Guards Just Keep Getting Bad News.

If the trades made earlier in the week didn’t deal a crushing blow to the post-season hopes of the Cleveland Guardians. Friday’s news didn’t help.

Josh Naylor went on the injured list with a strained oblique and the team offered that he will be out 3-6 weeks, a rather vague length of time. Naylor currently ranks 5th in the league in batting average and third in RBIs, and provided solid protection for Jose Ramirez.

And while we understand the logic of the Josh Bell deal to Miami because the Guards would be on the hook for $16 million next season as Bell was not going to decline his option, the fact remains that the 12th best scoring offense in the AL has now lost two of their five best producers.

Too bad the just acquired Kyle Manzardo isn’t ready to play.

It’s funny that everyone complained about the Guardians not being able to find playing time for some of their young players throughout the first four months of the season, and now, they have nothing but opportunities for them.

One player who won’t be able to take advantage for now is a guy we have clamored to see more of in Tyler Freeman. Freeman also went on the IL with a shoulder issue, and hopefully he will be back before Naylor.

For now, we will likely see a lot of David Fry and Gabriel Arias at first, we guess, with possibly a little of newcomer, veteran Kole Calhoun, acquired from the Dodgers after hitting .297 with a 906 OPS in AAA this season.

Keep in mind though, in 125 games with Texas last season (in the big leagues) he hit .196 with a 587 OPS.

Brayan Rocchio, probably the Guardians’ top prospect will come up and get regular time at SS, we would imagine. A switch-hitter, he batted .291 with a .383 on base percentage at Columbus this season, and we have heard folks complain about his lack of pop this year (he hit 18 homers last year), his slugging percentage is just slightly off from a year ago, because he had 26 doubles and five triples at AAA.

With the DH slot opened up, Jose Ramirez will be able to get off his feet at times, and we would imagine Oscar Gonzalez will get plenty of time there as well. Gonzalez was called up after Cleveland moved Amed Rosario last week, and has gone 6 for 16 since returning to the big club.

Speaking of Rosario, is anyone else amazed that all of a sudden, he can play other positions? If you haven’t noticed, he’s playing second base with the Dodgers. Why didn’t the Guardians move him there? We think everyone would agree the Guards’ defense would have been better had Andres Gimenez and Rosario simply swapped spots.

And lastly, it looks like the club is finally going to see what Xzavion Curry can do with the fifth spot in the rotation. He will start today and stay in the rotation going forward. We believe that decision is about a month too late.

Meanwhile, Cleveland still hovers just 3.5 games out of first in the AL Central.

With the injuries to Naylor and the trades of Civale and Bell, it would seem the chance of defending the division title grows smaller each day, but here we are.

We know the players will keep grinding. But will that be enough. The fact that the team is gritty is probably the biggest reason they were upset with the front office on August 1st.

Guards’ Front Office Caps Off A Bad Year Of Decisions

After the Cleveland Guardians clinched the AL Central last season, Terry Francona told his players to make this a beginning, a springboard to future success.

Apparently, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t get that message. Heading into the last two day prior to the trading deadline, the Guardians closed to within a half game of Minnesota for first place in the division.

The front office decided to pass on competing for the post-season in ’23. Sure, they said the right things, they are confident in the group in the clubhouse and still think they can compete, and maybe they can. But the message to fans and the players was pretty clear. They had no confidence in this squad.

It’s not trading Amed Rosario, who was going to be a free agent, or Josh Bell, who was a disappointment this season. And we can even buy the theory behind trading Aaron Civale, who has been injury prone and at best is probably a #3 or #4 starter.

The problem is the organization did nothing to address the problems this team has had all season: The offense and the bullpen.

They picked up Noah Syndergaard in the Rosario deal to essentially take Civale’s place in the rotation, but they still need a fifth starter, and for some reason, they are reluctant to give Xzavion Curry a shot at the job.

The front office has had a bad run since the division title a year ago. They signed two free agents, Mike Zunino (we didn’t like that move) and Josh Bell (we did like that) and both are gone with two months to go in the season.

The offense struggled most of April and May, and the front office and management were slow to make changes. In fact, until Rosario was dealt last week, they played two very subpar offensive players (Rosario and Myles Straw) pretty much on an everyday basis.

And while they are patting themselves on the back for adding top 100 prospect Kyle Manzardo from Tampa, let’s remember that he put up great numbers last year at high A/AA, but in AAA, he has a 783 OPS. We aren’t predicting he will be a bust, and certainly we hope he can be an everyday player.

But we look at numbers in the lower tiers of the minor leagues with a jaundiced eye. There is a prospect in the Guards’ system who had a 977 OPS at high A and an 818 OPS at AA. That would be George Valera, who is currently hitting .196 with a 633 OPS at Columbus this season.

We aren’t writing Valera off, but his ranking on top prospect lists has dropped from 2022 to 2023, and we wonder if he will appear at all prior to 2024.

After years of ownership saying they need attendance to justify spending, after last year, the crowds have returned to Progressive Field. And the front office decided not to add payroll or talent to the current roster.

To us, the activity by the front office put a cap on a nine month streak of mostly bad decisions. We understand no front office is perfect and the Guardians deserve the benefit of the doubt. But we also would comment that kicking the can down the road is an easy decision.

It’s tougher to correct the problems of the current roster and make a run at another division title. And as for those who would say the Guardians aren’t good enough to win the World Series anyway? You can’t win the lottery unless you buy a ticket.