Never Happier To Be Wrong On Guardians.

Late in the 2020 baseball season, we were asked what the future of the Cleveland Guardians would be if they traded shortstop Francisco Lindor.

We felt they would be in for a bit of a rebuilding phase; we figured it would be about four years before they could compete again.

We are very happy to be wrong, as it took just two seasons before they are returning the post-season, as they will be wrapping up the AL Central either today or sometime during the season against Tampa at Progressive Field this week.

Kudos should go to president Chris Antonetti, GM Mike Chernoff, the player development department, skipper Terry Francona and the coaching staff, and the players. There is nothing like unexpected success, and most people did not figure the Guardians would be making the playoffs in 2022.

The organization made a major shift to more contact-oriented approach offensively, and also stopped trying to plug holes with stop-gap veterans and instead giving the younger players a shot.

It was surprising to many that not only did Steven Kwan make the opening day roster, he pretty much started from day one, and produced immediately, hitting .295 with a .371 on base percentage, and playing excellent defense.

Bobby Bradley and Yu Chang, two hitters with contact issues, were in the lineup for game one, but after an offensive explosion in the third game of the series vs. Kansas City, Francona stuck with the hot hands and the Guards got off to a decent start.

In addition to Kwan, the farm system also produced Oscar Gonzalez (.291, 794 OPS), who stepped into rightfield. At various points, we also saw Nolan Jones and Richie Palacios, and currently Tyler Freeman, Will Benson, and Will Brennan are on the roster.

So, the offense improved, and the pitching remained the strength of the organization.

After the trade deadline, on August 6th, the Guardians were just two games back and we made a comment on social media that if Cleveland wanted to get to the post-season, they needed their starting pitching to step up.

That night, Cal Quantrill threw six shutout innings vs. Houston, and the next day, Triston McKenzie blanked the Astros for eight frames. And since then, the starters led by those two and Shane Bieber, have been dominant.

Quantrill has made ten starts including the outing vs. the Astros, going 6-0 with a 2.31 ERA in 58-1/3 innings. McKenzie has gone 4-3 with a 2.39 ERA in his nine appearances, and Bieber has shown again why he’s the staff ace, with a 6-2 mark and a 1.68 ERA in 64-1/3 frames.

And if the Guards have the lead after six, the triumvirate of Trevor Stephan, James Karinchak and Emmanuel Clase, with a little sprinkling of lefty Sam Hentges make it very difficult for the opposition to come back.

Cleveland ranked 13th in the AL in runs scored with Lindor in 2020, then improved to 9th in ’21 and currently rank 7th. Beside the emergence of Kwan and Gonzalez, the offense has received a boost from a full season of Josh Naylor (19 HR, 73 RBI, 780 OPS), and one of the players who came from NY in the Lindor deal in Andres Gimenez.

At the time, we said he was the key to the deal, but we didn’t anticipate this. Played Gold Glove defense at second base, Gimenez, who hit .218 last year in 68 games, has batted .303 (856 OPS), hit 16 homers, knocked in 67 and stolen 19 bases.

He ranks third in AL in WAR, behind only Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani.

That’s a big-time contribution.

The best thing might be yet to come though. The Guardians are the youngest team in the game and have one of the best farm systems in baseball.

Nothing is guaranteed, but it looks like it could be the beginning of another post-season skein for the team that plays at Progressive Field.