The 2023-24 free agency period brought in some impressive contracts: Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto both signed record-setting pacts with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Kansas City Royals were a top-five spending team, and the San Francisco Giants flirted with the $300 million mark in expenses.
Speaking of spending rankings, Codify Baseball posted them on Twitter.
The Cleveland Guardians, true to form, are near the bottom of the list:
offseason mlb free agent spending so far:
dodgers $1,087,400,000
giants $261,250,000
phillies $183,000,000
diamondbacks $136,500,000
royals $109,500,000
reds $108,250,000
astros $107,000,000
cardinals $105,740,000
cubs $90,750,000
brewers $72,750,000
mets $65,150,000
angels…— Codify (@CodifyBaseball) March 6, 2024
While this might seem disappointing for most fans, and it is to some extent, it doesn’t necessarily correlate with performance.
A team that has a strong foundation in place with top prospects knocking on the door or on the brink of breaking out doesn’t have to go out and break the free-agent market.
In fact, usually teams that do so have a lot of holes.
Granted, it would have been nice to see the Guardians spend on more than just Austin Hedges, Ben Lively, and Carlos Carrasco, but the franchise has historically gotten good results with modest expenses (at least in recent history).
While the Guardians do have holes – shortstop, center fielder, and right fielder are up for grabs with no starters set in stone – they also have plenty of personnel capable of winning those spots and performing well as starters.
Their pitching is in excellent shape, and they do have some core pieces on offense such as Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, the Naylor brothers, and Steven Kwan, plus promising prospects such as Chase DeLauter, Johnathan Rodriguez, Juan Brito and others.
The 2024 campaign will be very interesting for the future of the franchise.
It provides a golden opportunity for some players to run away with starting gigs.
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