Guardians Offense Gets Surprising Ranking After Winter Meetings

The Cleveland Guardians started the 2024 season as one of the hottest-hitting teams in baseball. However, their bats started to cool off as the season progressed.

This slight regression is one of the reasons so many are calling for the front office to add another bat this winter.

However, Bradford Doolittle of ESPN recently compiled a list of the top-10 offenses following Winter Meetings, and surprisingly, he ranked the Guardians as No. 9.

His biggest reason for ranking Cleveland this high is because of their lack of strikeouts.

"The Guardians have the second-lowest projected whiff total behind the Padres, and though they don't have a lot of elite thumpers other than Jose Ramirez, they have a well-balanced attack that features a little bit of everything and solid depth," wrote Doolittle.

"It's a really young group that, like Baltimore, can get better organizationally, as Kyle Manzardo, Travis Bazzana, Jhonkensy Noel, and others continue to move to the forefront."

Oct 12, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians outfielder Lane Thomas (8) celebrates with first base David Fry (6) and outfielder Steven Kwan (38) in the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers during game five of the ALDS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

Based on this ranking, this position would make the Guardians the fourth-best offense in the American League, with the Houston Astros, New York Yankees, and Baltimore Orioles as the only teams ahead of them.

There's an old baseball saying, "Just put the ball and play and good things will happen," and the Guardians clearly resonate with that message.

The Guardians had the fifth lowest K% in MLB last season at 20.2 percent.

One suggestion that Doolittle gives the Guardians is to not break anything up before Opening Day. This means not trading Josh Naylor or Lane Thomas, who have been in rumors since the offseason began.

Even though ESPN does give Cleveland a respectable position on this list, it's still clear the Guardians need to find one or two more everyday bats to solidify their lineup.

The lineup is very top-heavy with Steven Kwan, Jose Ramirez, and Josh Naylor. After that, there are plenty of questions and unknowns.

One of the biggest is how they'll replace David Fry's production for at least the first half of the season after he was arguably their third or fourth-best hitter last year.

Perhaps that will come from internal help via a prospect, or the Guardians could always reallocate the money from the Andres Gimenez trade and sign one of the outfield sluggers still on the market.