Yeesh. Those last 48 were painful to watch. And the next 4 to 8 months may follow suit. The Cleveland Guardians traded away one player everyone knew had to go, one who was at the top of his trade value, and one that was an admission of a front-office folly.

The returns were a wash in two of the deals, and third was a 1 for 1. But now, the ball club lays in a state of purgatory, unless the Minnesota Twins don’t take advantage of the situation.

Even the biggest Amed Rosario fan knew he had to go. 2022 could not be used as attrition for the mediocre defensive numbers, and dip offensively in a walk year.

Aaron Civale will never have more value than now, unless he doesn’t get injured again. To this front office, they’ll take Jerad Eickhoff making 5 starts in a lost year if Kyle Manzardo hits 20 homers and 30 doubles a year for 6 years down the road in the 5 hole.

Josh Bell looked like Fred Flintstone at the plate and it became obvious that Cleveland went 0-2 in free agency.

Their are arguments to be made that all three trades are losses for the Guardians. Getting Noah Syndergaard in return for Rosario was the first case of vertigo suffered by Guardians fans this week.

The fact that they got back an injured player who’s 8/9’s thru the back 9 holes of his career instead of a low level lottery ticket made no sense.

The Dodgers had just acquired Kike Hernandez the day prior for two AAA relievers. That’s an Antonetti dream.

The second deal made by the Guardians was sending impromptu ace Aaron Civale to the Rays for 1B and top 40 prospect Kyle Manzardo. This is unquestionably the best return by the Guardians out of these trade but still Manzardo projects as a platoon player as his skills against lefties leaves a lot to be desired. It just felt weird being a 1 for 1, the most dangerous trade when you’re the team dealing the established major leaguer. It would have clicked for a lot more people if another top 15 prospect from the Rays system was included. That’s a team going for it, more likely to cave in.

Then the return from the Marlins for Bell. Utility man Jean Segura who will never see the diamond and former 1st round pick Khalil Watson, who is a career .234 hitter in the minors.

Two of these trades were additions by subtractions. This pitching staff is going to limp to the finish line but that would have been the same with Civale. It’s never easy punting on a season when you’re in the hunt. Even if that hunt is for the worst division in the game. If I’m an optimist, I’m taking this as the front office saying we fumbled 20 plus million this off-season with Bell and Zunino.

If the Guardians take this coming off-season to get some free agents that have a true impact, and have as little dead weight as possible for 2024, I’m giving this a chance.

But if it’s another off-season of keeping the middle infielder logjam and no solution to the lack of power in the line-up I’ll be saying “Yeesh” this time next year as well.

– Andrew Bechtel

*Photo courtesy of Cleveland.com