Last week, FanGraphs released The Bat and The Bat-X projections, and the news isn’t good for Guardians hitters.
The Bat has three Guardians hitters above average:
Jose Ramirez 133 wRC+, Kyle Manzardo 110
wRC+ and Steven Kwan 103 wRC+.
The Bat-X has two Guardians hitters above average:
Jose Ramirez 122 wRC+ and Kyle Manzardo 107 wRC+.
The Bat has another three batters at 90 wRC+ or better: David Fry 96 wRC+, C.J. Kayfus 91 wRC+ and Chase DeLauter at 90 wRC+.
The Bat-X has another six batters at 90 wRC+ or above: David Fry 93 wRC+, Steven Kwan 92 wRC+, Nolan Jones 91 wRC+, Chase DeLauter 90 wRC+, CJ Kayfus 90 and Bo Naylor 90 wRC+.
ATC (not yet released) the Bat-X and ZiPS are generally regarded as the most accurate projections available on FanGraphs. So far, the latter two indicate the Guardians need some hitters.
What help might be available for the Guardians if they were to wake up from their offseason malaise and make an addition? Well, by the Bat, Ketel Marte at 135 wRC+ has been in a ton of trade rumors, Yandy Diaz at 118 wRC+ may be available, and Kaz Okamoto at 114 wRC+ only costs money. Brendan Donovan is also at 111 wRC+. From the Bat-X, Marte at 137 wRC+, Diaz ar 127 wRC+, Tyler O’Neill at 119 wRC+, Okamoto 114 wRC+ and Lars Nootbaar and Donovan at 113 wRC+ stand out. Needless to say, the market screams for the Guardians to find a way to swing a trade in the next few weeks, according to these two systems.
Projections systems are, needless to say, limited on how accurate they can be for prospects. So, currently, the Guardians seem to be banking on prospect volatility and Grant Fink magic, if you place any stock in what the math says.
At this point, even one addition of a hitter projected at 110 wRC+ or above would make me feel so much better about this offseason. We will see what the next month holds.
