It is pretty clear to us that the Cleveland Guardians aren’t going to make any impact moves before spring training starts in two and a half weeks.
They did make a small move over the weekend, bringing back Carlos Carrasco on a minor league contract, and of course, he has a chance to open the season with the big club. While we are happy to see Carrasco return, as he was a longtime fan favorite, but this is a classic move by the franchise. We aren’t trying to improve the roster, but we’ll do the ticket buyers a favor and bring back an old popular player.
Carrasco spent parts of 11 seasons with Cleveland, winning 88 games for the home team. He led the American League in wins in 2017, and of course (in the pantheon of Cleveland what ifs), missed the World Series run in 2016 with a broken hand after he went 11-8 with a 3.32 ERA.
Many Carrasco can give the Guardians a turn back the clock moment and be a solid fifth starter in 2024.
All that said, if the Guardians don’t make any moves before camp starts, here are some things we would like to see in the 2024 season.
Enhance The Running Game. Cleveland finished third in the AL in steals last season with 151, but we think they can and should run more, particularly with the famous lack of power. Andres Gimenez led the Guards with 30, and Jose Ramirez was next with 28.
While we really don’t want Ramirez to run more because he’s getting older, but why can’t Gimenez, Steven Kwan, and if he plays, Myles Straw run and steal more. Newcomer Estevan Florial stole 25 bases in AAA last year. We think they try not to run with Ramirez coming up, but early in games, why not?
If as a team, you aren’t going to get a lot of extra base hits, why not take extra bases in the steal game?
Find Out Once And For All. We don’t have a plan on this (we do, but what we think doesn’t matter), but the Guardians need to find at bats for Tyler Freeman to find out if he can be a big-league player.
Freeman’s minor league number show he can hit, .311 batting average, .382 on base percentage, 812 OPS. However, he has just 254 plate appearances in the big leagues since his initial call up on August 3, 2022. He had just two instances where he had four at bats in back-to-back games in 2023.
There have been reports he has worked in the outfield this winter, so perhaps he becomes a “super utility” player, getting a lot of at bats filling in at different positions. For a team looking for hitters, it is curious how they have treated Freeman.
Cool It on Defense. Without a doubt, defense in baseball is important. However, you also have to be able to contribute with a bat in your hands. In recent years for the Guardians, defense has been perhaps too much of a factor in getting playing time.
Straw was one of the worst offensive players in the game a year ago, and the Guardians gave up over 500 plate appearances. Cam Gallagher got almost 150 at bats last season despite hitting .126.
If you want to put elite defenders on the field, get a lead, and then put them in after the sixth inning, and in the meantime, put someone in the batter’s box who has a decent chance of contributing on offense.
It will be interesting to see how new skipper Steven Vogt handles issues like these or will it be organizational group think going forward.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 