What A Guardians’ Winter Could Look Like

Hopefully, Game 5 of the 2026 World Series isn’t the last baseball game we see until 2028. As former Giants’ first baseman once said, “Baseball must be a great game to survive the people who run it.”

In our opinion, salary cap, salary floor, or vice-versa, the true issue is the revenue imbalance between the small markets and the large markets. That has to be solved. And to us, both of these things can be true–The Dolans’ ownership cannot compete with the Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, etc., but they are capable of spending more money and they choose not to.

And with that, we will get off our soapbox and talk about the Guardians going forward and we will assume the jerks that run baseball will get their act together.

Four players exercised their right to be free agents: Austin Hedges, Rhys Hoskins, and two players acquired at the trade deadline in Foster Griffin and Nathaniel Lowe. Of these, our top priority would be Griffin, who went 3-3 for Cleveland with a 5.19 ERA, but pitched well in the playoffs and overall went 15-6 with a 3.60 ERA for the season.

Why? Because you can never have enough starting pitching, and there really isn’t anyone on the AAA horizon ready to challenge for a spot in the rotation.

Shawn Armstrong, despite pitching well in October is also gone, as the club declined his option for 2027. Could he come back under a new deal? That’s always possible.

We believe the offense still needs to be improved. Despite the surge after the arrival of Jo Adell and Lowe, the Guardians still ranked 24th in the sport in scoring runs, the worst rank of any playoff team (to be fair, the Red Sox were 23rd).

It is true they scored more runs, but the attack was still very inconsistent as we all saw in the first two games against the White Sox and the last five against the Rays. We will also remind you the biggest reason for the improved hitting was the red-hot bats of Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter, and not the deals bringing over Adell and Lowe.

Yes, we understand DeLauter should be better and provide more power as he matures and hopefully can stay healthy, and we do feel Travis Bazzana will be a solid bat and also improve. We also feel Jose Ramirez will have a better season.

We think Ralphy Velazquez (928 OPS in the minors last season and 107 Ks in 538 plate appearances) can be a factor for the big club next season, and the organization has to figure out where International League MVP Cooper Ingle can fit. Ingle hit .297 with a 951 OPS with the Columbus Clippers last season, and if the organization doesn’t feel he can catch at the big-league level, they have to find a place for his bat.

On social media, we pitched trading Brayan Rocchio this winter, not because we don’t think he’s a good player, but due to organizational depth. We believe that Angel Genao is ready, but with Bazzana and Rocchio manning the keystone, there isn’t spot for him.

We would like to see a “baseball trade”. Teams are also looking for good young shortstops and perhaps the Guardians can fill a need, or get a good arm, starter or bullpen, in exchange for either Rocchio or Genao.

Just something to think about.

Talking about this stuff is way better than talking about CBAs.

Guardians Good At Saving Cash, Now Need To Spend It.

The Cleveland Guardians made another logical move in shedding payroll trading some international pool money to the Toronto Blue Jays, who were trying to sign international free agent Roki Sasaki.

In order to make the transaction, the Jays had to take Myles Straw’s contract off their books. The veteran outfielder was designated off the 40-man roster at the end of spring training in 2024, received just four big league at bats, and the Guardians owed him $13.8 million over the next two years.

Including the deal of Josh Naylor, who was to be a free agent after the ’25 campaign, it was the third move based on saving money made by the front office after winning the division.

They also moved Andres Gimenez, owed almost $100 million over the next five seasons to Toronto.

Depending on what kind of deal Naylor would have settled for on a one-year basis, let’s say conservatively $10 million for him, the Guardians would have had to be this trio almost $27 million in 2025.

They moved that money out and signed veteran Carlos Santana to a $12 million deal for the upcoming season.

For the mathematically challenged, that’s a $15 million savings in payroll, and the biggest question for fans of the franchise is will the ownership put that saving back into the team?

And our question is this: After a season with a significant attendance boost and a run to the League Championship Series, we would say matching last year’s expense on payroll simply isn’t doing enough.

Again, we agree with the Straw and Gimenez moves. We have said several times in the past 12 months that the Guardians as an organization overpay for defense. Both of those players are very good defenders, Gimenez is without a doubt the best second baseman in the game, but neither are good enough with a bat in their hand.

Getting out of being on the hook for almost $100 million for a below average bat at 2B makes total sense, and as noted, Straw wasn’t even on the 40-man roster anymore.

The problem, as is always the issue with the Dolan ownership is they frequently make these smart moves to save payroll, but too often the cash saved goes into their pockets, not in order to help the ballclub.

The 2025 Guardians are not some rebuilding team. They won 92 games and once again were one of the four teams still playing at the end of the season.

The also have a superstar player who took a hometown discount to stay with the franchise who is getting older. Jose Ramirez is 32 years old and is no longer in him prime, and not to be maudlin, we don’t know if he is going to keep putting up MVP-like seasons.

It would be nice if the ownership would give the green light to spend some money to give Ramirez some help in winning a World Series, and by the way, Cleveland’s drought in this regard is 76 years, the longest of any current franchise.

Not only hasn’t the ownership not added payroll from last season, it seems they are going backwards.

Yes, we know…boo hoo, the local TV revenue, etc. The Guardians could have shopped for their own deal, and no doubt they will get money from somewhere. But let’s also remember that attendance is up, the 6th highest increase in the sport from 2023 to 2024.

There’s about a month to go before players start spring training. It would be nice to help the players who helped your fan base love your team.

Sad, But True. Last Weekend For The Indians.

With yesterday’s rainout, Monday afternoon will be it for the Cleveland “Indians” playing at Progressive Field. When the 2022 season opens, the script of the team’s name will no longer sit atop the huge scoreboard in leftfield.

Whether it is replaced with “Guardians” remains to be seen, and also as everything else with this franchise currently, probably depends on the cost.

We understand many fans are pissed off about the change, and we get that, but it was inevitable, although it seems like the Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Braves’ fans can use a native American war cry at their games without people going crazy.

Some people don’t react well to change. It’s understandable, especially when you are in our age bracket, and you spent your entire life with the baseball team in Cleveland being the Indians.

Chief Wahoo was retired a few years ago, and we can remember in our college days wearing a pullover with the iconic logo on it, and a young woman commenting that they liked the “little dude” on the apparel. To this day, our friends still sometimes refer to Wahoo as the “little dude”.

We understand fans attending the last game (which is now Monday) will receive some sort of memento from the team identifying the event as the last contest in the ballpark with the team being called “Indians”. Perhaps that will be valuable in a few decades.

The loss of the mascot and the name change has driven more of a wedge in the relationship between the fans and the organization, most notably the Dolan ownership. And despite what many on social media tell you, it is on the franchise to repair that rift. Fans don’t have to buy tickets, it’s not a mandatory thing.

Hopefully, this .500 season is the low point of “retooling” of the roster, and the Guardians can be back in the mix for a post-season berth next season. It is somewhat remarkable the run the organization has been on since Terry Francona was hired prior to the 2013 season. This is the first time since then the franchise has not played meaningful games in September.

Winning is important to fans, but attendance has waned despite good teams. The local television ratings are extremely high, so the front office should be challenged with finding out why people watch on TV, but don’t come to the ballpark. That needs correcting and we don’t think it has anything to do with way the edifice is laid out now.

Speaking on that, the end of this season also is the last time Progressive Field will look the way it does right now. The modernization of the now 27 year old facility will begin this season, although it has not been announced what will be the first step.

Even though the time has come for the franchise’s nickname to go away, it doesn’t mean fans don’t have the right to be melancholy about it. For many of us, the names “Indians” and “the Tribe” were part of growing up, it was synonymous with baseball, summertime, and for our age bracket, a lot of losing.

On March 31, 2022, a new era will start at Progressive Field when the Cleveland Guardians takes the field. New traditions will start, and heck, maybe “the Guards” will be what folks will say when they talk about going to Progressive Field.

Make no mistake, it will be strange not to have the Tribe around anymore.