Non Money Moves Made Or Not Made By Guardians

We have talked about this a lot since the calendar turned to 2024, but it has been a very, very quiet off-season for the Cleveland Guardians. Outside of a few transactions around the time a team had to offer arbitration to its players, it seems like the construction around Progressive Field has closed the front office too.

We aren’t going to get into the financial stuff here, we have been well informed on the whole broadcast revenue with Bally Sports and how the Guardians have claimed it prevented them for spending this winter.

However, there are things we would have liked the organization to do this off-season which would not have caused a financial burden. Here are some things we wish they’d have taken care of:

Ease The Middle Infield Glut. If you have five shortstops do you have one? Once the exhibition games start, new skipper Steven Vogt will have to decide who will get the majority of the playing time in the middle infield, particularly at short.

We say that because the Guards seem loathe to move Andres Gimenez, who played 400 games in the minor leagues at shortstop to that spot in the big leagues. So, the primary candidates are Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio, with Tyler Freeman and Jose Tena on the outside.

They gave Arias a full shot at the job a year ago after Amed Rosario was traded, and he had a 643 OPS in the second half, batting .227. Rocchio had an outstanding winter league season, and frankly, we have felt he was regarded as the heir apparent to the spot by the organization.

We would give Rocchio the spot to start and see if the winter league carries over. The back up plan for us would be moving Gimenez to SS and seeing if Freeman can hit like he did in the minors with regular at bats.

Catching Reserve. Last season, the Guardians employed Cam Gallagher as the backup catcher all year, first behind Mike Zunino and then Bo Naylor. He received 143 at bats and hit .125 (322 OPS).

We dare you to find anyone worse with a bat in their hand. Early in the off-season, they claimed Christian Bethancourt from Tampa. He hit .225 but banged 11 homers and had a 635 OPS. Not Babe Ruth production but better than what Gallagher provided.

But then they let Bethancourt go and re-signed veteran Austin Hedges for a second go round with the Guards. Hedges is an excellent defensive catcher, but he can’t hit.

In 199 games with Cleveland, he has a .169 batting average and 502 OPS. We get he is a great clubhouse presence, but he can’t hit.

Have we mentioned the Guardians need hitting?

Find A Taker For Straw. Vogt and Chris Antonetti have both talked about giving the Guardians’ young outfielders an opportunity this year, but that may prove difficult because Myles Straw is still on the roster.

The problem for the Guards is Straw still has two years on his deal, worth an estimated $13.8 million. A second problem is as we said before, the Guardians need offense and Straw has been one of baseball’s worst hitters over the last two seasons.

We get that no one wants to take that contract unless it is included in a bigger deal, as many proposed in possible trades involving Shane Bieber. But the Guardians usual move is to play Straw because they owe him the cash. That’s the real problem.

And based on the Guardians’ history, if he is on the roster, they will feel obligated to put him in the lineup.

What Is Plan B To Help Guardians Score Runs?

The first clue came at Guardians’ Fest when owner Paul Dolan said the reason for not signing any free agent outfielders is they wanted to give the young players in the farm system a chance.

Then in the past few days, manager Steven Vogt and president Chris Antonetti mentioned the same thing.

To us, this is a pretty risky plan especially if the organization has designs on making the playoffs. Remember, this shouldn’t be a “rebuild”, they won the division title just two years ago with the youngest roster in the sport.

It is universally known that the Guardians have a problem scoring runs, ranking 12th in the American League a year ago. We believe to have a solid major league lineup, a team needs to have six, maybe even seven solid bats in the batting order.

In our opinion, right now, the Guards have four: Jose Ramirez of course, Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan, and Andres Gimenez. Bo Naylor showed promise a year ago, but he has less than 250 big league at bats, and can’t be counted as of yet.

And we are pressing the definition of “solid” with Kwan (710 OPS) and Gimenez (712 OPS), each would be the 6th or 7th best hitters on very good hitting teams.

The front office could have signed a veteran free agent to a one-year contract (there are no such things as bad one-year deals) to add a proven stick to the order. Players like J.D. Martinez (career 874 OPS) and Tommy Pham (786 OPS) are still on the market.

Cleveland acquired Estevan Florial from New York over the winter and he had a big year in AAA last season and was a former top 100 prospect. George Valera has also been on this list, but he’s never been in the big leagues and has battled injuries the last two seasons.

Otherwise, the candidates the team is depending aren’t on the list of the top prospects in the game, nor are they on the Guardians’ top 10 list, at least among the outfielders.

So, our question is this: What is Plan B if none of the young players the brass is talking about come through in 2024?

In 2022, Will Brennan slashed 371/479/850 in the minor leagues, at both the AA and AAA levels. Last year, in the big leagues, Brennan had a 655 OPS, with both the on base and pop he showed in the minors in ’22 having disappeared.

This isn’t to say Brennan is a bust, for right now, we simply will call it growing pains, but the fact remains he didn’t provide much offense for the Guardians last season.

In three seasons at AAA, Florial has slashed 358/490/848, similar numbers to Brennan. And although he has only 134 plate appearances in the big leagues, he has a 609 OPS, striking out 41 times.

Another hopeful is Johnathan Rodriguez, who in 47 games at Columbus last season was outstanding 376/560/936. With 476 plate appearances in AA, his numbers are 334/497/831. Solid, but not overwhelming.

Jhonkensy Noel, a minor league slugger, is also in the mix, but in a full season at Columbus last year put up these numbers: 303/420/723.

Kyle Manzardo is a Guardians’ top 10 prospect, and it seems like the organization wants him to start in AAA. Perhaps, it’s because he’s not already on the 40-man roster. In AAA last season, he had an 802 OPS.

And no, we don’t consider a player with a 676 OPS a year ago to be a solid bat. We are talking about Ramon Laureano, claimed on waivers from Oakland last season in August. His last season with an OPS over 750 was 2021.

Could things fall into place and Brennan bounces back, Bo Naylor continues to hit like he did in the second half last season, and Brayan Rocchio hits like he has in winter ball? Of course, and if that happens, the offensive woes could be solved.

We like having a backup plan, though. Of course, that costs money. Hence the problem for the front office.

Attendance Was Up For Guardians, Now How About Payroll?

The Bally Sports situation is troubling for many baseball teams, we understand that. Losing the rights fee for organizations is definitely a loss of revenue.

However, let’s not forget that these ballclubs will be paid by some entity to televise their games in 2024. It may not be as much as Bally’s was paying, but there will be income coming in.

We also need to remember that nobody uses this time of news better than mid to small market Major League Baseball owners. We already have heard a few teams telling their fans they have to cut payroll due to this situation.

Recently, Guardians’ president Chris Antonetti said the organization let right-handed starting pitcher Cal Quantrill go because what he figured to get in arbitration didn’t fit in with the teams’ payroll structure.

To us, if you can’t spend $6 million on a serviceable starting pitcher, it raises an eyebrow. After all, Cleveland already had the second lowest payroll in the big leagues last season, ahead of only Oakland. (according to Baseballreference.com)

It’s also a good time to remind you that the Guardians had the fourth biggest gain in attendance in ’23, behind Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Baltimore. We know some folks will argue they were low-cost tickets that caused the spike, but we would argue the main thing is getting people in the park, remember, no team is selling concessions at cost.

This organization have always implied they couldn’t spend money on players because of dwindling attendance figures. So, attendance went up last year, and now it is the possibility of losing the television deal that won’t allow the Guardians to spend money on players.

We have always said we understand the Guardians can’t have a $200 million payroll, they certainly don’t generate the same type of revenue that teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and Phillies can.

However, last season they outdrew Kansas City, who had a payroll $18 million higher than the Guards. Miami spent $114 million on players, and Cleveland outdrew them by 650,000 people.

The Brewers and Twins are similar market sizes, and both teams’ salaries for players were almost $140 million. By the way, Minnesota is saying they will have to cut payroll because of the local broadcast situation.

Now, one of the reasons Cleveland’s salaries are low is because they are the youngest team in the majors, so many of their players are on minimum contracts because they haven’t reached arbitration yet.

Don’t they have room to add some veterans who can help the team?

So, local television deal or not, the Guardians need to increase the amount they are spending on players for the 2024 season.

Let’s face it, coming off a 92 win season and a division title in 2023, last season was a disappointment. They have a new manager in Steven Vogt and should want to get him all the help he needs.

And you can’t forget the elephant in the room: 1948. The fans came out last season, now the front office should hold up their end of the bargain.

Nothing major, but how about not being in the bottom five in the league in payroll. We don’t think that’s too much to ask.

Moving Quantrill Is Odd, Getting Barlow Is Good

Former Guardians’ manager Terry Francona, and yes, it’s weird to write that, used to say that when you think you have enough pitching, you go out and get some more. Apparently, Cleveland is no subscribing to that adage with one of their first off-season moves.

In order to add rookies Daniel Espino and Cade Smith to the 40-man roster, the Guardians designated Cal Quantrill for assignment.

Quantrill will likely never be in the conversation for a Cy Young Award, but he is a reliable starting pitcher.

The Guards received minor league catcher Kody Huff from Colorado, he played in A ball last season. Team president Chris Antonetti said the Guardians didn’t think Quantrill was worth the likely $6 million he would receive in arbitration, and in a vacuum, he’s probably right.

However, sometimes there is hidden value. With Shane Bieber (who may be traded) and Triston McKenzie coming off injuries, if they aren’t ready, the starting rotation right now looks like Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Logan Allen, and a mixture of Hunter Gaddis, rookie Joey Cantillo, Xzavion Curry, and perhaps Cody Morris.

That would be three second-year starters, who have no proven track record in the bigs, and a bunch of arms without a track record in the majors.

Wouldn’t Quantrill, a proven big-league starter have some value to Cleveland? He has made 94 big league starts, pitching to a 4.06 ERA in those outings.

If you were a contending club, or one who says they are, you would want pitchers who you know can give you a decent outing. And as much as we like Bibee, Williams, and Allen, we don’t know if they will pitch as well in 2024.

So, if we were Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, we’d be looking for an established starting pitcher. Our philosophy as a GM would be to guard against things as best you can if things go wrong. With the injuries to Bieber and McKenzie, and depending on second-year players, we think a lot could go wrong.

Cleveland did make another trade on Friday, getting reliever Scott Barlow from San Diego for Enyel De Los Santos.

De Los Santos had two solid years here, pitching in 120 games with a 3.18 ERA and 123 strikeouts in 119 innings, but seemed more comfortable in a sixth or seventh inning role. His ERA is almost a run higher in the 8th than in the 7th in his career.

Barlow has closing experience, saving 53 games with the Royals from 2021 to 2023, including 13 last year before being dealt to the Padres. He’s also a strikeout pitcher, fanning 393 hitters in 332 innings for his career.

He should give Emmanuel Clase some relief at times, because he seemed to be the only reliable alternative the team had in ’23.

And he would also seem to move Trevor Stephan, who struggled mightily in the second half last year into more of a 7th inning role.

The Guardians also signed Ramon Laureano to a one-year deal, after he hit .243/.342/.382/724 after being released by Oakland. He also has a career 791 OPS vs. lefties since coming to the major leagues.

They paid Laureano a reported $5.1 million next year, and that makes us wonder about Myles Straw’s future. Laureano can play CF and RF, and is a good defensive outfielder. It’s hard to see Cleveland paying Straw $4.9 million (and it escalates in ’25 and ’26) and Laureano.

Just something to keep an eye on and the hot stove season moves on.

Can Guards Deal From Strength And What Would That Mean.

People say the best baseball trades come when a team is dealing from a strength. That almost certainly means if the Cleveland Guardians make a deal this winter, it will involve someone from their pitching staff, right?

We would say the offensively challenged Guards can’t move anyone who shows any talent when swinging the bat. However, Cleveland still has a glut of middle infielders, on both the big-league level and the high levels of the minor leagues.

How they rate (and how other teams rank for that matter) the talent at these positions will show everyone how they feel about these players. Unfortunately, based on how they handled the players this past season, we don’t have a lot of confidence they will do the right thing.

And by the way, that doesn’t mean we think the front office should be revamped. It does mean we hope whoever the new manager will be can change the minds of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff.

Maybe, hopefully, the decision makers move off of the great defense above all else when it comes to the middle of the diamond and they settle for solid glovework with an ability to swing the bat a bit.

You would think that any move made to strengthen the lineup would involve a trade for a starting pitcher, but which player to move?

Many people would say to move Shane Bieber, the most accomplished of the starting rotation, but he is also a free agent after the 2024 season. How much could he bring in return? We believe it wouldn’t be as much as you might think.

Besides the contract situation, Bieber’s price could be muted by injury issues in two of the last three seasons. Although he pitched 200 innings in 2022, he threw just 97 frames in ’21 and 128 innings last season.

It’s hard to imagine he would get the kind of haul in terms of bats that the Guardians would be looking for.

We also would be very reticent to move either Tanner Bibee and/or Gavin Williams. We believe both hurlers have ace potential. Bibee made 25 starts last year, compiling a 2.98 ERA in 142 innings pitched, and maybe pitched his best in the biggest games when the team was still in the race.

Williams looks the part at 6’6″, 250 pounds and fanned 81 hitters in 82 big league innings. The walks may have been more than we would prefer, and he had periods where he may have given major league hitters more credit than they deserve.

So, the most enticing piece to move might be lefty Logan Allen (7-8, 3.81 ERA in 125.1 IP). We like Allen, but as they say, you have to give up something to get something. And if they move the southpaw, they would still have Bibee and Williams, and the durable Cal Quantrill.

We still don’t know about Triston McKenzie’s reliability because of his elbow injury. He did make two starts at the end of the year, totally six innings. He did walk nine hitters in those two starts. Hopefully, he can be a fixture in next year’s rotation, but we can’t feel confident in him being available for all of 2024 right now.

Trading Allen would mean someone would have to emerge from the minors, perhaps Joey Cantillo or Hunter Gaddis to fill out the rotation.

And even if they got a bat in return for a pitcher and Kyle Manzardo hits like projected, the Guardians probably still need another bat to have a very good offense.

No One Will Know What To Expect With Guards’ New Skipper (Probably).

Likely, the first order of business for the Cleveland Guardians is to find a new manager to replace their all-time leader in wins as a skipper in Terry Francona.

We find it funny seeing some fans trumpeting candidates when the names come out that Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff are interviewing. It has been reported that Giants’ bullpen coach Craig Albernaz and Yankees’ bench coach Carlos Mendoza have had conversations with Cleveland.

And add in the other speculated candidates like Rangers’ bench coach Will Venable, who was with the Guards in spring training a few years ago and went to college with Chernoff, Astros’ bench coach Joe Espada, and current Cleveland third base coach Mike Sarbaugh.

We would guess the Guardians would be interested if Kevin Cash (739-617) with Tampa Bay) or Craig Counsell (707-625 with Milwaukee) came available. The great Peter Gammons speculated last week that Cash would love to manage in Cleveland, and the front office would love to have him.

However, outside of Cash and Counsell, we really don’t know what you are going to get as from any of the men who have never managed at the big-league level. Bench coaches would seem to have good experience, but there is still a big difference between being someone who “suggests” moves rather than making the ultimate decision.

And it’s also different piloting a minor league team where player development is the goal rather than winning games. We would agree though that handling minor league players well should translate to the big leagues.

If you hire guys who have had success at the big-league level, not only do you get that, but they also understand all that goes along with the job in the majors, meaning dealing with the media, and being exposed to players who have been in the game for a while.

We think the ideal candidate is someone who can combine the old school type of managing, with a feel for the game, with analytics. We thought it was insane for John Schneider to remove Jose Berrios from his start against Minnesota in the wild card series because it was scripted, and the numbers said to do it.

If a starting pitcher is doing his job, let him keep doing it until the hitters tell them he is losing effectiveness. We understand sometimes it’s too late to take action, but remember, some people treat analytics as a way to explain why they made a decision that didn’t work.

We don’t want a manager who goes strictly by the numbers, but we don’t want someone who will ignore them either. At this point in baseball though, we doubt you could find a manager described by that second statement.

At the end of the day, what you want is someone who has the trust of the players and has everyone pulling in the same direction. And with the Guardians still being a very young team, the new guy in charge will also need to guide them.

Terry Francona liked to have a veteran around to help with that, be it Jason Giambi, Jose Uribe, or Mike Napoli. And we agree having an experienced player around is important.

The truth is, we really won’t know anything about the new manager (if he has no big-league experience, that is) until the games start for real next spring. And even then, you have to allow a new major league skipper to grow into the job.

Good Road Trip Changes Mind Of Guards’ Front Office?

Perhaps the Guardians going on the road versus two teams with playoff aspirations and winning both series had an impact on the minds of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff.

We have not been shy in saying the front office of the Guards has not been totally in on making a playoff push since the trade deadline after moving Amed Rosario, Aaron Civale, and Josh Bell. The players weren’t happy which caused Antonetti and Chernoff to fly to Houston to meet with players about the moves.

Players think about the season they are playing. They don’t care about the 2024 edition of the Guardians because they may not be in Cleveland next season.

And we repeat, our problem was not in trading the people they did, it was not getting anything that could help the team this season, seeing as though they were a half game out at that time.

We have always been under the opinion that if a team is five games or less out of a post-season spot on September 1st, they are legitimately in the race. And today, Cleveland sits five games behind the Twins.

So, the Guardians’ management saw an opportunity on the waiver wire and took advantage. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim decided to dump salary with a month to go in the regular season and Cleveland took advantage, claiming three pitchers: Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez, and Matt Moore.

Giolito is the most familiar name, having had three very good seasons with the White Sox (2019-21), going 29-21 in those campaigns with ERAs under 3.53. This season, he is 7-11 with a 4.45 ERA combined with Chicago and the Angels, giving up just 139 hits in 153.2 innings, striking out 165.

He has been plagued by the long ball with the Angels, giving up 10 in 32 frames. He gave up three each in losses to Atlanta and Philadelphia. He can soak up innings and is an upgrade over Noah Syndergaard, who was designated for assignment after pitching on Sunday.

With Cal Quantrill coming back tonight, hopefully he and Giolito can ease the burden on the Guards’ young starters for the rest of the season.

Lopez, a right-hander like Giolito, figures to help the bullpen. He is 2-7 with 6 saves and a 3.93 ERA in total, and had a 2.77 ERA with the Angels. He has whiffed 71 hitters in 55 innings, but did walk 30. He has also allowed 8 home runs.

Moore is a southpaw and has been around the block at 34-years-old. He’s also been very effective this season, compiling a 2.66 ERA and 49 strikeouts over 44 innings. His last four appearances haven’t been good, he’s allowed six runs in four frames. But he was great before that.

He provides another solid lefty along with Sam Hentges, who has pitched much better of late.

It did cost the Guardians some money, but they also saved money in the deals they made at the end of July, so it’s likely a wash.

If Giolito regains something close to his old form with the Pale Hose and with the additional bullpen help, perhaps the Guards can put together the run they have been searching for all year. Their longest winning and coincidentally longest losing streak are both four games.

It’s too bad these moves couldn’t have been made sooner and let us also stop you from thinking this was some sort of grand plan. There is no way the front office could have seen the bizarre collapse by the Angels.

With Tampa in for the weekend followed by the Twins, this stretch of six games will determine whether or not this will be a fun September.

And a hot streak from Jose Ramirez and the return of Josh Naylor could be large helps too.

Important Series In Minnesota? Don’t Think The FO Thinks So

The Cleveland Guardians should be entering a crucial stretch as five of their next eight games are against the Minnesota Twins, who currrently lead the AL Central Division by six games over Cleveland.

We say should because we aren’t sure the management of the team are interested, or should we say fully invested in catching the Twins.

We are sure the players are trying to win every night, but it seems like Terry Francona, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff are ambivalent.

In Sunday’s game, the Guards had a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning and Noah Syndergaard had thrown over 80 pitches. He allowed a runner to reach, but no one was warming in the bullpen meaning the starter was out there to complete the inning.

He gave up a two-run homer to allow Toronto to capture the league and was removed after six frames. He was also designated for assignment after the contest.

With Cal Quantrill likely to be activated on Friday, he will take Syndergaard’s place in the rotation, but to replace him, the Guardians called up retread Daniel Norris to take his place.

Norris replaced Xzhavion Curry last night and promptly gave up four runs turning a 6-5 contest into a 10-6 Twins’ lead.

Last year, the organization was very aggressive bringing up young players like Will Brennan, Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman, and Cody Morris, even if they weren’t on the 40-man roster to help down the stretch.

Why not bring up Franco Aleman, who has made 13 scoreless appearances at Akron, striking out 29 and walking just 3 in 19.1 innings at AA. To be fair, he didn’t have great numbers at Lake County (5.52 ERA) but did whiff 46 batters in 31 innings.

Norris is a 30-year-old journeyman who made six appearances at the big league level this year and walked 11 batters in 10.2 innings coming into last night. Heck, if they didn’t want to go with Aleman, Hunter Gaddis, who opened the season in the starting rotation would have been a better choice.

Francona could’ve turned to Eli Morgan in the 3rd and maybe went with Morris later, but no, it was Norris, just like a game in June against a team not ahead of them in the standings.

We understand the Blue Jays threw two southpaws at the Guardians over the weekend, but instead of playing Bo Naylor, the best catcher on the roster, in one of the games vs. a lefty, both Cam Gallagher and Eric Haase, who at best are replacement level major leaguers both got starts.

We have seen fans angry that Naylor only played in one game in essentially his hometown. That shouldn’t be the argument. He’s clearly the best hitter of the three, and isn’t a terrible defensive catcher. He should be in there most nights.

This shouldn’t be news. The organization told the fan base they weren’t interested in contending on August 1st. And it wasn’t trading Amed Rosario, Josh Bell, and Aaron Civale that was the main crime, it was not trading for someone to help a bad offense and a struggling bullpen.

A sweep could have cut the Minnesota lead to three games, heck, they could still walk out of the Twin Cities down five. But we don’t think that was a major consideration.

Fans can’t want something more that the organization does.

Guards’ Front Office Caps Off A Bad Year Of Decisions

After the Cleveland Guardians clinched the AL Central last season, Terry Francona told his players to make this a beginning, a springboard to future success.

Apparently, Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t get that message. Heading into the last two day prior to the trading deadline, the Guardians closed to within a half game of Minnesota for first place in the division.

The front office decided to pass on competing for the post-season in ’23. Sure, they said the right things, they are confident in the group in the clubhouse and still think they can compete, and maybe they can. But the message to fans and the players was pretty clear. They had no confidence in this squad.

It’s not trading Amed Rosario, who was going to be a free agent, or Josh Bell, who was a disappointment this season. And we can even buy the theory behind trading Aaron Civale, who has been injury prone and at best is probably a #3 or #4 starter.

The problem is the organization did nothing to address the problems this team has had all season: The offense and the bullpen.

They picked up Noah Syndergaard in the Rosario deal to essentially take Civale’s place in the rotation, but they still need a fifth starter, and for some reason, they are reluctant to give Xzavion Curry a shot at the job.

The front office has had a bad run since the division title a year ago. They signed two free agents, Mike Zunino (we didn’t like that move) and Josh Bell (we did like that) and both are gone with two months to go in the season.

The offense struggled most of April and May, and the front office and management were slow to make changes. In fact, until Rosario was dealt last week, they played two very subpar offensive players (Rosario and Myles Straw) pretty much on an everyday basis.

And while they are patting themselves on the back for adding top 100 prospect Kyle Manzardo from Tampa, let’s remember that he put up great numbers last year at high A/AA, but in AAA, he has a 783 OPS. We aren’t predicting he will be a bust, and certainly we hope he can be an everyday player.

But we look at numbers in the lower tiers of the minor leagues with a jaundiced eye. There is a prospect in the Guards’ system who had a 977 OPS at high A and an 818 OPS at AA. That would be George Valera, who is currently hitting .196 with a 633 OPS at Columbus this season.

We aren’t writing Valera off, but his ranking on top prospect lists has dropped from 2022 to 2023, and we wonder if he will appear at all prior to 2024.

After years of ownership saying they need attendance to justify spending, after last year, the crowds have returned to Progressive Field. And the front office decided not to add payroll or talent to the current roster.

To us, the activity by the front office put a cap on a nine month streak of mostly bad decisions. We understand no front office is perfect and the Guardians deserve the benefit of the doubt. But we also would comment that kicking the can down the road is an easy decision.

It’s tougher to correct the problems of the current roster and make a run at another division title. And as for those who would say the Guardians aren’t good enough to win the World Series anyway? You can’t win the lottery unless you buy a ticket.

Trading Civale? Unless More Moves Follow, Don’t Like It.

We don’t know what else is to come by 6 PM today, but it looks like the Cleveland Guardians’ front office has decided to kick the can down the road again.

They traded their most experienced starting pitcher, Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay for AAA first baseman Kyle Manzardo, who was the 60th ranked prospect according to Baseball America coming into this season.

Manzardo hit .327 between high A and AA last season with 22 homers and an OPS of 1043. This year, playing at AAA, his numbers aren’t so good, .238 with 11 dingers and an OPS of 783.

Here are the oddities to us. First, the Guardians’ second best hitter happens to play first base in Josh Naylor. Manzardo has never played the outfield in college or as a professional.

Second, the Guardians are down three starting pitchers to injuries and are relying on three rookies and they moved their best remaining veteran starter. Who replaces Civale in the rotation? That’s why another deal has to happen.

And lastly, hasn’t Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff learned about dealing with Tampa? We feel like we’ve seen this movie before, only the left-handed power hitting prospect was named Jake Bauer.

We understand that’s not fair to Manzardo, but it sure sent a shiver up our spine.

Are the Guardians a great team this season? No. But as we said to someone yesterday, you know what they call the person who finishes last in their class in medical school? That would be doctor.

Did people in 2006 think the St. Louis Cardinals, who finished 83-79, were going to win the World Series? How about the 1987 Minnesota Twins, who won the AL West with an 85-77 mark?

It’s a long shot for sure, but you cannot win the lottery unless you buy a ticket. No one thought the Guardians would get to game seven of the 2016 World Series with injuries to Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar, but they did it.

So, on face, we don’t understand the move, nor do we want to hear any “big picture” stuff.

We just wrote on Sunday, the Guardians’ biggest weaknesses involved the bullpen and an offense that still ranks 12th in the American League in runs scored per game.

This deal did nothing to address either of those problem areas. It might help in 2024, but not now. And it is much easier to keep building for the future than it is to win now.

We are sure Civale’s injury history scares the front office and that is probably the biggest motivation to move him. They could have done that this winter.

We weren’t asking for Cleveland to trade players like Brayan Rocchio, George Valera, Juan Brito, or Chase DeLauter to get marginal big league players. They could get them with lower tier prospects and help this year’s team get to the playoffs.

Now, if the front office has some more deals and they can get a starting pitcher to replace Civale or maybe even get two guys to not only replace the traded pitcher and protect the young arms brought up this season, then fine.

Hope we see some more moves by tomorrow night at 6 PM. Because if the front office doesn’t improve the 2023 team by then, put up the sign at Progressive Field:

FREE BEER TOMORROW!