Guardians At A Crossroads?

We have been thinking most of this baseball season that the Cleveland Guardians’ success was being done with smoke and mirrors.

Lately, we have been wondering if the mirror has a crack in it.

Yes, if the season ended today (it doesn’t), the Guardians would make the post-season via the wild card, but let’s see where they are after this 10-game stretch where they are on the road against the red-hot Twins and Tigers and then come home to take on the best team money can buy in the Dodgers.

What can Steven Vogt hang his hat on right now? The offense ranks 9th in the American League in runs scored, and in the last eight games, they have scored more than two runs just three times.

Right now, the batting order has four hitters producing: Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, Kyle Manzardo, and the surprise of the year to date, Daniel Schneemann. The league OPS is 702 and just two other batters, Angel Martinez and Gabriel Arias are around that figure.

Lane Thomas should be back soon, but while he’s really good against southpaws, whether he can help the Guardians against right-handers is a question.

Nolan Jones, the idol of the exit velocity crowd is still hitting just .181 with a 579 OPS. Will Brennan was given another shot and so far is 0 for 9.

Carlos Santana was brought back, and you have to wonder if he’s going to produce. He is now 39 after all. He’s still walking, leading the team with 23 free passes, but has just seven extra base hits on the year. His slugging percentage is just .320.

When David Fry is ready to return, and he can DH only this season, the front office will be forced to make a tough decision on Santana. Manzardo has to play and platooning him with Fry still doesn’t address the lack of production from Santana’s spot.

Cleveland thought they had shortstop solved after Brayan Rocchio’s breakout in the post-season, but it did not come to fruition. Arias has done okay, but the pop so many people envisioned hasn’t arrived. He’s slugging .393. He is drawing more walks, but his on base percentage is just .313.

The pitching staff, normally the cornerstone of the team, is also ninth in ERA and it’s a daily challenge to have a starting pitcher finish six innings. Here is the average length of a start for the Guards’ rotation–

Tanner Bibee 5.67
Luis Ortiz 5.37
Logan Allen 5.17 (prior to last night)
Ben Lively 4.96
Gavin Williams 4.67

No question this has taken a toll on the bullpen, which understandably isn’t performing as well as they did a year ago.

Cade Smith hasn’t been the fireman he was a year ago. Tim Herrin has allowed 10 walks and three homers, two things relievers cannot do, in 16 innings. Vogt has tried using Joey Cantillo out of the ‘pen, and he has had some success, but he’s also issued 12 free passes and four long balls in 22 innings.

And Jakob Junis has appeared in seven games this month and allowed runs in five of them.

The real problem is what is the alternative? C.J. Kayfus has hit well in the minors this year at both Akron and Columbus, but also has less than 400 plate appearances above Class A.

As for the rotation, with Lively down, we will see what Slade Cecconi, acquired from Arizona for Josh Naylor, can do. In the bullpen, it might be a matter of time before we see Andrew Walters, Nic Enright, or Franco Aleman.

We were surprised by the lack of activity by the Guardians after they got to the ALCS last season. It might be coming back to haunt them over the next week.

Guardians Without Alternatives With Bats At AAA

The good news is the Cleveland Guardians are sitting at 21-15 and have the third best record in the American League, behind only Detroit and Seattle.

The bad news is based on the number of runs they’ve scored and allowed, their record should be 16-20.

The good news is their offense is right at the league average, scoring 4.14 runs per game.

The bad news is they still have only four hitters in their lineup with OPS over 750.

The good news is the performance of Daniel Schneemann to date. The second-year big leaguer, who got off to a terrible start going 1 for his first 19, is currently red hot. He’s hitting .383 over his last 49 at bats and has a 956 OPS with five homers and 10 extra base hits.

Couple this with Angel Martinez, who also didn’t make the team out of spring training, but since his call up has batted .316 (724 OPS) and has handled centerfield for the most part very well.

On the flip side, there are a number of players struggling mightily. Brayan Rocchio, who looked like he turned a corner in the playoffs last season, is in a dreadful slump and hasn’t had a hit since April 26th and his OPS has slipped to 452.

Another post-season hero, Jhonkensy Noel, had a big pinch hit in the doubleheader Tuesday, but overall is batting just .174 with a 484 OPS and has fanned 21 times in 72 plate appearances and has walked just twice.

Rookie Will Wilson is another Guardians’ bench guy and frankly, we wonder why he’s in the major leagues. He’s hit .235 during his time in AAA, and that includes his hot start in Columbus where he started 22 for 68.

Outside of his time in the capital city, there is nothing to suggest he can hit, let alone big-league pitching. Since his call up to the big club, he’s 3 for 18 and the hits are all singles.

It is quite likely the only reason Rocchio, Noel, and Wilson are still on the 26-man roster is there are no alternatives to note in AAA.

We all know about Chase DeLauter’s injury at the beginning of training camp, but recently another top prospect, Juan Brito went down with a thumb injury that required surgery. He was batting .291 with an 891 OPS and more walks than strikeouts when he went down.

If Will Brennan was a right-handed hitter, he likely would be in Cleveland in place of Noel, but he’s not, and when he was here, he’s been shown to be a singles hitter who doesn’t walk. His slugging percentage is .442 in AAA but has walked just six times.

Perhaps another look at Johnathan Rodriguez should be in the cards, but this time with him getting Noel’s at bats. In both of his stints in the majors, he’s received very sporadic playing time, going 4 for 36.

C. J. Kayfus was just moved up to Columbus after starting the season at Akron and has played only five games at AAA. We doubt the front office will call him up any time soon.

Another problem with the roster construction is Steven Vogt’s reluctance to play Kyle Manzardo at 1B when he is DHing Steven Kwan or Jose Ramirez. Manzardo leads the team in RBIs and is third in OPS, ahead of Ramirez right now.

Yet, he’s not in the lineup when Kwan or Ramirez have a “half day” off. Why doesn’t Manzardo play and Carlos Santana, who is 39 years old, get a day off?

We say it all the time, front office people have to prepare for when things go wrong. The lack of organizational depth is telling for the Guardians.

How much longer than they overcome it? We hope until October.

Looking At Second Base in ’25 For Guardians

With the winter meetings now history and the Cleveland Guardians making two trades, which both came out of nowhere, we can take a look at how the team shapes up, although there is still plenty of time to make moves with spring training not starting for two months.

Friday, team president Chris Antonetti named four candidates to play second base in place of Andres Gimenez: Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann, and rookie Juan Brito.

We said the other day that Brito should get the first shot. Why? It’s kind of weird to say this, but partially because we haven’t seen him in the big leagues.

Arias will be 25 next season and has 563 plate appearances with the Guardians. He has a 624 OPS in those at bats, and a strikeout to walk ratio of 182:42 and a 32.3% K rate. He has pop when he hits the ball, and that mesmerizes certain fans, but he simply hasn’t been very productive.

Freeman will be 26 and has the most big league at bats out of the quartet with 637 plate appearances and a 632 OPS. His strikeout to walk ratio is 94:42. He was the regular CF in April and May and was doing an acceptable job, but had a slump in June and after Schneemann was called up, lost playing time.

He has an 802 OPS in AAA, which is a pretty good pedigree.

The left-handed hitting Schneemann got off to a great start in AAA last year and carried it over to the big club, hitting .263 in June with a .362 on base average. After the All-Star Game, he hit .202 with a 555 OPS. The organization loved his versatility, but our opinion was the coaching staff loved him a little more than he deserved. He will be 28 this coming season.

Brito is a 23-year-old switch hitter who came over from Colorado for Nolan Jones. He has a career OPS in the minors of 834, including 807 last year in Columbus when he hit .256 with 88 walks and 61 extra base hits.

The Guardians hit more home runs last year than in 2023, but the number of doubles went way down. Brito had 40 doubles for the Clippers last year.

He doesn’t have a great reputation with the glove, and the organization started playing him at 1B, 3B, and RF last season, but as we say many times, get the lead and you can put a glove in the game, either Arias or Freeman, because we don’t think too much of Schneemann’s glove.

Also, have to think Angel Martinez is also in the mix, but his 635 OPS might suggest he needs more time in AAA, as he only has 169 plate appearances and will only be 23-years-old.

Despite getting Luis Ortiz, the Guardians still need starting pitching. Yes, they kept Shane Bieber, but he likely won’t be ready until the second half of the season.

We wonder what the cost would be for a guy like Lance Lynn (7-4, 3.84 ERA, 109 Ks in 117 IP for St. Louis) or a Jose Quintana (10-10, 3.75 ERA in 170 IP for the Mets) would cost.

Both guys would soak up some much-needed innings for Steven Vogt.

And yes, we would still consider Hunter Gaddis for a move back to the rotation. He’s more valuable getting 15-18 outs than three.

Antonetti did say the team has some money to spend with the trade of Gimenez. We still believe the Guardians should increase the payroll from last year anyway, but the reason for the deal was to get out from what was looking to be a bad contract in a couple of years.

Let’s hope that wasn’t media speak by the organization.

Guards Make Two Deals And Get A Much Needed Starter

It was about one month ago that we wrote about the Cleveland Guardians overpaying for defense (https://wordpress.com/post/clevelandsportsperspective.com/21673). Three of their top five contracts (Andres Gimenez, Myles Straw, and Austin Hedges) are for players who are great with the glove, not so much with the bat.

Our theory was that there are tons of players in the minor leagues who can pick it, there is no reason to overpay for fielding. More money should be spent on hitting and pitching.

Essentially, the move the Cleveland Guardians made on Tuesday was dealing Gimenez, the best defensive second baseman in the game, for a starting pitcher, an area of huge need.

We cannot complain about that.

While we are no fans of the Dolan family ownership, we don’t view these moves as a salary dump. Cleveland would have had to pay Gimenez over $23 million per year starting in 2027, and let’s face it, in Gimenez’ four seasons with the Guardians, he was above average as a hitter only in 2022.

In exchange, the Guardians get Luis Ortiz, who made 15 starts with the Pirates a year ago, pitching 135.2 innings with a 3.32 ERA (3.22 as a starter). He struck out 107 hitters, walking only 42.

The 26-year-old right-hander figures to be in the Cleveland rotation to start the season, and let’s face it, the Guards need starting pitchers.

They also received three minor leaguers, all who have either never played professionally (Josh Hartle) or played in low A last season (Nick Mitchell from Toronto and Michael Kennedy from the Pirates). Those guys are lottery tickets.

And let’s face it, the Guardians system is loaded with middle infielders. We would think Juan Brito (807 OPS at AAA in ’24) would get the first shot at taking the spot. Brito, a switch-hitter, hit .256 with 21 homers at Columbus last season, but also drew 88 walks against 105 strikeouts.

His career lifetime on base percentage in the minors is .384.

Besides Brito, the Guardians also have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann, and/or Angel Martinez who can play second base next year. So, it can also be a move made from strength.

And you cannot forget the organizations’ best prospect is Travis Bazzana, the first overall pick in last year’s amateur draft. He could be arriving sometime during the upcoming season.

There is a difference between a salary dump and moving a contract that an organization doesn’t think is going to age well, and we think the Guardians did the latter.

We still think the Guardians’ ownership needs to spend more, and they freed up almost $11 million to the pool as that was what they were going to pay Gimenez this year. Hopefully, these funds can be used to sign or trade for another starting pitchers or another bat.

If the result of this trade is being able to get another solid starting pitcher or getting another solid hitter to play every day, then we are all in.

But if this is all the Guardians’ front office is going to do? Then they have probably kept the payroll the same after a good year at the gate and on the field. That won’t play well with the people who buy tickets.

Guardians’ Struggling Due To Struggling Offense

The old adage in baseball is “you win with pitching”, and certainly that is true. The less runs you allow your opponent to score the better. It’s particularly true in the post-season, where every run scored should be precious.

However, in the regular season, you have to score to be successful. A look at the six highest scoring teams in the American League shows five teams which should make the post-season: New York, Baltimore, Boston, Kansas City, Minnesota, and Houston.

The Guardians are just outside that group, averaging 4.47 runs per game whereas the Astros are at 4.62.

And just when the Guards need to string some wins and hopefully clinch a division title and a first-round bye in the playoffs, their hitting is taking another ill-timed snooze.

Yes, they did come home after a sweep over the Chicago White Sox, but the Pale Hose will likely have the worst record in the history of modern baseball, on track to lose more than 120 games in 2024, and frankly, it is not as though the offense was clicking in the Windy City, scoring just 16 runs in the three games.

In the six contests prior to last night not played against a terrible team, the Guardians have scored 1, 3, 2, 0, 2, and 1 runs, a total of 9 runs for an average of 1.5 runs per game.

And as with the “slump” that occurred in August, the Guardians’ best three hitters aren’t producing. This isn’t to put blame on Jose Ramirez, Josh Naylor, and Steven Kwan, but it shows how much Steven Vogt’s roster depends on them for offense. Here are the numbers over the last 28 days:

Ramirez: .228 BA, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 683 OPS.
J. Naylor: .232, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 663 OPS
Kwan: .165, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 496 OPS and 309 on base percentage.

And it’s not as though their teammates are picking them up. Yes, Andres Gimenez and Brayan Rocchio have done better the past couple of weeks, but make no mistake, this is still a team with major offensive issues.

The league average on base percentage is .309. The Guardians have four players over that threshold on the team, the three players mentioned previously plus David Fry (.357).

As a team, Cleveland is tenth in the AL in drawing walks and ninth in batting average. They have hit a lot more home runs this season, ranking 7th, up from last in 2023. Since the All-Star break, their on base percentage is .295.

Last night’s three-run rally? It started with a walk to Angel Martinez, who demonstrated some patience at the plate in his first tenure with the big club.

No one is asking this group to be the 1999 Cleveland Indians which scored over 1000 runs, the last MLB team to do so. But they can’t have periods like Thursday night, when they scored two runs on four hits in the first two innings, and then get one hit the rest of the way.

In short, good hitters draw walks. Take a look at the AL leaders in drawing bases on balls. You see names like Judge, Soto, Henderson, Guerrero, and Devers. What you won’t see is the name of anyone on the Guardians.

That’s something to take a look at this off-season for sure.

Guards Need To Remember How They Got Here Offensively

The post-All-Star part of the schedule did not treat the Cleveland Guardians any better than it did before the break came. Steven Vogt is going through something for the first time as a big-league manager. A streak where nothing is going right.

That’s how you have a period where your team has lost 14 of the last 22.

A couple of weeks ago, the Guards were scoring runs, but the starting pitching simply wasn’t giving the team a chance to win. Not enough length, which has been the case most of the season, and then they were giving up runs early, putting the offense in a tough spot.

A visit to Tampa cured the pitching staff. They still weren’t giving Vogt much length, but they were keeping the opponent off the scoreboard. But now the offense has taken a siesta, a deep sleep.

In their last 11 games, the Guardians have been shutout four times, and scored one run twice. In Friday’s win over San Diego to open the second half slate, Cleveland scored one run in the first seven innings before putting up six in the eighth to seal the game.

Even with that seven run effort and scoring nine in one of the games vs. Detroit, the Guardians have scored just 28 runs in those 11 contests, an average of 2.5 runs per night for the mathematically challenged.

It’s tough to win doing that.

The team seems to have gotten away from what made them successful early on. A lot of solid contact and aggressive base running.

Daniel Schneemann is getting a lot of playing time and has a 30% strikeout rate. Jhonkensy Noel was getting at bats (though that has tapered as of late) and he fans 40% of the time.

Note both players have limited at bats.

We would also note that Angel Martinez is been getting regular at bats and he whiffs just 14.9% of the time.

The players who seems to have lost at bats are Tyler Freeman (14.9% K rate) and Brayan Rocchio, who has a 19% strikeout rate. And the latter is by far the best glove the team has at shortstop.

Schneemann has been used there recently and has made a number of defensive mistakes.

They also have seemed to abandon the stolen base, pilfering only 8 during the month of July and five of those came in two games. We know, we know, it is difficult to steal first and that’s been a big problem as of late, not getting runners on, but when they do get on, it seems like there isn’t a lot of aggressiveness.

It’s only three games into post break play, but the Guardians need something to get them going again. Obviously, the offense centers around Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor, but literally, no one else is doing anything either.

Andres Gimenez has been in a hitting funk over the last month. Because of David Fry’s elbow issue, it has forced more at bats for Austin Hedges, and that’s not going to help the offense.

Maybe it’s time to go back to what got the Guardians in first place. Put the ball in play and put pressure on defenses to make plays.

It wasn’t broke, but the Guardians tried to fix it. Now is the time to get back to the roots of the ’24 season.

Evaluating The Guards First Half

The Cleveland Guardians have the best record in the American League at 58-37, but kind of limped into the All-Star break losing 11 of their last 18 games. While it’s true that many of the other teams with good records have struggled lately as well, that doesn’t mean all of those teams will rebound.

So, while we are not worried about the Guardians right now, we do have a level of concern. For example, the Mariners had a 10 game lead in the AL West a few weeks ago, and have lost 18 of their last 25, and now the lead is just one.

One of the troubling things is this stretch came against AL Central Division teams and a Tampa Bay squad that is treading around the .500 mark.

The offense, which has scored the 4th most runs per game in the AL this year at 4.78, an increase from 4.09 for all of 2023, hasn’t produced, averaging just 3.4 runs per contest in those 18 games. In that stretch, Cleveland has put up nine runs once, eight runs once, and seven runs twice.

Needless to say, that means there were some droughts, and the Guardians scored three runs or less in ten of the last 18 games. That makes it difficult to win.

The offense isn’t a huge concern because a big part of the problem is Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez aren’t hitting. Over the last 14 days, Kwan is batting .283 (well below his .352 season mark) and Ramirez is hitting .216 with no homers and just one run batted in.

Another all-star, David Fry, is not hitting either, going just 3 for 30 in that span. When one third of your lineup isn’t producing and they are your better offensive players, it’s going to be difficult to put runs on the board.

Steven Vogt has done a very good job in his first year, but let’s face it, things have been going swimmingly so far and this is the first rough patch for the Guardians. What does the skipper and his staff do to get the team righted?

There is an old basketball saying that if you never play your bench, you will never have a bench. We are reminded of this with Vogt’s use of the bullpen this season.

The Guardians need length out of the starting rotation, but Vogt has a quick hook with the starters, sometimes pulling them prematurely. The bullpen is so good it works out, but if you don’t allow the starters to go deeper into games, they are never going to be able to do so.

We would also like to see more stability in the lineup. We get the “beat today’s starter” philosophy, but it seems some of the players who got the Guardians off to their red-hot early pace have fallen by the wayside.

For example, Daniel Schneemann, who got off to a great start after coming up from Columbus is now in the lineup most days despite hitting .185 with a 676 OPS in the last 28 days with 23 strikeouts in 76 plate appearances (30.2% rate). And he’s played some at shortstop (to get his bat in the lineup), and he made two critical errors there over the weekend.

The one rookie who does continue to impress is Angel Martinez, who seems to have a great grasp of the strike zone so far (8 BB, 7 K), and looks very comfortable in the #2 hole. We would find an everyday spot for him right now.

As for Fry, it could be that he is overexposed a bit and needs to go back to a platoon role where he plays mostly against southpaws.

The influx of young players could be due to the front office wanting some extended looks at players before the trading deadline. So, the herd could be thinned when the calendar turns to August.

When the season resumes on Friday, the Guardians should have a bit of a sense of urgency to get things turned around quickly.

On the other hand, Cleveland has 40 of its remaining 67 games at Progressive Field, including 16 of the last 19 contests. That could be a big advantage down the stretch.

Guardians Hit Their First Rough Patch Of The Season

The Cleveland Guardians have hit their first rough patch of the season. Even though they won the series at Progressive Field against the lowly White Sox, starting with the last game of the Baltimore series, they have lost six of their last ten games.

They still have a six-game lead in the AL Central over Minnesota, but it would be nice to regain some momentum heading into the All-Star break, and the Guards look like a team that could really use the four days off.

Under Steven Vogt, the Guardians have been a team all year that has mixed and matched in terms of the starting lineup, looking for the best way to beat that day’s starting pitcher.

And it worked, as Cleveland was baseball’s surprise team.

However, the organization seems to be still in tryout camp mode, shuffling players from Columbus to Cleveland, appearing to search for players like a team floundering in the standings does.

The roster changes aren’t based on a rash of injuries either. The only Cleveland player currently on the injured list is Will Brennan. Since Steven Kwan went on the IL with his hamstring injury, we have seen Kyle Manzardo, Johnathan Rodriguez, Daniel Schneemann, Jhonkensy Noel, Jose Tena, and Angel Martinez getting at bats at the big-league level, all with varying success.

From here, it looks like what we feel is a weakness in the organization, the inability to make decisions on players.

Vogt uses these players at these positions on an everyday basis: 1B Josh Naylor, 2B Andres Gimenez, 3B Jose Ramirez, LF Steven Kwan. With David Fry’s injured elbow, he has become the DH most days, with Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges behind the plate.

Brayan Rocchio is the shortstop most of the time, but we have seen Schneemann there, as well as the organization’s hope, Gabriel Arias, despite Rocchio’s defensive prowess at the games most important defensive spot.

Tyler Freeman did a solid job defensively in centerfield most of the year and it was revealed yesterday he is battling a wrist problem, and while he hasn’t hit like we thought, he’s held his own. His 653 OPS is better than Rocchio’s and comparable to Gimenez.

We get the front office is probably trying to take a look at as many players as they can before the trading deadline at the end of the month, but when the team is in a bit of a downturn, that should be secondary.

As for Arias, at what point is the organization going to realize he just isn’t a good hitter right now? He went 6 for 11 vs. the Orioles, part of a stretch where he went 8 for 19. Since then? 0 for 12 with six strikeouts.

The bullpen is also starting to leak some oil, with the lack of innings from the starting rotation perhaps starting to take its toll, especially with some of the younger arms.

Veteran Scott Barlow has emerged as the most reliable arm out of the ‘pen of late, allowing just two earned runs since June 1st. Cleveland still has four of the top 11 pitchers in the American League in terms of appearances, and that’s concerning.

Don’t get us wrong, every team in the major leagues goes through slumps or downturns, and the Guards are no exception. Again, we are sure Vogt, and the front office are hoping the club rights itself before the Mid-Summer Classic in Texas next week.

And they need to address the starting pitching…

Players Guardians Wanted To Look At Haven’t Shown Much To Date

During the winter and even right before spring training, the message from the Cleveland Guardians’ management was the reason they didn’t sign any veteran hitters was they wanted to look at the organization’s young talent, particularly in the outfield.

Yes, we know it is spring training, and not only that, it’s early in spring training, but it would not nice if a few of these prospects were showing something in the exhibition games.

You have to look at numbers during spring training games with a jaundiced eye. Observers need to be mindful of what pitchers the hitters are facing. Are they big league arms or guys who pitched in AA last year, and have a slim chance of making the squad that comes up north?

And again, it is still early. One of these hitters could go on a tear starting today and play their way onto the 26-man roster and perhaps into the starting lineup opening day in Oakland.

Looking at those young outfielders, none have flashed to date. Estevan Florial, acquired from the Yankees and mentioned more than a few times by Steven Vogt, is off to a miserable start, going just 1 for 13 with 8 strikeouts. He has walked twice.

Johnathan Rodriguez, who played at both AA and AAA last season, belting 29 home runs in total, has started 3 for 15 with one walk and has fanned four times. He has no extra base hits to date.

Jhonkensy Noel, kind of an all or nothing slugger who hit 27 dingers at Columbus in ’23, is 3 for 15 with seven punchouts. He does have two doubles however.

And rule five addition Deyvison De Los Santos, who has to be offered back to Arizona if he does not make the big-league roster, has started 3 for 15, but has only struck out three times.

Our favorite to win the shortstop job, Brayan Rocchio, coming off an excellent winter league season, is 1 for 12 with a walk, but has not struck out. His main competition, Gabriel Arias, who finished the year as the regular, is 3 for 11 and a walk, but has fanned four times, which is a problem for him.

The most impressive young players to date are three top 10 prospects, of which two have little chance to make the team.

The latter duo would be INF Angel Martinez, who has banged out 8 hits in 14 at bats with a walk and two strikeouts. The switch-hitter who will likely play at AAA this year has also pounded two doubles and two homers.

The other is OF Chase DeLauter, who has gone 4 for 8 with a HR in the big league games. The lefty hitter is the Guardians’ 2022 first round pick and will probably start the season at AA Akron.

The last of this trio should have a good shot to make the team, 1B/DH Kyle Manzardo. The left-handed hitter is 4 for 9 with two walks (three whiffs) and a double thus far. Manzardo spent last year at AAA, hitting 17 homers.

Add to this the Guardians traded a big-league starting pitcher to get him, and as we have said before, unless he’s overmatched in camp, he should be on the Opening Day roster.

Again, it’s early. But as the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression. Hopefully, these prospects can get it going sooner than later.

Can Guardians Manage Their Glut At Certain Spots?

The Cleveland Guardians have had problems making decisions on players, particularly their prospects. For example, before the 2022 season, Cleveland had four shortstops listed in their top 10 prospects: Tyler Freeman (#2), Brayan Rocchio (#4), Gabriel Arias (#5), and Angel Martinez (#10).

Two years later, what do we know about these four young players? The one with the most at-bats is Arias, who has 362 in his career. Martinez is still considered a prospect, ranking #6 in the 2024 rankings, but now is considered a second baseman.

We understand the philosophy of drafting shortstops. They are generally the best athletes on the field, and therefore you can move them to other positions. For example, Mickey Mantle was signed as a shortstop. Current Guardian broadcaster Rick Manning was drafted #2 overall as one.

Both eventually became outfielders.

On the other hand, in today’s baseball, top prospects are like currency, that is to say, they can lose value over time. Freeman as we noted was the club’s #2 prospect just two years ago. We doubt he would bring back much in a trade right now.

He’s become stale. He’s not putting up gaudy numbers in the minors, he spent all of 2023 in Cleveland, getting just 168 plate appearances.

By the way, we have said many times over the past couple of years is we believe ultimately, Rocchio will wind up being the everyday shortstop and his play this winter season (.377 batting average, 998 OPS) hopefully caught the eye of the decision makers in the front office.

Now, it looks like the same thing is happening in the outfield, where the team is collecting CF and RFs. New manager Steven Vogt has hinted the Guards would like to take a good luck at former Yankee prospect Estevan Florial, but where?

Myles Straw, who was arguably the worst offensive player in the game last season, is still on the roster, and they resigned Ramon Laureano, who had a 724 OPS with Cleveland after being claimed on waivers in August.

And they still have Will Brennan, as well as rookies Johnathan Rodriguez and seemingly perpetual prospect George Valera on the 40-man roster.

Also, their #5 prospect, Juan Brito is listed as a second baseman, but doesn’t profile well there defensively, and last season, we suggested a shift to the outfield.

Freeman has also been working in the outfield this winter, in an effort to get more at bats with the big club in 2024.

Remember the football adage if you have two quarterbacks, then you don’t really have one? The same is true for the Guardians. If you have four shortstops, do you really have one? If you have five CF/RF, do you have those positions covered?

Once again, it seems like the organization doesn’t want to make a mistake, so in their cautiousness, they also don’t make a decision. A sort of “paralysis by analysis” thing.

Frankly, any decision they make should be based on hitting first. That’s the area of need for the 2024 Guardians. Their offense bordered on woeful a year ago.

We say all the time, if you can’t hit, you can’t play. Over the past few years, there seems to be an overemphasis on the glove. We aren’t saying put a bunch of terrible defenders on the field, but you also don’t need a Gold Glove at every spot.

Hopefully, decisions will finally be made early this year, meaning spring training or early in the regular season. And even better, it would be nice if whatever is decided is the right move.