The Cleveland Guardians entered last season with more questions than answers, especially when it came to the offense. The campaign went by, and those questions still linger.
That’s why Chris Antonetti, Guardians president of baseball operations, addressed the media to share his thoughts on some of the swings and misses from last offseason. Of course, that included the addition of Nolan Jones, who was mostly a non-factor and a liability last season.
Even so, Antonetti believes last season was a fluke, and he might still be able to bounce back in Cleveland:
“Nolan did not have the season he envisioned,” said Antonetti. “We still believe there’s positive potential for a real productive player in there. He demonstrated that with the Rockies (2023) when he was one of the better outfielders in the National League. We’re hopeful that with a good offseason of work, he can get back closer to that player.”
The Guardians will certainly need Jones to be closer to the player he was with the Colorado Rockies than to what he was last season. He was supposed to provide a much-needed offensive punch in the outfield, and he was either hurt or played poorly when he was healthy enough to play.
All players could get that type of grace because they can’t choose when to be healthy and when to get hurt. However, the clock is ticking, and there will be little to no patience with Jones this season.
The Guardians have more than enough young talent in the outfield right now. Chase DeLauter should make the Opening Day roster, and both George Valera and C.J. Kayfus turned plenty of heads in their rookie campaigns. The pressure is on Jones to prove that he’s worth keeping around and playing over some of the future faces of the organization.
If that’s not the case, he should be on his way out.
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