Guardians ranked higher than expected following Winter Meetings dealings

The activity of the Cleveland Guardians this past week was quite surprising, to say the least. Not only did they trade an elite defensive second baseman in Andres Gimenez to the Blue Jays, but they then took part of their return from Toronto and turned it into a Luis Ortiz, a candidate to make the rotation if he can beat out a few other middling arms. Despite their eagerness to make moves that have put one spot on their major league roster in a state of flux, the Guardians still find themselves ranked inside the Top 10 of a recent MLB Power Ranking.

Appearing as part of Joel Reuter's post-Winter Meetings MLB Power Ranking on Bleacher Report, the Guardians were ranked surprisingly high, coming in as the eighth-ranked team on this list. The series of trades by Cleveland does not appear to have as much of an impact on their ranking as one would think. Perhaps the state of the Guardians' rotation was considered to be a larger issue in Reuter's eyes, and taking a chance on Ortiz as a way to improve it is considered more valuable than hanging on to the strong defensively yet inconsistent and underwhelming offensively Gimenez. 

With Gimenez now out of the picture, the Guardians will have to find someone to take his place in the starting nine. Reuter believes there are some external options they will explore, "There are a handful of buy-low second basemen on the market they will likely kick the tires on now there's a glaring hole at the position.". Taking the buy-low route seems to be the most likely outcome for the Guardians if they are going to consider someone who is not in the organization at this time.

When it comes to their internal options, the most notable name would be last year's first overall pick, Travis Bazzana, but the best bet would be the Guardians giving everyone else a chance and delaying his debut until later this season. These players could include the likes of Juan Brito, Angel Martinez, Daniel Schneemann, and Tyler Freeman. None of them are the long-term answer they truly need, but some combination of this group could give the Guardians the stopgap they need before Bazzana is ready to take over full-time.