3 horrible moves that doomed the Cleveland Guardians in 2023

2. Hanging on to Amed Rosario for far too long

Besides a select few members of the television broadcast crew, it was very clear that Amed Rosario's time as the Guardians' shortstop was on life support. Additionally, Rosario's limited range defensively, paired with recent ban of the shift, made his lack of offensive production significantly less palatable than it would have been in previous years.

It would be one thing if Rosario was a better defensive player or if he was not an incredibly frustrating offensive player seemingly locked into the second spot of the order. But considering that Rosario's skills on defense are less than ideal, compounded with his unaccpetable performance in the batter's box, put the Guardians up against it in more ways than one.

It was not the decision to trade Rosario that doomed the Guardians, but the fact they waited so long to do so combined with acquiring a washed up Noah Syndergaard in return. In fact, the decision to wait the amount of time they did could have an impact on the team next year, as Rosario's playing time this year could have gone towards finding a definitive shortstop of the future for next year and beyond.