What are your Guardians expectations heading into the 2024 season?
Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga reveal what they expect to see happen with the Guardians throughout the 2024 campaign. The expectations for the 2024 season are high for the Cleveland Guardians due to the team's new manager, Stephen Vogt, and several question marks on the roster. Players such as Jose Ramírez and Steven Kwan are expected to perform well in the season, with Ramizrez expected to hit.282 and be selected for his third consecutive midsummer classic in 2023. However, only one of these players is expected to win the Gold Globe Awards. Josh Naylor is predicted to reach 100 RBI for the first time in his career, despite missing all of August due to a strained right oblique muscle. Brayan Rocchio is predicted for a successful season at the Triple-A level.
Published : 4 weeks ago by phoynes, Paul Hoynes | [email protected], Joe Noga, jnoga, Joe Noga | [email protected] in Sports
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Expectations are high every year for the Guardians, but this season is set to open with a degree of uncertainty as the club has a new manager in Stephen Vogt and several question marks on the roster.
What do cleveland.com Guardians beat writers Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga expect from Cleveland’s lineup this season, and where will there be opportunities for surprises? Below is a rundown of some expectations and predictions for the 2024 campaign.
Ramírez hit .282 and was selected to his third straight midsummer classic in 2023. In that three-year stretch he has a .276 batting average and an .863 OPS.
• None Hoynes: “He’s one of the best players in the game and really kind of a model of consistency in his eight-plus years in Cleveland offensively and defensively. He does it all and it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop, he looks like he’s ready for another big year.”
• None Noga: “Jose is somebody who expects that of himself and if that expectation isn’t reached, I think he would be tremendously disappointed in himself there.”
Expectation: Steven Kwan and Andrés Giménez will both be finalists for Gold Globe Awards in the American League again this year, but only one of them is going to win.
Giménez led American League second basemen with 18 outs above average and 23 defensive runs saved and won the Platinum Glove as the best overall defender in the league.
• None Noga: “I haven’t decided which one I think is going to win, but I think out of the two of them being finalists, only one is going to get the honor this year. Right now I might lean a little towards Gimenez because it’s going to be a tougher competition for Kwan this year.”
• None Hoynes: “Both are really above-average defenders and I think once you win one, once you win two, that goes a long way. Part of the criteria for electing gold glove winners is based on analytics, but reputation still carries some weight too, so I think both those guys are in very good position.”
Expectation: Josh Naylor’s going to reach a hundred RBI for the first time in his career.
Naylor’s value to the team was never more obvious than when he missed August with a strained right oblique muscle. The Guardians went 11-16 in August and fell out of the AL Central race.
• None Hoynes: “He led the team with 97 RBI last year, and I think obviously he would’ve easily reached 100 if he hadn’t missed all of August with the oblique injury. So I’m not exactly going out in a limb there, but I’ve really liked the way Naylor swung the bat this spring. He hasn’t over-swung. He’s hitting with runners in scoring position, which is something he really did last year. He just seems like he’s upped his game in confidence and I think that’s going to result in a big year offensively.”
• None Noga: “The word there is consistency and I think he sort of figured it out and achieved it at some point in the offseason prior to last year.”
Expectation: Brayan Rocchio will hit 20 doubles and five home runs and slug .380 this year.
Rocchio, Cleveland’s No. 3 prospect, played in 116 games for Triple-A Columbus in his first full season at the Triple‐A level. The 23‐year‐old infielder led the club in batting average, hits, doubles, triples, steals, and on‐base percentage.
• None Noga: “Eventually he’ll clarify himself as the answer for this franchise at shortstop. He had 33 doubles and seven home runs at AAA last year. I know that’s not the big leagues, but it shows you if you give him 500 bats, if you give him consistent regular playing time in that spot, he’ll grow into that and I think the sky’s the limit for this kid.”
• None Hoynes: “I like the fact that he’s going to play every day or he is going to see the majority of the playing time at shortstop. He cuts like any rookie, he looks a little bit nervous to me at short. The easy plays kind of befuddle him at some times, but once he settles in, he knows he belongs here.”
Expectation: A big year for the Naylor brothers. Josh and Bo will combine to hit for 35 home runs this season.
Bo Naylor hit 13 home runs at Triple-A Columbus before joining Cleveland. Josh Naylor slugged 17 despite missing a month.
• None Hoynes: “I like the fact that Bo hit 10 of his 11 home runs after the break last year when he got to play every day and Josh hit 17 last year, right, with missing a month. He had 20 home runs in 2022, so he’s been there before. It is a conservative pick, but I’m saying 35.”
• None Noga: “Again, that presupposes that both of them stay healthy through the entire season because I think if either one of them misses a month like Josh did last year, I think that 35 number is going to be a tough target to get. But if they play healthy and they stay out there and they get the regular playing time, we expect them to, I think 35 is a pretty easy number for them to achieve.”
Expectation: Emmanuel Clase will save 32 games this year and Scott Barlow will save 10.
Clase has averaged a greuling 74 appearances and 72 innings per season over the last three years.
• None Noga: “They’re going to approach it a little differently than they have in the last couple of years. I think Clase is still the guy, but I think the alarm might’ve gone off and they might realize they want this guy to make it to the end of that contract and they don’t want to blow his arm out before then.”
• None Hoynes: “So you’re saying the days of Clase making 75 to 77 appearances a year are over?”
• None Noga: “For Clase’s sake, I hope so. You’ve got a guy in Barlow who looks like, especially coming out of spring, he looks pretty sharp. He looks like he’ll be able to get you through some big innings.”
• None Hoynes: “I like the fact that Barlow has done it before when he was Kansas City’s closer for several years. He does it a different way, though. He’s kind of a breaking ball pitcher, an off speed pitcher where Clase is heat, heat, heat.”
Expectation: Myles Straw is going to be back in a Cleveland uniform sometime this year.
Straw hit .345 with an .854 OPS in 10 spring training games for Cleveland this year.
• None Hoynes: “I’m like a dog with a bone with this one We’re going to see a new version of Straw, the guy we saw in the second half of 2021. He’s going to get on base, steal bases and play some good defense, but he’s got to do it at Triple-A first. He’s got to convince Cleveland to bring him back.”
• None Noga: “This expectation will be the first one that we put a big red X through at some point because I’m going to stick by my prophecy that the Guardians work out a trade with somebody and try to get out from under his contract early in the season.”
Manzardo was impressive in the Arizona Fall League and that carried over to spring training where he hit .381 and slugged .476 in 13 games.
• None Noga: “I don’t know if they’re going to hardcore stick to the service time manipulation idea, but I think there’s going to be a need for Manzardo and his bat and his run production and power production at some point within the first two months of the season.”
• None Hoynes: “I really liked the way he swings the bat, and I think starting a year at Columbus, having some consistent playing time is going to help him. I would not be surprised if he’s not up here.”
Topics: Baseball, MLB, Cleveland Guardians