4 Players on the Guardians' 40-Man Roster Who Don't Deserve a Role in 2024
By Tyler Maher
2. Myles Straw
The outfield was one of the Guardians' bigger weaknesses in 2023 and Myles Straw was at the center of it all, no pun intended.
The sixth-year outfielder has been his usual unproductive self at the plate, recording just 1 home run with 28 RBIs while slashing .227/.289/.286 across 140 games. He's also struck out more times this season (95) than he did in 2022 (87) despite seeing 99 fewer plate appearances thus far.
Straw's advanced stats don't help his case, either. He went from 27 runs above replacement level and a 2.7 WAR in 2022 to marks of 6 and 0.5 in 2023, respectively. When it comes to WAR, Baseball-Reference lists anyone between 0 and 2 as a reserve player.
While Straw is still a Gold Glove-level defender, he's not going to win us games with his bat and an offensive upgrade is needed. In hindsight, that five-year, $25 million extension he signed last year looks like a mistake.
If Cleveland wants to return to the playoffs in 2024, we need a new straw that stirs the drink.