Baseball is back, and the problems for individual franchises now shift from the meeting room to the playing field. The Cleveland Guardians are no exception.
The Guards have finished last season 13 games out of first place in the AL Central, and a dozen games out of the wild card spot. And the sixth best record in the league, and that will make the post-season this season, was Seattle and they won ten more contests than Terry Francona’s squad.
Cleveland finished ninth in the Junior Circuit in runs scored, and despite the strength of the organization being pitching, they were 10th in ERA, most due to a rash of injuries to the starting pitchers, mainly ace Shane Bieber, who made just 16 starts.
Still, with good health the rotation should be the backbone of the team. Cal Quantrill emerged to post a 2.89 ERA over 149-2/3 innings, and Triston McKenzie showed flashes, including a seven start stretch in the second half where he threw 46 innings and allowed just 9 runs, a 1.74 ERA.
And don’t forget that Aaron Civale was leading the league in wins when he went down with a finger injury, and although Zach Plesac, who also missed time, was spotty, he still allowed less hits than innings pitched.
Eli Morgan and Logan Allen will be available in Columbus to start the season if need by to provide depth.
The bullpen is another matter. Emmanuel Clase was tremendous and should have had more support for rookie of the year, posting a 1.29 ERA and 24 saves. Behind him are question marks.
James Karinchak struggled coming down the stretch and Nick Sandlin was injured at the end of last season. The hope is that Trevor Stephan and Anthony Gose can contribute, but if we know Francona, he will want some veteran experience in relief.
Offensively, this team needs a lot of help. There is really just one great offensive player, Jose Ramirez, and not much else.
If an excellent hitter is a guy with an on base percentage over .350 and a slugging percentage over .450, then Ramirez is it.
What’s worse is Myles Straw is the only other player with an OBP over .350 on the roster. And next best figure is Bradley Zimmer, who has huge holes in his swing, at .325 (he was hit by 15 pitches). Amed Rosario got on base at a .321 clip.
The number of players beside Ramirez who slugged better than .450 also numbers one–Franmil Reyes (.522). That leaves the Guardians one excellent bat, and two solid bats. That’s it. To be able to score enough runs, conventional wisdom says you need six good hitters.
That leaves the Guards about three short right now. So, the front office has some work to do before the regular season begins. The have to find some guys who can get on base and/or players who can accumulate some extra base hits.
And as of today, we would say there are only four positions written in stone: Ramirez at 3B, Straw in CF, Reyes at DH, and Austin Hedges behind the plate.
That’s an awful lot of uncertainty, particularly with a shortened spring training.
It is good to talk about the actual game and not labor issues. However, now we have to look at the holes on the Guardians’ roster. How quickly can these be resolved without some moves by president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff.
If the Guards want to get in the playoff chase, they need to score a lot more runs.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 