On to the off-season - Part II - An early look at our needs and early thoughts on potential solutions - 40 man roster construction

 OK, with this season and post-season fresh in our minds here are my kneejerk thoughts:

1) 40 man roster

You always have to start there.  I think they should protect Angel Martinez, Joey Cantillo and Peyton Battenfield.  Now Cantillo was hurt for the last half of the season and has an injury history.  If his current injury is significant and it will basically keep him from playing most or all of 2023, they could gamble on leaving him unprotected.  People have questioned whether we protect Battenfield due to his low velocity this year and the fact that he was hit around in the last half of the year.  Note that he was a reliever in college and only recently converted to a starter.  I think he has potential as a starter but equal or probably greater potential as a high leverage reliever going forward.  I think you protect him for that reason. 

Given that, here is an early look (similar to what I mentioned previously) of what our off-season 40-man roster should look like:

Catchers (2) - Naylor and Lavastida

NOTE: Hedges is not worth what it will cost him and Maile is replaceable.  He could be brought back on a minor league deal but he shouldn't occupy a roster spot this winter.

Infielders (10) - Ramirez, Rosario, Gimenez, Naylor, Arias, Freeman, Rocchio, Noel, Martinez, Tena

NOTE: This does not list Jones as an infielder but he can be sort of a super utility guy, playing third, first and RF.  We likely cnanot keep Martinez AND Tena on the roster.  One would have to be traded eventually but, for the purposes of this exercise, they should both be rostered now.  As you can see, now Owen Miller.  I hope we have moved on from him and we can get something useful for him instead of having to DFA him.  They have plenty of time.  Please, though, no more Tobias Myer-type guys.  That was a Bruce Ellingsen-like disaster we may have to live with for years.

Outfielders (8) - Benson, Brennan, Gonzalez, Kwan, Palacios, Straw, Valera, Jones

NOTE: I see this outfield as being locked in.  I cannot see adding someone in from the outside as I think this is a workable group with potential, all of whom are capable of playing effectively for the Guardians in 2023.  Effectvely as in Oscar Gonzalez-type effectively.

Pitchers (20) - Battenfield, Bieber, Cantillo, Civale, Clase, Curry, De Los Santos, Gaddis, Hentges, Karinchak, McCarty, McKenzie, Morgan, Morris, Pilkington, Plesac, Quantrill, Sandlin, Stephan, Vargas

NOTE: This is a complete 40 man roster. For this to work we would have to DFA Anthony Gose.  It is unfortunate but, given his age and that he would not contribute in 2022 I see no choice.  Depneding on the severity of Sandlin's injury, we might DFA him, too, if he won't pitch in 2023.  McCarty is the wildcard.  I think he can be effective as a long-man, swing man but he is not tall and, if we got a good lefthanded reliever through free agency or trade, he might be expendable.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

If we are going to add anyone through free agency we would need to subtract from this roster.  Trading would be easier as you would subtract from this roster while adding needed players.  The key to trading is that Antonnetti and Chernoff need to get value for our extra assets.  The days of 'what did you expect to get for a guy like this?' have to be done.  Think what we got for Joey Wendle, not what we got for Mark Mathias (no disrespect meant against Andres Melendez but I don't think that was nearly an even trade) or Tobias Myers trades. Returns that will help our team now and good value in those trades is what I am talking about.  The FO needs to show they can make those trades, not get robbed in those trades.