he won five straight so you know I think he's taken he's taken the approach this season Joe that hey it's a clean slate I'm starting over maybe he grew up

10:57a little bit he learned how to deal with things he did say you know the extension that he signed in spring training that five year extension you know maybe put a little extra pressure on him made him try to do more than he was capable of doing as a pitcher but I think he's come to terms with that and he he looked great yesterday yeah all of the the mental performance coaching that goes into getting some of these guys through the the season seems to have have clicked in and and paid off and and now by byby comes back you know this year like you said clean slate and if you get you know that kind of byby would pair him with Gavin Williams at the the top of the rotation there the guardians are going to be in good shape with with any sort of consistency out of those two another guy who is getting ready to head out for World Baseball Classic and and you know wants to get as many innings in here ahead of time is Matt Festa he pitched one inning had a strikeout and we saw Tim Heron come in an inning pitched two hits a walk strike out what would it mean for

12:04Tim Heron to have a big bounce back year as well think that's critical there's so many arms in that bullpen Joe so many good arms and it's kind of a a smorgasbord right now you don't know who who's going to make that club outside of you know Kate Smith and Hunter Gattis and a couple of the uh Festa those late inning guys middle guys but you know that they've got like there's relievers all over the place so it's important for Heron to really get off on the right foot he through well yesterday it's really like the way he pitched you know when he's on Joe I mean he's dominant we saw it two years ago we saw it in flashes last season I think it's confidence is a big part of that you know if he's if he's locked in that's a that's a left hander that they can throw late in the game and he's just going to help the guardian yeah I remember you know when we first we're introduced to Tim Heron I remember Tito Frankona uh talk describing him as a guy who they they thought was

13:08like a projected like a young Andrew Miller so it's a lot to live up to but when Heron is on he can get you out lefty or ready he's got that good breaking ball that that goes to the to the back foot of the the right handers you know it's he can be tough it's just a matter of being consistent and you know they need to see a lot more of that we saw Kobe Allard for two innings yesterday I gave up two hits and a strikeout but you know the other guy that's sort of in that same position that Kobe Allard is in was Pedro Avila Pedro Avila two thirds of an inning gave up three earned runs on four hits had a strikeout those two guys are in camp as non-roster invitees on minor league contracts it figures to to be a pretty tough competition for both of them to find a spot in that crowd of bullpen in sort of the first round yesterday Allard came out looking looking like he's in front yeah Allard you know you got to love the way he pitches Joe we saw the same Kobe Allard last spring when he had a great camp and I nearly made the guardians out of

14:13out of spring training agreed to go down and came right back up so he you know he looked he looked great too like you said two scoreless innings Avila Pedro got knocked around a little bit he gave up a home run it was one of those crazy spring training games you know the guardians had the big lead like Arizona was was on the way back when you know they started hitting reaching Pedro and we just don't you know we we just don't know you know where he is right now Joe I mean we didn't see him all spring training two years ago remember they got him from San Diego during I think in April at early April and he turned out to be really a good addition to the bullpen we don't know what kind of spring training pitcher is he is he a Brian Shaw who was terrible in spring training and then nails it during the regular season or or something wrong with Pedro because he didn't really pitch that well in Japan last season so we're gonna have to wait and see if you more appearances from Avila but you know he's not going to get too many more chances Joe with

15:18this many arms so you got to take advantage of it yeah that's that's exactly is every chance you get to you know put some tape out there is important you talk to Trevor Stefan where's uh where's Trevor's stuff and I guess he's he's gonna be pitching coming up this week obviously we we've talked a lot about his comeback from elbow surgery and and the disappointment of not being where he wanted to be last year uh just you know what's the latest and what are the hopes for him in this camp yeah so he is uh he is another roster guy uh in an interesting position they they all they owe him $3.5 million this year because he signed that long-term deal that four year ten million dollar deal a few years ago but he's not on the roster he's gonna have to pitch his way on it to make the club out of spring training but he's pitching Wednesday against Texas so we'll see how that goes but he says you know he says he's feeling a lot better health-wise than compared to last season when he was coming off the the Tommy John um he um you know he says uh his curb you know the

16:25breaking stuff is really good but he's still looking for some Velo you know he's still a few ticks down then from from what he was in 2020 22 and 2023 when you know he was kind of a dominant reliever a rule five guy he looked like you know the the guardians had found a diamond in the rough and uh you know he really kind of dominated then but he hasn't pitched in the big league since since 2023 so he's got some some making up to do you know he's involved has liked his uh has liked his all you know his breaking pitches is slider is sharp but uh you know and votes that he still needs some Velo but you know they're they're I you know I I guess sensor paying them you know I'm not sure you know what I would think they would you know if he doesn't make the ball club I would think he'd start a triple A because you know he made like 20 25 appearances last year in the minors Joe but you know if the Velo kind of held them back he was he got to triple A but he was never really able

17:30to uh clear that last hurdle and get back to Cleveland's you know this is a big year for him it's not like you can just go down to the Velo store and and pick up a extra supply uh that that's something you either have or you don't and for for him to not not feel like he's he's got it there you wonder what the the season's going to look like for a guy like Trevor's stuff and but he's such a good guy you know you hope for the best for him and you hope uh he makes it back up to the big league club and can be reliable for him let's uh let's talk about the uh Reese Hoskins situation yesterday the guardians made it official uh that they had signed him to uh contract he's in camp what's when can we expect to see Reese Hoskins on the field and and eventually in games for Cleveland yeah I would think it's going to take a maybe uh you know depending on what his conditioning is Joe I would think it would take what three four five days just to uh get acclimated to camp maybe this weekend we could see him in a in a in a in a game or

18:31early next week but it's going to take a while I would think they're they're not just going to throw him in a ballgame like in the next two days I think they probably want to get a look at him to have him face some light BP well we haven't talked to him yet so I don't know how much work he's been put in you know during the winter where he is but I would think you know you usually go through a routine a hitters and pitchers before they let you uh you know get into some game action yeah there are certain benchmarks that every team's got to have in terms of physical conditioning before uh they're going to clear you to get out on the field and you know with Hoskins history of injuries and spring training you definitely don't want to run him out there before everything is ready it's what have you heard about Hoskins in terms of his you know his character makeup his you know being able to put him right into the uh the clubhouse and the the team environment there uh how do you expect uh the guardians to accept him and and him to get acclimated to the team there this is a team whose aside from the pitching and defense uh carrying this ball club

19:35over the last couple of seasons the clubhouse culture and the vibe that's in that room that's been created by Terry Brankona and Carrie Nahn by Stephen Vote and cultivated by Chris Antanetti and Mike Chernaugh they don't introduce too many sort of negative forces or negative personalities into that clubhouse is is Reese Hoskins going to be the kind of guy to upset that balance or to maintain it oh I think he maintains that balance I've heard nothing but good things about him Joe I'm sure of votes got a great scotter report from Pat Murphy the Milwaukee manager there was a good friend of his that had Hoskins the last two years the word out of Philadelphia is a good teammate you know good guy fits in well you know you're right Joe I mean they're not they don't bring in too many bad apples into this uh onto this team and you know this guy is just what they need if he is if he's healthy and he can swing the bat and he can you know produce like he's

20:36producing the past you know you'd stick that right handed hitter into the anywhere in that lineup and he's going to help you Joe so yeah I heard nothing but good things about Hoskins Pat Murphy told Stephen vote that Reese Hoskins is an 80 grade character 80 grade person on that you know the scouting scale that that goes you know 60 is pretty much is what Major League Elite and 80 is where he puts himself you know you got to you got to take the word of a two-time NL manager of the year at its face value Reese Hoskins pretty much expected to come in and and and be you know a veteran leader in that clubhouse as well eventually I'm sure this uh this afternoon the Guardians traveling to Camelback Ranch they get a look at the two-time defending world champion LA Dodgers out there Gavin Williams gonna be on the mound for Cleveland what are we looking for out of Gavin in his spring debut I think Gavin is looking for you know just to build on that last season kind

21:40of a breakout season he's excited about this year and just he's in good shape and I think he's just you know he I think you know we saw him just kind of you know grow up last season I think he wants to continue that he's you know just kind of follow the lead of you know the the the other starters we've seen they've all pitched really well and I think Gavin you know just takes a baton today and tries to keep it going yeah I've been you know pleasantly surprised with the the quality of the pitching effort you know so far by all the guy you know from Logan Allen and Joey Cantillo you know Parker Messick had a good outing and Tanner Bobby now you know would expect Gavin Williams to come out and do the same as they they got there in face the Dodgers how many times does Gavin Ganya in the clubhouse so far this this season I've been looking over my shoulder Joe he hasn't got me once but he's he was I was talking to him before the game started

22:45and he was scoping up the locker room to see his next victim so I'm sure he'll say he's not he'll strike at some point he'll get you he'll get you eventually whether it's in the clubhouse or out by the dugout it's inevitable so all right Huynes that's going to wrap up today's edition of the Cleveland baseball talk podcast we'll check in with you again tomorrow from a good year two good and co-coffee creamers are made with farm fresh cream real milk and contain three grams of sugar per serving that's 40 percent less than the five grams per serving in leading traditional coffee creamers for a rich delicious experience whether you enjoy your coffee hot cold bold or frothy two good coffee creamers make every sip a good one two good coffee creamers real goodness

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