Three Logical Landing Spots For Guardians' Shane Bieber

Opinion by Tommy Wild


The Cleveland Guardians' offseason heading into 2024 is going to be a wild ride. There will be plenty for fans to talk about from finding a new manager, looking for more outfield help, and organizing the 40-man roster.

One big storyline that could affect teams across MLB is whether or not Cleveland decides to trade Shane Bieber. Rumors centered around the former Cy Young winner were circling before the trade deadline but died down after he went on the injured list.

If those talks heat back up this winter, there are a few landing spots for Bieber that make a lot of sense.


Baltimore Orioles
The Baltimore Orioles won 101 games in 2023 but lost to the Texas Rangers in three quick matchups in the ALDS. They have a tremendous offense but it still feels like another star starting pitcher is what this team is missing.

Cleveland still needs another outfielder and luckily the O's have a number of them. Swapping Shane Bieber for a package centered around Austin Hays, Anthony Santander, or even a player such as Ryan Mountcastle could be a win-win for both sides.


Cincinnati Reds

The Guardians and Cincinnati Reds aren't strangers when it comes to making trades. Cleveland sent Trevor Bauer to the southern city in Ohio in 2019 and last season traded Will Benson there too.

Cincinnati is an ascending team with a ton of potential on offense. Elly De La Cruz, TJ Freidl, Christian Encarnacion-Strand, and the company will all be in that lineup for a long time, but now the focus turns to the starters.
Pitching is arguably the most important piece to a playoff run and the Reds didn't have a ton of it last season. They had the sixth-highest (third-highest in the NL) ERA with a 4.83.

Acquiring a pitcher such as Bieber would allow them to shift one of their young starters to the bullpen and pair Hunter Greene up with a solidified Big League ace.


Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox aren't a team that likes to be at the bottom of the division for long. They finished last in the AL East last season and will certainly be looking to improve on that in 2024.

One of their biggest needs is to bolster their starting pitching and Shane Bieber would do just that. Boston had a starter ERA of 4.68 and a WHIP of 1.29 signaling the need for more help. Breakout seasons from Masataka Yoshida and Jarren Duran are great, but the team as a whole won't go anywhere with more pitching.

Who are the likely OFs available from Reds or RedSox?

I wondered the same. Baltimore, St Louis and California are mentioned more often.

from the Angles, l'll take Trout for Bieber and Straw, and one of our many shortstop prospects; I'd throw in lots more, too, if the possiblity actually exists, which i'm sure it doesn't

Law: Scouting the top prospects I saw at the Arizona Fall League
SCOTTSDALE, AZ - OCTOBER 02: Chase DeLauter #22 of the Peoria Javelinas scores a run during the game between the Peoria Javelinas and the Scottsdale Scorpions at Scottsdale Stadium on Monday, October 2, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
By Keith Law
5h ago


I’m back home after a week in the desert to watch the Arizona Fall League, seeing nine games in my six days out there and catching every team at least twice. I didn’t get everyone I’d hoped to see (I missed Jake Eder and Dylan Smith, to name a few), but wrote up Jackson Jobe, Tekoah Roby, and more in this post and now present to you my thoughts on everyone else I saw of note.

Chase DeLauter, OF, Cleveland Guardians; Carson Williams, SS, Tampa Bay Rays; Jacob Berry, 3B, Miami Marlins

The Peoria Javelinas club has the best collection of hitting prospects of any team in the league this year, including a trio of former first-round picks in Cleveland’s Chase DeLauter, Tampa Bay’s Carson Williams, and Miami’s Jacob Berry. DeLauter missed all of last summer after the draft and the first half of this year with a foot injury, but hit .355/.417/.528 after he returned, spending most of that time at High A with six games in Double A to finish the summer. He’s still got a really awkward swing, opening his hips early with his lead elbow so high that it’s restricting his bat path, so it looks sawed-off and doesn’t let him get to much power. I didn’t see any hard contact from him in two games, but it’s really the shape of the swing and the way his hips work that bother me. He still looks like he’s cheating to get to fastballs, and pitchers will attack him accordingly if that’s the case. He did play excellent defense in right field with an easy plus arm.

Williams is also a plus defender with probably a 7 (on the 2-8 scouting scale) arm and excellent hands, with some hard contact across the three games when I saw him (one single had a 107 mph exit velocity), although he still swings and misses way too often, especially at breaking stuff; I saw six punchouts across three games, four of them on breaking pitches. Williams struck out 32 percent of the time in High A this year at age 20, and he’s at 30 percent so far through two weeks in the desert. He’s young, and the rest of the skill set is more than enough to make him a regular — it’s 55 power, maybe more, and he can field, throw, and run — but at some point he’s going to have to dial up the pitch recognition.

Berry was atrocious, which comes on the heels of an atrocious first full pro season. The Marlins took him sixth overall in 2022, even though he lacked a position, but he just didn’t hit at all this year, with a .233/.284/.388 line between High A and Double A. He’s playing third base in the AFL, and he doesn’t belong anywhere near the position, lacking the hands or range for it. While he’s hitting for more average in the AFL, it’s a lot of soft contact, with just one hard-hit ball in the three games I saw (a single at 108 mph).

Kyle Manzardo, 1B, Cleveland Guardians
Kyle Manzardo is also on Peoria, and the former Rays farmhand — traded to Cleveland this July for Aaron Civale — hit the longest and loudest homer I saw all week, 460 feet (with a little help from the wind) at Salt River. Manzardo can hit, and it was a lot of hard contact when I saw him this week, including that homer (108.3 mph) and several doubles. He showed good pitch recognition as well, getting hits on all pitch types. He can hit velocity, and the homer came off a hanging changeup. It’s a pretty simple swing and if the added power he’s shown since he came off the injured list for Cleveland — six homers in 21 games in Triple-A Columbus, then three more in eight games in the hitter-friendly AFL — he’s going to be at least an above-average regular at first.

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The comments on DeLauter are not promising, and his stats have tailed off after a solid start.
Manzardo like a lot of power of hitters has bad days mixed in with the good, but is now up to 5 homers and yesterday went 3 for 4 with a double and triple and single; he's not homerun or bust. In fact, he's usually described as less of a power hitter than a hitter for average. Bottom line, though, is that he could be ready to give us another solid bat in the middle of the lineup. A top 7 of Kwan-Ramirez-Naylor-Manzardo-Gimenez-the mystery RF-and Naylor could be pretty decent.

The 2023 Rawlings Gold Glove Award finalists were announced on Wednesday afternoon, with winners set to be unveiled on ESPN’s “Baseball Tonight” on Sunday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m. ET.

There are three finalists per league at each position, including the utility spot, which was awarded for the first time in 2022.

'SECOND BASE
Mauricio Dubón, HOU
Andrés Giménez, CLE
Marcus Semien, TEX

Giménez is the reigning AL Gold Glove Award winner at second base, and he led AL second basemen with +18 OAA this season -- third-best for any fielder at any position. Semien was the winner at second base before that, in 2021, and was a finalist in '22 but lost to Giménez. The versatile Dubón is seeking his first career Gold Glove Award in his first full season in Houston.

THIRD BASE
Alex Bregman, HOU
Matt Chapman, TOR
José Ramírez, CLE

Chapman is a perennial Gold Glove contender at third base -- he's a three-time winner (and two-time Platinum Glove winner on top of that), most recently in 2021 with the A's. Bregman and Ramírez have both won Silver Slugger Awards, but neither has a Gold Glove in his trophy case.

LEFT FIELD
Austin Hays, BAL
Steven Kwan, CLE
Daulton Varsho, TOR

Kwan won the AL Gold Glove Award in left field as a rookie in 2022, but he now faces stiff competition from Varsho, who was an NL Gold Glove finalist in right field last year for the D-backs. Now in the AL, Varsho tied for fifth with +11 Outs Above Average, ahead of Kwan's +9 OAA. And don't discount Hays, who was a first-time All-Star this season and could be a first-time Gold Glover, too.

civ ollilavad wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2023 9:14 am The comments on DeLauter are not promising, and his stats have tailed off after a solid start.
Manzardo like a lot of power of hitters has bad days mixed in with the good, but is now up to 5 homers and yesterday went 3 for 4 with a double and triple and single; he's not homerun or bust. In fact, he's usually described as less of a power hitter than a hitter for average. Bottom line, though, is that he could be ready to give us another solid bat in the middle of the lineup. A top 7 of Kwan-Ramirez-Naylor-Manzardo-Gimenez-the mystery RF-and Naylor could be pretty decent.

You have no reason to worry about DeLauter. All he does is hit. The game is played on the field. Not in Baseball America or in the words of Keith Law.

It's merely a fact that he was not hitting for a week, but he returned with 3 hits Monday. If his swing is too long, that could be a worry. It was for Zimmre

Guardians’ offseason checklist: Power, trades and, oh yeah, a new manager CLEVELAND, OHIO - JULY 03: Pitcher Shane Bieber #57 of the Cleveland Guardians watches from the dugout prior to the game against the Atlanta Braves at Progressive Field on July 03, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
7h ago

28
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CLEVELAND — It will be a future-shaping winter for Cleveland Guardians president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff as they identify Terry Francona’s replacement, dangle Shane Bieber on the trade market, mull over options to upgrade a lacking lineup and plot out the best course of action for a few rising prospects.

Here’s the Guardians’ offseason checklist.
Step 1: Hire a manager

In the next week or so, someone will pose for photos in a white Guardians jersey and answer a slew of questions about following in Francona’s footsteps. When Cleveland hired Francona in 2012, he made the decision easy for the organization’s brass. Their process required only a few steps because of how invested he was from the jump.

So, the Guardians really haven’t had to do this since 2009 when they replaced Eric Wedge with Manny Acta, who emerged from a wide cast of candidates that included Bobby Valentine as a finalist even though Valentine acknowledged he didn’t know much about the team or its players or the division or the American League and didn’t even know if he wanted the job. (Huh, wonder why they didn’t go with him?)

It’s no surprise, then, that the Guardians’ initial list included 45 names with a diverse set of experiences and backgrounds. From the start, an external hire seemed more likely, especially with Sandy Alomar Jr. opting not to interview. Keep an eye on Stephen Vogt (longtime catcher who retired after the 2022 season and spent ’23 on the Seattle Mariners’ staff), Carlos Mendoza (New York Yankees bench coach) and Clayton McCullough (Los Angeles Dodgers first-base coach). Among internal options, John McDonald (longtime player and then coach in the organization) and Chris Valaika (hitting coach) have received consideration as well.

It’s also worth keeping in mind the club could find non-managerial roles for certain interviewees, depending on the new manager’s staff preferences. A lesser-experienced candidate who doesn’t get the job, for instance, could wind up as Cleveland’s new bench coach or senior executive coordinator of run prevention or assistant to the manager. And the more candidates the Guardians vet, the more they can learn about other clubs’ ideas and perspectives. That could prove beneficial for an organization that has had limited outside hiring on the coaching staff and in the front office over the past decade.

The Guardians remain a young team that, with some front-office roster polishing, could contend for at least a division title next season. This isn’t the traditional situation of a new manager taking over a team either launching a rebuild or mired in one. Finding the right fit is paramount.
Step 2: Learn from mistakes
Josh Bell hit .233/.318/.383 with 11 home runs in 97 games with the Guardians. (Kamil Krzaczynski / USA Today)

Failure is the best teacher, and Mike Zunino, Josh Bell, Will Benson, Nolan Jones, Junior Caminero and Amed Rosario will be part of the front office’s curriculum this winter.

What can they learn from shortcomings on the field and transaction wire? What do former players flourishing elsewhere tell them about their ongoing bid to elevate their hitting development program to the standard they established with their envied pitching factory? What conclusions can they draw from breakout performances by the Naylor brothers, disappointing results from nearly everyone in their outfield, an underwhelming showing by their cast of shortstop candidates, prospects who blossomed (Chase DeLauter, Kyle Manzardo, Juan Brito) and others who floundered (George Valera)?

“Some of that is a huge credit to our scouting and development system — that we were able to build up players like that,” Chernoff said when I asked what Benson, Jones, Caminero and others reveal about the team’s hitting development. “And unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for them to impact our major-league team and we had to make decisions on them for roster management or because we wanted to acquire somebody else. You look up afterwards, in hindsight, sometimes you wish you could have them back. But the situations were what they were at the time.”

It’s critical for this organization to develop hitters, nail MLB Draft picks and assemble a deep pipeline of talent, not only to fill the major-league roster but also so it can flip prospects for established talent to bolster areas where it’s deficient. Of course, the Guardians have to size up those deals properly, too. They dealt away two burgeoning outfielders before last season, thinking they had sufficient depth with Myles Straw, Will Brennan and Oscar Gonzalez aboard, and they have yet to move any of the middle infielders they’ve been stockpiling for years.
Step 3: Improve the lineup

The new manager can scribble the names Steven Kwan, José Ramírez, Josh Naylor, Bo Naylor and Andrés Giménez in permanent ink on his lineup card. After that, though, this lineup needs reinforcements.

Manzardo, a potential middle-of-the-order first baseman who has done nothing but mash doubles and home runs in Columbus and Arizona since joining the organization over the summer, seems ready for his first major-league opportunity. Brito, DeLauter and Valera could join the fray at some point in 2024, though it’s probably wise if the club doesn’t simply bank on their playing key roles and instead allows them to force the issue.

(An aside on Manzardo: He’s clearly in the club’s 2024 plans and has been since the team traded Bell — who would have blocked Manzardo at first base/DH — one day after acquiring Manzardo from the Tampa Bay Rays. Will the new manager be as averse to rookies in the April lineup as Francona was? Manzardo could be a favorite to win AL rookie of the year. If he were to make the Opening Day roster and finish in the top three, the Guardians would net draft pick compensation. If Manzardo finishes in the top two, regardless of when he reaches the majors, he would earn a full year of service time, nullifying any roster manipulation games the club plays. Tanner Bibee is facing that quandary; he stands to benefit immensely if he finishes second to the heavy favorite, Gunnar Henderson. This is getting ahead of ourselves, but it’s something the front office will undoubtedly discuss as spring training approaches. There’s no sense in rooting against your own player, and the Guardians need his bat in the middle of the lineup, so it might make the most sense to just start him from Day 1. Or, they could sign him to a long-term deal in the spring and make all of this moot.)

The understatement of the year: Cleveland needs an established outfielder or two. The shortstop situation remains messy and fluid, with Gabriel Arias poised to enter spring training with a leg up on Brayan Rocchio and Tyler Freeman. The front office seems open (but hesitant) to shifting Kwan to center and/or Giménez to shortstop. Both could land their second consecutive Gold Glove in a couple of weeks.

The Guardians finished last in the league with 124 home runs. The Washington Nationals hit the second fewest, with 151. That difference of 27 was greater than the difference between the teams ranked 19th and 29th in home runs.

They need more power. They need more threats at the plate in general.
Myles Straw has three homers in three seasons with Cleveland. (Jay Biggerstaff / USA Today)

wRC+ by batting order spot

1. 100 (21st): Kwan was solid, unspectacular. He wants to make more hard contact.
2. 93 (26th): This is propped up a bit by Ramírez’s shifting into the No. 2 spot late in the season.
3. 112 (14th): Ramírez had, by his standards, a pedestrian season.
4. 106 (15th): Josh Naylor (128 wRC+) spent 73 games in this spot. The other No. 4 hitters: yikes.
5. 97 (20th): Bell was a massive disappointment.
6. 79 (26th): Ten players hit sixth; only David Fry (104) and Ramón Laureano (103) produced league-average offense.
7. 102 (5th): In an odd quirk, Giménez, Brennan and Arias hit well in this spot.
8. 82 (17th): Bo Naylor boosted a spot otherwise occupied most often by Straw and Mike Zunino.
9. 56 (28th): The two most common No. 9 hitters: Straw and Cam Gallagher. Enough said.

Overall: 92 (22nd)

These players also batted fourth at various points for the Guardians: Bell (31 games), Laureano (20), Kole Calhoun (19), Gonzalez (15), Giménez (two), Brennan (one) and Fry (one).

This isn’t a team that pursues top-end free agents, but there aren’t any on the outfield market other than Cody Bellinger. The best of the rest: Teoscar Hernández, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Kevin Kiermaier, Jason Heyward, Tommy Pham, Adam Duvall, Michael A. Taylor and Harrison Bader.

The more plausible way to upgrade the outfield? A trade or two. They could send out some prospects, or …
Step 4: The Bieber decision

Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Cleveland figures to assess the trade value of its starting pitcher who has limited team control.

Bieber burst onto the big-league scene in 2018 in a rotation that featured Corey Kluber (traded in December 2019), Carlos Carrasco (traded in January 2021), Trevor Bauer (traded in July 2019) and Mike Clevinger (traded in August 2020). In his first full season in the majors, 2019, Bieber teamed with fellow 2016 draft picks Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale to keep Cleveland afloat when injuries wrecked its rotation. The club traded Civale three months ago. Plesac became a free agent this month.

Does Bieber, with two injury-marred seasons in the past three years, have enough value to fetch a position player who could start for the Guardians daily? Is there someone with limited team control who might make sense in a one-for-one swap with a team desperate for pitching? Or might it be prudent to hang on to Bieber and recoup a draft pick after next season or re-evaluate at the trade deadline? The buzz around Bieber should increase as the Winter Meetings approach. Cleveland’s front office is no stranger to this circumstance.
Step 5: Upgrading on the margins

The Guardians should deploy a playoff-caliber rotation in 2024. There are building blocks in the lineup and bullpen. Depth is a necessity. Making the right tweaks to the roster will be pivotal.

The free agents include Calhoun, Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López.

López would be a perfect fit for a bullpen that could use a steady eighth-inning option, but he might have priced himself out of Cleveland’s comfort zone. The Guardians rarely outbid other teams for free-agent relievers. Calhoun achieved his goal of reaching 10 years of service time, sprinkled his wisdom throughout the clubhouse and now could call it a career. Giolito could have secured a massive payday with a productive contract year, but his second half with the Los Angeles Angels and Guardians was a nightmare.

(A wild Giolito stat: He became one of four starting pitchers in major-league history to allow 40 or more home runs and tally 200 or more strikeouts in a season. The other three are Hall of Famers: Phil Niekro (1979), Bert Blyleven (1986) and Jack Morris (1986). Giolito had, by far, the best strikeout rate, the lowest innings total and the worst home run rate and ERA of the group.)

The Guardians have 10 players eligible for arbitration: Bieber, Gallagher, Laureano, Sam Hentges, James Karinchak, Triston McKenzie, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Enyel De Los Santos and Nick Sandlin. MLB Trade Rumors, in its annual forecast, estimated those 10 would account for just shy of $40 million, though a couple of non-tender candidates in that bunch (Gallagher, maybe Karinchak) could be cut loose in a few weeks. If they don’t mind paying Laureano $4 million to $5 million, he could fit in the old Ryan Raburn/Brandon Guyer/Jordan Luplow platoon role, but with better defense.

Prospects eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft unless they’re added to the 40-man roster by Nov. 17 include Johnathan Rodríguez, Aaron Bracho, Cade Smith, Daniel Espino, Tanner Burns, Mason Hickman, Micah Pries and Daniel Schneemann.

Espino is a lock to be added. Smith seems likely to be protected as well. Rodríguez is an interesting case: He enjoyed a breakout season (.897 OPS, 29 home runs, a bushel of strikeouts), but the Guardians typically haven’t prioritized players with that profile. They left Gonzalez and Benson unprotected in recent years, for example. Bracho, another semi-intriguing option, is only 22 and enjoyed a resurgence in 2023, but that came on the heels of a pair of brutal years at the plate.

Prospects eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft unless they’re added to the 40-man roster by Nov. 17 include Johnathan Rodríguez, Aaron Bracho, Cade Smith, Daniel Espino, Tanner Burns, Mason Hickman, Micah Pries and Daniel Schneemann.

Always a big fan of Rule 5 draft, particularly since only us esotric baseball fans know what in the world it is.

It certainly seems awfully unlikely that they will let someone else draft Rodriguez. They should have a few spots on the roster available without making any radical surgery so why not. I would expect them to react to what's happened with benson and Jones to act more aggressively with this potential power hitter.
Daniel Schneeman came from oblivion to have a very good offensive season in Columbus. But the roster is full of middle infielders, there's gotta be a limit. A likely choice by some team not so endowed but we can afford the loss.
Burns was a high draft pick who has kind of treaded water at Akron; moved to the bullpen toward the end of the year andthat's probably his future role.
Smith is not an overwhelming talent but had pretty decent strikeout numbers; I don't know what his scouting report says.

We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Cleveland Indians 1995 World Series pitcher Jim Poole. Poole, 57, was diagnosed with ALS just two years ago.
Our thoughts are with the Poole family.

By Mandy Bell
October 26, 2023

Cleveland Guardians
My fifth season on the beat has officially come to a close, but that doesn’t mean these newsletters won’t continue to be delivered to your inbox each week throughout the offseason. Let’s get into the good stuff:

With youth comes a lot of uncertainties, as the Guardians have learned over the last few years. And yet, the 2023-24 offseason seems to be filled with more unknowns than the last handful of winters.

Let’s take a look at the five biggest questions the Guardians face heading into the offseason:

1. Who will be the manager?

This is, obviously, the biggest question to answer. The Guardians need a manager to help determine a plan for the 2024 season. What will his message be? How will he work with the front office to determine a blueprint for next year? Who will he have on his coaching staff? All of these questions need to be answered before the Guardians get into anything else.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report that Cleveland was bringing Seattle bullpen and quality control coach Stephen Vogt in for a second interview. Other external options like Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza and Dodgers first base coach Clayton McCullough could still be in the mix. The team also interviewed internal candidates like hitting coach Chris Valaika and field coordinator John McDonald. On Wednesday, The Athletic was the first to link Brewers manager Craig Counsell to the Guardians, as well.

When a team starts with a list of 45 names to consider for an open managerial position, there are going to be plenty of qualified candidates to sift through. But the organization appears to be whittling down those options. And with the need to shift gears into focusing on 2024’s roster as soon as possible, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this decision be made in the next week or two.

Chris Antonetti
2. Who’s at shortstop?

The Guardians have Gabriel Arias, Tyler Freeman and Brayan Rocchio as the Major League-ready options. José Tena isn’t far behind. Eventually, Juan Brito could find his way into this mix. Cleveland also has the choice of shifting Andrés Giménez from second to shortstop and filling second base instead. But regardless, a middle infield spot will need to be filled.

Arias will need to prove that his .083 average (9-for-108) against lefties was a fluke and that he can be more than a platoon bat. Freeman will need to show that he can bring consistency offensively if given the opportunity. Rocchio will need to demonstrate that he’s ready for everyday playing time in the Majors, that he can provide offensively and that he can make all the routine plays at shortstop.

It’s still likely that Arias gets the first crack at earning the job, but nothing will be determined until everyone is back in Goodyear, Ariz., next spring.

3. Will Shane Bieber be part of the rotation?

The bigger question is: What is Bieber’s trade value?

Before the All-Star break, it seemed likely that Cleveland’s ace would be dealt at the Trade Deadline to capitalize on the year and a half of control he had left. Instead, he ended up injuring his shoulder and was sidelined until the final week of the regular season.

He proved that he was healthy enough to get back on the rubber, but because he now has just one year remaining before he enters free agency, plus he endured a two-month stint on the injured list that limited his time to get back onto the field, will the Guardians be able to get enough offensive help in return?

Cleveland needs an everyday bat. The breakouts of starters Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen have to give the front office some comfort to explore the idea of trading Bieber, especially if Triston McKenzie can come back healthy in ’24. The organization has never been shy in moving elite starters to try to build for the future. Time will tell if Bieber will be the next to go.

Kyle Manzardo
4. Is banking on the bat of Kyle Manzardo enough to lift this offense?

The simple answer is no. Manzardo, the team’s No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was acquired in the deal that sent Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay at the Trade Deadline. There’s every reason to believe he will be a solid hitter -- even one with some power potential -- at the big league level and could certainly be a great boost for an offense that needs some life. But the Guardians need to find more help. Cleveland ranked last in homers among all 30 teams this season and 29th in ’22. It was 29th in slugging percentage this year and 21st in ’22. And this season, it ranked 27th in runs scored.

To turn this offense around, it will take more than one bat (especially when that one bat will be a rookie).

5. Who’s the setup man?

James Karinchak isn’t the same hurler as he was the last few years. Trevor Stephan had a shakier season this year than he’s been used to. So, who will be trusted to get the ball to closer Emmanuel Clase?

The last two years, the Guardians have seen little changes in their bullpen. They added Reynaldo López in August and the righty threw 11 scoreless innings for his new team. If he wasn’t set for free agency this offseason (and will likely sign for a figure out of Cleveland’s typical range for a reliever) he’d be a slam-dunk addition for this organization. Instead, they’re left to figure out exactly who can fit into this picture.

Closer look at Guardians’ candidates to replace manager Terry Francona

By Zack Meisel
Oct 27, 2023

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CLEVELAND — On Oct. 6, 2012, three days after the conclusion of a rotten regular season, Cleveland struck an agreement with Terry Francona to steer the club back to respectability.

That managerial search couldn’t have been simpler, with two true candidates and one easy decision. This search, 11 years later and threatening to seep into November, with 45 or so candidates and enormous shoes to fill, is like locating Waldo at a candy cane factory.

The club continues to interview its top contenders and march toward the finish line on a replacement for the winningest manager in franchise history. There’s also expected to be turnover at other positions on staff. That will need to be sorted out once the new manager is identified.

With that in mind, here’s a closer look at the known candidates. Two leading options who didn’t make the cut: Sandy Alomar Jr., who chose not to interview, and Will Venable, who spoke with the club — he and GM Mike Chernoff were teammates at Princeton, and Venable still raves about his four-week stint with the organization during spring training in 2016 — but opted to stick with the Texas Rangers in his role as associate manager. Texas stands four wins from its first World Series title and manager Bruce Bochy is 68, so Venable could be the heir apparent.
Craig Counsell

Counsell is the big fish, and while some have suggested the Guardians are a real threat to land him, others find it difficult to envision. His contract as Milwaukee Brewers manager technically expires next week, but the club has granted teams permission to interview him. That includes the Guardians and New York Mets, two franchises that operate in different solar systems. With Counsell the most coveted participant in this game of managerial musical chairs, any team with interest might as well gauge his intentions before assessing other options. From Cleveland’s perspective, not only does Counsell offer more experience than just about any candidate they’ve considered, but he also has experience guiding a team with a low payroll to the playoffs.

If Counsell isn’t inclined to follow his old Milwaukee partner David Stearns to New York, no matter how much money Mets owner Steve Cohen tosses at him, he could simply opt to re-sign with the Brewers. Or, perhaps, he’ll hit it off with Cleveland’s brass, the same group that awarded Francona one of the league’s most lucrative managerial salaries.

Separate from his managerial prowess, it’d be quite the spectacle to have the guy who scored the greatest gut-punch of an opposing run in the 123-year history of the franchise attempt to end a World Series drought he helped to prolong — especially if he were to retain Alomar as a member of his staff, given Alomar cringes anytime someone mentions the 1997 World Series.
go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Brewers' Craig Counsell will interview for Mets' manager opening, and possibly others
Stephen Vogt

He’s known for the infectious personality and humorous touch that made Francona such an adept communicator. He can win over any room full of people. Vogt, who hails from the same area — Visalia, Calif. — as Francona’s old sidekick, Brad Mills, morphed from a regular dude who played baseball at a small school and endured early struggles and injuries in the minors into a two-time All-Star, an Oakland fan favorite and a well-respected veteran in the clubhouse.

Vogt, who turns 39 next week, seems to check a lot of boxes, though he does have a shorter track record of coaching experience than any other candidate. He retired after the 2022 season and spent the last year as the Seattle Mariners bullpen and quality control coach. He has held managerial aspirations for a while, though, so when he was sidelined for the 2018 season with the Brewers, he essentially spent the year as a coaching apprentice. Similar to Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika, another candidate, Vogt has noted the benefits of playing in the majors as the analytics/technology revolution unfolded, which helped him better understand the advantages of using the new resources and wave of information.
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Clayton McCullough
Clayton McCullough is a well-regarded coach for the Dodgers. (Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ first-base coach, McCullough, 43, was drafted by Cleveland in the 22nd round in 2002. He spent four seasons in their minor-league system before shifting to coaching. He started in the Toronto Blue Jays’ lower levels then joined the Dodgers in 2015 as their field coordinator. He became bench coach for Dave Roberts in 2021. (Roberts, of course, debuted with Cleveland in 1999. The club traded him to the Dodgers a couple of years later, and then he played for Francona in Boston.)

McCullough previously interviewed for the Mets job that ultimately went to Buck Showalter. His father, Howard, is a longtime scout for the Kansas City Royals. Freddie Freeman credited McCullough for helping him set career highs in stolen bases the last two years. Mookie Betts has referred to him as the best coach he’s had.

“It’s just trying not to be too over the top and force a relationship right away,” McCullough said earlier this year about connecting with the Dodgers’ stars. “(You can) tell me I’m trash. I can only try to get better.”
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Andy Green

Green appeared in 140 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Mets from 2004-09 before transitioning to a coaching role. He worked his way up through Arizona’s system before landing the Diamondbacks’ third-base coach gig in 2015. After that season, the San Diego Padres tabbed him as manager, replacing Pat Murphy (who has since served as Counsell’s bench coach in Milwaukee). After San Diego dismissed him in 2019, Green joined the Chicago Cubs’ staff as David Ross’ bench coach.

He’s thought to be sharp, prepared and a professor when it comes to teaching infield defense. He helped Chicago’s Nick Madrigal thrive in his first trial at third base last season.
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Carlos Mendoza

The New York Yankees’ bench coach since the 2020 season, Mendoza played in the minors for the San Francisco Giants and Yankees from 1997-2009, but never reached the majors. He spent a few seasons in independent ball, too. The native of Barquisimeto, Venezuela, the hometown of Guardians second baseman Andrés Giménez and longtime Cleveland pitcher Carlos Carrasco among other major leaguers, immediately started coaching in the Yankees’ system once his playing days ended. When the Yankees traveled to Detroit in late August, Mendoza coordinated a pregame meeting in which Miguel Cabrera, who also hails from Venezuela, offered advice and answered questions from the Yankees’ Venezuelan players.
Carlos Mendoza has been a coach on the Yankees major-league staff since 2018. (Elsa / Getty Images)

Mendoza joined New York’s major-league staff in 2018 as a quality control coach. Two years later, he replaced former Cleveland catcher Josh Bard as the club’s bench coach. Known to be a calming influence in the clubhouse, Mendoza has interviewed for openings with the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers and Chicago White Sox in recent years. Perhaps Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who played two seasons in Cleveland and maintains a good relationship with the club’s front office, could provide a ringing endorsement of his right-hand man.
Craig Albernaz

Known for a chatty, upbeat, self-deprecating personality, Albernaz has worked as the Giants’ bullpen coach for the last four seasons, while also aiding the team’s catchers with their work behind the plate. He helped Blake Sabol, for instance, with his defense. Even as the club’s bullpen coach, Albernaz had a seat in the team’s dugout during games. Before his stint in San Francisco, he spent five years coaching in the Tampa Bay Rays’ system. Albernaz does not have a contract for the 2024 season; the Giants hired Bob Melvin as their new manager this week, so their staff is also undergoing changes.

And along those lines, Kai Correa, San Francisco’s bench/infield coach, could receive consideration from teams. He has one year remaining on his contract, but it’s unknown whether he’ll be a part of Melvin’s staff. Correa, 35, has been well-regarded on the coaching circuit for his drills and clinics with infield defense. He worked his way to the Giants’ staff despite never playing professionally. Cleveland hired him as a minor-league infield instructor after he served as an assistant coach at Puget Sound and Northern Colorado. When the Giants dismissed Gabe Kapler before the final weekend of the 2022 season, Correa filled in as interim manager. He interviewed for the job before the team scooped up Melvin from the Padres.
John McDonald

Drafted by the Indians in 1996, McDonald spent parts of seven big-league seasons (of 16 in all) with the organization. He played for the club from 1999-2004, and then returned for a two-week reunion in June 2013, when he appeared in eight games during Francona’s first year at the helm. He’s worked in the organization since he retired as a player nearly a decade ago, spending most of his time in player development. He was a special assistant in the department and later an infield coordinator, bouncing around to affiliates to connect with coaches and players. He spent a ton of time, for instance, working with former top prospect Nolan Jones on his defense at third base.
Chris Valaika

The Guardians have been high on Valaika’s future since they handed him a three-year contract before the 2022 season. Internally, they have appreciated his desire to tailor instruction to the individual, rather than apply blanket direction to his cast of hitters. He was lauded in his first year for the club’s high-contact approach, which guided the Guardians to the playoffs. The team took a significant step back offensively in 2023, though. How much of that falls on Valaika’s shoulders versus the front office’s jurisdiction is debatable, and it might be immaterial as the team determines which candidates are the best communicators, motivators and thinkers.

Valaika caught the coaching bug toward the end of his decade-long professional career in 2015. He coached at UC Santa Barbara (a team that featured a command artist named Shane Bieber), worked at a facility that specialized in biomechanics and body movement analysis, and then joined the Cubs as a minor-league hitting instructor. He became the Cubs’ assistant hitting coach in 2021 before the Guardians tabbed him to replace Ty Van Burkleo, who had been Francona’s hitting coach for the first nine seasons of his tenure.

When Cleveland hired Valaika two years ago, Luke Carlin, another well-regarded young coach in the system who played with Valaika at Triple-A Iowa in 2015, noted Valaika’s history in both major- and minor-league clubhouses, his ability to build relationships and his curiosity about the technical aspects of the game as qualities that would serve him well.

“Those are the traits,” Carlin said at the time, “where you’re like, ‘OK, this guy might be a really good coach.'”

Craig Counsell meets with Guardians, Mets to follow, per sources: Can Brewers retain him?

By Zack Meisel and Will Sammon
7h ago
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Craig Counsell, the man partially responsible for prolonging Cleveland’s World Series drought a quarter-century ago, could be the manager to halt the hex. Counsell met with Guardians brass in Cleveland on Monday about the club’s managerial vacancy, multiple league sources said.

League sources indicated Counsell will next interview with the New York Mets, but a formal date for that meeting was not yet known as of Monday morning. Meanwhile, the Milwaukee Brewers aim to retain their longtime manager, and some internal hope, league sources suggested, exists that they will. As one of the game’s most well-regarded managers, it stands to reason that every team with a vacancy is interested in Counsell, though some teams will be more attractive to him than others.




Counsell scored the winning run in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series in 1997, vaulting the Marlins, in their infancy, to a title and sending Cleveland to another crushing defeat. The Guardians’ championship drought stands at 75 years, the longest active spell for any professional sports team in one city.

Counsell could be the final — and certainly is the most experienced — candidate to visit the Guardians’ offices at Progressive Field this month. Stephen Vogt, who retired in 2022 after a decade in the big leagues as a journeyman catcher, is also thought to be receiving consideration. Vogt served as a coaching apprentice on Counsell’s staff in Milwaukee in 2018 as he rehabbed a shoulder injury.

The Guardians had intended to identify a successor to Terry Francona by about the end of October, a source said, but Counsell’s availability muddled their process, which began with 45 or so candidates. Cleveland has interviewed Cubs bench coach Andy Green, Dodgers first-base coach Clayton McCullough, Yankees bench coach Carlos Mendoza and Giants bullpen coach Craig Albernaz. The club has also talked to internal candidates John McDonald and Chris Valaika.

None of Cleveland’s other options can match the track record of Counsell, the Brewers’ winningest manager. Counsell’s contract with Milwaukee, his hometown team, officially expires Tuesday, but the Brewers granted the Guardians and Mets permission to speak with him.

Multiple people within the industry expect Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns to pry Counsell out of Milwaukee, but Cleveland has acted aggressively as well. For the Mets and Stearns, Counsell represents a sensible choice. Counsell and Stearns experienced the most successful run of Brewers baseball together from 2015-22. From 2018-21, the Brewers advanced to the playoffs each season, setting a franchise record and tying the number of times (four) it had previously reached the postseason altogether.

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Plus, Mets owner Steve Cohen, baseball’s richest owner, could make Counsell the highest-paid manager in baseball. Despite their perennially paltry payroll, the Guardians did make Francona among the highest-paid managers in the league throughout his 11-year tenure.

Counsell owns leverage in all situations, especially when it comes to the Brewers. He’d be incredibly difficult to replace in Milwaukee. Counsell, who lives in Wisconsin year-round, is believed to have made $3.5 million last season. Those close to him suggested that the opportunity to raise the floor for managerial salaries means a lot to Counsell. It sounds like if the Brewers want to re-sign him, owner Mark Attanasio will have to make a solid offer.