What are the Cleveland Guardians 3 biggest needs and who can fill those spots

The Cleveland Guardians’ three biggest positions of need.

When it comes to beat writers, few do as good of a job as Mandy Bell. She’s done a great job covering the Cleveland Guardians for MLB.com and she has a pretty good insight into what the team needs due to her time talking to those behind the scenes.

She recently wrote up an article talking about what the team’s three biggest needs are and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who would disagree. She wrote that the Guardos need a starting pitcher, a catcher, and some depth in the bullpen.

That seems pretty spot on. Her rationale for each really paints the team as nearly complete but needs a little help. The catching spot in Cleveland was the worst in the Majors in offensive output. The bullpen always needs more, fresh arms. Literally, every team in the majors needs more depth in their bullpen. As for the starter role, she wrote that adding another arm would help cement their desire to make a run of things.

Yet, who among them would be the best fit for the club?

Who should fill out the Cleveland Guardians’ biggest needs?

For the reliever role, it all comes down to budget but someone like former Guardians closer Brad Hand would be a nice fit. Yet, he’s a one-inning kind of guy and you may want a two-to-three-inning eater now that Anthony Gose is out. That would make one think of Aaron Sanchez, who was a starter but could be a long-reliever for the Guardians.

Another few names could be Danny Coulombe or even old friend Bryan Shaw, the ultimate innings eater.

For a starter, I have just one name I want and that’s Corey Kluber. He’s been a long-time favorite of mine, and it’d be great to see him finish his career in Cleveland. If not Kluber, maybe Chris Archer or Luke Weaver would do well. Archer used to be great but now he’s a fourth or fifth starter at best, and Weaver would really benefit from having one of the best pitching coaches of all time work with him.

As far as catchers who aren’t named Sean Murphy, one that is tied to the Guards a lot is Christian Vázquez, who would be a fine stopgap for the squad as Bo Naylor develops. Yet, another reunion should be in order here, if not Murphy, and that’s Roberto Perez. Perez is being projected at having a bounce back in 2023 according to FanGraphs, and he is arguably the best defensive catcher in the game still.

Offensively he isn’t a huge upgrade but he is an upgrade. That’s worth noting.

Who would you like to see round out the roster for 2023?