Hopefully, Game 5 of the 2026 World Series isn’t the last baseball game we see until 2028. As former Giants’ first baseman once said, “Baseball must be a great game to survive the people who run it.”
In our opinion, salary cap, salary floor, or vice-versa, the true issue is the revenue imbalance between the small markets and the large markets. That has to be solved. And to us, both of these things can be true–The Dolans’ ownership cannot compete with the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, etc., but they are capable of spending more money and they choose not to.
And with that, we will get off our soapbox and talk about the Guardians going forward and we will assume the jerks that run baseball will get their act together.
Four players exercised their right to be free agents: Austin Hedges, Rhys Hoskins, and two players acquired at the trade deadline in Foster Griffin and Nathaniel Lowe. Of these, our top priority would be Griffin, who went 3-3 for Cleveland with a 5.19 ERA, but pitched well in the playoffs and overall went 15-6 with a 3.60 ERA for the season.
Why? Because you can never have enough starting pitching, and there really isn’t anyone on the AAA horizon ready to challenge for a spot in the rotation.
Shawn Armstrong, despite pitching well in October is also gone, as the club declined his option for 2027. Could he come back under a new deal? That’s always possible.
We believe the offense still needs to be improved. Despite the surge after the arrival of Jo Adell and Lowe, the Guardians still ranked 24th in the sport in scoring runs, the worst rank of any playoff team (to be fair, the Red Sox were 23rd).
It is true they scored more runs, but the attack was still very inconsistent as we all saw in the first two games against the White Sox and the last five against the Rays. We will also remind you the biggest reason for the improved hitting was the red-hot bats of Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter, and not the deals bringing over Adell and Lowe.
Yes, we understand DeLauter should be better and provide more power as he matures and hopefully can stay healthy, and we do feel Travis Bazzana will be a solid bat and also improve. We also feel Jose Ramirez will have a better season.
We think Ralphy Velazquez (928 OPS in the minors last season and 107 Ks in 538 plate appearances) can be a factor for the big club next season, and the organization has to figure out where International League MVP Cooper Ingle can fit. Ingle hit .297 with a 951 OPS with the Columbus Clippers last season, and if the organization doesn’t feel he can catch at the big-league level, they have to find a place for his bat.
On social media, we pitched trading Brayan Rocchio this winter, not because we don’t think he’s a good player, but due to organizational depth. We believe that Angel Genao is ready, but with Bazzana and Rocchio manning the keystone, there isn’t spot for him.
We would like to see a “baseball trade”. Teams are also looking for good young shortstops and perhaps the Guardians can fill a need, or get a good arm, starter or bullpen, in exchange for either Rocchio or Genao.
Just something to think about.
Talking about this stuff is way better than talking about CBAs.
