The Cleveland Guardians are in first place which is surprising to some based on their roster construction and the moves that have been made by first year manager Stephen Vogt. Their strength has always been their rotation and this year isn’t any different. They made the playoffs a few years ago by breaking the record for having the most rookies to debut on a playoff team.
Leftfield is covered by one of the best players in the league in Steven Kwan offensively and defensively but outside of that it has been a revolving door for the other two thirds mostly centerfield.
They decided to cut their incumbent centerfielder Myles Straw, a Gold Glove winner for some reason. All of baseball knows he isn’t a great hitter which is why he lost the leadoff spot and was demoted to the 9th spot. That left a hole in centerfield which as of the All-Star break has not been filled.
First man up was utility player Tyler Freeman who is a natural born shortstop with more career innings at third base. They have used more infielders out in center field, again none with any career innings out there like Gabriel Arias, another utility player who is a natural born shortstop. They have also used two rookie infielders in Daniel Schneemann and Angel Martinez.
We haven’t even gotten to the right field problem yet. Will Brennan is more suited for a backup role but is a natural born centerfielder and those shortstops we mentioned before have played there. Lastly David Fry who made the All-Star team due to his offensive game has been shuffling in out of the DH spot, catcher, both corner outfield spots and both corner infield spots.
If Cleveland is serious about going far in the playoffs because it seems like a lock to win one of the worst divisions in all of baseball they need to upgrade one or two of their outfield spots. Look no further than the Trade Deadline fast approaching this month.
There are some teams who are out of the race this early like the San Francisco Giants, Washington Nationals, Oakland Athletics, Tampa Bay Rays and the Chicago Cubs. Maybe the Pittsburgh Pirates become sellers and potentially. Both the St Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers can trade from a position of strength. Mike Yastrzemski, could fill one of the two spots, JJ Bleday, Jose Siri, Cody Bellinger also could fill both. Michael A Taylor, Dylan Carlson and one of the many young Brewer outfielders can also fill those OF positions.
Fans of the Guardians do not want to waste another season of a good pitching staff and winning a division and going nowhere in the playoffs so Vogt and general manager Mike Chernoff better be listening or it will be another failure.
