5 Guardians Playing Their Way Out of the Team's 2024 Plans

The 2023 MLB season hasn't gone as hoped for the Guardians. As a result, we want to make ensure this roster succeeds in 2024, and that means holding a few contributors accountable for not living up to expectations.

With that in mind, here's the five players who have played themselves out of a job in Cleveland.

5 Guardians Who Haven't Earned Their Job for 2024

1. Myles Straw

Sometimes it's worth being patient with a poor hitter because their fielding prowess is worth it. That's especially true when they're young, and you can hold out hope that they will at least develop the skills to avoid being a total liability at the plate.

So despite his .221 batting average in 2022, I was willing to give Myles Straw a chance in 2023. But he's really blown it.

We've seen Straw's average climb some, but he's still slashing an awful .235/.299/.300. He's notching extra-base hits at a lower rate than he was last year, and he's also posing much less of a threat to steal.

It's not just the output either — deeper numbers show he's just not putting it together. He's chasing pitches at the second-highest rate of his career, and his swinging-strike rate has climbed accordingly.

And to top it all off? I'm not even sure he's a plus fielder anymore after being borderline elite on defense in 2022. FanGraphs' defensive metric certainly has him tanking, and Statcast's Success Rate and Outs Above Average both have him grading out at a pretty neutral level.

A young team has no need to have a guy like Straw taking playing time away from anyone else, and there's just no way it makes any sense to give him any sort of significant playing time in 2024.