Should the Cleveland Guardians begin to sell off parts of the team?

At what point should the Cleveland Guardians call this season a wash?

The Cleveland Guardians are not doing well. They’re 21-27 on the season, they’re just third in the AL Central, the offense has been bad all year and the pitching staff is moderate at best. Far from their elite selves seen last year. The Guards, despite what fans want to believe about Bo Naylor, have no one in the minors that they can call up to provide an immediate spark for their offense.

After years of drafting contact hitters and 20 pitchers in the draft, the team is lacking any real big boppers to do damage. While the Guardians are built as a contact team, you do still need a home run threat now and then and they thought they got that when they paid free agents Mike Zunino and Josh Bell to come in and bolster the power of the team.

We thought Bell would or could bounce back from a down 2022, and with Zunino, we figured he’d have 50 hits, but at least 30 of those would be home runs. That hasn’t been the case and now the team is facing a potential down season.

So, should the Guardians decide to sell off some assets, when should we expect this to happen?

The Cleveland Guardians likely won’t pull the trigger until July

I don’t think the Guardians are going to cash out on the season in early June. They’re only six games under .500, and only 4.5 games back from the Minnesota Twins. A hot streak of 10 games could turn this whole season around, so I don’t see the Guardians just giving up on this year.

If they’re heading into June, still slightly under .500, and still within earshot of the AL Central title, I don’t think they give up on the year at all.

Yet, if the team continues to struggle, and they fall further and further back in the AL Central race, then I think the team would begin looking to trade people like Bell, Zunino, and probably Shane Bieber by and around the start of July.