Guardians GM just plainly stated what all fans dreaded and it's infuriating

While the Cleveland Guardians are the gold standard for small-market MLB teams, it’s also clear that some of the Guardians’ “small-market” maneuverings are self-inflicted (at best) or excuses for not wanting to spend money (at worst). 

That duality was on display this past offseason when the Guardians stayed out of the outfield market in lieu of signing some cheap bullpen arms, much to the chagrin of seemingly every baseball fan in Northeast Ohio. 

And Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff addressed that theme on Wednesday in a video hit with the Foul Territory podcast and let's just say his answers were… uninspiring. 

While Chernoff spoke a lot of truth about the Guardians’ unparalleled developmental pipeline, he also all but confirmed the Guardians will never be in the running for any marquee prospects.

“We’re a small market and in today’s economic environment in baseball we can’t go out and sign top tier free agents in today’s economic landscape,” he said. 

Which is fair. No one is expecting the Guardians to go after Kyle Tucker or Pete Alonso (which is a bit of a disheartening though in itself). 

But it’s one thing to stay out of the free agent market, but it’s another to not pay the team’s internal talent. While the Guardians’ ownership earned a bit of goodwill by signing José Ramírez to yet another team-friendly extension, it doesn’t take away from the fact that Steven Kwan seems destined to follow the path of superstars past. 

Mike Chernoff’s comments about Guardians’ offseason should infuriate every Guardians fan

Even if part of the eason for the Guardians’ inaction around their outfield is due to the team’s number of exciting young prospects, the rookie wall is coming. It may not hit all of them at once (and they may not hit it hard), but there’s going to be a point during the season where one or more of them run into struggles. 

And instead of getting a solid insurance option like Brendan Donovan or Austin Hays, they signed Stuart Fairchild to a minor league deal and called it a day. 

And it’s not like the Guardians are a rebuilding team; they’ve won two straight American League titles and are led by one of the best managers in baseball in Stephen Vogt and a true superstar in Ramírez. 

Those two have been the biggest reasons for the Guardians’ success over the past two seasons, and they keep proving they’re able to do more with less. And Chernoff’s comments make it seem like that’s not going to change any time soon. 

The Guardians are clearly among baseball’s best at scouting and finding talent on the margins, but that’s only going to go so far without some kind of big splash. 

Don’t hold your breath on that happening any time soon.