The Cleveland Guardians’ magical run to the 2025 postseason came to an unfortunate end on Thursday after just three Wild Card games with the Detroit Tigers, and the team now faces an offseason that will be full of questions about how the team improves to ensure they get over the hump in 2026.
The obvious major area of need is the offense, and one insider recently raised a major question about the team’s future in that regard.
Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com wrote in a recent article that this team isn’t serious about returning to the World Series and winning one if it doesn’t take major steps to add some big bats to the equation ahead of next season.
“Here’s one way to think about the current offense. Who among the Game 3 lineup could start for the 1995 Indians in Game 1 of the World Series? Would you start Ramirez over Hall of Famer Jim Thome at third base? Would you start Kwan over Albert Belle in left field? It’s unfair to compare eras, and certainly the game has changed a lot, but the Guardians have to upgrade their offense if they’re serious about getting back to the World Series for the first time since 2016, let alone trying to win it for the first time since 1948. This is a smart organization, good at solving problems. They know this offense must be improved. Fielding a roster that posted the lowest team batting average (.226) in franchise history this season, should be motivation enough,” Hoynes wrote.
This is the same issue that plagued the team last season when the Guardians fell short to the New York Yankees in the ALCS, and despite needing a big bat or two to push the team over the top, Cleveland went the other way and traded one of their best hitters in Josh Naylor, while also shipping Andres Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays without a notable offensive replacement in mind.
The Guardians received Spencer Horwitz in the Gimenez trade, and he would have been a nice bat to have, but he was on the team for one day before being shipped to the Pittsburgh Pirates for Luis Ortiz and his alleged gambling problems.
There are some massive bats on the free agent market this offseason, and the team has a handful of intriguing position player prospects who could help fill the need as well.
It’s unacceptable for a team like this to come off consecutive division titles and not be aggressive this offseason in fixing an obvious issue that has plagued the team for years.
NEXT: Guardians Urged To Address Major Concerns About Key Unit
