Guardians’ Season Preview In Our “Perspective”

To say the Cleveland Guardians had a very quiet off-season would be an understatement. The biggest news around the franchise was the hiring of a new manager. For the first time since the end of the 2012 season, someone besides Terry Francona is running the club.

In terms of personnel, the front office didn’t exactly build up last year’s roster for new skipper Steven Vogt. The biggest trades brought in Scott Barlow to bolster the bullpen, and they took a shot on a heretofore failed Yankee prospect in Estevan Florial.

But as the regular season opens tonight in Oakland, the obvious question is will the Guardians resemble the young upstarts that won the American League Central Division in 2022, or the squad that was a disappointment in ’23 with a 76-86 record?

How They Can Win. This probably starts with good health for the pitching staff. The Guards lost Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie for good chunks of the season a year ago, and if they stay healthy, the rotation should be in good shape.

We say that even though there are three sophomores in the rotation. Tanner Bibee was second in the AL Rookie Of The Year voting last year, and Gavin Williams looks like an ace in waiting. Logan Allen is a solid fifth starter.

The bullpen added Barlow, who has closed in the past with Kansas City, to go with Emmanuel Clase, which should lessen the burden on the latter.

The offense is improved with upgrades at catcher in Bo Naylor, and they should get better production out of centerfield (Myles Straw was one of the game’s worst hitters a year ago) and the RF/DH spot which were black holes last season.

And Jose Ramirez approaches the type of season he had in 2021 (36 HR, 103 RBI, 893 OPS) and Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez produce closer to their 2022 campaigns.

And most importantly, Kyle Manzardo and Chase DeLauter get called up around the All-Star break and give the hitting yet another boost.

Why They Won’t. The offense isn’t any better than the 12th in runs scored last season and the front office is still searching for answers.

Ramon Laureano shows why the A’s released him last season, and when Manzardo and DeLauter make their much-anticipated debuts, they struggle to find consistency.

And the search for the next everyday shortstop continues as neither Brayan Rocchio nor Gabriel Arias seize the job.

The young starters of a year ago take a step backwards and the rotation is in flux. The bullpen, save for Clase, proves ineffectively and Nick Sandlin and Eli Morgan continue to give up gopher balls by the bushel.

This causes the trade of Bieber before the deadline and signals the beginning of a new “rebuild” behind Ramirez, Manzardo, DeLauter, Juan Brito, etc.

What Do We Think? This team appears to be a .500 ballclub. The good news is the division is awful. The Twins suffered losses and the White Sox are in total rebuild move. The Tigers are trying to contend, but also kind of overachieved a year ago, and the Royals’ pitching is still an issue, although they are spending money (sigh, what could have been).

We think the Guardians will finish with between 78-84 wins, which could be enough to get them in the post-season.

And we definitely think by the end of the year, both Manzardo and DeLauter will be wearing Cleveland uniforms.

Guardians’ Off-Season Has Been Riveting

Today is January 7, 2024. This means in 37 days; baseball fans hear the expression they have waited for since the World Series ended on November 1st: ”Pitchers and catchers report to spring training”.

If you are a fan of the Cleveland Guardians, it has been watching the constant upgrades to the roster, as the front office addressed the weaknesses, particularly the hitting, which finished 12th in the American League in runs scored.

The heavy sarcasm is intended.

Yes, we know the Guardians have a new manager, but they have done little else with spring training commencing in little over a month.

And this isn’t last season, coming off a Central Division title, the Guardians were a below .500 team in 2023.

First, they selected 1B/OF Alfonso Rivas from Pittsburgh off waivers, and then put him on waivers themselves several weeks later. They also added C Christian Bethancourt from Tampa Bay via the same method, and then traded him to Miami for cash (we will spare the sarcasm here, oh guess we didn’t) a little over a month later.

The biggest move they made was designating Cal Quantrill for assignment, and then trading him to Colorado for a minor league catcher. Apparently, when Terry Francona retired, so did the mantra that you can’t have too much pitching.

The one move that would rank highest on the excitement level (still would be around a 4 on a scale of 1-10) would be acquiring reliever Scott Barlow from San Diego for Enyel De La Santos. Barlow is a former closer and could be a cure for overusing Emmanuel Clase, assuming he isn’t traded before the season starts, as there have been rumors.

The Guardians didn’t stop there though. In kind of a secret move, Oscar Gonzalez, a post-season hero just a year and a half ago, was put on waivers and claimed by the Yankees.

Since they lost Quantrill, team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff swung into action and signed Ben Lively, not to be confused with actress Blake Lively, as a free agent from Cincinnati.

Lively, 32, could be another veteran anchor to the Cleveland rotation. That is if you dismiss his career 5.05 ERA in 208 big league innings. He had a 5.38 ERA for the Reds last year, but of course, their home park is very hitter friendly.

Unfortunately, his ERA at home was 4.70 and his road figure was 5.90.

Austin Hedges, a fan favorite (why?) was brought back as a free agent. Hedges is a tremendous defensive catcher, but he his OPS over the last three seasons have been 461, 489, and 527. And the first figure was the most recent.

The day after Christmas, the Guardians dealt oft-injured pitcher Cody Morris to the Yankees for left-handed hitter OF Estevan Florial, a former top 100 prospect.

Florial hit .230 (635 OPS) in 61 at bats for New York last season. He did belt 28 homers and put up a 945 OPS at AAA last year. He does strike out a lot, but his walk rate has got better over the past two seasons. No sarcasm here, but perhaps he can help.

On the other hand, he hits left-handed, not really an area of need, although the power would help.

Our point is it must be very tough to be a salesman in the ticket office for this team. They’ve virtually given their fans nothing to be excited about, although we are sure they would say it is because of the uncertainty surrounding their local television deal.

Perhaps in the next 30 days, they will be involved in doing something to significantly help their new skipper, Steven Vogt, have a more competitive squad.

We are sure the prospect gurus out there will tell us how several rookies will impact the 2024 edition of the Cleveland Guardians and all will be well.

Truth be told, we like some of their talent coming up, and hope those folks are correct. Our experience tells us most of those good young players won’t make an impact in 2024.

Hot Stove Season? More like Hot Doze Season if you are a fan of the Guardians.

Guardians’ Off-Season Moves Are Puzzling

It seems the entire “Hot Stove” portion on the Major League Baseball calendar was delayed by the whole Shohei Ohtani situation, but with the holiday season here, the norm for most teams is to have their major moves made before the calendar changes.

It has been particularly slow in Cleveland, where the offices on the corner of Ontario and Carnegie have been quiet, and when a move has been made, confusing.

The latter part of that statement is more concerning. We sometimes wish the organization would put as much effort in improving the team on the field as they do come up with reasons they can’t spend money.

For example, one of the first moves the Guards made this off-season was claiming Alfonso Rivas off waivers. Rivas has played in 167 big league games, hitting .243 with a 673 OPS. Last season, he played for San Diego and Pittsburgh, and had a 725 OPS. He did hit .332 at AAA El Paso with a 1043 OPS.

He’s a left-handed hitter (not an area of need) and plays 1B (also not an area of need) and the OF. And he’s 27 years old, and not a home run hitter. He’s also survived a bunch of roster moves where players had to be moved off the 40-man roster. That’s strange to us.

They let a serviceable starting pitcher, Cal Quantrill go rather than offer him arbitration, where he likely would have been awarded $6 million. Keep in mind this week, Kansas City signed Seth Lugo, a pitcher who pitched a career high 146 innings last year, to a contract worth $15 million per year.

A couple of days ago, they said they added depth to the rotation (depth they had with Quantrill) by signing 32-year-old Ben Lively, who had a 5.38 ERA for the Reds last year. We know Cincinnati has a hitter friendly park, but Lively was worse away from Great American Ballpark.

They claimed Christian Bethancourt, a catcher with some pop (11 homers in each of the last two seasons) from Tampa, only to deal him to Miami when they brought back Austin Hedges, a good defensive catcher who cannot hit. And they are paying Hedges more than they would have had to pay Bethancourt!

We will say the Guardians are probably the only team in baseball who can say Hedges is a better offensive option that the backup catcher they had a year ago.

The only move that makes sense was getting Scott Barlow from San Diego for Enyel De Los Santos. Barlow is a higher leverage reliever, with closer experience whereas De Los Santos kind of struggled when used in the late innings.

We wonder if a more substantial move is yet to come. There are still rumors surrounding Shane Bieber, but we think his return could be better in July if the Guardians aren’t in the race.

Right now, we can’t see the Guardians as being improved. They also seem reticent to move a couple of veterans to more key positions, such as Andres Gimenez to shortstop and Steven Kwan to centerfield, to open up spots for some hitting.

There’s still time, but the inactivity is certainly frustrating to a fan base that keeps remembering this number: 1948.