The Cleveland Guardians are now a disappointing 8-18 in the second half after dropping their series opener to the San Diego Padres on Friday. A significant amount of the blame can be placed on the offense, which despite the big trades for Nathaniel Lowe and Jo Adell, the return of Jose Ramirez, and the promotion of Angel Genao, has ultimately failed to produce consistently enough to keep this team competitive in the AL Central.
Manager Stephen Vogt has tried a number of different lineups and strategies to light a fire under his guys, but the runs just aren’t coming across at a high enough rate. It’s unclear what the team needs to do at this point to right this ship, and Vogt recently addressed the lack of offensive firepower once again.
Jeff Schudel of The News-Herald shared a clip from Vogt’s recent presser where Vogt discussed the offensive woes. He touched on why the team is struggling to score and addressed Jose Ramirez’s power outage as well.
“We’ve been getting hits. For us, it’s just a matter of getting the big hit with runners in scoring position. We’re trying not to talk about it all the time just because then it becomes too big of a thing. We just need to break through,” said Vogt.
Manager Stephen Vogt on the #Guardians struggling to score runs consistently and why power is missing from Jose Ramirez. pic.twitter.com/Q2BoGyQ5ie
— Jeff Schudel (@jsproinsider) August 15, 2026
When discussing Ramirez and whether or not he needs more days off, Vogt added:
“It’s a matter of keeping him progressing, much to his dismay, because he wants to be in there every day but we have to do what’s right. Jose is working every day, the medical staff is doing a great job, but we have to be smart about this,” said Vogt.
Ramirez hasn’t been the same since returning from his broken hamate bone and doesn’t have an extra-base hit in the 17 games since coming back. It’s not uncommon for power to be sapped after a hitter suffers an injury like that, but it’s becoming a concern since this team simply can’t win the division without Ramirez at his best.
He has been the anchor of this lineup for a decade, and fans have to hope this isn’t the beginning of his decline. Vogt giving him a day off here and there at this point couldn’t hurt, especially with Genao doing so well, and hopefully it will help him get back to the superstar he has been all these years.
NEXT: Guardians Prospect Is On A Serious Tear In Double-A
