Predicting Guardians 2024 Infield, Post Winter Meetings Edition

The Cleveland Guardians have a couple of locks for their 2024 Opening Day infield, and a few other positions they need to figure out. The moves the organization made during the winter meetings only complicated this prediction.

Let's do our best to try and project what the Guardians starting lineup will look like.

3B - José Ramírez

Third base is probably the easiest position to predict. José Ramírez will be Cleveland's guy at the hot corner as long as he's a part of the organization, including for the start of the 2024 season.

Considering that GM Mike Chernoff said earlier this offseason that he expects, "José to be a lifetime Cleveland Guardian," and it feels like this will be the case for a long time.

2B - Andrés Giménez

Andrés Giménez is coming off of his second consecutive Gold Glove and first Platinum Glove season at second base. He's a defensive wizard and will undoubtedly be starting on Opening Day. However, there's also a pretty good case that his services may be better used on the other side of diamond.

Earlier in the season, it was mentioned that the Guardians have given no indication that they plan on changing Giménez's position. So right now, second base is his position.

SS - Gabriel Arias

There's a lot more debate for this position compared to the last two. The Guardians have a ton of middle infielders ready for the big leagues (Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio, and Tyler Freeman, and Juan Brito is right behind them), but no one has convincingly been able to establish the position as their own.

Arias seems like the safe choice to make right now based on how this offseason has gone, but that could still change. He finished this season as the everyday shortstop before fracturing his wrist, and still has a ton of potential considering his defense and offense.

Spring training is the best time for us to fully evaluate this position group, and who will be the Opening Day starter.

1B/DH - Josh Naylor, Deyvison De Los Santos

This is the position group that saw the most change compared to the last edition of these predictions. (First base and designated hitter have been combined here because of how interchangeable the players in this group could be.)

Kyle Manzardo was an easy prediction to be starting on the Opening Day roster after an incredible AFL season. However, that plan became more complicated when Cleveland drafted Deyvison De Los Santos in the Rule 5 Draft.

De Los Santos has to be on the Major League roster, or they'll need to offer him back to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Sure, he could be on the team in a utility role. However, promoting a player straight from Double-A for that position seems counterintuitive.

There have been reports that opposing teams have shown interest in Josh Naylor. But as long as he's on the roster, he'll be starting on Opening Day, and De Los Santos needs to be there, too. This unfortunately could put a hold on the start of the Manzardo era.