The Cleveland Guardians dipped their toes into the free agent market this past week and suprisingly did not address what we consider to be their weaknesses.
Instead, they added to a strength, signing veteran reliever Paul Sewald, a right-hander to a deal. The Guardians have coveted Sewald for years. At one point while he was a young pitcher for the Mets, it was rumored Cleveland was interested in moving Jason Kipnis to get him.
That was probably around 2018 as Kipnis was starting to decline.
Sewald is solid, pitching in 42 games last season with a 4.31 ERA for Arizona, and he saved two games in the National League Championship Series for the Diamondbacks in ’23 as they went to the World Series.
He has saved 84 big league games, with his career high of 34 coming in that 2023 campaign.
He’s a proven solid reliever. But that’s the strength of the Guardians’ staff. They still need starting pitchers and unless the addition of Sewald means someone currently in the bullpen will be given a shot in the rotation (we would like to see Hunter Gaddis try it), it’s difficult to see where this makes sense.
On the other hand, there is an adage that if you can’t fix a weak spot, bolster your strength, so maybe that’s what the plan is here.
There are still plenty of starting pitchers out there who seemingly could be had on a one- or two-year contract. We say this because right now the Guards’ rotation consists of Tanner Bibee and a whole lot of ifs. Gavin Williams and newcomer Luis Ortiz should (should) fill two spots, but the rest of the starters are question marks.
Ben Lively has had one good season and is 33. Can Triston McKenzie find the strike zone?Can Logan Allen be effective? Signing a veteran who can soak up innings, like a Lance Lynn, Jose Quintana, or even Kyle Gibson would make us feel better about the starting staff.
And we haven’t even mentioned the offense, which struggled in the second half of the season and since then has traded their third best bat (and second-best power bat) in Josh Naylor.
Yes, we remembered Cleveland also signed 39-year-old Carlos Santana. Let’s just say that doesn’t have visions of October celebrations dancing in our heads.
There aren’t a lot of appealing bats still available in free agency, but we don’t feel real comfortable about a lineup that has two tough outs in Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, and frankly little else that has proven anything at the major league level.
As it stands right now, the Guardians will have two players with less than one year experience in the bigs in their everyday lineup in Kyle Manzardo and Juan Brito. Brayan Rocchio has a solid post-season, but still had a 614 OPS in 2024.
Lane Thomas is better as a platoon piece but will probably be in there every day in centerfield. And of course, Santana will be playing, trying to find the fountain of youth.
Someone in the front office said the organization feels confident in their young players. We would guess most organizations do. However, the job of the executives should be to find alternatives in case something doesn’t work out. Because they never do.
Spring training starts in a few weeks. It’s hard to see the Guardians being better than they were when they were eliminated by the Yankees in the ALCS just three short months ago.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 