4 Guardians who are playing their way out of the team's 2024 plans

Myles Straw

The Guardians have exactly one outfielder who has been an above average hitter in 2023 and Steven Kwan only just barely makes that cut with a wRC+ of 102. Will Brennan certainly has his own warts as a player and could easily make this list, but another name that probably needs to find a new organization for a change of scenery is Myles Straw.

It certainly isn't great to identify a guy that signed a lengthy contract before the 2022 season as a player that needs to be headed out of town, but Straw's production just isn't there. His 70 wRC+ at the plate this season (which is really bad) is only marginally better than what he put up last season (64 wRC+) and his usually very decent defense has left him in 2023 with just 1 Outs Above Average this year. The nice thing with Straw is that all of that cheap team control he is under should have some value on the trade market even if it is for a guy with no power to speak off and declining defense.

Cam Gallagher

Even with his own issues at the plate, Bo Naylor seems to be the guy that is going to be getting the bulk of the playing time at catcher for the foreseeable future. Naylor hasn't hit this year, but he actually possesses real upside at the plate, so hanging on to him makes sense. However, it is hard to ignore the lack of production the Guardians are getting from the catcher spot and that is exactly why they need to move on from their other catcher on the roster, Cam Gallagher.

Harping too much on the backup catcher spot on a roster isn't a great use of time usually, but Gallagher has been shockingly bad this season. In 126 plate appearances for the Guardians, Gallagher has slashed .133/.167/.175 and has been worth -0.9 fWAR this season. The defensive metrics do, at least, seem to like him a bit, but there are going to be better catchers available in free agency or trade after the season that could also hit their way out of a wet paper bag if they needed to.