What's The Future For This Roster?

 Now that we have this roster let's look at the future of this roster, both this year and in the future.

Starting Pitchers:

Shane Beiber

Aaron Civale

Zach Plesac

Cal Quantrill

Triston McKenzie

Eli Morgan

Cody Morris

Logan Allen

Konnor Pilkington

Tobias Myers 

Peyton Battenfield (minors)

Logan T. Allen (minors)

Adam Scott (minors, if not taken in Rule 5)

Carlos Vargas (dead roster spot)

Thoughts: The Guardians are a little short in terms of experienced starting pitcher depth.  Morgan and Logan Allen have not shown they can be starters on a championship caliber team but do offer experience in an emergency.   Frankly, I don't know if the Guardians think Myers will fit better as a starter or a bullpen option but he s, on paper, along with Morris, the first options in the minors if the Indians would need an 8th starter.  Realistically, Pilkington,  Morris, Logan T. Allen and Battenfield need a little more seasoning with Morris maybe ending up this year n the bullpen.  A possible addition to the starting depth could be Trevor Stephan but his stuff seems to play better for short stints in the bullpen/arms barn.  While Vargas is on the 40-man roster he is clearly not an option as he missed the last two seasons and has never pitched above rookie ball.

Bullpen

Emmanuel Clase

James Karinchak

Trevo Stephan

Sam Hentges

Anthony Gose

Nick Sandlin

Logan Allen (if not a starter)

Tobias Myers (if not a starter)

Cody Morris (if not a starter)

Thoughts: This unit was very short even before the loss of Francisco Perez and J.C. Mejia (presumably).  Unlike in past years, I don't see any real minor league options for 2022, although some (like Justin Garza did this year) generally put themselves in the major league picture during the year.  The bullpen also lacks ANY veteran presence at all.  NONE.  With all the relievers on the free agent market I think the Guardian will be in the market for at least two and maybe three veteran relievers with some closing experience.  

Catching

Austin Hedges

Bryan Lavastida

Bo Naylor (minors)

Thoughts: This position is even thinner than the bullpen.   Lavastida is not ready and Naylor is a little further behind with the bat although he is probably closer to major league ready defenisvely.  Obvioulsy the Indians will need to sign 2 backup catchers, one for the major league roster and one for insurance on the AAA roster.  My guess is that they will go to spring training with a couple of non-roster invitees or only one if they re-sign Roberto Perez if he will agree to a $2 million dollar deal or so with significant games played incentives.  There are really no minor league options after Naylor as most of our minor league catchers are organizatonal guys.   The one other catching prospect we had, Yainer Diaz, was traded to Houston in the Myles Straw deal.  However, his skill is hitting and I don't know that he would have cracked our top 20 prospects had he not been traded. 

Infield:

First base:  

Bobby Bradley, 

Josh Naylor

Middle infielders: 

Amed Rosario, 

Andres Gimenez, 

Yu Chang, 

Owen Miller, 

Ernie Clement, 

Gabriel Arias, 

Richie Palacios 

Brayan Rocchio (minors), 

Tyler Freeman (minors), 

Jose Tena (dead roster spot)

Jose Fermin (minors, if he survives the Rule 5 draft)

Third basemen

Jose Ramirez

Nolan Jones

Johnkensy Noel (dead roster spot)

Thoughts:  The Guardians are both set up with and plagued with depth here.  They have an unsettled second base situation as well as too much ML ready depth to be supported on the 40-man roster.  In looking for bullpen help some or all of Yu Chang, Owen Miller and Ernie Clement will likely lose their roster spots and have to be DFA'd, if they are not traded.   The middle infielders who were just added to the roster probably all need more minor league seasoning.   The Guardians are set at first base where Bradley will be starting but Naylor's spot on the roster is not set as he is not a good outfielder and s only a passable first baseman.   The best scenario for the Indians is to open the season with Naylor on the 60 day DL to see if he can work himself into playing form that can help the Guardians.   Even before his injury last year he was starting to look like a last guy on the bench sort of player.  Valuable but replaceable.  For third basemen we have Ramirez, any of the middle infielders and Nolan Jones, even though Jones probably still needs half a year at AAA to finish off his development and determine, finally, what his upside is.  Noel and Tena are both dead roster space as they are so far from the majors they won't be helping the Guardians this year or even the first half of 2023.  I still would like to see what it would cost us to get Whit Merrifield and Salvador Perez from Kansas City.  

Outfielders:

Myles Straw

Franmil Reyes (also the primary DH)

Bradley Zimmer

Oscar Mercado

Steven Kwan

George Valera (minors)

Oscar Gonzalez (minors, if he is not picked in the Rule 5 draft, backup DH)

Alexfri Planez (minors, if he is not picked in the Rule 5 draft)

Thoughts: The Indians need help in the outfield.   No way Zimmer and Mercado make it to spring training.  We will need one or both of their roster spots.   We will likely have to trade for or sign a veteran outfielder or two. 

OVERALL SUMMARY:

What the Indians did in adding all these guys to the roster s appropriate.   The problem with this is that we have 13 guys who have never played in the majors meaning we only have 27 guys on our roster who are likely to have a make the opening day 26-man roster meaning the front office has lots of work to do in making trades and/or signing free agents with simultaneously DFAing veterans from the end of the roster.