Time To Rebound From A Disappointing Off-Season For Guards’ Front Office

There are a lot of people who think professional sports’ front office should never make a mistake. The reality is no general manager is perfect, they all error at times. If they make more good decisions than bad ones, they are doing fine.

We say that because there are many Cleveland Guardians’ fans calling for a change after the team’s recent 10 game losing streak.

Look, we have been on record as saying Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff didn’t have the best off-season but throwing them out with the bathwater seems a bit extreme.

After all, the Guardians entered the season having made the playoffs in two of the last three seasons, and in the last ten years, they have made six post-season appearances. By all measures, they are running a successful operation.

We also have to understand (although we disagree with the premise) the financial constraints put on the duo by ownership. If ownership tells them they have less money to spend on players, they head into each off-season with an arm tied behind their collective backs.

They spent $6 million and $4.5 million respectively on two relievers, Paul Sewald and Jakob Junis. If Sewald was healthy, which he hasn’t, he could have been a late inning option for Steven Vogt. He has done that when active, but he just went on the IL again on Monday.

Junis is a middle reliever/mop up man. Vogt generally only uses him when the Guardians are trailing in game.

We have said many times we understood the trade of Andres Gimenez, whose offense is not commensurate with the salary he was going to be paid following this season, and although we said at the time moving Josh Naylor, the third best hitter on an average offense team a year ago, was questionable, we know Naylor is a free agent at the end of this season.

Signing 39-year-old Carlos Santana and giving him $12 million was a curious move to say the least. Santana had a bad year vs. right-handed pitching in ’24, and this year he regressed to the point he is no longer even a league average hitter.

But the front office can redeem themselves in the next two weeks at the trading deadline, regardless of whether or not they consider themselves buyers or sellers.

If they are sellers, moving off of Santana opens up a spot to look at C.J. Kayfus and give more at bats to Kyle Manzardo, two young players who could be major contributors to next year’s team.

And if you can move Emmanuel Clase for a major league ready bat, that’s a move we would seriously have to consider. Even if the two young players mentioned pan out and Chase DeLauter and Juan Brito prove to be as good as advertised, this organization needs more depth offensively.

It also wouldn’t hurt to admit mistakes on Junis or Sewald to allow more young arms to come up from Columbus.

And one more thing. It may be time to reconsider the whole defense above everything behind the plate. Other teams are getting offense from the catching position, perhaps it wouldn’t be the end of the world to take a step back defensively there in favor of someone who is a threat with a bat in their hand.

A bit of a rebound from a bad off-season would help greatly.

And Now, The Guards’ Bullpen Is Leaking Oil

If it’s not one thing, it’s another. That’s the story of the Cleveland Guardians this season.

The offensive troubles are well documented. The Guards have fallen to 13th in the American League in runs scored. They don’t get on base, now 13th in the league in on base percentage, and they have no pop, ranking 14th in slugging percentage.

They are particularly awful against left-handed pitchers, and there isn’t any help on the horizon from the minor leagues perhaps the best hitters in Columbus, Chase DeLauter and C.J. Kayfus, both swing from the left side of the plate.

Again, by now every fan of the team is aware of that.

However, over the past few weeks the mainstay of last year’s squad, the relief pitching has started to spring a leak. It’s not surprising because of the workload put on the bullpen a year ago, but it seems to have happened.

We know Emmanuel Clase struggled early in the year, but since Steven Vogt gave him a little break and used Cade Smith to close at the end of April, he’s been pretty much back to being that guy.

Since May 1st, Clase has pitched 22.1 innings and has put up a 1.21 ERA. He has allowed 18 hits, a little high for him in that span, but has fanned 24 and one of Clase’s biggest strengths, hasn’t allowed a home run.

Smith has been solid as well, appearing in 36 games with 53 Ks in 34.1 innings and a 2.36 ERA. But he’s been down over the last few days with a back injury.

The rest of the relievers seem to be sucking wind at this point. Hunter Gaddis was so good last season, but over his last three appearances has allowed eight runs in 2.2 innings. And even before that, he allowed 10 of his 17 inherited runners to cross the plate.

Last season, Tim Herrin allowed just 39 hits and 25 walks in 65.2 innings. To date this season, he’s walked 17 and allowed 22 hits in 27.2 frames.

Because of these struggles, and an injury to free agent signee Paul Sewald, Vogt has been using journeyman Matt Festa in higher leverage situations. He has a 5.48 ERA in his 25 appearances.

Jakob Junis is another free agent signed this winter, and although his numbers are decent (3.96 ERA in 33 games), he’s allowed 42 hits and 12 walks in 36.1 innings. It seems like every time he comes in, he allows a hit or two and/or a walk, and is immediately in trouble.

Erik Sabrowski has been activated from the injured list and should be able to help Herrin against left-handed hitters. Koby Allard is another lefty, but he seems best suited to giving the Guardians some length if the starter gets knocked out early.

The point is this team doesn’t get leads often because of the hitting, but unlike last year, when Vogt goes to the bullpen, it’s no longer automatic.

The front office tried to get some help for the bullpen in Sewald and Junis, with the former having closer experience. He should be back soon and hopefully can take some of the responsibility from Gaddis until he gets back to form.

If it’s not one thing, it’s something else for the 2025 Guardians.

An Off Year Off-Season For Guards’ Front Office

The Major League Baseball season has passed Memorial Day, which is traditionally been the quarter pole of the campaign, but now it is more like the one third point of the season.

Last season, as we all remember, the Cleveland Guardians had a tremendous season, winning the American League Central Division and winning the Division Series, losing in the AL Championship Series to the Yankees.

You would think the franchise would try to build on this success, but this is the Guardians, and you would be wrong. As the calendar is getting ready to turn to June, it’s fair to analyze the off-season for the front office.

The first move was trading Eli Morgan to the Cubs to minor league outfielder Alfonsin Rosario. Morgan was moved because of the bullpen depth the organization has, and Rosario has pop, although he arrived with a poor strikeout to walk ratio. We have no issuce with this move.

Nor do we have a problem with the Andres Gimenez deal. Yes, Gimenez is a fabulous defender at second base, but his offense has fallen off since 2022 and the Guards owed him over $23 million per year starting in 2027.

Ultimately, they received Luis Ortiz, a starter badly needed by Cleveland. He’s had control issues but has taken his turn regularly and had some tough luck in terms of run support.

We thought the front office would reallocate the money saved in the transaction, and the same in the Josh Naylor trade, but sadly, we were fooled again. We felt the same way when Corey Kluber was dealt to Texas, but they didn’t use that cash at the major league level.

We know Naylor was going to be a free agent. We also knew the Guardians didn’t have a real strong offense and they traded one of their three best hitters. That didn’t seem to add up.

They signed Carlos Santana to replace Naylor, but let’s face it, at 39-years-old Santana is not the same offensive threat as the player he replaced.

Paul Sewald and Jakob Junis were signed to help the bullpen, but Sewald is hurt, and Junis has been getting hit like a pinata as of late. The former did get some high leverage situations early in the year before he was put on the IL, but he certainly wasn’t a difference maker.

And the last move, made right before the season started, was getting Nolan Jones, who is the darling of the analytics’ people because he hits the ball hard, but the results-oriented folks see a .194 average and a 568 OPS.

After dealing Gimenez and Naylor, perhaps a veteran bat would have helped. Instead, manager Steven Vogt has to work around a roster with a bunch of below average offensive players. Rightfield continues to be a vortex of suck.

There have been curious roster moves as well. The Guardians just sent Joey Cantillo to AAA to get stretched out as a starter, but we felt it was weird they didn’t have him start right from the get-go. Logan Allen won the fifth starter job, and he hasn’t exactly been the model of consistency.

Cantillo would have provided immediately rotation depth.

But it is what it is. We felt coming into the year this team had a lot of holes and we stand by that.

It’s okay though. Cleveland won a World Series in 1948.