Cleveland Guardians: 4 burning questions entering the offseason

4 burning questions entering the offseason for the Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians will enter the offseason with a handful of glaring questions around the organization. The first losing season in a decade will bring about such questions, but they are far from exclusive to the playing field. From the team name to the bench, Cleveland’s upcoming offseason has the potential to be one of the most important in recent memory.

With only a few games left in the 2021 World Series at most, eyes are turning to the offseason for majority of clubs in Major League Baseball. Everyone is weighing their options, but for Cleveland there’s an extra layer. Not only does the team have to work on improving the roster for 2022, but they also have to deal with off-the-field issues with the impending name change, which brings us to the first burning question of the 2022 offseason.

What happens with the Cleveland Guardians name change?

While the on-field product should be the focal point of the offseason, Cleveland fans are left wondering what they will end up calling their team on Opening Day. The inevitable name change for Cleveland was taken with mixed reviews from fans and now a roller derby team is attempting to block the change all together.

The Cleveland Guardians, roller derby edition, are suing the Cleveland Guardians, baseball edition, over the name. Scratching the surface, the roller derby team is saying that the baseball team knew of the roller derby team before deciding to take their name. The catch is, the baseball team owns the copyright to the name.

That’s a whole story in itself, but the fact of the matter is that we’re only a few short months from Spring Training and the name change is still a bit up in the air. Activity by the team indicates that the “Indians” moniker will be retired regardless, but whether or not Guardians will be used still might be undecided.

Will Terry Francona return to manage the Cleveland Guardians in 2022?

The rumors around Terry Francona returning to the bench have been quiet of late. Since the front office committed to Francona if he’s healthy, there really hasn’t been much talk. With the wonderful game of manger musical chairs that happens every offseason, Francona is now the longest tenured coach with one team in the game, but that doesn’t exactly mean he’s locked in for 2022.

The fact of the matter is that Francona has missed large chunks of the last two seasons for health concerns. He stepped away at the trade deadline this past season and missed more than half of the shortened 2020 campaign. If healthy, he’s still a strong manager. However, that’s a big “if” right now.

Nothing is set in stone yet that Francona will return in 2022 and even if he does, for how long will he be back? DeMarlo Hale and Sandy Alomar Jr. have filled the interim role well in Francona’s absence, but a guessing game at manager isn’t a sustainable option. There needs to be a bit more clarity and with the questions being rooted in Francona’s health, we most likely won’t get definitive answers. Hopefully, he can make it through 2022 and this stops being a consistent question around the team.

Will the Cleveland Guardians avoid another blockbuster trade?

Blockbuster trades have become the theme of the offseason for Cleveland over the last few seasons. Between the 2020 and 2021 season the club sent Francisco Lindor to the New York Mets. The offseason between 2019 and 2020 saw Corey Kluber dealt for Emmanuel Clase. The December between 2018 and 2019 was the trade of Edwin Encarnacion. What could this offseason bring?

The hope is nothing. Cleveland has spent the last three seasons shedding large contracts and adding future assets, preparing for right now. The rebuilding of the organization. There are very few pieces left to move. However, there are enough that this is still a talking point.

The aforementioned bargain contract of Jose Ramirez is one that nearly all other 29 teams would love to get their hands on. Would Cleveland trade their best player? Hopefully not, but that hasn’t stopped them in the past. The difference is that Lindor, Kluber and Encarnacion were all going to weigh down the books for Cleveland. Ramirez will be far from that.

Given all the facts of the situation, Ramirez shouldn’t be in trade talks, but it’s also hard to ignore the history of the front office. Nearly everyone around Cleveland doesn’t want to move Ramirez, but are the Dolans included in that?