Have The Guardians Gotten A Bit Stale?

There is no question that the time since Jacobs/Progressive Field opened in 1994 has been the golden age of Cleveland baseball. Yes, there was that period of when Bill Veeck owned the team and the GM tenure of Hank Greenberg from 1947-1959 where the Indians went to two World Series and won the last one for the franchise in 1948.

Since 1991, the franchise has basically had three men in charge of the baseball operations. John Hart was hired by Hank Peters in 1989 as a scout and assumed the GM duties in 1991 and remained in that spot until 2001. Mark Shapiro took over and was in that spot until 2010, when he moved to team president and promoted Chris Antonetti.

Antonetti became the president of baseball operations in 2015, and Mike Chernoff was promoted to the GM spot then. Really, the franchise has had three people running the baseball team on the field since ’91. That’s 35 years.

Going further, the promotions all came from within. Shapiro was hired by Hart in ’91, became Director of Player Development, and then assistant GM before taking over in ’01. Antonetti has worked for the team since 1999 and was named Shapiro’s successor in 2010.

Chernoff was hired as an intern in 2003 while still enrolled at Princeton, and rose through the organization becoming assistant GM under Antonetti in ’10.

There have been people hired from outside in various positions, but really, the franchise hasn’t hired anyone outside of the organization in a top leadership position in the front office in 37 years. An era where they have won three American League pennants, the same number they won from 1901-1994.

Stability is a good thing. That’s one way to look at it.

Another way to look at it has it become stale.

We know about the recent success of the franchise. Since Antonetti was put in charge, the Guardians have made eight playoff appearances and went to the World Series in 2016. Unfortunately, they haven’t built on that success, winning just one playoff series (the 2024 Division Series) since.

Look, we understand the executives, particularly Antonetti and Chernoff, have been hampered by the lack of financial support by the ownership, but that is a story for another time. The biggest move from outside the organization was the hiring of Terry Francona as skipper following the 2012 season.

Francona brought some outside thoughts to the organization, and he might be the last person to do that with this group.

After the World Series appearance in ’16, the ownership ponied up some cash (perhaps carried away with the excitement) and signed slugger Edwin Encarnacion as a free agent. That’s the last large signing of a player from outside.

Last season, the team finished with one of the worst offenses in the sport and still made the playoffs. The front office didn’t go out and get any bats in trades or free agency, instead saying they wanted to give their young hitters a chance. The Guardians still rank among the worst teams in baseball in scoring.

They seem to be unable to make judgments on their own prospects, holding on to some of them until all the value is sapped from them and thus, have no value to other teams on the trade market.

They seem to overvalue defense, sacrificing offense at times, when the minor leagues are full of players who have good gloves but cannot hit.

Even their production on television is worn, seemingly turned into a group of “yes men” continually telling viewers how great everything is, which is an insult to the people who understand the game a bit.

Maybe the Guardians will duplicate last year and go on a run to make the playoffs again, but it doesn’t seem likely. And maybe the current organization will not have to make any tough decisions until 2028 because of an impending lockout next year.

Maybe you don’t have to have a catcher who cannot contribute offensively because defense and handling the pitching staff is ultra important.

This era of Cleveland baseball has been great for a long time, and it can continue, but it seems to need a jolt, some fresh ideas. Perhaps the last two months are a blip on the radar, but it could also be the same old ideas are lost in a world of change.

As The Offense Plummets, The Front Office Plays The Fiddle

The Cleveland Guardians haven’t exactly taken off following the all-star break, going 3-7 and generally not playing good baseball. And the hitting hasn’t been good either, as they’ve scored either zero or one run in half of these games.

And of course, the spector of the trade deadline looms, now less than a week away.

This recent stretch has led a few people to suggest that the front office should be selling a week from now, but really, what do the Guardians have to sell? First, Cleveland is still one of the 10 youngest teams in baseball.

Do you really want the Guards’ front office to shop Gavin Williams or even Tanner Bibee? Cade Smith? They aren’t going to move Jose Ramirez obviously, and with the offense already challenged, do people want them to deal Chase DeLauter or Travis Bazzana? That would be ridiculous.

The Guardians have won the AL Central the past two seasons and if the season were to end today (we know, it doesn’t) they would be in the playoffs. Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff should be looking for ways to punch their ticket to the post-season for the third straight year.

And as an added bonus, with the way the AL West is shaking out right now, winning the Central would mean skipping the Wild Card Series and put the Guardians right into the Divison Series.

But they simply have to be better offensively.

As they were last season, Cleveland ranks near the bottom in the majors in runs scored. This has now been the case for a season and a half. Yet it doesn’t seem like any changes in terms of coaching are on the horizon, and we don’t like calling for people’s jobs, but whatever message Grant Fink is sending to his troops, it is not getting through.

But it shouldn’t just fall on Fink. Look at the roster the front office has put together. They have 13 position players on the big-league squad and how many of them are just not even decent hitters? We aren’t going to ignore Austin Hedges resurgence this season, but neither he nor Patrick Bailey are serious offensive threats.

Kyle Manzardo looks lost. David Fry hasn’t been effective since the post-season in 2024, some of that due to injury, but it is what it is. We liked the signing of Rhys Hoskins during training camp, but he was brought in to hit lefties, and he’s batted .129 vs. southpaws.

Petey Halpin simply doesn’t look like a major league hitter, and Gabriel Arias, despite being on a bit of a good streak right now, still has fanned 51 times in 117 plate appearances this season.

And although Angel Martinez has shown some pop, since May 1st, he’s hit .203 with just 12 extra base hits and a strikeout to walk ratio of 35:4.

What this means is out of the 13 position players on the current roster, eight of them simply aren’t even competent big-league hitters as of now. It is tough to put Manzardo in that group right now, but he looks like he could use the same thing the Guardians did with Rocchio a year ago. That is, send him back to AAA for a reset and see what happens.

Let’s see what Kody Huff can do. He’s batting .275 with a .388 on base percentage and a 912 OPS at Columbus. And he’s thriving away from the hitters’ park that is Huntington Bank Field. What about one of the Guards’ top prospects in Angel Genao, hitting .305 with a .389 OBP? We’d also bring back Cooper Ingle.

Could they be any worse than what is currently on the roster? That’s doubtful. But it makes you wonder why moves haven’t been made.

Can Guardians’ Front Office Make The Tough Decision?

With the trading deadline in Major League Baseball two weeks away, teams all around baseball have to make decisions. Are they a contender or a pretender? That’s the first thing executives around the game have to figure out, and we have seen it here and all around the sport, what the fans and even the players think is not the same as the GM.

For the Cleveland Guardians, that decision should be simple. They are currently one game out of first place in a weak AL Central Division, and they have won that division title each of the last two seasons. They should be in the business of strengthening their ballclub.

What president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have to decide is what areas need improvement and how to accomplish getting better. Those answers should be obvious, the offense is now last in all of baseball in scoring runs and of course, everyone’s bullpen could be deeper.

Offensively, are the Guardians ready to move on from some of the players they have seemed to give umpteen chances to? We look at the position players on the roster currently and see many players who could easily be sent back to AAA or even DFA’d in order to score more runs.

And yes, yes, we know Jose Ramirez will be back, hopefully before the August 3rd deadline and Angel Martinez will return as well, and when both are in the lineup, the hitting will be better. We understand that. But again, the offense is currently last in baseball, so even with that pair returning, Cleveland’s offense isn’t anything to write home about.

The front office leaned into giving their young players a chance this off-season and have been rewarded to some extent by the performance of rookies Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana. Still, it hasn’t been enough because, and we know we are repeating ourselves, they still rank last in scoring runs per game.

Part of that is Steven Kwan’s struggles, but he seems to be getting back to the player we’ve seen in his career up to this point.

We are sure they didn’t anticipate Kyle Manzardo’s struggles and that the DH spot would basically become a gaping hole. But the question now is what they are willing to do about it.

Will they continue to hope young players like Cooper Ingle or Ralphy Velazquez will come up and hit the ground running, or that Kahlil Watson or Petey Halpin will figure out the puzzle that is the strike zone and become competent big league hitters?

There are rookies that take the league by storm and maybe that’s what will happen for the Guardians, but history shows it likely won’t happen. Heck, Bazzana is going through a tough stretch right now, hitting .169 with a 525 OPS over the last month.

To us, there are a number of players in the organization we would have no problem if the organization decided to move on, but that seems to be an issue with the Guardians. They have a tough time letting go. However, using assets to go out and get a proven hitter is the prudent move to make. Adding even one bat should make a difference.

Guardians Seem To Be Basing A Lot On Last September

The Cleveland Guardians had a magical September in 2025. They went 20-7 to erase a 10-1/2 game deficit in the American League Central Division and overtake the Detroit Tigers to win the division.

They also scored 124 runs in those games, which did make up 1/6th of the season, an average of 4.6 runs per contest, compared to the average for the entire year, which was 3.97/game.

During the off-season, the front office talked about giving their young hitters a runway to success, giving that as a reason not to go out and get an experienced bat, save for the Rhys Hoskins signing at the beginning of spring training.

GM Mike Chernoff said over the weekend that one of the reasons for the great September by Steven Vogt’s club was the team got younger, apparently referring to moving on from Carlos Santana and not having Lane Thomas available to the team, creating opportunities for rookies like George Valera and C.J. Kayfus.

We understand Chernoff’s thinking, but he is overlooking a couple of things. First, like the movie Moneyball the pitching was overlooked. The Guardians’ staff allowed four runs per game over the entire season. In last season’s final month, they gave up just 75 runs in the 27 games, an average of just 2.8 per contest.

If you do that, you will win a lot of games, no matter what your offense does. For example, during the Guardians 22 game winning streak in 2017, they allowed just 37 runs in that span.

Secondly, Cleveland didn’t exactly play a bunch of juggernauts down the stretch. Yes, they have the six great games against the Tigers during the last two weeks of play, winning five of six, but they also played 14 games (a little over half) against teams playing out the string.

Now, as usual, it would have been disappointing to lose to those teams, but we are just saying they weren’t dominating the best teams in the AL.

There is an old saying in baseball that you should ignore what happens in April and September because teams are either trying to figure things out (April) or playing out the string (September). Teams out of contention are looking ahead to the following season and looking at some younger players.

Putting all of your proverbial eggs in the basket of what happened in September doesn’t seem like a great strategy when trying to win. And the front office can say what they said about the young hitters, but right now, it looks like the only young hitter who will break camp is Chase DeLauter.

He and Hoskins are the only additions and remember, last year, the Guardians ranked at the bottom of the league in runs scored, even with their September resurgence. We repeat, part of the reason for the great last month was the pitching staff, and that was fueled by two young hurlers with less than 100 big league innings under their belt in Joey Cantillo and Parker Messick.

They also didn’t add to the rotation either, so there is very little big league ready depth to start the year in Columbus.

There’s a reason people don’t predict future events on small sample sizes. We guess the Guardians’ front office will see how it works out for them.

Guardians Have Roster Flexibility For Sure

There was baseball news this week as teams had to set their 40-man rosters to protect minor leaguers from the Rule 5 Draft at the winter meetings and the deadline to decline to offer players contracts for the 2026 season also took place.

The Cleveland Guardians allowed three players to become free agents on Friday, and all three, OF Will Brennan, and relief pitchers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright are coming off injuries.

Brennan missed most of last season due to Tommy John surgery, getting just 11 at bats with the big-league club, and Enright had the same procedure towards the end of the season. Hentges had a shoulder problem.

Our guess is the front office will try to keep all three with Brennan and Hentges being offered minor league deals with invitations to spring training. Enright likely won’t pitch at all in ’26.

Cleveland also added pitchers Yorman Gomez and Austin Peterson as well as shortstop Angel Genao and OF Khalil Watson to the 40-man roster. Genao, a switch-hitter, is regarded as a top 100 prospect.

However, reviewing the current roster, there are some very easy decisions for Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff to make if they make a trade bringing back more players than they dealt or if they sign a free agent.

It kind of says a lot about the talent level of the big-league team that there are so many players that can easily be identified.

Matt Festa was signed for next season, and his best talent is probably his rubber arm. He made 63 appearances after being acquired from Texas at the end of April, but he also had a 4.12 ERA.

David Fry was a no-brainer to bring back as he battled through after having elbow surgery after the 2024 season. He probably was put on the major league roster too soon, as he hit .140 in his first 43 at bats (445 OPS), and had just one homer. After that, the average still wasn’t good (.184), but he had 7 dingers.

Nolan Jones was also signed for ’26, despite hitting .211 with a 600 OPS. It is looking more and more like Jones’ 2024 campaign (20 HR, 931 OPS) is the outlier. Since then, he is hitting .218 with just eight homers. We just aren’t sure what the attraction is from the Cleveland front office.

In addition to Jones and Festa, the Guardians still have players like Jhonkensy Noel (643 career OPS), Johnathan Rodriguez, Zak Kent, and even Daniel Schneemann still protected.

The latter is versatile, but will also be 29 next season, and in two years with the Guardians, has batted just .210 with a 648 OPS. You have to think you can get a player like that from the minor leagues or from another organization.

With players like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and even Juan Brito knocking on the door, you have to wonder what the future is for all of the players we mentioned. The Guardians didn’t have to protect Travis Bazzana yet, which probably saved some of these players, but that may just be temporary.

The point is heading into the Hot Stove season, the Guardians have a lot of flexibility. The question is, will they use it?

Will Guardians Take Easier Path Again?

It appears it is a foregone conclusion around baseball that the Cleveland Guardians will be sellers at today’s trade deadline. More of that speculation came about after the suspension of closer Emmanuel Clase on Monday.

Look, it is easier to teardown a team that build it up. And it’s an easier decision for the front office to justify. They simply use the reasoning that they didn’t feel the team was a World Series contender, so that decided to trade assets in order to get younger players.

The Guardians, by and large, are already a young team. Among the position players, they are about league average, but that is skewed by having 39-year-old Carlos Santana on the roster, and to a lesser extent, 32-year-old Jose Ramirez.

So, if Santana were replaced by say a 25-year-old player, the Guards would be among the 10 youngest teams in the sport among position players. And their pitching staff is already the most youthful in baseball.

The question is why the Clase suspension has anything to do with a decision of not trying to make the playoffs this season? Let’s say the Guardians were currently in the third wild card spot and the relief pitcher got injured, would they sell then?

We identified Clase as the best trading chip for Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff about a month ago. Mostly, because Cleveland has some depth in the bullpen, despite the blow-up on Monday from Cade Smith and to a lesser extent, Hunter Gaddis. We felt they could have received an MLB ready hitter and another prospect at the least.

The question remains how the Guardians improve their offense without Clase as a trade chip? Apparently, the front office is looking at moving Steven Kwan but would have to get the proverbial “offer they can’t refuse” to move the two-time All Star.

We also speculated about a Kwan deal about a month ago because he fits the profile. He has not signed a presumably club friendly contract extension and he has value.

Here’s one thing we don’t believe people think about, and they need to think about it from Kwan’s (or any player’s) perspective. You played on a team that went to the ALCS a year ago and made the decision to decrease the payroll. Would you sign an extension to play with that organization?

There’s only one Jose Ramirez.

Remember two years ago when the Guardians dealt Aaron Civale and then Josh Bell at the deadline. Yes, we know they received Kyle Manzardo for Civale, and he’s one of the three players who can hit on the current team.

But Antonetti and Chernoff had to fly to Houston after those trades to calm down a clubhouse that was upset by the moves, since the Guardians were still very much in contention. Reportedly, Josh Naylor was very upset.

The tougher move is to try to get in the tournament. And we know by looking at the past, that at least five of the players currently on the Guardians’ top ten prospect list won’t pan out.

The front office should be willing to move one or two to acquire a bat that can help the 2025 team, which is made up of a bunch of guys who were three games away from the World Series a year ago.

And once again, let’s remind everyone, 1948

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.

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.

Thinking Like A Coach Or GM

At times we are asked why we think Cleveland area teams should look to add to the roster. It has come up recently because we have written several pieces about how the Guardians should sign a veteran starting pitcher because there are several available on one-year deals.

We would also like the Cavaliers to add another big man, either on the buyout market or from the G-League.

First of all, and this probably comes from our coaching days, we have been trained to look for what needs improvement on a given team. We think there isn’t a team out there that doesn’t have either a weakness or could use a slight improvement to its roster.

Sometimes, it would be a subtle move, such as could you find a better “last man” on the roster. That seems silly to some, but it is how coaches and general managers need to think.

Fans look at players and teams and think if everything goes right, the team they follow will be very good. For example, there are people (influencers, since they were kind of in the spotlight this week) who believe Kyle Manzardo, Juan Brito will become all-stars, and Bo Naylor will return to his 2023 form and the Guardians will repeat as Central Division champions.

Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff are probably hoping that is indeed the case, but they also should be coming up with a contingency plan in case everything goes in the other direction. We believe they are concerned, but perhaps their hands are tied from making such a move.

There is an old adage in baseball that at the end of the year, a players’ numbers will be close to what the back of their baseball card says. But when a player only has one or two lines on that card, it is tough to judge him or her.

Not having a track record is likely the thing that worries an executive more than anything else.

We discussed the starting rotation for Cleveland the other day and really, there is only one hurler, Tanner Bibee, with any kind of record of success as a starter, and he only has two years in the big leagues. Every other candidate for the rotation should be viewed as huge question marks.

And, by the way, we are fans, just like you, and we want all of those pitchers to do well. But we haven’t seen any evidence that calms our fears.

As for the Cavs, on Friday night, we saw Jarrett Allen leave the game with a hand injury. Hopefully, all is good, and Allen plays tonight, but what if this happened near the end of the regular season or the playoffs?

If Allen were to miss a significant amount of time in the post-season, the Cavs probably are in trouble, but if it would be a game or two, you can’t just have Tristan Thompson as the only alternative. That’s why we (and the Cavs’ brass) would be looking for another big man.

They don’t need a starter, just someone who could provide five to ten minutes in an emergency situation.

The coaches and executives need to plan for any problems that should arise, and that’s how they are trained to think. It’s also why they have a lot of stress in their jobs and feel more relieved than happy when things go well.

Do People Really Think A New Guards’ Owner Would Replace The Front Office?

Whenever people are critical of the Dolan ownership of the Cleveland Guardians (and we are among that group), one of the retorts from the Dolan supporters is they leave the front office do their job without interference.

The secondary theory is if a new owner that was willing to spend more cash were to buy the Guardians, they would get rid of Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff, despite the way they produce winning seasons on a shoestring budget.

Talk about living in your own fears.

If anything, wouldn’t the new owners want to see what kind of magic Antonetti and Chernoff could perform if they had an extra $30-$40 million to spend? Because we would. That’s only logical.

Baseball’s new villain, the Los Angeles Dodgers are a great example to look at, $350 million payroll notwithstanding.

When the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman as president of baseball operations following the 2014 season, they did so based on the job Friedman had done in his tenure as vice president of baseball operations with small market Tampa Bay.

Friedman took over the Rays following the 2005 season, and took the downtrodden franchise to its first playoff appearance in 2008, as they made it all the way to the World Series.

He also was in charge as Tampa made the post-season in 2010, 2011, and 2013.

The Dodgers felt like if Friedman has this kind of success guiding a team with a small revenue stream, imagine what he could do with all of the money a team in a huge market has.

Now no one can be sure, but we would bet when the Dolans’ sell the team to minority owner David Blitzer (or someone else, who knows?), the new person holding the purse strings would take notice of the job Antonetti and Chernoff have done and would think (we think correctly) they could do more with more money to spend.

Especially if Blitzer takes over because he’s seen the results first-hand.

And that would be seven playoff appearances in the last 12 years, including going to the seventh game of the World Series in 2016. That team ranked 17th in the majors in payroll.

Cleveland got as high as 11th in players’ salaries in 2019, a season in which the Indians went 93-69, missing the playoffs after three consecutive playoff appearances.

When they missed, the payrolls were sliced, dropping to 20th in ’20, 27th in ’21 and ’22, the latter season being a division title team, 29th in ’23 (following a division winner, a forebearer to this off-season) and last season.

NOTE: Payroll numbers are from baseballreference.com

We know the Guardians’ owners have justifications for reducing the cash spent on players, but frankly, we don’t believe them. We believe the money is there.

Some of the reasons for supporting an owner that doesn’t spend or better yet, doesn’t seem to have an overwhelming desire to win a title, are crazy. We have said before that the Dolans seem to be nice people, and we are sure it makes it difficult to be critical, especially by media members.

We also understand the goal of owning any business is making a profit but also think winning and making a profit aren’t mutually exclusive.

In fact, if the Guardians won the World Series, the owners would make even more cash.

But giving them support because you think they will fire people who are very good at their jobs seems silly. Come up with a better reason.