The World Series has concluded, and that means free agent shopping season is underway in Major League Baseball.
The first order of business for the Guardians is to name a manager to replace Terry Francona, who retired after 11 seasons in the Cleveland dugout. Team president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff have been busy interviewing candidates since the 2023 season ended.
A new manager could be named sometime this week. The Guardians brass has been guarded about the managerial search, but it is known they have interviewed Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell. Counsell’s contract with the Brewers expired on Oct. 31. Counsell interviewed with the Mets as they seek a replacement for Buck Showalter. The Brewers would like to retain Counsell.
The Guardians have interviewed Mariners bullpen coach Stephen Vogt twice. Vogt, 39, has no experience managing and, in fact, retired as a catcher with the Oakland A’s after the 2022 season. He would bring a fresh perspective as a young manager. But he would likely have to surround himself with experienced coaches, such as Guardians first base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. and pitching coach Carl Willis, to be successful.
Whoever replaces Francona will take over a team with many needs. The starting rotation is strong, especially if Shane Bieber isn’t traded in the offseason. But the bullpen was shaky last season and the batting order needs a huge boost.
The Guardians were last in the Majors with 124 home runs last season. The Nationals were second to last with 151 dingers. The Guardians were 27th with 662 runs scored, ahead of only the Tigers, White Sox and Athletics.
“We need to get more production out of center field and right field,” Antonetti said. “Exactly what that looks like, how much of it is offense, how much of it is defense, how much of it is base running — those are things we have to weigh. But our goal is to score a lot more runs than our opponents, and there is a lot that goes into that.”
Myles Straw played center field and Will Brennan right field for the Guardians for the vast majority of games in 2023.
The Guardians, of course, won’t break the bank for a free-agent outfielder. They could make a play for Hunter Renfroe, a right fielder who will turn 32 in January, but even that seems unlikely.
Renfroe has played for the Padres, Rays, Red Sox, Brewers, Angels and Reds since 2019. He hit 26 home runs or more every year since 2017, with the exception of 2020 when teams played only 60 games (he hit eight homers) because of COVID-19, and 2023 when he hit 20 playing for the Angels and Reds.
“Our success is going to continue to depend upon the players we have come through our system that we help develop and grow at the Major League level,” Antonetti said. “Even as we look forward to next year, I’m not sure what external opportunities we’ll have to improve the team. But whatever those are are going to pale in comparison to the contributions we need from the group of players we have.”
Chase DeLauter, the Guardians’ top outfield prospect, is projected by MLB.com to make his Major League debut in 2025. George Valera’s ascent to the Guardians has been slowed by injuries. He played in 73 games for Triple-A Columbus in 2023 and battled .211 with 10 home runs. He appeared in six games with the Guardians and homered once in 21 at-bats. He hit .333 with four doubles.
Myles Straw seemingly could cover half of Ohio the way he defends center field, but he is a liability at the plate. He played in 147 games in 2023, batted 462 times and homered once. He drove in 29 runs, which works out to fewer than five RBI per month.
Antonetti normally doesn’t share what he discussed with players during their exit interviews at the end of the season, but he did share part of his discussion with Straw.
“Our best teams have had the best version of Myles on those teams,” Antoneti said. “When he’s at his best, he’s not only an elite defender in the outfield. He’s contributing more offensively. So we need to partner with Myles to have a really good offseason because we do need more offense than we’ve gotten the last couple years from that spot.”
Antonetti is a realist. He doesn’t expect Straw to hit 20 home runs next season. Or 10. Or even eight. But Straw hit only .239, and for a player with such anemic power he walked only 42 times while striking out 97 times. Left fielder Steven Kwan, by comparison, walked 70 times and struck out 75 times while batting .268, homering five times and driving in 54 runs. Antonetti would be very happy to have three Kwans in the outfield.
“It’s not just how many home runs a player hits or how many runs he generates,” Antonetti said. “It’s balanced by what type defender he is and what type of base runner he is. For Myles to impact the game on the bases the way we think he can, he needs to be on base more.”
Straw stole 20 bases in 2023. Andres Gimenez stole 30 bases, Jose Ramirez 28 and Kwan 21.
Francona was fiercely loyal to Straw. It seemed every time there was a crucial at-bat late with runners on base and the Guardians down by a run, Straw would be at the plate. The result was rarely good.
“Late and close” is defined by baseball-reference.com as “the seventh inning or later with the batting team tied, ahead by one, or the tying run at least on deck.” Straw batted .192 in those situations with three RBI in 104 at-bats.
Maybe the next manager will send up a pinch hitter to bat for Straw in those situations.
I didn’t know that
… until I read my Snapple bottle cap.
Think about this as winter approaches: Scotland has 421 words for snow. … A human being can swim through the blood vessels of a blue whale. … There is only one school district in Hawaii. Hawaii is made up of 137 volcanic islands, many of them uninhabitable, and consists of 10,931 square miles. … Only male turkeys gobble. … On average, a person blinks about four million times a year. … Duck’s eyes have three eyelids.
