The Cleveland Guardians have had a curious off-season to be sure. They finished the 2021 season below the .500 mark at 80-82 but didn’t really make any moves to improve the major league roster.
They signed two free agents, catcher Luke Maile, who figures to back up Austin Hedges when he gets healthy, and also inked Bryan Shaw, who was on the roster last season.
Cleveland was 41-31 on June 24th and just two games out of first place after a 4-1 victory at Target Field against the Twins. However, by that point in time they had lost three members of the starting rotation to injury: Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac.
To that point in the season, Cleveland had 21 wins from that trio. They received eight victories the rest of the year, six of them by Plesac, and none from Bieber.
There should be some optimism from that. All three appear to be healthy heading into the season, and with the emergence of Cal Quantrill and the maturation of Triston McKenzie, the Guardians could have one of the best rotations in the sport.
The bullpen has a dominant closer in Emmanuel Clase, but very little other proven arms, save for Shaw.
In the regular season though, you have score runs to win, and therein lies the biggest question mark to the 2022 season. Can this team score enough runs to make a post-season push?
Cleveland ranked 9th in the American League in runs last season and 13th in the league in getting on base. They have a lot of players on the roster who make an awful lot of outs, and they did nothing this winter to address that.
So, the likely lineup that will start the season will feature players like Bradley Zimmer (career OBP of .310), Oscar Mercado (.296), Austin Hedges (.249), Amed Rosario (.307), and Bobby Bradley (.287).
There were players on the open market who could get on base, and young players like Steven Kwan and Richie Palacios have demonstrated the same ability in the minor leagues, but the organization decided to stand pat. Kwan did make the season opening roster, but we will see how much playing time he gets.
And by the way, talking about how close you came to making moves is meaningless. It’s the same as telling folks how close you came to winning the lottery. In the end, you didn’t get anything.
So, it doesn’t appear the Guardians have done anything to solve the problem other than hoping these guys get on base more often. That’s the Dusty Springfield (look her up) method: “Wishin’ and Hopin'”.
Once opposing pitchers get past the #3 hitter Jose Ramirez, and the clean up man, Franmil Reyes, there could be a lot of smooth sailing. Putting together a rally will be a stretch, there is a lot of feast or famine from #5 through #9.
Maybe Andres Gimenez will improve if he’s back to his regular position of shortstop. Maybe Yu Chang hits like he did the last two months (although his 69:11, K:BB ratio says otherwise). Maybe Owen Miller hits like his minor league numbers.
These aren’t things an organization should be basing their success on.
The Guardians are banking on several young players coming through this season. That sounds like a rebuilding team, not one interested in contending for a playoff spot.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 