There are a lot of people who think professional sports’ front office should never make a mistake. The reality is no general manager is perfect, they all error at times. If they make more good decisions than bad ones, they are doing fine.
We say that because there are many Cleveland Guardians’ fans calling for a change after the team’s recent 10 game losing streak.
Look, we have been on record as saying Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t have the best off-season but throwing them out with the bathwater seems a bit extreme.
After all, the Guardians entered the season having made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, and in the last ten years, they have made six post-season appearances. By all measures, they are running a successful operation.
We also have to understand (although we disagree with the premise) the financial constraints put on the duo by ownership. If ownership tells them they have less money to spend on players, they head into each off-season with an arm tied behind their collective backs.
They spent $6 million and $4.5 million respectively on two relievers, Paul Sewald and Jakob Junis. If Sewald was healthy, which he hasn’t, he could have been a late inning option for Steven Vogt. He has done that when active, but he just went on the IL again on Monday.
Junis is a middle reliever/mop up man. Vogt generally only uses him when the Guardians are trailing in game.
We have said many times we understood the trade of Andres Gimenez, whose offense is not commensurate with the salary he was going to be paid following this season, and although we said at the time moving Josh Naylor, the third best hitter on an average offense team a year ago, was questionable, we know Naylor is a free agent at the end of this season.
Signing 39-year-old Carlos Santana and giving him $12 million was a curious move to say the least. Santana had a bad year vs. right-handed pitching in ’24, and this year he regressed to the point he is no longer even a league average hitter.
But the front office can redeem themselves in the next two weeks at the trading deadline, regardless of whether or not they consider themselves buyers or sellers.
If they are sellers, moving off of Santana opens up a spot to look at C.J. Kayfus and give more at bats to Kyle Manzardo, two young players who could be major contributors to next year’s team.
And if you can move Emmanuel Clase for a major league ready bat, that’s a move we would seriously have to consider. Even if the two young players mentioned pan out and Chase DeLauter and Juan Brito prove to be as good as advertised, this organization needs more depth offensively.
It also wouldn’t hurt to admit mistakes on Junis or Sewald to allow more young arms to come up from Columbus.
And one more thing. It may be time to reconsider the whole defense above everything behind the plate. Other teams are getting offense from the catching position, perhaps it wouldn’t be the end of the world to take a step back defensively there in favor of someone who is a threat with a bat in their hand.
A bit of a rebound from a bad off-season would help greatly.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 