Grading the Cleveland Guardians at the All-Star Break

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With a 58-37 record at the All-Star Break, it is pretty safe to say that the Cleveland Guardians have enjoyed a successful season thus far. There were plenty of individuals who were down on this team and their chances of being contenders, but they have managed to defy those pessimistic expectations by entering the break with the best record in the American League and the second-best in baseball.

As impressive as the team has been through this part of the season, how have they performed in each individual area?

1. Overall Performance

Let's get this easy layup of a grade out of the way first. Of course, the Guardians deserve a high grade for their overall performance. Most preseason predictions had them finishing as an also-ran in the American League Central, and that is clearly not something that is on the table at this moment in time, as they currently sit 21 games over .500.

Cleveland has managed to put the struggles of 2023 behind them and has reemerged as a stronger and more formidable version of 2022's team. This team has proven that they can hang with and even beat the best teams in baseball. With their ability to battle it out with the best in the sport, they are clearly deserving of having one of the best grades possible.

Overall Performance Grade: A

2. Manager

First-year manager Stephen Vogt was given the unenviable task of leading the Cleveland Guardians following future Hall of Fame manager Terry Francona's tenure at the position. The decision to hire Vogt was met with plenty of skepticism about his potential to continue what has been a very successful decade-plus run of success with Francona at the helm. But those who were questioning Vogt's hire were quickly met with a dose of reality that the Guardians did, in fact, make the right choice.

Well, as expected, there have been some ups and downs during Vogt's first year as Guardians manager. At times, Vogt looks every bit the part of being one of the game's best managers, while at others, his decisions can leave plenty scratching their heads (lineup configurations, playing time for certain players, leaving a pitcher in a littel bit too long, etc.). Admittedly, this does sound like somewhat of a harsh criticism, but let's be clear here, it's not. This is just the reality of having a first-year manager learning how to do the job on the job, and for that, his performance has been good.

It is just those few areas that he needs a little more experience in that can lead to no longer making some of the mistakes that some of the more experienced managers do not make. Those corrections will come in time, but for right now, it seems appropriate to give credit but note there is room for improvement.

Managerial Grade: B+

3. Offense

Raise your hand if you thought the Cleveland Guardians were going to be one of the better offensive teams in 2024. Ok, now that everyone admits that they did not expect that and those who put their hands can acknowledge that they are currently lying, we can proceed. The Guardians have the following ranks in some key offensive statistics.

Runs Scored: 454 - 10th

Doubles: 160 - 11th

Home Runs: 109 - 10th

RBI: 424 - 13th

Strikeouts: 695 - 4th-fewest

Stolen Bases: 79 - 9th

On-Base Percentage: .316 - 11th

Slugging Percentage: .405 - 12th

On-Base Plus Slugging: .721 - 12th

Being around the Top 10 rank-wise in these offensive statistics is pretty impressive considering how many people wanted to leave this team for dead rather than consider them a possible threat to win the division, much less hold the best record in the American League at the All-Star Break.

Some of these numbers were a bit higher earlier in the season, but the larger sample size combined with the team cooling off at the plate heading into the break is responsible for seeing them drop just a bit. While some are already resorting to a sky-is-falling state of mind, there is absolutely no reason for that at this time. This team just needs a bit of a break that will allow them to get some rest, regroup, and prepare for what lies ahead of them over the rest of the season.

Offensive Grade: A-

4. Pitching

On the surface, the pitching staff of the Cleveland Guardians looks like it should deserve a somewhat respectable grade. With a team ERA of 3.71 that ranks ninth, in addition to their 347 earned runs allowed being the sixth-fewest in baseball and having the sixth-most strikeouts (842), the overall performance has been fantastic. But when evaluating the differences between the starting rotation and the bullpen, red flags start to emerge rather quickly.

The Guardians have just 26 quality starts this season, the fourth-fewest in all of baseball. Barely edging out the pitching staffs of the Milwaukee Brewers (25), Oakland Athletics (24), and Miami Marlins (20) is not an accomplishment by any means. This just goes to show how reliant the Guardians have been on their bullpen to keep them in and win games.

Of the five most-used Guardians starters this season, only two have an ERA below 5.00, Tanner Bibee (3.77) and Ben Lively (3.58). Meanwhile, Logan Allen (5.67), Triston McKenzie (5.11), and Carlos Carrasco (5.02) have struggled to find consistency in their starts, with Allen and McKenzie being optioned to Triple-A to address those issues. Whether or not that will work remains to be seen.

Turning to the bullpen, that is where the Guardians have received their most consistent and dominant performances this season. Only one of their five most-used relievers has an ERA above 3.00 this season (Scott Barlow: 3.52). The other four heavily used relief arms have been very impressive, with Emmanuel Clase's 0.81 ERA in 44.1 innings leading the way, while Hunter Gaddis (1.19), Cade Smith (2.28), and Tim Herrin (1.45) all playing a key role in the Guardians being able to shut down opponents late in games.

If it was just the rotation being evaluated here, the grade would be significantly lower. In fact, the only thing preventing the Guardians' pitching staff from flirting with a failing grade is the performance of their bullpen. It is abundantly clear that their rotation needs help if they are going to compete come October, but for now, their grade reflects the current state of their overall pitching staff.