Guardians see ‘bad trades’ magnified

The press conference features remarks from Chris Antonetti, President, Baseball Operations.

A list of “bad trades” that allowed former prospects to thrive with other teams is something that Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff reportedly maintain.
David Petkiewicz, cleveland.com.

Given Cleveland’s desperate need for a homegrown right-handed bat who can increase run production in the middle of a notoriously light-hitting lineup, the Myers-Caminero fiasco appears to have the potential to follow the team’s front office for years.
Equally intriguing is the group of left-handed power bats that the organization developed and who managed to succeed after being traded to other teams this past offseason.

Nolan Jones is Cleveland’s top player.
In terms of batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft led all eligible rookies this season.
In just 106 games, he hit more than 20 doubles, 20 home runs, and stole more than 20 bases while displaying world-class arm strength from both corner outfield positions.

The only issue for Antonetti is that after the Guardians traded him on November 15 for infielder Juan Brito, he continued to perform for the Rockies all season.

A 142 wRC+ was recorded over his last 300 plate appearances by Will Benson, the team’s first-round selection in the same 2016 draft. after being called up to the majors in late May, in 98 games. Benson reached base at a 38.5% rate, hit.291 with 15 doubles and 11 home runs, slugged.539 and slugged.539.
All of that, regrettably, was for the fledgling Reds, who acquired Benson from Cleveland in exchange for minor league outfielder Justin Boyd and lefty Steve Hajjar.

Yainer Diaz was exchanged for Myles Straw and Phil Maton in Houston in late July 2021, which came before the Caminero deal.
Diaz, who was named the Astros’ minor league player of the year in 2022, has just completed his first full season with the team.
He played catcher for a Houston team that will start postseason play this weekend in the American League Division Series. He hit.282 with 23 home runs and 60 RBI in 104 games. His 23 home runs are the second-most by an Astros rookie ever, just behind Yordan Alvarez’s 27.

Both Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff admitted that they keep a list of all the trades they have made that they would like to undo, but that they also give a lot of credit to Cleveland’s scouting and development system for being able to produce players of that caliber.

As a result, Chernoff said, “we had to make decisions on them for roster management or because we wanted to acquire somebody else.” Unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out for them to have an impact on our major league team.
“You look back and, with the benefit of hindsight, occasionally wish you could go back in time, but the circumstances at the time were what they were.
“.

The list of missed trade opportunities is actually much longer, Antonetti acknowledged to reporters on Tuesday.
He stated that the Guardians must continue to learn organizational lessons from both their successes and from actions that might not have turned out as they had hoped.

In terms of evaluation, Chernoff does not think the moves are “missing something.”.
He believes the exact opposite, in fact.

We were able to see signs of that, according to Chernoff.
“A lot of the reasons those guys are having success, it’s a huge credit to them and of course they’re new organizations, but a lot of the foundation of what made them successful was built here,” he said.
We still need to make some difficult choices.
“.

Antonetti and Chernoff prefer to see each trade involving Jones, Benson, Diaz, and Caminero as a unique circumstance.

Managing the roster and how to give other players playing time were some of the decisions made, according to Antonetti.
“There is therefore a chance to learn from each of those choices.
“.

The front office has had little room for manoeuvre when it comes to selecting players since Cleveland’s 40-man roster expanded in the 2021 offseason by 11 prospects.

Making decisions earlier than you’d prefer to is sometimes necessary when trying to be proactive and get ahead of things, Antonetti admitted.

Making some of the moves necessary may have also been influenced by Cleveland’s success in 2022 with a young major league roster made up primarily of internal options.
According to Chernoff, you can constantly create new playing opportunities for men when your team isn’t very strong.

But when you have a good team, you’re juggling competing while also developing guys, and you do run out of roster space when you have those competing needs, Chernoff said.

But according to Antonetti, there was no philosophical shift in Cleveland’s hitting strategy that rendered players like Jones or Benson any more disposable than in previous seasons.

There were various circumstances, Antonetti said.
“In Nolan’s case, we ultimately received a player back in Juan Brito who we really liked and who we believe has a chance to be an effective major league player.
“.

Teams will make enough of these trades, according to Antonetti, for some of them to succeed and some of them to fail. He believes that the Guardians’ ability to build a farm system and to be able to recruit and develop players who are appealing to other teams will be a positive sign going forward.

We’ll keep making deals that give us access to players that other teams want, said Antonetti.
“Hopefully we can keep doing that while also constructing major league championship teams.
“.

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