Trying To Make Sense Out Of Guardians’ Catching Moves

The Cleveland Guardians are not a team that makes a lot of trades, so it was certainly very surprising for them to announce they traded a compensatory draft pick and minor league pitcher Matt “Tugboat” Wilkerson to San Francisco for two-time Gold Glove winning catcher Patrick Bailey.

They also sent Bo Naylor back to AAA, although he is headed to the Goodyear facility before he reports to Columbus. More on that in a bit.

We have said for years in answering questions about the usual offensive ineptness of Cleveland catchers that the organization values defense first and foremost behind the plate. Blocking pitches and handling a pitching staff are the primary requirements of the job.

That’s why they have such a high regard for Austin Hedges, who they bring back year after year on one year deals. Getting Bailey is just another reminder of that.

Bailey can’t hit. His career OPS is 609 (keep in mind, the league average is usually around 700). His career batting average is .228, he gets on base only 28% of the time, and his career high in home runs is eight.

Again, the Guardians don’t care about that. However, we believe you need six or seven solid offensive players to have an effective major league offense and if you are punting on the catching position, that means pretty much everyone else in your lineup has to contribute offensively.

In Bailey’s debut with the Guards, he came up in a bases loaded, two out situation with Cleveland down 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth. He struck out.

The Guardians rank 10th in the AL in runs scored. Their starting pitching have struggled to provide Steven Vogt length in games. The bullpen has two, maybe three reliable arms right now.

The point is those are the areas that need help for the ’26 Guardians. Yet, the front office decided to make a deal for another defensive catcher who will likely provide nothing offensively.

As for Naylor, Vogt and the front office stressed how they haven’t given up on the former first round draft pick, but we would file that under the “BS” file. Where exactly would be the place for Naylor? The organization has pretty much handed the catching duties over to Bailey and Hedges, so where exactly does he fit in?

And at Columbus, they have one of their top ten prospects in Cooper Ingle, who is hitting .370 in AAA, albeit in 77 plate appearances. He’s a .287 hitter in four minor league seasons and is a Top 100 prospect according to MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus.

They also have Kody Huff down there, so it is difficult to see where Naylor is going to get at bats.

Perhaps they have something in the works to move Naylor pretty quick, so they didn’t want to disrupt the playing time in Columbus. We will see.

As for Ingle, we have read the reason he wasn’t a candidate to get called up is the organization wants him to work on things defensively. That’s organization speak for they just don’t want to call him up right now.

Remember when they told people James Karinchak, who was mowing down hitters in the minors, couldn’t get called up until he got better in his fielding? And that’s not the only time they discovered some weird reason for not calling someone up.

Hopefully, this works out for the Guardians. But making a deal where you use assets to improve something that wasn’t a glaring weakness seems like a waste.

Guardians Rotation Becoming A Concern

We have discussed the bullpen issues with the Cleveland Guardians recently, and the club did make a move the other day, calling up Franco Aleman, who had allowed just three hits and four walks at AAA Columbus while striking out 18 in 12 innings.

He replaces Connor Brogdon, who gave up five homers in 15.1 innings with the Guardians after allowing 11 in 47 IP with the Angels a year ago, posting a 5.55 ERA with the Halos. If you have visited this site before, you know we believe there are two things a reliever can’t do: Give up homers and walk people.

There is another concern about the Guards’ pitching that isn’t getting a lot of attention, mostly because the team is still winning. But the starting pitching has to start eating up some innings.

Currently, Steven Vogt gets that from one starter, his ace Gavin Williams. In Williams’ eight starts, he has pitched seven innings three times and six frames twice. That latter figure should be the requirement for a starter, that way, the bullpen, which we have pointed out isn’t very good, only have to cover nine outs.

Rookie Parker Messick threw eight innings, the most by any starter this year, in his near no hitter against Baltimore, and prior to that did go six in two of his starts. But since the Orioles’ game, in which he made 112 pitches (and we would have let him go that long too, not a second guess), the longest he’s went in a game is 5.2 innings and frankly, has looked like he ran out of gas in the sixth of his last three starts.

Opening Day starter Tanner Bibee’s longest outing was throwing six innings three times, and in half of his starts, he has gone less than five innings.

Besides Slade Cecconi’s ineffectiveness so far, he has a 6.15 ERA, he’s another starter who hasn’t supplied a lot of length. He’s completed six innings just once, while getting knocked out before the fifth twice.

Then we have the curious case of Joey Cantillo, who the organization has been very conservative with. It makes us wonder if he’s having a bit of an arm problem. The southpaw has one start where he went six innings, the last of three starts where he pitched into the sixth.

Since that start, he’s been on a very short leash.

In his last two starts, he has been pulled despite throwing 69 and 70 pitches in a game, and in the latter, he had allowed just one run in five innings against the Royals. He has great stuff, but one reason he generally doesn’t go deep into games is because he has some control issues. He’s walked at least two in all but one start in 2026.

It will be interesting to see how he is handled in his next outing.

Again, the lack of length from the starter’s taxes an already ineffective bullpen. Really, Vogt has only two reliable arms out there in Erik Sabrowski and Cade Smith. Hopefully, Aleman can provide a third, and Colin Holderman looks good since coming back from AAA.

Does anyone really want to see Matt Festa and/or Tim Herrin in a close game in the 6th or 7th innings?

The rotation has to get more outs or the bullpen will be on fumes as the season goes on. And it’s not like there is depth in the high minors.

Guards Have Some Holes, But Generally Things Are Trending Well

Former Cleveland baseball broadcaster, the late Mike Hegan, used to say a baseball team wants to win three out of five games. If you do that, he said, you wind up with 96 wins and that gets you in the playoffs.

With 1/6th of the 2026 Major League Baseball season played, the Guardians aren’t too far off that pace, sitting at 15-12 and on pace to win 90 games this season. Considering they’ve played the defending champion Dodgers, a team that played in the ALCS a year ago in Seattle and are currently playing the American League champion Blue Jays, that’s not bad.

Last season, Steven Vogt’s crew had the worst offense in the AL and thus far, they have greatly improved, moving up to 10th. There is still a way to go, but it is a good sign that the hitting has improved.

Ranking last in the league in getting on base in 2025, they are 9th in the AL this year. And they are doing it with two of the best hitters on the team last season, Steven Kwan and Kyle Manzardo, getting off to terrible starts.

Rookie Chase DeLauter started out like a house afire, but even though he hasn’t homered since April 3rd, he puts up professional at bats each night. For a rookie to walk more than he has struck out (13 to 11) is quite impressive, and he is tied for the club lead in extra base hits with Jose Ramirez too.

We liked the potential of Angel Martinez because he was lethal against lefties last year and he is still a young player at 24 years old. This year, he’s hammering righties. Although we would like to see him improve his strikeout to walk ratio, he may have played himself into a guy who should be in the lineup more often than not.

And we wonder if Brayan Rocchio has Wally Pipp’d Gabriel Arias. Rocchio is second on the team in RBIs (although we don’t expect that to continue), but is getting on base at a .372 clip.

With DeLauter, Martinez, and Rocchio performing as they are, the lineup suddenly has a little more depth.

Pitching wise, the Guards rank 7th in the AL in ERA, not great, but not terrible. Gavin Williams continues to show signs of being the ace of the staff and is tied for the league lead in strikeouts but is third in walks. If he can get that aspect under control, Cleveland will have one of the best starters in the league.

Rookie Parker Messick has been a revelation too, sitting at 3-0 with a 1.76 ERA. But the other three starters have struggled in certain areas. Tanner Bibee is showing signs of getting back to his usual results, but still seems to have that one bad inning.

Joey Cantillo has great stuff, but control is an issue for him, with 12 walks in 25.1 innings, so it is tough for him to pitch deep into games. And Slade Cecconi has been a big disappointment thus far, with really only one good start on the year.

The bullpen has to perform better if the Guards are to be a contending team all year long. Right now, Cade Smith hasn’t been his dominant self. Free agent signee Shawn Armstrong has had difficulties finding the strike zone. Connor Brogdon seems prone to the long ball.

Overall, the relievers aren’t throwing strikes and are giving up too many homers. Hunter Gaddis has come off the IL and has given Vogt some stability, which is a good sign.

All in all, a good start for the Guardians and some good signs from a maturing team. Can these trends continue?

Some Promising Signs For Guardians’ Offense

During Saturday night’s Cleveland Guardians’ game, it was speculated late in the telecast if their was any frustration building for the Guards because they were getting a lot of baserunners, but not many of them crossed home plate.

We understand this could cause the hitters to put pressure on themselves to come through with men in scoring position, but hopefully the offense doesn’t change the approach we have seen recently.

We are a big proponent of drawing walks. It’s an overlooked skill by many baseball fans, but when we are asked why we like bases on balls, the answer is simple: It’s better than making an out.

It hasn’t translated yet in terms of runs scored, that’s for sure. Cleveland still ranks third from the bottom in the American League in runs scored. However, they have moved up to 10th in batting average from 14th a year ago, and they are also 10th in on base percentage. They were dead last in 2025.

That’s progress.

It’s also early.

Guardians’ hitters seem to be working counts better, fouling off pitches, and driving up pitch counts this season, save for the opening series against Seattle. And this approach will pay dividends as the season goes on, getting into opponents’ bullpens earlier.

Right now, Steven Vogt’s squad has several hitters with solid strikeout to walk ratios. Brayan Rocchio has actually walked more than he has fanned, with ninr bases on balls vs. six whiffs. It’s why he has a .344 on base percentage despite hitting .200

The usual reliables, Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, are about even in the K/BB ratio. And we liked rookie Chase DeLauter’s ratio in the minors, and so far it has translated to the bigs, as he has taken seven free passes against 10 punchouts.

Another rookie with the same type of profile in the minors, Juan Brito, has drawn a couple of walks in his 20 plate appearances with only five whiffs.

And speaking of striking out, Cleveland hitters have the third fewest in the AL thus far, another good thing.

Something else positive? The Guardians are sixth in the league in home runs to date. Last year, they were 13th. Outside of DeLauter’s opening salvo in the power department, this has been accomplished without the big bats supplying the pop. Ramirez has two homers. Kyle Manzardo, who was second on the team a year ago with 27 dingers, has just one.

Free agent signee Rhys Hoskins only has one.

We haven’t even mentioned Angel Martinez, who is 15 for 47 with five extra base hits. And so far, he’s hitting from both sides of the plate.

Last season, the Guardians’ anemic attack not only didn’t hit homers, they also didn’t get extra base hits either, ranking 12th in doubles. This year? They are currently second. DeLauter has nine extra base knocks, with Ramirez, Hoskins and Daniel Schneemann contributing six each.

As we said before, it is way too early for conclusions, but these are good signs for the Guardians’ ability to score runs. Hopefully, these trends continue because as we always say, you have to score runs to get into the post-season.

Happy With Four Wins, Way Too Soon For Conclusions On Guardians

Looking at the schedule for the Cleveland Guardians before the season started, since they were opening the season against a team that played in the American League Championship Series last year in Seattle, and then were taking on the two-time World Champion Los Angeles Dodgers, coming back to Progressive Field at 3-4 would be great.

They went 4-3. Even better.

And we were a big critic of the off-season by the front office, not adding enough hitting, so naturally, seeing Steven Vogt’s squad getting two hit twice in the first six games make us feel justified in that criticism, correct?

Not yet. It is still way too early.

The Guards are 13th in the AL in runs scored, but a game scoring 10 runs would boost them greatly in that ranking, because it is way too soon.

We know we live in a social media society where everyone voices an instantaneous opinion, but people do need to relax. For example, the Guardians though Bo Naylor would break out offensively and so far, he is 3 for 19 and looks pretty much like the same guy we’ve seen over the past couple of years. But a 3 for 4 day, would bring his batting average up to .261. That’s how volatile stats can be at this time of the season.

Readers of this site know we are bullish on strikeout to walk ratio, and right now Kyle Manzardo has fanned 11 times with just two walks. He came to the organization with a good knowledge of the strike zone but did whiff a lot in spring training.

In watching his at bats, it is not like he is striking out on four pitches a lot. There have been several at bats where he has battled with two strikes to get back in the count by fouling off pitches and goes down on the sixth or seventh pitch.

We wish he’d put the ball in play, but all in all, it’s a solid at bat.

And because Chase DeLauter is off to a solid start (we know, an understatement), the calls for Travis Bazzana have started too. People, he’s hitting .200 to start the year in Columbus (3 for 15, with a double, triple, and four walks!). He’s had just 139 plate appearances in AAA,

First, no one can assume Bazzana will be good because DeLauter started off hot. And DeLauter will have struggles at some point too. But let the Australian get some more at bats in the minors. We have no doubt if Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio keep struggling, he will be in Cleveland soon enough.

There were some freaking out about Steven Kwan after the first couple of games. He took an 0 for 5 in the opener. Since then, he is 7 for 22.

Make no mistake, we would like to say “we told you so”, but it is way too early and as we said before they are coming home with three wins against two quality opponents. Have to be happy about that.

And even better, the Guardians will be home tomorrow and that’s always a great thing.

Can Guardians Get Back To October Baseball? We Just Don’t See It

The regular season starts today for most Major League Baseball teams, including the Cleveland Guardians. What will the season hold for Steven Vogt’s crew this season? Here are our thoughts:

Why they can win. Much has been discussed about the so-called “Cleveland pitching factory” and frankly it is merited. Since 2020, the Guardians have finished in the top half of the American League in ERA in all but one year (2021), and have been in the top three thrice, including the last two seasons.

The 20-7 stretch to end the season last year was in part possible because the Guardians held their opponents to under three runs per contest. They can pitch.

Gavin Williams takes the next step towards being an ace. Slade Cecconi allowed less hits than innings pitched and showed some old school traits, like pitching to weak contact. And Tanner Bibee rebounds from a bit of a tough year and pitches more like he did in his first two seasons.

The bullpen continues to be the backbone of the staff, led by fireballer Cade Smith, and bolstered by new acquisition Shawn Armstrong, while one of the new relievers, Peyton Pallette, Colin Holderman, or Connor Brogdon steps up and becomes another guy Vogt can rely on.

Offensively, Chase DeLauter is what we hoped he’d be, another solid bat in the middle of the lineup. Steven Kwan rebounds from an off year for him. Bo Naylor hits like he did in September when he hit .290 with an OPS of 872.

And of course, Jose Ramirez has another MVP type season.

And two of these players, Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio and Angel Martinez continue to progress like the front offce thinks they will.

The result is a third consecutive AL Central Division title.

Why they won’t. In the wild card era, you have to score runs to make the post-season. While there are exceptions, teams that score the most runs get to play in October. Since 2000, here is where Cleveland has ranked in runs scored in the AL: 13th, 9th, 6th, 12th, 7th, and last year 15th (last).

This year, their luck runs out. Essentially adding two hitters (DeLauter and Rhys Hoskins) to the worst run scoring team in the league doesn’t make a big difference. The team still ranks in the bottom half of the league in scoring

Vogt continues to get subpar offense out of his keystone combination, leading to rushing Travis Bazzana and Naylor is the hitter he has been throughout his career, an OPS of 670.

The starting rotation springs a leak or two due to minor injuries and the rotation depth in Columbus isn’t ready to pick up the slack. And the new additions to the bullpen show why they were available for the Guardians this winter.

What do we think will happen? Unfortunately, we believe the lack of offense finally catches up to the Guardians in 2026 and they will hover around the .500 mark and finish third in the Central Division behind the Tigers and Royals.

Continuing to depend on hitters like Arias, Schneemann, and younger hitters who don’t have a great minor league resume is an issue. We do think DeLauter will be an effective hitter and signing Hoskins helps too, but a good offense needs seven solid bats, and the Guards aren’t there.

We also are concerned about the starting pitching depth. We wish they would have signed an extra arm like Zack Littell or Lucas Giolito to start the year and soak up some innings. Not sure having to have Doug Nikhazy make around ten starts in the big leagues is something to look forward to.

We are sure the influencers won’t be happy, and we would love to be completely wrong and be celebrating October baseball later this year. But we see too many holes right now.

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 Looking Pretty Set To Start The Season

It is hard to believe the Cleveland Guardians will open the 2026 baseball season a week from Thursday in Seattle. And there doesn’t seem to be much drama about who will make up the roster when they hook up with the Mariners next week.

We know that Daniel Schneemann has a sprained ankle and George Valera has a calf issue (is this the NBA?), but if both players are ready to play next week, the everyday players appear to be set for skipper Steven Vogt.

The catchers will be Bo Naylor, fresh off his bomb against the US in the World Baseball Classic (WBC), David Fry and Austin Hedges. We do wonder how much Vogt will use Fry behind the plate when the regular season starts.

Fry has struggled with a bat in his hand, but he’s always been able to hit lefties, and he has drawn five walks this spring. He’s always had a pretty good eye at the plate.

The infielders will be Jose Ramirez, Kyle Manzardo, Brayan Rocchio, Gabriel Arias, Schneemann, and Rhys Hoskins, and if Schneeman isn’t ready to go, we would guess rookie Juan Brito gets the nod.

And the outfield make up will be Steven Kwan, Chase DeLauter, Valera, and Angel Martirez. Valera’s injury could put Petey Halpin in the mix, and although we hate to say it, DeLauter’s health is always a question mark.

That said, DeLauter has looked good in camp, going 10 for 25 with three doubles and a home run, and just two strikeouts. It would be a shock if he’s healthy and didn’t break camp with the big club, especially since they played him in a playoff game.

The bullpen seems to be set up well. Figuring that Hunter Gaddis’ elbow will keep him off the roster to start, the relief corps figures to be heading by Cade Smith, with Shawn Armstrong and Erik Sabrowski as the set-up men, with Tim Herrin, Connor Brogdon, Colin Holderman, Matt Festa, and rule 5 draftee Peyton Pallette completing the group.

We are sure Kolby Allard could replace one of this group if the Guardians decide to make a small trade to ease roster issues.

To us, the last real battle is in the rotation where Vogt has to choose between Parker Messick, who was outstanding in September last year, or Logan Allen. Allen was 8-11 with a 4.25 ERA last season, but he’s very inconsistent and has struggled in spring training and in his one start for Panama in the WBC. He’s allowed 11 hits and six walks in his 7-2/3 innings of work in Arizona.

Our guess is Allen will make the team and Messick will go to AAA, but the former will be on a short leash. The division figures to be close this season and Vogt and the Guardians can’t afford to start a pitcher who is going to struggle to throw strikes and give up lots of hits.

So, it appears we all have a pretty good idea of who will be on the Opening Night roster in Seattle. For all of the talk about giving young hitters opportunities, it looks like just DeLauter and Valera will get looks.

We wonder how much better the offense can be with just those changes.

Spring Training Starting. Guards Still Need A RH Bat

The Cleveland Guardians had to play all 162 games before clinching the American League Central Division title over the Detroit Tigers last year. That’s a pretty slim margin.

Now imagine a key series at Progressive Field on the first weekend in September in a tight race for a playoff spot and Tigers’ skipper A.J. Hinch maneuvers his rotation to have his pair of left-handed aces, two-time Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal and free agent signee Framber Valdez face the Guardians.

And Steven Vogt’s counter is…what?

Team president Chris Antonetti has said twice in the past few weeks that he wants to give the Guards’ young prospects a runway for playing time this season. The problem with that is all of those hitters, Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and C.J. Kayfus hit from the left-side and another, Juan Brito is a switch-hitter.

In 2025, Cleveland hitters batted .224 with a 647 OPS against southpaws. Keep in mind, the league average OPS against all pitching was 719. So, against lefties, the offense was pretty mediocre.

Consider that the Guardians’ resident superstar, Jose Ramirez, batted .322 vs. LHP and had an 896 OPS. That means that when Ramirez isn’t in the equation, the Guardians’ hitters batted .212 against lefties.

If we limit the numbers to right-handed hitters vs. LHP, it’s a little better, a .233 batting average and a 695 OPS. But again, removing Ramirez’ numbers, the batting average falls to .215 and he belted six of the team’s 37 homers against southpaws.

Clearly, the Guardians need to hit left-handers a heck of a lot better in 2026. But they also haven’t done anything to address the situation in the off-season.

If you look at the current roster and rank the hitters by OPS (limiting the list to players with over 200 plate appearances), the list will go like this:

Ramirez (S)
Kyle Manzardo (L)
Steven Kwan (L)
Bo Naylor (L)
Carlos Santana (S) and of course released

The best right-handed hitter was Gabriel Arias who had a 638 OPS and if you are a regular reader, you know how we feel about him as a hitter. His numbers vs. LHP? Try a .211 batting average and a 666 OPS with 51 strikeouts and just seven walks in 135 plate appearances.

Having David Fry back will help. In his career he is hitting just .234 vs. lefties but has a .342 on base percentage and slugs .465 with 17 homers in 336 plate appearances.

Kwan hit .246 vs. lefties with a 581 OPS.

Angel Martinez was the next best hitter against LHP, batting .279 with a 792 OPS. They need another player with that kind of production, maybe two.

But it’s most definitely an issue. The Guardians need a proven right-handed bat. So, if it comes down to another race to make the post-season, will the team have a stick from the right side they can rely on?

So, while we appreciate the brass wanted to give DeLauter, Valera, and Kayfus a runway to get at bats, can Steven Vogt count on them against a lefty like Skubal? They would argue that nobody has much success against a pitcher like him but know this–he gave up 18 homers last season. Only one to a left-handed hitter.

Heck, Jhonkensy Noel took him deep.

We know the regular season doesn’t start until the end of March, but usually a contending team seems to make a move to counteract something their main competition does. The Cleveland Guardians can want to see their young players, but they need a right-handed bat.

Surely, the front office can see that.

Spring Training Nears And Guardians Offense Is Still Subpar

As of today, spring training opens for the Cleveland Guardians in one month. The regular season is about nine weeks away. Yes, snow covers the ground in northeast Ohio, but in a few weeks, baseball will be in the news.

Actually, it is in the news for some franchises, as those teams have made moves to try to improve weaknesses from last season. Other franchises are making news by pushing the sport toward a work stoppage after the 2026 season. Yes, we are talking about you, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

After the season, Steven Vogt talked about improving the bullpen and the offense. The front office has signed some bullpen arms, the most notable being Shawn Armstrong, but it looks like basically they are trying solve that issue with quantity, signing Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, and most recently Yorman Gomez.

We don’t necessarily disagree with that because bullpens are arguably the most volatile part of any team, and it is quite possible that by the end of the season, one of the mainstays of the Cleveland bullpen will be someone who isn’t on the radar right now.

But perhaps the bullpen won’t matter because the Guardians had the worst offense in the American League last season, and third worst in all of Major League Baseball, and simply haven’t done anything about it.

Yes, team president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff will tell you they are trying to provide a runway for the Guards’ top prospects, meaning Chase DeLauter, George Valera, and Travis Bazzana, and to a lesser point, C.J. Kayfus and Juan Brito.

And we will offer the usual opinion we have about this organization at times: Wishing and hoping is not a plan. It’s a great song by Dusty Springfield.

If the Guardians were a 90-loss team, going with the young players and giving them a long leash to see what they can do, should be the plan. But that’s not where they are, they are the two-time defending champions in the AL Central, and the goal, the plan, should be how do we go from being ousted in the League Championship Series in ’24 and in the Wild Card Series in ’25 to get to the World Series.

A particular area where the Guardians need help is right-handed hitting. As a team, they had a 647 OPS vs. left-handed pitching and their hitters from the right side against righties batted just .186 with a 545 OPS.

In short, they need a right-handed bat.

All of the young players mentioned earlier hit from the left side outside of Brito, who is a switch-hitter. The Guardians need someone to hit from the right side of the plate.

And what happens if DeLauter or Valera struggle when the season opens, if they even open the regular season with the team? The Guardians are notoriously conservative having young players open the year with the big club, choosing to keep them out of the cold weather.

So, as of right now, get ready to see the same group who struggled to score runs last season getting a lot of at bats.

Remember, the Guardians finished 88-74 last year. Based on their run differential, they should have been 80-82. They had luck on their side.

The best right-handed hitter Cleveland had a year ago was Gabriel Arias. Think about that and think about should the front office be satisfied with that.