Offseason Primer: The Guardians Have Some Question Marks Headed Into 2025

[TopGunn#22]

Great point tony&rodney.  One I was going to make after I had read through all the comments (and you beat me to it).

The Cleveland bullpen was unbelievably good in 2024.  It is the primary reason they won the division.  It will regress to some degree in 2025 starting with Clase.  He may still save 40+ games in 2025 and he may still be unhittable, but he will certainly not duplicate the truly EPIC season he had for a closer.  Just take a look at his final, regular season numbers.  Has ANYBODY been THAT GOOD as a closer?  We've had some tremendous seasons by closers over the years, but Clase's 2024 is one for the ages.

And on the flip side of the probable, to some degree, regression for their BP I can see a pretty good chance for their starting rotation to show some bounce back.  Bieber may or may not leave as a FA but if he leaves that's a big hole to fill.  McKenzie, Williams and Allen are all better SP's than they showed this year.  Bibee and Lively really stepped up and Boyd and Cobb were great additions.  (certainly when compared to Trevor Richards).  I could see their starting pitching being somewhat better in 2025.

Lane Thomas at $8.3 million is a steal.  There's no way the Guardians let him walk.  Manzardo taking over for Naylor would be interesting, but I just can't see Cleveland letting Naylor go.  A 1B/DH time share between Naylor and Manzardo seems more likely.  

The entire division division with the exception of the White Sox took a giant step forward.  Whether it's the Pohlad's or somebody else, ownership needs to realize they have to step up to be competitive and not bring home another 4th place finish.

I'm in complete agreement with Riverbrian on the excessive platooning especially with Margot/Farmer types.  Wallner, Larnach, Kirilloff, Julien and Kiersey will never learn how to hit LH pitching at the major league level unless they FACE LH pitching.  This trend will need to stop for sure once Emmanuel Rodriguez and Walker Jenkins arrive on the scene.  E-Rod seems to have extreme plate discipline no matter who is throwing to him and Jenkins wasn't taken #5 overall because there was a concern he may need to be platooned. 

Having costly, low caliber vets like Margot and Farmer on a roster for a team that acts like paying a RP $2 million per year is an extravagance is not proper roster construction.  I'm hoping that with the eventual new ownership we have an organizational purge of the old and a new set of front office people with a different outlook, strategy and philosophy.  That means a new manager, some new coaches, no more Dave St. Peter etc...

Retain what the new group thinks was done well by the previous regime and put your own stamp on what you think the Twins need to do to be competitive into the future.