2023 Guardians Offseason Thread!

[TacoLord]

They need another starting pitcher to fill out the rotation, preferably one that doesn't give up 2-5 runs every start. Starting Civale tonight was the absolute stupidest decision possible. Beiber should have gone 5 innings before giving it to the bullpen, that would have given them a chance to win it. The rain delay totally fucked Cleveland, because it allowed the Yankees to start their 2nd best pitcher instead of the 4/5th. Tallion is absolute garbage, as we will see in Houston tomorrow night. He would have been a much better matchup for Cleveland than Cortes.

What a shame they lost tonight, but still happy they overachieved this season. They need a power hitter at 1st, someone in the mold of Jim Thome would be nice Maybe they can sign Judge away from the Yankees and kill 2 birds with 1 stone,. lol...

 

[ajz20]

i think starting pitching is an area the team can improve. Give the young guys in the miners a shot early on if they earn it in spring training. Cal should be your fourth starter on a deep playoff contender not third.

Bo Naylor needs to play. I would give George V a shot, plus give Nolan Jones another chance too. All for adding a vet bat with more power at DH slash first base but I don’t want to be unrealistic. Is the new owner able to dictate moves yet even though he has not taken over yet?

Also gotta be careful. Nothing is given in sports. If you have been a fan you know not all young players progress like you expect. How good are Gonzo and Naylor? Are they really middle of the order guys on a championship team? Ramirez was trying to carry the offense too often this post season. Team has to really examine if the ´ young bats are really good enough to take the next step.

 

[Tondo]

Great season. Nothing but love for this team.

Growing pains were frustrating at times, but well worth going through.

I believe we'll see some added power internally. Kwan, Gonzo, Gimenez, Naylor can add 5 HR each and more HR potential with Naylor at C. Also Arias has more than Miller, Rosario, Clement.

My offseason wish? Bring back Carlos Santana as RH platoon 1B/DH and semi regular.

For SP, my heart wants Cookie Carrasco. Bring the band back together. Two great clubhouse mentors to further mold this young team. But there are numerous other viable SP via trade.

 

[KluberSociety]

The latest topic has been that we can't hit LHP. Everyone knows this fact, and it's been a fact throughout the 2022 season and it was a fact that continued into the postseason.

Yet some here seem content with doing absolutely nothing to improve the situation.

Some wRC+ stats for the team:
RHB vs LHP: 81 (29th out of 30)
RHB vs RHP: 80 (25th out of 30)
LHB vs RHP: 131 (2nd out of 30)
LHB vs LHP: 93 (11th out of 30)

This shouldn't be totally surprising. Everyone who follows the team knows that our best hitters have been lefties (or switch hitters vs righties). They have generally clobbered righties.

But the place where we have truly been putrid is in righties' ability to take advantage of the platoon shift, with our righties hitting lefties the 2nd worst in all of baseball, despite making it to, and almost winning, the ALDS.

There is no better exemplar of this than Owen Miller. You can "muh sample size" all you want about the guy but he was our supposed "RH bat" against LHP. On the surface that's good and all, you take someone who was hitting pretty well and you pair him with someone who has a history of sucking against LHP and not getting any better either. There's one problem though - Owen was just plain bad at hitting lefties this year. Why would that be?

I don't know but this did NOT just come out of nowhere. It was a trend that continued.

The favored in-house solution is to replace him with Arias, a guy that faces the direction of the first-base dugout when he hits, but has shown reverse splits, including striking out 29% of the time compared to only 22% of the time against lefties. How can we see that as a solution in the near future? A solution to hitting lefties that has trouble hitting lefties. Owen Miller 2.0?

Noel is kind of interesting because he hits a lot of HRs against lefties but he also has trouble hitting the ball. He is also quite a distance away...

Player​	Year​	K% vs LHP​	BB% vs LHP​	K% vs RHP​	BB% vs RHP​	OPS vs LHP​	OPS vs RHP​
Owen Miller​	2022​	23%​	8%​	18%​	5%​	0.619​	0.668​
Owen Miller​	2021​	30%​	6%​	24%​	8%​	0.580​	0.765​
Owen Miller​	Combined​	26%​	7%​	21%​	7%​	0.601​	0.713​
Gabriel Arias​	2022​	31%​	8%​	23%​	9%​	0.707​	0.706​
Gabriel Arias​	2021​	28%​	7%​	21%​	8%​	0.757​	0.814​
Gabriel Arias​	Combined​	29%​	8%​	22%​	9%​	0.731​	0.767​
Jhonkensy Noel​	2022​	31%​	13%​	26%​	8%​	0.862​	0.781​
Jhonkensy Noel​	2021​	25%​	2%​	20%​	7%​	1.038​	0.993​
Jhonkensy Noel​	Combined​	29%​	9%​	24%​	8%​	0.923​	0.854​

 

[ajz20]

Who are some realistic options in free agency for a veteran bat and a back of the rotation starting pitcher?

 

[CDAV45]

Who are some realistic options in free agency for a veteran bat and a back of the rotation starting pitcher?

I don't think there are any realistic FA options. If anything/anyone is added it's likely to happen via trade and I'm not convinced that will happen either.

 

[Mr. Orange]

You are mostly going to run back this same team but have some new guys called up. And if you are in contention for the division in July (not guaranteed) you may trade for a bat. But they money made in the 4 playoff games won’t be enough to go get some giant bat or pitcher.

And bullpens can vary year to year. At this point, you accept that the bad guys won again, and check back next summer to see if we are contending. Minnesota won’t have the injury problems they had, Chicago won’t be hamstrung by TLR, and the Royals are rebuilding well. Postseason baseball is never given which makes the failures with RISP (esp game 1) particularly difficult to take. Then again, I fully expect Houston to win the AL and always did. Cleveland didn’t have the horses.

Temper your expectations. Cherish the division crown. Nothing is given. We start back at 0-0. Don’t look at April World Series odds. Ask the White Sox about that.

 

[CBBI]

I’m optimistic about the Guardians having similar success next year because the things the league is changing theoretically benefit them in a significant way.

Shifting is banned? Well the Guardians barely shift defensively anyway and put the ball in play as much as anyone offensively.

Bases are bigger and you can’t throw over to hold runners as often? Well the Guardians are as aggressive on the bases as anyone and rack up as many infield hits as anyone.

The only rule change I think could impact the Guardians in a negative way would be the pitch clock because Clase and Karinchak specifically are two of the slowest guys in the league.

 

[sportscoach]

Who are some realistic options in free agency for a veteran bat and a back of the rotation starting pitcher?

For the most part, a good 80%+ of this current 40 man roster will be back for 23... It's not going to change much at all. We have a ton of prospects, so we likely are staying a very young roster...

2022-23 MLB Free Agents

A constantly-updated list of MLB players who will be eligible for free agency after the 2022 season.

www.mlbtraderumors.com

I have more links in the GM thread...

We did target Brandon Drury mid season and he is a free agent... I think we will look at a veteran RH bat, who can platoon at 1B/be an utility guy. We could also trade for a young guy that fits the role as well... I don't see a lot of position guys though we would target in free agency...

Drury, Mancini, Carlos Santana, Michael Brantley, Jose Abreu... I think it would be between Drury or Mancini if we think about signing anyone, likely Drury. The Free Agency isn't were we are going to find a position player that will help us... (unless the owner signs off on Judge or Turner lol)

We will really look hard at the catching market... I think Hedges/Maile though return...

When it comes to SP, it's not a question, can we find a solid veteran... How much are we willing to pay? If Plesac is gone...

You have Kluber, Carrasco (team option) Cueto, Etc... They aren't young and they could cost 8-10 for one season... Then Bassitt (hometown kid, with an option, who likely will want a 3ish year deal though). If you want a veteran to add, probably would end up being a reunion with Kluber or Carrasco...

 

[nime]

LF Kwan
2nd Gimenenz
3rd Jose
RF Valera
DH Oscar
1st Naylor/Amed
C Naylor
SS Arias/Freeman/Rocchio
CF Brennen/Straw

Likely outcome. Would prefer if they can’t sign a veteran bat like Aubreu (don’t need to go bargain bin with the talent in the minors)

 

[KilgoreTrout]

If Rosario stays, then they don't really need anything. A 4th OF who can start/pinch hit against LHP would be nice to have as the RF competition (Brennan, Jones, Benson) are all left-handed bats.

If Rosario goes, then they would likely need two additions as Arias would become the starting SS. So they would then need a 1B to platoon with Naylor against LHP. In addition to that, they would also need someone who could either start in RF or at DH against LHP as well since Gonzalez would be only be able to man one of those two spots. Unless they want to get Freeman’s at bats at DH against LHP.

Rosario Stays
C: Bo Naylor
1B: Josh Naylor v. RHP, Gabriel Arias v. LHP
2B: Andres Gimenez
SS: Amed Rosario
3B: Jose Ramirez
LF: Steven Kwan
CF: Myles Straw
RF: Will Brennan v. RHP, Oscar Gonzalez v. LHP
DH: Oscar Gonzalez + Gimenez/Rosaio/Ramirez with Arias starting at 2B/SS/3B 1x week at each

Bench: Hedges, Freeman, Benson/Jones/New 4th OF

Rosario Goes
C: Bo Naylor
1B: Josh Naylor v. RHP, NEW ACQUISITION 1 v. LHP
2B: Andres Gimenez
SS: Gabriel Arias
3B: Jose Ramirez
LF: Steven Kwan
CF: Myles Straw
RF: Will Brennan v. RHP, Oscar Gonzalez or NEW ACQUISITION 2 v. LHP
DH: Oscar Gonzalez or NEW ACQUISITION 2

Bench: Hedges, Freeman

Straw can’t be our everyday CF again.

Hedges gone, I think.

 

[KilgoreTrout]

They need another starting pitcher to fill out the rotation, preferably one that doesn't give up 2-5 runs every start. Starting Civale tonight was the absolute stupidest decision possible. Beiber should have gone 5 innings before giving it to the bullpen, that would have given them a chance to win it. The rain delay totally fucked Cleveland, because it allowed the Yankees to start their 2nd best pitcher instead of the 4/5th. Tallion is absolute garbage, as we will see in Houston tomorrow night. He would have been a much better matchup for Cleveland than Cortes.

What a shame they lost tonight, but still happy they overachieved this season. They need a power hitter at 1st, someone in the mold of Jim Thome would be nice Maybe they can sign Judge away from the Yankees and kill 2 birds with 1 stone,. lol...

Welcome, @TacoLord .

I like that little turtle.

 

[33Y0]

LF Kwan
2nd Gimenenz
3rd Jose
RF Valera
DH Oscar
1st Naylor/Amed
C Naylor
SS Arias/Freeman/Rocchio
CF Brennen/Straw

Likely outcome. Would prefer if they can’t sign a veteran bat like Aubreu (don’t need to go bargain bin with the talent in the minors)

At minimum, you're not likely to see Valera until midseason.

 

[33Y0]

Straw can’t be our everyday CF again.

Hedges gone, I think.

One of Hedges/Maile survive and are Bo's backup next season.

 

[nime]

At minimum, you're not likely to see Valera until midseason.

Agree. He got a good start in Columbus. A hot start and we could see him in June.