The Cleveland Guardians’ decision to move on from Josh Naylor this past offseason was highly questioned at the time.
The team didn’t have much firepower, and trading away one of their most reliable sources of offense sounded counterproductive.
Fast forward to today, and that has proven to be the case.
Carlos Santana didn’t do much as Naylor’s replacement, and it took a long while for manager Stephen Vogt to trust Kyle Manzardo.
In part because of that decision, insider Paul Hoynes expressed his concerns about Cleveland’s offense.
“They have a terrible offense. Among MLB’s 30 teams they rank last in batting average, last in hits and 28th in runs. They have scored two or fewer runs in 69 of their 135 games. Seattle is the only team with more such games in the big leagues with 72. It’s not like this just snuck up on anybody, either,” Hoynes wrote.
Naylor was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Slade Cecconi, and the Guardians have been struggling to replace the All-Star’s production all season.
They hit rock bottom in June when they endured one of the worst offensive months in franchise history, and while they’ve gotten hot during some stretches, they usually end up regressing to the mean.
This team simply doesn’t have the type of hitters to be much better on offense.
They’ve thrived late in games and deserve plenty of credit for staying alive in the AL playoff race despite their lack of power and other shortcomings.
However, that also limits their ceiling.
They might finish the season on a high note and make their way to the playoffs, but whether that will be enough to put together a deep postseason run remains to be seen.
NEXT: Guardians Make Notable Move In Latest MLB Power Rankings
