Chris Antonetti has a plan for the Cleveland Guardians after a quiet offseason on the free agent and trade front.
The Cleveland Guardians had one of the worst offenses in baseball a season ago; that’s a fact that stats back up. As a team, the Guardians’ OPS of .669 ranked last in the American League, and their 643 runs scored were third-worst in MLB.
For a team that reached the postseason because of its pitching, one would think the front office would be determined to address the lineup in the offseason, but that hasn’t happened. The only additions Cleveland has made on the offense end are re-signing Austin Hedges and signing Stuart Fairchild to a minor-league deal.
Why all the inactivity from the Guardians’ front office?
Chris Antonetti recently shared that the team considered external additions, such as signing a free agent, but ultimately decided to give the young core of players runway to see what impact they can make.
“We spent a lot of time thinking about ways where we can improve as a team, and as we looked at a lot of the possibility of external additions, one of the questions we continually have to ask ourselves is, ‘whose opportunity does this impede? Which guys will we not be able to give plate appearances to because we’re signing a free agent?’” explained Antonetti (quote courtesy of Mason Horodyski of WEWS).
Nov 10, 2023; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, middle, talks to the media during an introductory press conference for new manager Stephen Vogt at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images“In the end, we made the determination that we have a really exciting group of young players that are starting to emerge at the major league level, and in depth beneath that, we want to give them an opportunity to contribute and fuel our success.”
No one is going to deny that the Guardians have an exciting future with Chase DeLatuer, George Valera, C.J. Kayfus, and eventually Travis Bazzana leading the way. That said, they’re still young, unproven, and some of them are injury-prone as well.
That isn’t to take away from their potential, but there could still be room for another right-handed hitter on this roster. It seems like the Guardians are reluctant to make that type of acquisition, though.
If the Guardians truly are relying on the young prospects to make an impact, DeLayter, Vlaera, and Kayfus should all be in the Opening Day lineup, with Bazzana and Juan Brito not too far behind them with an early-season debut.
Time will be the biggest indicator of whether Cleveland’s plan to roll with the rookies is successful, or if they should’ve added a bat from outside the organization.
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