Guards Need Hitting And More Hitting This Off-Season

Well, it’s all over.

After a furious comeback, an MLB record for the Cleveland Guardians, coming back from a one-time 15.5 game deficit to win the American League Central Division title, the Guards lost two games to one in the Wild Card Series to their division rivals, the Detroit Tigers.

The season ends with another post-season appearance, but with the championship drought now at 78 years.

We are not celebrating because they failed. They didn’t even get as far as Steven Vogt’s crew did a year ago, when they got to the AL Championship Series. And you know what, the Vogt and his team aren’t celebrating either.

The Guardians should take satisfaction from the fact they did not lay down when faced with the huge deficit, something that other teams have done. And frankly it was something of a miracle for Cleveland to win the division because this was one of the worst offensive clubs in Major League Baseball, ranking 28th in runs scored and 29th in team OPS.

Cleveland batted .226 as a team the lowest in club history. The previous low for a full season was in 1968, a year the sport refers to as “The Year Of The Pitcher”. Baseball changed its rules, lowering the pitchers’ mound after that season.

The last time they had a team OPS this low was in 1991. The then Indians’ record that year was 57-105.

We have said it all season long. This club has three good hitters: The incredible Jose Ramirez, Steven Kwan, and Kyle Manzardo. Everyone else is frankly bad.

How bad was it? Well, the organization brought Chase DeLauter, who hasn’t had a big-league bat in his life, up to start the last two playoff games. And DeLauter wasn’t alone. In those games, the Guardians also played George Valera, who had 48 plate appearances and C.J. Kayfus, who had 138.

Remember, the Guardians traded one of their best hitters from a year ago because he was entering the last year of his contract. So, the organization did this to themselves.

As the organization enters the off-season, there simply has to be an emphasis on getting more hitting. Certainly, DeLauter, Valera, and Kayfus figure into the mix, but the Guardians should not put all their eggs into the “rookie” basket. And those four, along with another top prospect, Travis Bazzana, all hit from the left side.

They need a “professional” hitter, preferably right-handed to add depth to the lineup.

They also need to be truthful to themselves about some of the players on the roster. We heard several times on telecasts about the “breakout” year from Gabriel Arias. He batted .220, right in line with his .215 career mark, and although his OPS was a career high at 638, it is still way below league average.

Daniel Schneemann, at age 28, received the 7th most plate appearance on the roster. He had a very good month of May, but after June 1st, he hit just .188. Again, that’s over a four-month span.

Angel Martinez received the fourth most plate appearances on the team and his OPS was just 628. The problem was there weren’t any real alternatives and to be fair, Martinez was pretty good vs. lefties, with a 792 OPS.

More emphasis has to be put on getting on base. Cleveland ranked 29th in on base percentage in the major leagues. Only four players with more than 100 plate appearances got on base at even a 30% clip. Carlos Santana joining the Ramirez, Kwan, Manzardo trio.

Why do they need to be better offensively? On the top ten teams in the majors in runs scored, eight made the playoffs. Only the Diamondbacks and Mets didn’t get there, and both of those teams were in the mix in the last week of the regular season.

The Padres (18th) and the Guardians were the two teams making the post-season without having a good offense. Normally, the top run scorers get to play in October. The Guards can’t tempt fate in 2026.

Let’s hope ownership opens their wallets and the front office doesn’t rely solely on rookies to help.

Browns Are On To Gabriel

We have said since before training camp started for the Cleveland Browns that the logical guy to start at quarterback was Joe Flacco. He would give the team a “professional” at the position, meaning guys would be lined up correctly and there isn’t anything a defense could do that he hasn’t seen.

However, we also recognize that coach Kevin Stefanski started the veteran to take care of the football and that hasn’t happened. He’s had seven turnovers in the first four games, and although several were not totally his fault, a team like the Browns can’t turn it over and hope to win.

We heard this earlier this week. The Browns haven’t scored more than 17 points in a game not started by Jameis Winston since the Thursday night game against the Jets in 2023 where Cleveland clinched a playoff spot. Wow!

It also makes us wonder as we did last off-season why the Browns didn’t bring Winston back for the 2025 season.

So, now we get to see one of the rookie quarterbacks the team drafted this Sunday when Dillon Gabriel starts for the Browns. Gabriel will give the offense a little more mobility at the position, but if the offensive line play doesn’t improve and the receivers don’t start catching the football, it’s difficult to see what will be different for the offense.

But as we all saw with Deshaun Watson last year, sometimes mobility leads to running yourself into sacks. And even though Gabriel has played a lot of college football, the things he did to escape in college may not translate to the NFL because of the speed.

Here’s another issue with starting the rookie, in our opinion the gap between playing QB in college and in the pros has never been more different.

On the other hand, we subscribe to the “can’t do any worse” theory, and it is hard to see that the rookie can be worse, at least in terms of turnovers.

As we wrote earlier this week, the Browns simply have to score more points, and if they can, and we know this sounds crazy, this division seems to be up for grabs, particularly if the defense keeps playing at this level.

Joe Burrow is out for Cincinnati. The Ravens are all banged up. And yes, the Steelers are 3-1, but their wins are against the Jets (0-4), Patriots (2-2) and Vikings (2-2) who also happen to be this week’s opponent for the Browns.

If you win in London, Cleveland will go into Pittsburgh at 2-3, and most experts feel the Browns’ schedule gets much easier after that contest.

But you have to be able to move the football and put points on the board, and until we see that, there most certainly are doubts. And Stefanski should bear the blame. The only team that has scored less than the Browns are the 0-4 Tennessee Titans.

The proof will be what happens this Sunday across the pond. If the moribund Cleveland offense shows some life, then maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. If not, it will confirm the Browns have more issues on that side of the ball than the quarterback.

It’s Simple. Browns Have To Score More. The Defense Is That Good

We get it. Our reason for the Cleveland Browns starting veteran Joe Flacco at quarterback was to make sure people were lined up correctly and to limit the mistakes a rookie would presumably make.

Well, four games into the season, Flacco has thrown six interceptions and lost a fumble. His three turnovers on Sunday great aided the Detroit Lions in a 34-10 loss that dropped Kevin Stefanski’s squad to 1-3 on the season.

Whether or not a change is made at QB, there is pressure on the head coach to put some points on the scoreboard. Cleveland has now gone nine consecutive games without scoring more than 17 points. In today’s NFL, that’s pathetic.

Especially because the Browns have a Super Bowl defense. Lions’ offensive coordinator John Morton said Cleveland hadn’t seen a running attack like his, and in weeks two and three, Detroit ran for 177 and 224 yards. They got 109 vs. Jim Schwartz’ group and the longest run of the day for the home team was 24 yards.

Detroit got just 277 yards of total offense on the day. They won the game because they scored 24 points off of Cleveland turnovers and a punt return for a touchdown. They only had 16 first downs for the game, the same as the Browns.

But the offense is just putrid, and that’s where Stefanski is supposed to have expertise. However, we do think about the decision to not add any offensive linemen in last year’s draft. The unit is aging, but the only move the front office made was to bring in veteran journeyman Cornelius Lucas.

How’s that working out.

We don’t know how that gets fixed. The Browns did trade for veteran Cam Robinson, who has started 102 games in his eight-year career, presumably to start at left tackle. Or they can start a revolving door on the practice squad until you find someone who is an upgrade at the position.

Our fear is that the problem isn’t the quarterback and no matter who Stefanski puts behind center is going to have a problem because the tackles simply cannot block.

There was one bright spot on the offensive side of the ball, rookie running back Quinshon Judkins continues to impress, gaining 82 yards on 21 carries, and catching four passes for 33 more.

It doesn’t help the offense that receivers are dropping the football. Jerry Jeudy continues to struggle in that regard and rookie Harold Fannin has dropped some balls as well. When the QB gets time, the receivers aren’t helping.

Now on to the special teams, misnamed for the Browns. We are only four games into the season, but already the team has had a punt blocked and another returned for a touchdown.

We have heard veteran NFL observers say it is difficult for special teams’ coaches at times because of the bottom of the roster (which is what the special teams are made up of) changes a lot weekly. But that hasn’t been the case with the Browns. To date, the roster has been pretty stable.

Again, the emphasis coming into the year was to eliminate mistakes, and that hasn’t happened. If the Browns could play a clean game, we have no doubt they would be competitive, but it’s difficult to do.

Would switching to Dillon Gabriel help that? He’s a rookie, so the temptation is to say no. On the other hand, this offense simply has to score more points. It’s a shame because the defense continues to be that good.

Much Like The Entire Month, The Post-Season Clincher Was Unreal.

Somehow, it was fitting that the Cleveland Guardians clinched a playoff spot last night on a hit batsman with the bases loaded.

When C.J. Kayfus got hit with a Robert Garcia pitch, the party was on, but probably somewhat muted because a win tomorrow means Steven Vogt’s crew will open the Wild Card Series at home on Tuesday.

The post-season clinching game was kind of a microcosm of the entire year. Vogt put Johnathan Rodriguez in the cleanup spot in the lineup, replacing David Fry. We said on social media that it was an odd choice, seeing the Rodriguez was only called up because of the Fry injury, and he had only amassed 70 plate appearances with the big club all year.

But there he was in the bottom of the first, hitting a two-run homer to give Cleveland the lead. And then, Rodriguez started the winning rally, drawing a two out walk.

Kyle Manzardo, who didn’t play against left-handed pitching most of the year, then blooped one into left field against the southpaw Garcia, sending pinch-runner Petey Halpin to third.

Texas intentionally walked Gabriel Arias, kind of an odd move with Arias’ swing and miss tendencies, to load the bases.

By the way, it was also the first time Garcia hit a batter the entire season.

Joey Cantillo, who started the season in the bullpen, and had two stints in the minor leagues during the season, was the starting pitcher in the game. He also was the starter on September 3rd, an 8-1 win over the Red Sox that started this stretch.

And of course, the bullpen played a big role with Hunter Gaddis getting four outs and Cade Smith getting five. They were the anchors of the relief corps most of the season, and the skipper leaned on them heavily.

Of course. There was something unexpected about the entire run the Guardians went on after losing their first two games in September. Winning 19 of 24 games is incredible in itself, especially when the Guards were pretty much a .500 team heading into that stretch.

Make no mistake, the run was accomplished with incredible pitching. Cleveland has allowed just 67 runs in the month, their previous low in a month in 2025 was the 101 allowed in June. That’s an unbelievable turnaround.

They won seven games where they scored three runs of less during the streak. That’s insane.

They got huge hits during the run from Kayfus, whose 2-run homer turned a 2-1 Kansas City lead into a 3-2 Cleveland win on September 11th.

Another rookie, George Valera, belted a big homer last Wednesday to get the Guards going in a 5-1 win. And Jhonkensy Noel, hitting .152 on the season, homered off Tarik Skubal, on September 18th.

And of course, Rodriguez last night.

They can finish the job today with a win that would give the team their second consecutive division title and their 14th since the three division set up which started in 1994, and their 15th post-season spot in the same time frame.

To be honest, we have no idea how this happened considering the offense is still among the worst in the majors, but who cares. It’s fun just enjoying the winning.

The off-season seems to go quicker when the Guardians are in the playoffs.

Gabriel Playing Is Good For The Media, But Flacco Is Still The Best Bet For Wins Right Now

There’s an old story about someone questioning an old sportswriter about what team he roots for, the response he got was “I root for the story”.

We think this applies to what the Cleveland Browns are doing with the quarterback position. There are several people in the local media asking when Kevin Stefanski will pull the trigger and replace Joe Flacco with rookie Dillon Gabriel.

We continue to say we will bet making the change is based more on Gabriel’s readiness to be a professional quarterback and less on Flacco’s performance in the three games played to date.

Flacco hasn’t been great, but to be fair, if not for a bad kicking game, the Browns would be 2-1 right now, and we doubt there would be calls for a change. Flacco does lead the league in attempts and also has the lowest passer rating in the league. He’s also thrown the second most interceptions thus far with four, behind only Jake Browning.

He hasn’t thrown the ball downfield much, as his average yards per attempt is also a league low 5.0. However, perhaps that’s by design.

Stefanski preached all off-season about taking care of the football after his team was second in the NFL in turning the ball over a year ago. Our guess is he’s had that conversation with his QB as well, and Flacco doesn’t want to put the ball in any risky spots.

The coaching staff and Flacco realize what the strength of this team is, and it’s their outstanding defense. So, we feel that’s the game plan going into every game, let Jim Schwartz’ unit keep the team close and do enough offensively to keep it close and have a chance to win it in the fourth quarter.

That’s not sexy, but if the Browns win, many fans won’t care.

Look, we get it, we would all love for the Browns to have a high-flying offense like the one they will see this Sunday in Detroit, but they don’t have the offensive line or the skill talent at wide receiver to play that way.

But there is more than one way to achieve victory.

Right now, Stefanski thinks his best chance to win is to run the ball and mix in the short passing game to shorten the game and keep his defense fresh. And we are also sure he believes the right QB to do that is Joe Flacco.

Why hasn’t Flacco taken more shots down the field? Probably because that’s not the game plan.

Is winning that way sustainable? We also believe the coaching staff and front office know it is not, but that’s what they are working with now.

When they feel Gabriel is ready to execute that game plan, we will probably see him. Also, when the schedule eases a bit and some of the skill players gain experience and get better, then they will open up the offense a bit.

Heck, if Quinshon Judkins can have the success on the ground he had last week, you might see some more play action throws from Flacco.

We know the better story is to see Gabriel and perhaps Shedeur Sanders as soon as possible, but for Kevin Stefanski and the players, the best story is winning football games.

And we think they know playing the way they have played offensively the first three weeks gives them the best chance to win, if they execute.

Somehow, The Browns Pull Out A Win

The Cleveland Browns pulled a rabbit out of a hat Sunday and upset the Green Bay Packers 13-10 when Andre Szmyt made a 55-yard field goal as time expired.

The 0-6 start that many people predicted for the Browns won’t happen. But we think we speak for everyone in saying that halfway through the fourth quarter, we figured Kevin Stefanski’s crew was not only going to lose, but they were going to be shutout.

The offense took advantage of some penalties and got the ball to the Green Bay one with five minutes to go but got pushed back and had to settle for Szmyt’s first field goal. We imagine fans all over northeast Ohio were shaking their collective heads when the first down play was a rollout pass to reverse offensive lineman Luke Wypler.

Another instance of Stefanski trying to get too cute.

But an ill-advised pass by Jordan Love resulted in the Browns’ first turnover of the year, an interception by Grant Delpit and this time Cleveland punched it in to tie the game.

Then, a contribution by the special teams. Shelby Harris blocked a field goal with :21 left on the clock and gave the Browns one last chance.

There was great execution on a short pass to David Njoku, not in the play design, but in getting the offensive line back to the line of scrimmage so Joe Flacco could kill the clock and leave time for Szmyt’s heroics.

Unbelieveable

The reality about this football team is as long as they stay relatively healthy, the defense is going keep this team in games. It’s that good. Green Bay put up 266 and 404 yards in their first two games, both wins, but picked up 230 yards against Cleveland.

Cleveland’s defense had five sacks, as the Packers went into the game refusing to let Myles Garrett ruin their offense, and that created opportunities for everyone else.

Maliek Collins had a sack and a half, Alex Wright had one, Garrett and rookie Adin Huntington shared one, and the rookies also shined.

Carson Schwesinger continues to impress. He got his first sack and was in on 10 tackles. Mason Graham teamed up with Collins on a sack. And the defense allowed just 81 yards on the ground.

Right now, you can make the case they are the best defense in the league. And they haven’t faced any opponents that didn’t have solid, if not, high powered attacks.

Another rookie, RB Quinshon Judkins was a key in the fourth quarter, ripping off a 38-yard run in route to gaining 94 yards on the day.

The offensive line still appears to be a concern. Dawand Jones left the game in the first quarter and Jack Conklin missed the game again, so most of the way, the Browns were playing with Cornelius Lucas and KT Leveston were playing outside.

Flacco heard boos during the game as the Browns couldn’t muster much of an offense, maybe due to the offensive line play, and maybe because Stefanski has preached not putting the ball in harms’ way.

Right now, he is checking down virtually every pass play. The longest pass plays were a 17-yard toss to Jerry Jeudy and another to Isaiah Bond. There was a 13-yard play to Harold Fannin Jr., where he basically carried defenders to get that much yardage.

If we were defending the Browns, we would put nine in the box to stop Judkins and dare Flacco to air it out. And if defenses do that, it makes it difficult for Stefanski to establish the ground game.

However, a win is a win. The gauntlet doesn’t get any easier with a visit to Detroit, another high-powered offense next week.

An Incredible Stretch That Needs To Last One More Week

It wasn’t even a month ago. It was August 25th, and the Cleveland Guardians were shutout by Tampa Bay, 9-0, their ninth defeat in their last 10 games.

They were a below .500 team at 64-66 and they were six games behind Seattle for the last wild card spot in the American League, and more to the point, they would have to climb over Kansas City and Texas to challenge the Mariners.

Oh, and by the way, they were 12.5 behind Detroit in the Central Division.

Just three days later, the defeated those Mariners in one of those games they had no business winning, falling behind 4-0 in the first inning and being no-hit by George Kirby through five.

Kyle Manzardo broke up the no-no with a homer, and Nolan Jones, of all people, hit another. A seeing eye base hit by Angel Martinez drew the Guardians within one, and the won it in the ninth thanks to another big hit from Jones to start the rally.

They were back above .500 and within four of Seattle.

A three-game losing streak followed capped by a night in Boston where Cleveland hit three homers in a six run sixth off Red Sox’ ace Garrett Crochet, and skipper Steven Vogt took Hunter Gaddis out of the game in the bottom of the 8th with a man on first and two out. Cade Smith gave up four straight hits and the Guardians were back under .500 on September 2nd.

They were four behind for the last wild card spot and now, Tampa Bay was ahead of them as well.

Since then, the Guards’ pitching staff has allowed more than three runs just three times. They’ve won 16 of 18, playing their best baseball of the season and as of today, they are tied with Houston, passed in the standings by Seattle, for that last playoff spot, and they own the tie-breaker with the Astros.

And incredibly, they are just a game behind Detroit for the AL Central lead.

It just doesn’t make a lot of sense, but who cares. We have all heard about what the Guardians record would be based on runs scored and runs against, but the only thing that matters is the win loss record.

In 1995, the Cleveland Indians were the best team in baseball. We think even the world champion Braves would admit that. In 2005, the Indians were 55-51 at the end of July, and then went on a roll, winning 37 of their next 49 and were sitting with the second-best record in the AL heading into the last week of the season.

They lost six of the last seven and missed the playoffs. They won the “team no one wanted to face” award, but no one had to play them.

Sometimes it just doesn’t make sense.

In the last week, Steven Vogt has gotten big hits from Jhonkensy Noel and George Valera and had key pitching performances from Kolby Allard and Jakob Junis. Just like everyone expected.

Every good winning streak is based on getting good pitching and this is no different. In those 17 contests, Guardians’ pitchers have allowed two runs or less in 14 of them. The offense doesn’t have to be good when the other team doesn’t score.

The good play has to last another week for the Guardians to pull this off. Keep winning and the odds are pretty good this team will be in the post-season once again.

Less than a month ago, that would have seemed crazy.

Fair Or Not, Browns Need To Show Progress

Based on the emotionality of Cleveland Browns’ fans, we shouldn’t be surprised that the frustration level is rising after a 41-17 drubbing at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday.

And when that happens, you hear fans calling for the head coach’s job, even though they have played just two games.

In reality, if ownership or the front office would be willing to move on from Kevin Stefanski following two games, then they shouldn’t have brought him back for the 2025 season. If a coach starts the season on the hot seat, the team should have fired him.

It’s simply not fair.

On the other hand, reports that GM Andrew Berry and Stefanski being safe no matter what happens are probably a load of bull as well. The Browns were 3-14 a year ago, and we doubt another final record not showing improvement won’t play well with the Haslam family. You certainly can’t have back-to-back seasons like that in the NFL.

We have been a supporter of Stefanski over the years, mostly because he has made the playoffs twice and also because at some point, you have to stop the cycle of changing coaches every two or three years. This is Stefanski’s sixth season, so the latter has been accomplished.

Stefanski’s strength is offense, he came to the Browns after serving as the Vikings’ offensive coordinator, but the last time Cleveland scored more than 17 points in a game was game #13 for the Browns a year ago, a 41-32 loss to Denver. That’s a seven-game span.

We think he wants to run the ball. With Minnesota, his offense ranked fourth in the NFL in rushing attempts and in his first four years in Cleveland, the Browns were in the top ten. Of course, he had Dalvin Cook with the Vikings and Nick Chubb here, so of course you would want to run it.

Since Chubb got hurt last year, the Browns are throwing the ball a lot. It would be great if they had a tremendous stable of wide receivers, but they don’t. Through two games, the leading receivers are rookie TE Harold Fannin and rookie RB Dylan Sampson.

The team drafted Quinshon Judkins in the second round, presumably to be the primary runner, and hopefully, he gets a heavy dose of carries going forward. So, we shall see if that’s the case.

We will say that it’s hard to run the ball without solid offensive line play, and right now, it doesn’t look like the Browns have that. They didn’t really bother to make changes in the off-season, signing a couple of reverses in Cornelius Lucas and Teven Jenkins, and bringing back the oft-injured Jack Conkin.

Perhaps a change there is in order. Dawand Jones has struggled at left tackle, but does the team have an option? It has been said they like Luke Wypler, who missed last season with an injury, so why not take a look at him?

But we digress. The point is the NFL, and all professional sports are results based, and right now Kevin Stefanski needs to show some results. It’s only two games in, but the natives are getting restless. A few more games like last Sunday, particularly on the offensive side of the ball, and the discontent will get louder.

Did You Really Expect A Win In Baltimore?

We know a lot of Browns’ fans are upset with Sunday’s 41-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, which dropped Cleveland to 0-2 on the season. Our question is why? We thought everyone figured Kevin Stefanski’s squad would struggle against a tough schedule early in the year.

Did you really think they were going to win?

Let’s start with some positives. The Browns are not the worst team in the NFL, and it’s not close. They very well could have won the opener against the Bengals, and we know this sound silly, but the loss to the Ravens was not a lopsided as the score indicates.

Also, Cleveland’s defense is very good. They lead the NFL in defense through two games and frankly, they have played two offenses who are led by two of the best quarterbacks in the league.

Oh, and by the way, Myles Garrett has 3.5 sacks after two games.

The rookie class continues to impress. Mason Graham and Carson Schwesinger are starters and contributors on that impressive defense. Harold Fannin Jr. and Dylan Sampson look good, and Quinshon Judkins made his debut and carried 10 times for 61 yards and caught three passes too.

But the Browns continue to shoot themselves in the foot. They were tied for the NFL lead in turning the ball over last season and have done so five times (we are including the blocked punt as one) in the first two games.

They need to be able to win games on the margins, and if you keep giving the ball to the other team, that’s something they simply cannot overcome.

We kept hearing about Stefanski’s ground based offense, yet Joe Flacco has put the ball in the air a league high 90 times in the first two games. Hopefully that changes now that Judkins is integrated into the offense, but the coach’s offense also likes to run play action, and you can’t do that unless you can run it.

It appears the team may have overestimated their offensive line. Run blocking is an issue and without that ability, opponents are pressuring Flacco.

They seemed to be fine with Jack Conklin at RT, but over the past few years, he’s missed more time than he’s played. Why not look for a replacement in the off-season? Dewand Jones has been penalized five times in the two games.

Cleveland signed Teven Jenkins as a free agent in the off-season, and he can play tackle, why isn’t he getting some time? Why not take a look at second year player Luke Wypler, who supposedly the brass likes?

And special teams continue to be an issue. In the opener, it was Andre Smyzt missing an extra point and a very makable (by NFL standards) field goal. Sunday, it was having a punt blocked. The Browns can’t afford for the kicking game to be a negative. Just being a “zero” would be an improvement.

As for a change at QB? Let’s hope the Browns avoid making the same mistake they’ve made in the past, that is playing a rookie quarterback before he’s ready. Dillon Gabriel looked good in garbage time, but that’s exactly what it was.

He will start sometime this season, and perhaps Shedeur Sanders will too, but now is not the time. Stefanski needs to fix the other issues the offense has before inserting one of this year’s draft picks.

Bad Luck With Prospects Another Obstacle For Guardians

When evaluating the plan, the front office of the Cleveland Guardians come up with going into a season where they had coming off a season where they went to the AL Championship Series a year ago, it is easy to see some of the flaws of what they hoped would happen.

However, there are other things that are simply bad luck.

As we have said before, we understood the trade of Andres Gimenez, who will start making $23 million per season in 2027, and offensively, he simply doesn’t merit that kind of salary. So, the Guards’ front office took the opportunity to deal the Gold Glove winner, ultimately getting pitcher Luis Ortiz and some prospects.

Gimenez hasn’t improved with a bat in his hand, in fact, he’s gotten worse, going from a below average 638 OPS last season to an even worse 599 mark in 2025.

We knew the Guardians knew they would not be able to reach a long-term deal with Josh Naylor, so they moved him as well, getting starter Slade Cecconi in return. He is actually having a better offensive season than a year ago, and no doubt could’ve helped the team’s struggling attack

The problem was who they decided on to replace Naylor. Thinking a 39-year-old Carlos Santana could provide an impact bat was an overreach from the brass.

Part of the problem is bad luck too. Certainly, no one could have foreseen the suspensions of Ortiz and Emmanuel Clase. That wasn’t bad luck for the two players, but it was for the organization.

We are talking about the injuries to players the front office probably anticipated helping the big-league club in 2025. We are talking about Juan Brito, Chase DeLauter, and to a lesser extent, Travis Bazzana.

Brito looks like the kind of hitter the Guardians need desperately in that he gets on base. Last year in AAA, he drew 88 walks and had a .365 on base percentage in addition to hitting 21 homers and knocking in 84 runs.

He’s primarily a second baseman, but has played first, third, and the corner outfield spots. But he’s battling injuries all year and had surgery on his hamstring this past week. He played in just 24 games with Columbus, hitting .256, but with a .357 OBP.

And we have written ad nauseum about the Guards needing guys who can get on base.

DeLauter has dealt with foot injuries since being drafted in the first round in 2022, but this year, had surgery right after spring training to repair a core muscle and then broke his hamate bone in July. He played in just 34 games in AAA.

He looked poised to be promoted when the bone broke after the big-league all-star break, hitting .278 with an 859 OPS, including an .383 OBP.

He is being sent to the Arizona Fall League again, having already played there for 35 games and compiling a 939 OPS in that league.

Bazzana, the first overall pick in last year’s draft has had problems with his oblique, and thus has played in 77 games between Akron and Columbus, hitting .245 but with a .389 OBP and an 813 OPS.

He would have been an option for a September call up had he been healthy all year.

If all three are healthy next year, they should all get chances in Cleveland, and in the case of Brito and DeLauter, a solid chance to break camp with the big league club.

That said, that should NOT be the front office’s plan heading into 2026. You can’t pin your hopes on rookies if you consider yourself a playoff team.

But it was bad luck for the players and the organization.