Peculiar offseason could be why Guardians have trouble staying atop AL Central

Of the ways that this offseason could have played out, there is not a single honest soul that could have predicted the activity of the Cleveland Guardians. Instead of building upon last season's success and adding to what seemed like a solid roster core, it appears the front office is trying to unnecessarily walk the financial tightrope. This has resulted in some questioning Cleveland's ability to win the American League Central divison again and rightfully so.

When it comes to evaluating which teams are contenders or pretenders for the 2025 season, Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller does not have the same amount of faith in the Guardians' chances that certain factions of the fanbase do. Miller has relegated the Guardians to pretender status, and it is the way they have operated this winter as a primary reason why.

"But the Guardians have one sure thing in their rotation (Bibee) and have traded away two of what were their four or five most valuable position players from last season in the name of saving some coin.", writes Miller. as yet another national baseball writer is questioning Cleveland's method of operation.

It does not stop there. Miller would go a little bit further, criticizing Cleveland for creating a hole at second base without having an adequate replacement, in addition to spending a comparable amount of money on an aging Carlos Santana that would have been otherwise allocated to Josh Naylor. Travis Bazzana might someday be the answer to Cleveland's current self-created problem at second base. The only issue is that this solution is not expected to be immediate. Meanwhile, Santana's defense at first may be an improvement over that of Josh Naylor, but he is unlikely to match his offensive output, assuming Naylor stays healthy and continues to put up strong numbers in 2025.

Could the 2025 season work out in Cleveland's favor just like 2024 did? Yes, that is a possibility, but when evaluating the likelihood of a team that does not have enough starting pitching and just traded away two of their most important players, the odds are certainly stacked against them.