Today is January 7, 2024. This means in 37 days; baseball fans hear the expression they have waited for since the World Series ended on November 1st: ”Pitchers and catchers report to spring training”.
If you are a fan of the Cleveland Guardians, it has been watching the constant upgrades to the roster, as the front office addressed the weaknesses, particularly the hitting, which finished 12th in the American League in runs scored.
The heavy sarcasm is intended.
Yes, we know the Guardians have a new manager, but they have done little else with spring training commencing in little over a month.
And this isn’t last season, coming off a Central Division title, the Guardians were a below .500 team in 2023.
First, they selected 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas from Pittsburgh off waivers, and then put him on waivers themselves several weeks later. They also added C Christian Bethancourt from Tampa Bay via the same method, and then traded him to Miami for cash (we will spare the sarcasm here, oh guess we didn’t) a little over a month later.
The biggest move they made was designating Cal Quantrill for assignment, and then trading him to Colorado for a minor league catcher. Apparently, when Terry Francona retired, so did the mantra that you can’t have too much pitching.
The one move that would rank highest on the excitement level (still would be around a 4 on a scale of 1-10) would be acquiring reliever Scott Barlow from San Diego for Enyel De La Santos. Barlow is a former closer and could be a cure for overusing Emmanuel Clase, assuming he isn’t traded before the season starts, as there have been rumors.
The Guardians didn’t stop there though. In kind of a secret move, Oscar Gonzalez, a post-season hero just a year and a half ago, was put on waivers and claimed by the Yankees.
Since they lost Quantrill, team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff swung into action and signed Ben Lively, not to be confused with actress Blake Lively, as a free agent from Cincinnati.
Lively, 32, could be another veteran anchor to the Cleveland rotation. That is if you dismiss his career 5.05 ERA in 208 big league innings. He had a 5.38 ERA for the Reds last year, but of course, their home park is very hitter friendly.
Unfortunately, his ERA at home was 4.70 and his road figure was 5.90.
Austin Hedges, a fan favorite (why?) was brought back as a free agent. Hedges is a tremendous defensive catcher, but he his OPS over the last three seasons have been 461, 489, and 527. And the first figure was the most recent.
The day after Christmas, the Guardians dealt oft-injured pitcher Cody Morris to the Yankees for left-handed hitter OF Estevan Florial, a former top 100 prospect.
Florial hit .230 (635 OPS) in 61 at bats for New York last season. He did belt 28 homers and put up a 945 OPS at AAA last year. He does strike out a lot, but his walk rate has got better over the past two seasons. No sarcasm here, but perhaps he can help.
On the other hand, he hits left-handed, not really an area of need, although the power would help.
Our point is it must be very tough to be a salesman in the ticket office for this team. They’ve virtually given their fans nothing to be excited about, although we are sure they would say it is because of the uncertainty surrounding their local television deal.
Perhaps in the next 30 days, they will be involved in doing something to significantly help their new skipper, Steven Vogt, have a more competitive squad.
We are sure the prospect gurus out there will tell us how several rookies will impact the 2024 edition of the Cleveland Guardians and all will be well.
Truth be told, we like some of their talent coming up, and hope those folks are correct. Our experience tells us most of those good young players won’t make an impact in 2024.
Hot Stove Season? More like Hot Doze Season if you are a fan of the Guardians.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 