The Cleveland Guardians entered this season with some question marks.
However, even if they didn’t scream power at the plate, they had high hopes after their trip to the ALCS last season.
Fast forward to today, and it seems like the concerns have outweighed the expectations.
As expected, the team has struggled to score runs, and a lot of that has to do with their right fielders.
With that in mind, Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com dug a little deeper into the team’s struggles at the position and how multiple players have failed to get the job done.
“[The right fielders have] been a disaster this year. They’ve got no production out of that. Nolan Jones is starting to come around a little bit in right field, but we saw ‘Big Christmas,’ a.k.a. Jhonkensy Noel, fail. He got demoted. Will Brennan is on the injured list after Tommy John surgery. It’s been a mess. I’d like to see them find a right fielder, give him a chance to play every day against lefties and righties. But this is the way they operate right now. It keeps costs down and they’re able to expand the roster by having versatile players. But it really hasn’t worked at all this year and something needs to be done,” Hoynes wrote.
The Guardians are hovering around .500, and though teams can get hot after the trade deadline, they look like a long shot to challenge the Detroit Tigers atop the AL Central.
They’re still in the AL Wild Card race, but that won’t be the case for much longer if they continue on their recent pace of losing two out of every three games.
The team has the potential to make another deep postseason run, but the front office needs to pull some strings and make some moves.
It’s imperative that it finds some production from right field, even if it’s just until star prospect Chase DeLauter is ready to take the field in the majors.
It’s not too late to salvage this once-promising season, but the Guardians can’t afford to rest while they keep sliding in the standings.
NEXT: Guardians Top Prospect Is Locked In At The Plate In Triple-A
