4 moves the Cleveland Guardians should immediately make after the lockout ends

When baseball’s lockout eventually ends, what are the things the Cleveland Guardians should immediately do to get ready for the season?

Major League Baseball’s lockout will end someday, and we’re even allowing ourselves some hope that it may be over sooner than later.

So when the work stoppage does end and teams are once again free to do business as they please, here are four things the Cleveland Guardians should immediately do before the start of the 2022 season.

1. Trade for an outfielder (with years of control, of course)

We’ve spent plenty of time in these parts talking about potential outfield trade targets for the Guardians, from Bryan Reynolds and Jesse Winker to Cedric Mullins and possibly even Trey Mancini. Cleveland has glaring deficiencies in the outfield and ample minor-league talent to make a huge splash on the trade market, with plenty of teams that would be willing to listen to offers.

The time is right for the Guardians to make a significant trade that helps them build for the future while possibly even contending right now. There aren’t many, if any, realistic free-agent options that can come close to the return the Guardians would get in a trade; the time to make a move is now.