Cleveland Guardians: What’s on their 2022 post-lockout to-do list
With a new uniform and a new team name, the Cleveland Guardians will be hitting the reset button on their franchise’s history and will have a fresh start in 2022. In a largely wide-open AL Central division, the Guardians, like the White Sox, Tigers, and Twins are a few moves away from being legitimate threats to win the division in the upcoming campaign.
The club will have their uber-popular manager Terry Francona returning to the helm after stepping away from the team and missing the second half of 2021 due to a multitude of health issues. Francona will enter 2022 as the longest-tenured MLB manager as he joined Cleveland back at the beginning of 2013.
Related Story. Terry Francona set to return to Cleveland in 2022. light
It was announced on December 20 that David Blitzer, best known as a partial owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and the New Jersey Devils of the NBA and NHL respectively, had acquired a large minority stake in the Guardians. As MLB Trade Rumors pointed out in their recap of Blitzer’s addition to the Guardians, he had also made an attempt at purchasing the Mets from the Wilpon family before Steve Cohen took over. It will be interesting to see if Blitzer’s addition in Cleveland will change the club’s spending habits.
David Blitzer, part owner of the 76ers and Devils, is a acquiring a large minority stake in the @CleGuardians 1st: @Sportico
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 20, 2021
Sandy Leon‘s minor-league contract was the biggest move made by the club before the Major League Baseball lockout froze all big league transactions. The Guardians have a multitude of areas in need of an upgrade if they are truly looking to contend in the near future.
The Cleveland Guardians have their work cut out for them once the lockout is lifted. Let’s take a look at a few moves that should be on the team’s radar.
The Cleveland Guardians should sign two outfielders
Only center fielder Myles Straw should be a lock for a starting spot on the Cleveland Guardians’ 2022 roster. The club currently has a mix of Bradley Zimmer, Oscar Mercado, Steven Kwan, Josh Naylor, and George Valera on their 40-man roster to fill in at the outfield corners.
The Guardians are very much in need of a right-handed hitting power bat to plug into their outfield. Previously linked to Mark Canha who recently signed with the Mets, they should now move their attention to arguably the next best outfielder that can be had at a reasonable price.
Tommy Pham, now 33 years of age, is a pretty nice player even as he gets up there in age. Possessing a combination of double-digit home run potential and the ability to steal 10+ bases a season, Pham is also (mostly) capable of playing all three outfield positions. His best fit on the Guardians roster would probably be in left field.
In 2021, Pham hit 15 home runs and stole 14 bases, making defensive appearances at all three outfield spots and putting up a 2.0 oWAR next to a -1.0 dWAR. While these numbers may be enough to lower his asking price in free agency, he should still be a sneaky good pick for the Guardians should they look to pursue him.
With Pham in tow, rookie Steven Kwan looks to be the best of the bunch available to play right field for the Cleveland Guardians. While he will for sure get at least a look in MLB in 2022, the Guardians should probably look to the free agent market for one more low-cost outfielder.
Corey Dickerson, Kevin Pillar and even Andrew McCutchen could be had for a low-cost contract should Cleveland look to add one more outfielder. None of the trio carry much star-power behind their name like they used to (primarily McCutchen), but they’d at least prove to be upgrades over Bradley Zimmer and Oscar Mercado.
McCutchen would give the Guardians a solid right-handed pat to platoon with any of the left-handed outfield options. The now-35 McCutchen lit up lefties in 2021, hitting 15 home runs in 86 games while putting up a slash line of .293/.405/.622 against southpaws.
The Cleveland Guardians should sign Matthew Boyd
Matthew Boyd, 31 in February, finished 2021 with a sub-4.00 ERA for the first time in his career. A longtime Detroit Tigers starter until being non-tendered just last month, the Cleveland Guardians should look at Boyd as a swingman option to replace Logan Allen on their staff. Allen made Cleveland’s starting rotation out of spring training last season but failed miserably, ultimately finishing the year at -0.7 WAR and a 6.26 ERA in 50 innings.
Boyd offers an extensive repertoire featuring a 92 mph four-seam fastball, a low-80s slider, a low-to-mid 70’s sweeping curveball and a decent changeup that hovers around 80 mph. Boyd, primarily a starting pitcher throughout his seven-year career so far (145 starts and only four appearances out of the bullpen), should take whatever opportunities he can get in 2022 as he is coming off of a largely unimpressive tenure in Detroit.
Since Boyd is a starting pitcher by trade, the Guardians could also utilize him as their sixth starter, making starts as injuries or poor performances by the club’s current rotation arise throughout the upcoming season.
Taking a look at Cleveland’s left-handed options, the only pitchers currently on the 40-man roster are outfielder-turned-pitcher Anthony Gose, the underperforming Sam Hentges and Logan Allen, and minor-leaguer Konnor Pilkington. The Guardians could use Matt Boyd on their club and maybe even another left-handed relief option such as Tony Watson or Jake Diekman.
The Cleveland Guardians should sign Ehire Adrianza as a backup infielder/outfielder
Switching-hitting Ehire Adrianza has been a serviceable backup at pretty much every single position on a baseball diamond over his nine-year career to this point. The former San Francisco Giant, Minnesota Twin and, most recently, Atlanta Brave, has only appeared in 100+ games twice in his career as he is a typical bench bat who draws only occasional starts.
Capable of playing all four infield positions as well as the corner outfield spots, Adrianza won his first career World Series ring in this past season while playing with the Braves. The 32-year-old is not much of a power threat, but he doesn’t strike out often and is a good contact-hitter that could help a Cleveland Guardians team that has a lot of question marks.
Ehire Adrianza is relatively solid against righties and lefties on the mound, as he has a slash line around .240/.315/.365 in his career against both.
The Cleveland Guardians currently have Yu Chang and Owen Miller penciled in as their best bench bats capable of moving around the diamond. Ehire Adrianza brings more experience and a slightly better bat than both of those options so Cleveland should consider taking a look at him in free agency.
The Cleveland Guardians should trade for Alejandro Kirk
The catching position is the most sought after among clubs this offseason but it also does not offer very many quality options. In free agency, the best available catchers are Robinson Chirinos and Kurt Suzuki. While they are not the worst players, they are also not standout names.
The Cleveland Guardians haven’t had even a decent offensive catcher since Yan Gomes, who recently signed with the Cubs, left the team after the 2018 season. That is by no means saying Roberto Perez was a bad catcher, as he is one of the game’s best defensive options, but he did not contribute much of the Guardians’ offense during his tenure with the club.
The Toronto Blue Jays have the deepest catching depth in the majors. Danny Jansen, Reese McGuire, Alejandro Kirk and Gabriel Moreno are all Major League-ready backstops and a team’s 26-man roster usually only has room for two catchers. As previously mentioned in the Blue Jays’ to-do list, they should deal from a position of strength to fill a hole at a position of weakness.
Kirk is a high-contact offensive backstop that has some pretty nice pop in his bat and average defensive chops as well. The 23-year-old lit up major league pitching in a brief cameo in the 2020 season. His .375 batting average was not sustainable and he came back down to earth in 2021, but is still an upgrade over Cleveland’s current catching corps.
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One interesting trade scenario between these two clubs could involve a deal that has both Randal Grichuk and Kirk heading to Cleveland. The Jays would have to include Kirk in the deal and potentially eat some of Grichuk’s remaining salary to make the trade a bit more enticing, but the Guardians have some pieces that could interest Toronto and make for an interesting matchup on the trade market.