When baseball locked out its players, fans were left to think about all the transactions that could be made to strengthen their favorite baseball team.
Now that spring training camps are open, and have been that way for a couple of weeks, supporters of the Cleveland Guardians are still feeling the same way.
Since the labor agreement was reached, the Guardians’ front office has added one player, catcher Luke Maile, another defensive oriented catcher with a lifetime OPS of 568.
It is evident to us that one of two things are in play here: Either Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff are completely satisfied by the current roster or ownership isn’t giving them any money to spend.
And if the latter is true, that still doesn’t preclude the brass from making trades.
In case you missed it, the Guardians didn’t win the World Series last season. In fact, they finished under .500 for the season at 80-82.
Their current offense features one hitter with a slugging percentage of over .450 and also an on base percentage of .350 (Jose Ramirez) and two hitters who above those figures in just one of the categories (Myles Straw in OBP and Franmil Reyes in slugging).
Cleveland ranked in the middle of the pack in the AL in slugging a year ago, but were third from the bottom in getting on base. We have written about this ad nauseum all off-season, and suggested several available candidates, such as Andrew McCutchen, Anthony Rizzo, and Tommy Pham.
Only Pham is still available, as is Michael Conforto, who has a career .356 OBP. To date, the Guardians have not been linked with any of them.
Yes, there is still time to make a move, but the season opens two weeks from Thursday.
The Guards’ roster make up is very strange. They have 13 players on the current 40 man roster without any big league experience. They have a glut of middle infielders, including four of their top ten prospects.
The assumption was the front office would deal from strength to bolster the team’s holes, which would be the outfield and the bullpen.
Now, if the Guardians are going to make a commitment to play their young outfielders, such as Steven Kwan (.380 OBP in the minors), Richie Palacios (.409), or even Oscar Gonzalez (871 OPS at AAA/AA last season), then we can get on board with that.
However, our fear is they will trot Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado out there for the first six weeks of the season, and wonder why they got off to a poor start.
Terry Francona has also said they are planning to use Amed Rosario at both LF and SS. This is another head scratcher. Shortstop is the key defensive position on the diamond, and Rosario is not very good at the position.
And it’s not as though Cleveland doesn’t need a left fielder. Just put Rosario out there and open up short for Andres Gimenez and/or Gabriel Arias.
Oh, and is Josh Naylor is ready for the opener, move him to first base and leave him there.
This organization seems to be terrified of making a mistake, and we believe that is why we continue to see Zimmer, Mercado, and even Bobby Bradley get chance after chance.
There is enough of a history with each of those players that most people can figure out what they will bring to a team. Unfortunately, the people in charge obviously cannot.
For years, people around the sport have praised the Guardians’ front office. Is it time to start judging them more harshly.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 