4 difficult decisions the Cleveland Guardians will have to make this offseason

The 2024 season was a productive one for the Cleveland Guardians. Expectations across the board were not high, with most projections having the Guardians being an afterthought at best. Not only were the Guardians able to surpass the expectations of most, but they were able to make it all the way to the American League Championship Series. Their success has altered how the organization has to operate heading into this offseason, making the following internal conversations they were going to need to have a bit more difficult.

1. How much more are the Guardians going to spend in 2025?

This is easily the one area that is going to be impacted the most by their success in 2024. The Guardians have not been known to be a team that spends a lot, and the times they usually do spend outside of their comfort zone, it is carefully orchestrated in order to avoid any additional unnecessary risk. It is easier said than done, but for the most part, Cleveland has been successful with this method of operation.

The problem is that it requires a team to play absolutely perfectly if they are matched up against a star-studded squad, and as everyone saw in the ALCS, the New York Yankees had a much larger margin for error than the Guardians. And while additional spending does not always result in winning at a higher rate, more often than not, it increases the margin for error, and that could have made a huge difference against the Yankees.

It must be acknowledged by the front office and ownership that now is the time to invest in this team and spend their way to increasing their chances. They have already done the hard part, building a stable roster foundation without having to spend a ton to do it. Now, they just need to fill in the gaps on the roster by spending and turning a team once considered an afterthought into a team that is feared leaguewide.

2. Re-sign Shane Bieber or let him walk in free agency?

There not be many people who actually thought the Cleveland Guardians had any chance of retaining the services of Shane Bieber beyond the 2024 season. Considering that Bieber had been dangled in trade talks in 2023 and most expecting him to be dealt by the deadline in 2024, Bieber playing in Cleveland in 2025 seemed like a long shot. Well, not anymore.

Bieber pitched just two games in 2024 and was shut down for the year after undergoing Tommy John surgery. This put an abrupt end to any trade rumors involving Bieber but did not stop the speculation of where he might pitch in 2025.

There is no doubt that Bieber will garner some attention on the free agent market, even though he missed pretty much all of last season as well as experiencing a drop in velocity and strikeout frequency in recent years. The only question is how much a team will be willing to pay someone who fits this description.

Cleveland may feel a lot more comfortable giving Bieber a contract with incentives that others feel may be too much when his past few seasons are factored into the equation. The Guardians will just have to determine where the point at which they are no longer comfortable from a financial standpoint. Then, and only then, will they have a better idea of how they will approach the free agency of Shane Bieber.

3. To keep or trade Josh Naylor?

This has been a discussion that has been going on for quite some time, and the expectation should be that it will continue until a decision has been made. The Cleveland Guardians are in a position where they must determine if they are going to keep or even extend Josh Naylor this offseason or look to trade him in an effort to continue their organizational philosophy of trading players before they hit free agency.

The only difference between Naylor and some others who have been moved in the past is that he is not the bonafide star that those players were. The return Cleveland would get may not be close to what they have received for those stars and that should be considered in their thought process here.

Another factor to take into account here is the presence of Kyle Manzardo. Yes, Manzardo is younger and less expensive, and that could ultimately be how Naylor's future is determined. But to hand the first base job to an inexperienced option without having a capable veteran in a supporting role would not be wise.

Has Naylor been a frustrating player to watch at times? Absolutely, no one is stating otherwise. But Naylor seems like a person who has shown elite capabilities but lacks consistency, it really seems like he is a year or two away from putting it all together and that is exactly the type of player the Guardians will be better off having in their lineup rather than trading away.