How Much Will Cleveland’s Browns And Guardians Tinker With Their Rosters?

Baseball is back, NFL free agency starts on March 16, and Cleveland fans wonder which of their teams, the Browns or the Guardians, will be the first to address their roster needs.

Both teams have work to do because both teams are coming off disappointing seasons. The Browns, who were viewed as Super Bowl contenders at the start of the 2021 season, failed to even make the playoffs, but succeeded in having a losing record (8-9). The Guardians, despite finishing second in their division, also lost more than they won (80-82).

In a perfect world, Cleveland sports fans would hope, their two teams, in the coming weeks, will be making headlines by acquiring much-needed roster-boosting difference makers. In reality, however, only one of the two teams is financially equipped to compete for, and potentially acquire, the kind of big-ticket performers that can instantly make an impact.

That team, of course, is the Browns, who have some very specific, and important areas of the team that need upgrading. General Manager Andrew Berry may have to get creative, because the Browns have the lowest cap space of any team in the AFC North: $16.2 million, which is just slightly above the league average of $15.2 million.

Berry’s biggest challenge will be to replenish the Browns’ receiver room. Odell Beckham Jr. was traded last year and Jarvis Landry, with a $16.3 million cap hit in this, the final year of his contract, could be a salary cap casualty. The remaining receivers on the roster combined last year for 48 receptions, 796 yards and four touchdowns.

Whether it’s through the draft, free agency, trades, or any combination therein, Berry must do a quick rebuild of the receiving corps, especially if he expects to have the best version of battered and embattled quarterback Baker Mayfield in 2022. To that end, with their 13^th pick in the first round of next month’s draft, the Browns seem likely to take the best available receiver. If it turns out to be Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson, horns will be gleefully honking in the Dawg Pound.

The Browns’ suddenly-thin defensive line is also an area of need, especially if Jadeveon Clowney’s solid 2021 season has priced him beyond the Browns’ salary cap reach. With or without Clowney, the interior defensive line appears to be the Browns’ second most-urgent area of need.

Given Cleveland’s abysmal kicking game in 2021 – the Browns cycled through a total of four punters and placekickers – it would not be a surprise to see the team use a draft pick on a place kicker, which the Browns have done only twice in the last 32 years. But as we learned in last season’s playoffs, teams with Super Bowl aspirations better have a dependable kicker.

The Cleveland Guardians didn’t miss any field goals in 2021, but they did miss the playoffs for only the second time in the last six years. Their record of 80-82 was their fewest wins since 2012, and their $50 million payroll was the second lowest in the majors.

The Guardians’ biggest problem was getting hits and scoring runs. They finished 12^th in the American League in hitting, 13^th in on-base percentage, ninth in slugging, and 10^th in OPS. The Guardians were shut out 13 times, the second most in the American League, and they were no-hit twice in the span of 21 days.

Their pitching was middle-of-the-road, mostly because their three best starting pitchers, Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, and Zach Plesac were injured for much of the season.

With the owners and players having finally hammered out a new collective bargaining agreement, it’s expected that there will plenty of trades and free agent signings prior to opening day. There are over 200 players who are currently free agents, so it could be a feeding frenzy among teams looking to add players.

However, as usual, the financially cautious Guardians aren’t expected to sign any big-ticket free agents. In recent years Cleveland has been painfully conservative in shopping the free agent market, even though this year there’s considerable uncertainty over who will play where in the team’s opening day lineup. Plenty of jobs are open for position players as spring training gets underway.

Barring injury, only four spots in the opening day lineup seem secure: third baseman Jose Ramirez, designated hitter Franmil Reyes, center fielder Myles Straw, and catcher Austin Hedges.

The Indians’ 40-man major league roster is top heavy with young infielders, most of whom aren’t ready yet for the big leagues, but are promising enough prospects that Guardians officials didn’t want to lose them to opposing teams in last year’s Rule 5 Draft.

Is there enough money, and inclination within the organization to bring some heft to the lineup by signing an impact free agent outfielder, or two? Cleveland’s track record in recent years, to the ongoing frustration of the fan base, says no.

In all likelihood, the game plan for 2022 will be a familiar one: Get the Guardians’ elite rotation up and running, and hopefully ride that group to a return to the playoffs in 2022.