Guardians Rumors: Guardians interested in outfield additions… with a caveat 

Along with being one of baseball’s most frugal organizations, the Cleveland Guardians are also one of baseball’s tight-run organizations. 

As such, any kind of breadcrumb or leak about the front office’s plans are telling given how rarely they decide to publicly convey what they’re thinking. So when Ken Rosenthal had a tidbit about the Guardians’ outfield plans in his column in The Athletic this weekend, it raised our antennas a little bit. 

And, in a bit of good news for Guardians fans, Rosenthal's tidbit about the Guardians was in relation to Cleveland’s outfield, which is a clear area of improvement. 

The Guardians may not be done adding to their outfield

Per Rosenthal, the Guardians are interested in adding to their outfield with the caveat that the player doesn’t take opportunities away from young players like Chase DeLauter, George Valera and C.J. Kayfus (who Rosenthal interestingly listed as an outfielder) and hits right-handed.

While Kayfus spent some time in right field last season, he initially came up as an infielder and is still in the process of learning how to become a full-time outfielder. 

That said, six of the seven outfielders on the Guardians’ roster are left-handed (Johnathan Rodríguez is the lone right-hander), so adding a weak side platoon partner makes sense. 

Rosenthal went on to add that the Guardians considered reuniting with Lane Thomas this offseason before he signed a one-year, $5.25 million deal with the Royals, but only as a platoon bat, which seems to be what ultimately led to him signing with Kansas City. 

While the Guardians added right-handed hitting outfielder Stuart Fairchild on a minor league contract over the weekend, he’s more of a fourth-outfielder type than an everyday player, which may be what the Guardians are looking for considering they don't want to take time away from the younger outfielders on the roster. 

Even if the Guardians’ inability to add to their offense is incredibly frustrating, it seems like they’re at least exploring the kind of upgrades needed to win, which is a good sign. 

The good news out of all of this is that the Guardians seem to be privately standing by their public stance of giving playing time to the young players on their roster, which is the right move. 

Even though the Guardians are in this position because of the front office’s inaction in seasons prior, the front office electing to let the kids play is a pretty sizable difference from how things have been in the past. 

Still, the lack of an impact right-handed hitter has become too much to ignore, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them bring in one more right-handed hitter after spending the first part of the offseason tweaking and adjusting the bullpen.