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.

How will the Cleveland Guardians use the “extra money” promised by ownership?

The ownership group of the Cleveland Guardians has pledged to do what is necessary to make the inaugural season of the new name a success, but the question is how? The initial reaction should be spending money. But even then, the same question of “how” comes up. How does ownership spend money to make the season a success?

There’s a few options that the team could explore. One, ownership could use an approach similar to that of the 2017 offseason and bring in big name free agents to create intrigue around the upcoming season. Two, the organization decides to invest in the future by signing current players to long-term deals before their price tags skyrocket.

Both options have worked in the past and are routes that are intriguing. Jose Ramirez was a deal that came at a time before he burst out and now he’s one of the best bargains in baseball. On the flip side, Edwin Encarnacion was an exciting signing that created hype and also produced for the club.

In terms of past success, the Ramirez route seemed to work a bit better. Looking forward, that’s how the money could be spent, but does that really create a splash heading into the 2022 season?