6 Guardians players that won't be back for the 2024 season

Lucas Giolito

The Guardians actually made a pretty savvy move to claim multiple players off of waivers from the Angels including Lucas Giolito late this season. Doing so did help a bit with the organization's optics problem that came with the aforementioned Civale trade, although it ultimately was too little, too late when it comes to where the Guardians ended up in the standings.

Giolito was supposed to be one of the prizes of the trade deadline and, based on his track record, he should have been productive on the mound. Unfortunately, he struggled mightily after being traded by White Sox as he posted a 6.89 ERA in six starts with the Angels and was even worse with the Guardians.

As a free agent this offseason, the idea of Guardians keeping Giolito around is a tough sell. Giolito is going to be in pretty high demand despite his struggles this season and given that he made $10.4 million in 2023, his price tag was already likely to be beyond what the Guardians were going to be willing to pay. When you combine the potential cost along with the fact that Cleveland had a front row seat to him being borderline unplayable his last six starts of 2023, there is just a very, very low chance that the Guardians try to keep him in the fold.