Spring Training Nears And Guardians Offense Is Still Subpar

As of today, spring training opens for the Cleveland Guardians in one month. The regular season is about nine weeks away. Yes, snow covers the ground in northeast Ohio, but in a few weeks, baseball will be in the news.

Actually, it is in the news for some franchises, as those teams have made moves to try to improve weaknesses from last season. Other franchises are making news by pushing the sport toward a work stoppage after the 2026 season. Yes, we are talking about you, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After the season, Steven Vogt talked about improving the bullpen and the offense. The front office has signed some bullpen arms, the most notable being Shawn Armstrong, but it looks like basically they are trying solve that issue with quantity, signing Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, and most recently Yorman Gomez.

We don’t necessarily disagree with that because bullpens are arguably the most volatile part of any team, and it is quite possible that by the end of the season, one of the mainstays of the Cleveland bullpen will be someone who isn’t on the radar right now.

But perhaps the bullpen won’t matter because the Guardians had the worst offense in the American League last season, and third worst in all of Major League Baseball, and simply haven’t done anything about it.

Yes, team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff will tell you they are trying to provide a runway for the Guards’ top prospects, meaning Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and Travis Bazzana, and to a lesser point, C.J. Kayfus and Juan Brito.

And we will offer the usual opinion we have about this organization at times: Wishing and hoping is not a plan. It’s a great song by Dusty Springfield.

If the Guardians were a 90-loss team, going with the young players and giving them a long leash to see what they can do, should be the plan. But that’s not where they are, they are the two-time defending champions in the AL Central, and the goal, the plan, should be how do we go from being ousted in the League Championship Series in ’24 and in the Wild Card Series in ’25 to get to the World Series.

A particular area where the Guardians need help is right-handed hitting. As a team, they had a 647 OPS vs. left-handed pitching and their hitters from the right side against righties batted just .186 with a 545 OPS.

In short, they need a right-handed bat.

All of the young players mentioned earlier hit from the left side outside of Brito, who is a switch-hitter. The Guardians need someone to hit from the right side of the plate.

And what happens if DeLauter or Valera struggle when the season opens, if they even open the regular season with the team? The Guardians are notoriously conservative having young players open the year with the big club, choosing to keep them out of the cold weather.

So, as of right now, get ready to see the same group who struggled to score runs last season getting a lot of at bats.

Remember, the Guardians finished 88-74 last year. Based on their run differential, they should have been 80-82. They had luck on their side.

The best right-handed hitter Cleveland had a year ago was Gabriel Arias. Think about that and think about should the front office be satisfied with that.

Looking At Local Teams Heading Into ’26

Happy New Year to everyone and here’s hoping we will all be a little nicer to each other.

As we start 2026, we wonder what the sports year will hold for northeast Ohio with the three professional sports teams.

Looking at the Cavaliers, certainly there is some concern because last year’s regular season was so good with a 64-18 record, but a disappointing second round loss to Indiana in

the playoffs.

This year has been filled with injuries to key players, but still, something is different. It is true that Kenny Atkinson is doing some experimenting, but it can also be true the league has changed since Koby Altman put his team together with the emphasis being on Donovan Mitchell, Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Jarrett Allen.

The NBA has gotten more long and more athletic and those teams seem to bother this group. With the Cavs over the second apron in terms of payroll, it will take a lot of creativity on Altman’s part to tweak the roster.

To the president of basketball operation’s credit, he did find a gem last year in Jaylon Tyson, who is averaging 13.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game playing the wing. If Atkinson hasn’t realized it yet, he is one of the Cavs’ best players.

The Cavaliers will probably make the playoffs this year barring injuries, but how much they can advance will depend on what tweaks Altman can make before the trade deadline.

The Cleveland Guardians have won back-to-back AL Central Division titles, but the latest came despite one of the worst offenses in the game. With spring training about six weeks away, the front office hasn’t addressed this problem, but we do think a move is coming.

The front office has talked about not wanting to block the development of some young prospects, but they need to have a “Plan B” in case those players don’t pan out.

What they should be doing is going into the season planning for Chase DeLauter and/or George Valera to have significant roles in 2026, but getting a couple of right-handed bats, proven hitters, to be improve the offense. And if the young players are as advertised, it will make for a group that can finish in the top half of the AL in runs scored.

And we wouldn’t mind getting another starting pitcher to add some depth.

One more wish. Increase the payroll to a level where they are on par with other smaller market teams like Milwaukee, Kansas City, and Cincinnati.

That shouldn’t be an issue.

That brings us to the Browns. So much of what will happen in ’26 depends on what happens after Sunday’s game in Cincinnati. They could (and should) be looking at a new GM and new coach, but based on what has been reported, we don’t think that will occur.

To think an NFL team, bring back a duo that has gone either 7-27 or 8-26 over the last two seasons seems ludicrous. Especially in their fifth and sixth years in charge.

And then you have the cloud of Deshaun Watson, who the Browns keep talking about to the media, hovering over the franchise. This is a team that has made three playoff appearances in the last 26 years and won just one post-season game.

Of course, keeping Andrew Berry and Kevin Stefanski would fall in line with the lack of accountability the Browns have had recently. And we are looking at you Bubba Ventrone.

On the other hand, we are thankful to witness the greatness of Jose Ramirez and Myles Garrett, two surefire Hall of Fame players, who play for our local teams. It would be nice for them to play for a title someday.

2026 will mark ten years since the Cavaliers won the NBA title. That’s not the 52 years we endured from 1964 to 2016, but when we started being aware of sports in 1965, it was just a year removed from the Browns’ title in ’64.

Ten years is long enough.

Adding Relief Arms – Good. Still No Bats? Bad

After the season ended, Cleveland Guardians’ skipper Steven Vogt spoke about how the team needed to reconstruct its bullpen for 2026. We are sure part of that is knowing Emmanuel Clase will never throw a pitch for the team again.

Also, in today’s game, you can never have enough bullpen arms, and frankly, the Guardians had available spots on their 40-man roster, so they weren’t losing productive players by adding to the relief corps.

So, the additions of Peyton Pallette, Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, and Shawn Armstrong are fine. Sometimes, there is strength in numbers. Armstrong is a veteran, and has the biggest track record.

He probably had a career year last season with Texas with a 2.31 ERA and 74 strikeouts in 74 innings, but he has a lifetime ERA of 3.82 and more Ks than innings pitched over an 11-year career that began with Cleveland in 2015.

But if one or two of the other newcomers and another prospect from the farm system emerges, Vogt should have solid options at his disposal for the 2026 season.

Holderman was someone we looked at in 2024 when the Guards were marching to the AL Central Division title when he had a 3.16 ERA and 56 punchouts in 51.1 innings for Pittsburgh, but he had a terrible year in ’25 with an ERA over 7.00.

If he’s healthy, he’s a solid candidate to bounce back.

Brogdon, who will be 31 next season, has struggled since the 2023 season. He can strike people out, but has been vulnerable to the gopher ball recently, giving up 11 in 47 innings with the Angels last season.

While the bullpen has added depth, the hitting still hasn’t been addressed. Spring training is still two months away, so the front office still has time, but some bats that could have been useful have either come off the market or the rumors are the Guardians aren’t in play.

President Chris Antonetti has said the organization doesn’t want to block the progress of the club’s top prospects, but if the Guardians have designs on winning the Central Division for a third straight year, that cannot be the only plan.

Remember, the Guards had the third worst offense in baseball last season and the absolute worst in the American League. They simply cannot depend on players like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and C.J. Kayfus, players who combined have less than 200 major league at bats.

What if none of them turn out to be good players? Before you think we are crazy, check most teams’ list of Top 10 Prospects from 4-5 years ago. Probably about half of those players don’t ever turn out to be solid MLB players.

So, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that none of the trio winds up being an everyday player, and for the record, we really like DeLauter, whose problem has been health more than anything else.

That’s why as a contending team; the front office has to plan for the worst-case scenario. And that’s why they have to get at least two proven hitters, in our opinion.

We are sure there will be plenty of disagreement here, but we would look at Luis Arraez as an option although the defensive positioning could be an issue.

The 28-year-old left-handed hitter had a down year last season, but that might make him very affordable. And he’s just a year away from a .346 on base percentage, and his career mark is .363.

We just imagine having Steven Kwan and Arraez at the top of the lineup hitting in front of Jose Ramirez. That ain’t bad.

As we said, there are still six weeks before spring training starts so there is still time. But Guardians’ fans would still like to see some offensive improvement.

Understand Seeing Prospects, But Guards Need A Proven Stick

The Cleveland Guardians are usually very tightlipped when it comes to talking about making changes to their roster, so when in an interview Chris Antonetti talked about balancing giving the current inexperienced players on the roster a shot with going out and bringing veteran players in, let’s hope that is just front office speak.

In 2025, the Guards ranked 28th in all of Major League Baseball in runs scored, 29th in OPS, on base percentage and slugging percentage. It really is kind of a miracle they made the playoffs with that bad of an offense.

Cleveland has some prospects that are on the cusp of helping the big-league team. We saw many of them in September and in the Wild Card Series. We are talking about guys like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, C.J. Kayfus, and Juan Brito has had some solid years in AAA and deserves a look.

However, outside of Kayfus, availability has been a big problem for those guys, and as we always say, the job of the front office should be to have a backup plan. What happens if those young players get hurt or aren’t ready to handle big league pitching?

We know what the alternative is for that, and quite frankly, it’s not pretty. Do the Guardians really feel like they can contend giving extensive at bats to players like Jhonkensy Noel (480 OPS in ’25), Nolan Jones (600 last year), or Johnathan Rodriguez (career 586 OPS)?

Again, we remind you with those guys and we can add in Daniel Schneemann’s 636 OPS and Gabriel Arias’ 638 figure, Steven Vogt’s squad had one of the worst offenses in the game.

That’s why the front office needs to add someone with a track record of offensive production. If DeLauter and one of the other prospects wind up being solid bats as rookies, then you have added depth and also you have the ability to protect them when they are in tough stretches at the plate, which most rookies go through.

In particular, the Guards could use a right-handed hitter with some pop and at least two hitters who can get on base. Arias led the team in homers by a right-handed hitter in 2025 with 11. As a comparison, their chief division rivals, the Tigers had four players that exceeded that total.

Of the four young players listed previously, Brito is a switch-hitter and the other three hit from the left side. Even if they all emerge, the Guards need a solid right-handed hitter.

As for getting on base, Jose Ramirez (of course) had a .360 OBP last season and the next highest was Steven Kwan at .330. The only other hitters over .300 were Kyle Manzardo (.313) and Carlos Santana, who was released in late August and is 39 years old.

That’s a lot of hitters making a lot of outs.

And we would prefer the organization to not take flyers on hitters who have declined over the past few seasons with the hope they can have a renaissance. That rarely works either.

The farm system has some depth, move some prospects to get a hitter who was productive last year. That’s what is needed.

We know there are a lot of people out there who put blind faith in anyone who has ever had a decent month or two in the minor leagues. We still go with the axiom that prospects are suspects until proven otherwise.

Three Major Weak Spots For Guardians

In a little over a week, the Hot Stove season will start in earnest for baseball. Teams all over the sport will be looking to get better, shore up weaknesses, and even make room for hot prospects.

The Cleveland Guardians aren’t a team that generally makes big splashes in terms of acquiring talent. They made two major deals a year ago, but both were more about dealing players who were going to make big money soon (in the case of Andres Gimenez) or were going to hit free agency soon (Josh Naylor).

Despite their September run, the Guardians have a lot of holes on the roster. It has been well documented how bad their offense was, they were third worst in the sport, ahead of just Colorado and Pittsburgh, meaning they were the worst in the American League.

They were also second worst in team OPS, on base percentage, and in slugging percentage.

Where do the Guardians have to get better? If you look at WAR (wins above replacement), it is quite clear where the improvement needs to be. Cleveland had the worst centerfield play in the majors.

Who played there in 2025? Angel Martinez played 114 games, followed by Lane Thomas (38) and Nolan Jones (35). Martinez is still young (he will be 24 next season) and was very good vs. LHP, batting .279 with a 792 OPS. He’s still young enough to develop against right-handers, although he batted .197.

We would guess the Guards will move on from Thomas, who is a free agent, and Jones, who frankly just wasn’t good.

They were third worst in rightfield. Again, Jones got the bulk of the playing time there, appearing in 101 games, followed by Jhonkensy Noel with 60 games.

Noel’s struggles at the plate, mostly involving making contact, are well documented. His OPS was under 500 in 2025.

The third position where the Guardians were near the bottom, 27th in this case, was shortstop, with Gabriel Arias playing 106 games and Brayan Rocchio playing in 72 contests.

Arias received a career high in plate appearances in ’25 and his numbers were pretty much the same as before. He batted .220 (career mark .215), his on base percentage was .274 (same as career) and he slugged .363 (.356).

He has a tremendous arm, perhaps the best in the game, but let’s be truthful, he struggles going to his left. We feel Rocchio has more range by far.

So, what can the team do about these trouble spots?

We don’t know if Cleveland will deal Steven Kwan this winter, but if they don’t, shouldn’t they consider putting him in CF? He’s a great defensive outfielder, so why not put him in the most important position?

That would open up LF for players like Martinez, Juan Brito, and maybe even Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana.

With DeLauter’s injury history, it seems weird to mention him in center.

Besides RF needs shoring up as well, and we don’t want to forget George Valera there, but as we have said before, the organization cannot just depend on all young players. They still need a right-handed bat, and preferably a veteran one. A “professional hitter” as they say.

And at short, we just believe Rocchio is a better choice. We think he’s a better hitter and as noted earlier, has more range.

The 2025 Guardians don’t just need improvement at those spots, they need to not be the worst on those positions, and two of them are key defensive spots.

Upgrading at CF, RF, and SS will help make this team a lot better in 2026.

How Do Guardians Make Room For Young Players?

The Cleveland Guardians had one of the worst offenses in team history this season and fixing it should be the primary goal of the front office this winter.

There is hope on the horizon in rookies Chase DeLauter, George Valera, Juan Brito and perhaps Travis Bazzana, but depending on players who have very few, if any, big league at bats is foolhardy. Team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to find a proven hitter, preferably a right-handed one, as the players listed hit from the left side except for Brito, a switch-hitter.

However, if those players are going to be contributors next season, obviously some of the players currently on the roster will not be back.

With Brito and Bazzana on the horizon, once again there is a logjam in the middle infield. What we would do is move Brayan Rocchio back to shortstop and end the Gabriel Arias experiment.

During broadcasts, several times there were mentions of a “breakout” year for Arias, who will be 26 next season, but frankly, we don’t see it. His OPS in 2024 was 608 and in 2025, it was 638, still well below the league average (719).

His strikeout percentage increased to 34.1% (to be fair, his walk rate also increased), but the much advertised “pop” still hasn’t shown, his slugging percentage was just .363. We don’t think he will ever provide average offense. And he’s now had over 1000 plate appearances in the big leagues.

With DeLauter and Valera seemingly ready in 2026, the outfield has to get weeded out. Lane Thomas is a free agent, and we’ve seen reports the Guardians could be interested, but unless you are bringing him in as a platoon player, we would pass.

We also aren’t interested in bringing Nolan Jones or Jhonkensy Noel back. Jones is now two years removed from his 20 home run season in 2023. He’s hit just eight since. And the team touted his hard-hit percentage, but the results just aren’t there.

The more big-league pitchers see Noel, the worse the results are. Noel simply has no feel for the strike zone, evidenced by his unreal 52:4 K/BB ratio. Heck, Valera was on the roster for a month and walked more. The big man has a sluggers’ chance, we remember the playoff HR against New York, but he’s just not a good hitter.

We would like to see more of Johnathan Rodriguez, but not in rightfield unless he can drastically improve defensively.

And then we have Austin Hedges. We know how the organization values him for his leadership and his handling of pitchers. We also find it difficult to believe there isn’t another player who can do those things and not be one of the worst hitters we have ever seen.

David Fry should be able to catch next year, but he’s more of a utility guy, someone who can hit right-handed, play corner spots and can catch in a pinch. If Steven Vogt is going to play the platoon game, the Guardians need a better partner to pair with Bo Naylor.

We do think Angel Martinez has value, at least as a platoon player (very good vs. LHP) and he’s young enough to develop from the left side. He may be better suited in the Daniel Schneemann role, a multi-positional player.

Martinez needs to be more selective at the plate and as for Schneemann, he was not good after June 1st (.188 batting average).

We repeat, the organization can’t depend on the young guys if they consider themselves a contender, which they should with the results of the last two seasons and the relative youth of the club.

They need a Plan B, if something happens to those four young players. And really, their collective health in the past two years alone should provide enough evidence to do just that.

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.

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.

If Guards Want To Move Up, They Need To Score More

There is a logjam for the wild card spots in the American League and the Cleveland Guardians are in the midst of it.

The Seattle Mariners currently hold the sixth spot in the AL with a 51-45 record, and there are six teams within 5 games of them, including Cleveland who is 4.5 out with a 46-49 record.

How jumbled are the standings? If the Guardians win Friday night when they return to action at home against the Athletics, they could be in the #8 spot, able to jump the Royals, Angels, and Twins.

It’s no mystery how they can climb back in the race if they so desire. They have to score runs. They are currently third from the bottom in putting runs on the board, ahead of just the Royals and White Sox.

They are also ninth in ERA, but their team mark of 4.02 is better than the league average of 4.07.

If the Guardians’ front office wants to take care of the offensive problem, they will likely have to make some very difficult decisions.

They would have to take some risks, but since we belong to the “can’t be any worse” mindset, we would be willing to take the chance.

The toughest decision might be what to do with Carlos Santana. Clearly, the organization loves him, he has been traded for once and signed as a free agent since leaving originally after the 2017 season. He has been in the trade rumor mill over the past few weeks.

But really, what will you get for the 39-year-old first baseman? Since June 1st, Santana has batted .189 with 4 HR and 12 RBI. And perhaps what is worse, he has walked just 13 times with 30 strikeouts.

If the front office cannot find a trade partner, will they have the stomach to just release him? The Guardians have to start making the transition to have Kyle Manzardo, who has a much higher OPS than Santana, play first base, and also to look at C.J. Kayfus, who has a 921 OPS at Columbus.

The other obvious choices to upgrade would be at catcher, shortstop, and two of the outfield spots.

We doubt any change is coming behind the plate. The organization values defense and handling pitchers very highly, but even with that, the offense they are getting from the position is ridiculous. It’s getting to the point when Bo Naylor or Austin Hedges takes a walk, it’s a victory.

Angel Martinez has shown some pop lately (slugging .481 over the last month) playing mostly CF, but his 61:9 strikeout to walk ratio doesn’t bode well.

Another option would be to have Nolan Jones, who has hit .267 since June 1st, play more in CF with of course the people’s choice, Chase DeLauter coming up to play some rightfield. Jones has also drawn 13 walks in this period with 26 strikeouts.

Of course, the obstacle there is the health of DeLauter and also Juan Brito, who would provide a better bat than Will Wilson.

As for shortstop, although Brayan Rocchio has hit better since his recall (.257 batting average with a 783 OPS), we would bet when Gabriel Arias is ready, he will take over at that spot.

Of course, they could also move a bullpen arm for some immediate offensive help. In the regular season, you have to score runs to make the playoffs. Improving on the third worst offense in the AL is a necessity if the Guardians are going to climb back in the wild card race.

That is if the front office is interested in doing that.

Buyers Or Sellers? That’s the Guardians’ Big Quandry

The All-Star break arrives for the Cleveland Guardians and all other major league teams following today’s game. And with the trading deadline on the horizon at the end of this month, teams have to decide if they are buyers or sellers.

Of course, the Guardians’ front office, like most organizations won’t admit to being one or the other, they will reason they are trying to improve their teams for this year and the next few seasons.

Because of the wild cards in both leagues, the Guardians are still in the race for a playoff spot, sitting just 4.5 games out of the last playoff position. On the other hand, since June 1st, Cleveland is just 14-23.

The schedule seems to be favorable for a while. As it currently stands, the Guardians don’t play a team over the .500 mark until they travel to New York to play the Mets. Until then, resume the schedule with the Athletics, Orioles, Royals, Rockies, and Twins.

They will also enter the break having played 52 games on the road, compared to just 43 at Progressive Field. That of course means, they will play 38 of the final 67 contests at home. The bad news there is right now, the Guards are under .500 on the shores of Lake Erie.

We have reviewed in the past how the Cleveland front office kind of only adds to the roster when they are ahead in the standings. They generally don’t try to get better when they are trailing in the standings.

So, it would seem the first 10 games out of the break will be key for Steven Vogt’s crew. Winning seven or eight of these games would probably narrow the gap between Cleveland and the current team with the sixth seed, the Tampa Bay Rays.

If they do fall out of contention, the Guardians need to make deals for major league ready prospects, getting players who are 2-3 years away should not be an option.

Why?

First, they have to maximize Jose Ramirez who is 32 years old. The front office should be thinking about how long Ramirez will remain one of the games’ top players. Second, the biggest issue with the current roster is the hitting.

We would all like to see Chase DeLauter with the big club, and C. J. Kayfus deserves a promotion as well. But the system isn’t loaded with hitters, particularly from the right side. And if the team wants to be a contender again in 2026, they need to add some offense.

And while the Guards still are the youngest pitching staff in the AL, they are only the 7th youngest team among the hitters, although that ranking is due in part to Ramirez and 39-year-old Carlos Santana.

Antonetti and Chernoff are in a tough place. No matter what they decide, buying or selling, they are going to irritate fans and possibly players.

So maybe the best course of action is to maybe move a couple of veterans to make room for some youngsters and also deal from a strength (bullpen?) to get some young bats that can help right now.

That’s why that duo gets the big cash, to make decisions like the one coming up.