Cleveland Guardians

Catchers & Infielders:

• C – Victor Martinez
• C – Carlos Santana (1B/3B)
• 1B – Jim Thome (3B)
• 2B – Jose Ramirez (3B)
• SS – Nap LaJoie (1B/2B/3B)
• 3B – Al Rosen (1B)
• IF – Francisco Lindor (SS)
• CI – Travis Hafner (1B)

Outfielders:

• LF – Albert Belle (LF/RF)
• CF – Tris Speaker
• RF – Larry Doby (CF/RF)
• OF – Rocky Colavito (LF/RF)
• OF – Earl Averill (CF/LF)
• OF – Kenny Lofton (CF)

Starting Pitchers:

• SP – Addie Joss
• SP – Stan Coveleski
• SP – Bob Feller
• SP – Jim Bagby
• SP – Sam McDowell
• SP – Herb Score

With every team, we started building their all-time 25-man and 40-man rosters by using the Hall of Fame as a starting point, figuring that a player enshrined in baseball’s immortal Hall would certainly qualify to make his team’s all-time roster. Almost all the Hall of Fame members are easily identifiable with one team so it’s a simple way to start every roster with near-inarguable selections. Notable players Cleveland has to fight for include C.C. Sabathia, Roberto Alomar, Tris Speaker, and Manny Ramirez:

C.C. Sabathia

Cleveland: 8 years, 3-time All-Star, 1 Cy Young, 27.5 WAR, 3.83 ERA, 106 Wins, 12 CG, 1265 K, 1528 IP, 7 SHO

New York: 11 years, 3-time All-Star, 0 Cy Young, 29.6 WAR, 3.81 ERA, 134 Wins, 19 CG, 1700 K, 1918 IP, 2 SHO + 1 World Series Title

Roberto Alomar

San Diego: 3 years, 1 All-Star, 0 MVP, 12.2 WAR, .283 AVG, 246 Runs, 157 RBI, 22 HR, 90 SB

Toronto: 5 years, 5-time All-Star, 0 MVP, 22.3 WAR, .307 AVG, 451 Runs, 342 RBI, 55 HR, 206 SB + 2 World Series Titles

Baltimore: 3 years, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVP, 12.5 WAR, .312 AVG, 282 Runs, 210 RBI, 50 HR, 44 SB

Cleveland: 3 years, 3-time All-Star, 0 MVP, 20.3 WAR, .323 AVG, 362 Runs, 309 RBI, 63 HR, 106 SB

Tris Speaker

Boston: 9 years, 1 MVP, 55.8 WAR, .337 AVG, 704 Runs, 542 RBI, 39 HR, 267 SB + 2 World Series Titles

Cleveland: 11 years, 0 MVP, 74.3 WAR, .354 AVG, 1079 Runs, 886 RBI, 73 HR, 155 SB + 1 World Series Title

Manny Ramirez

Cleveland: 8 years, 4-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 30.0 WAR, .313 AVG, 665 Runs, 804 RBI, 236 HR, 28 SB

Boston: 8 years, 8-time All-Star, 0 MVPs, 33.2 WAR, .312 AVG, 743 Runs, 686 RBI, 274 HR, 7 SB + 2 World Series Titles

These four actually split up pretty reasonably – Sabathia to New York, Alomar to Toronto, Speaker to Cleveland, Ramirez to Boston.

Some other potential disputes go Cleveland’s way including Albert Belle, Jim Thome, Carlos Santana, Cliff Lee and Andrew Miller.

As with every team, we are trying to build an active roster with 13 position players and 12 pitchers, and then a 15-player inactive roster of guys who just missed the cut, but remain valuable as callups in case of slumps or injuries.

The 13 active position players are usually two catchers, six infielders, and five outfielders. The stats are built around the average of the player’s best three consecutive seasons.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame gives us a good start here. Cooperstown gives Cleveland Jim Thome, Nap Lajoie, Earl Averill, Tris Speaker, Larry Doby, Addie Joss, Stan Coveleski, Bob Feller, Early Wynn, Joe Sewell, Lou Boudreau, and Bob Lemon.

The Hall of Fame gives us 12 of our 40-man roster, and WAR (Wins Above Replacement), a great stat for looking at the all-around contribution to a team for both hitters and pitchers, can help us with the rest.

We get lots of help here, as in order we find: Kenny Lofton, Terry Turner, Bill Bradley, Ken Keltner, Al Rosen, Elmer Flick, Hal Trosky, Ray Chapman, Carlos Santana, Bobby Avila, Grady Sizemore, Francisco Lindor, Albert Belle, Jose Ramirez, Jeff Heath, Travis Hafner, Steve O’Neill, and Buddy Bell.

Other Guardians with shorter but impressive tenures include Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Baerga, and Victor Martinez. Franmil Reyes is off to a strong start in Cleveland so we’ll consider him as well.

Once plugged into the simulation software, we looked at their OPS (on-base + slugging percentage) and their defensive rankings and they break down like this:

CATCHER: Victor Martinez, Carlos Santana
FIRST BASE: Jim Thome, Travis Hafner
SECOND BASE: Nap Lajoie, Julio Franco
SHORTSTOP: Francisco Lindor, Julio Franco (sometimes)
THIRD BASE: Al Rosen
LEFT FIELD: Rocky Colavito, Albert Belle
CENTER FIELD: Tris Speaker, Larry Doby (sometimes)
RIGHT FIELD: Earl Averill, Albert Belle

Cleveland will use the designated hitter in most games, so Larry Doby, Travis Hafner, Albert Belle, Carlos Santana, and Julio Franco will see some at-bats there too.

That leaves inactive roster options Ken Keltner, Lou Boudreau, Kenny Lofton, Hal Trotsky, Grady Sizemore, George Burns, Carlos Baerga, and Joe Sewell. Sandy Alomar Jr. makes the inactive roster as the third-string catcher.

For the pitching staff we’re looking for six starters and six relievers. Bear in mind that across the whole game you will see dynamic, outstanding starting pitchers that can’t crack an all-time rotation but are better served as relievers on a team than sitting inactive.

Hall of Famers automatically belong, so we have five spots reserved for Addie Joss, Stan Coveleski, Bob Feller, Early Wynn, and Bob Lemon. With the 26 players on the total roster we have room for 13 more pitchers.

Once we dug into the career WAR rankings (as Guardians) we came up with: Mel Harder, Sam McDowell, Willis Hudlin, Corey Kluber, Mike Garcia, George Uhle, Wes Ferrell, Jim Bagby, Charles Nagy, Bartolo Colon, Vean Gregg, Tom Candiotti, Sonny Siebert, Carlos Carrasco, Johnny Allen, Guy Morton, Jake Miller, and Trevor Bauer.

Relievers Andrew Miller, Doug Jones, Bob Wickman, and Cody Allen are candidates as well.

We looked at their overall numbers in the simulation software and leaned heavily on ERA to come up with these designations:

STARTING ROTATION: Addie Joss, Stan Coveleski, Mike Clevinger, Corey Kluber, Bob Feller, Sam McDowell
RELIEVERS: Jim Bagby, Early Wynn, Bob Lemon, Doug Jones
SET-UP: Andrew Miller
CLOSER: Cody Allen

Andrew Miller and Cody Allen close and set-up for each other depending on whether they’re facing mainly left-handers or right-handers. The inactive pitcher options are Mike Garcia, Cliff Lee, Tom Candiotti, Carlos Carrasco, Early Wynn and Mel Harder.

So how did we do?

Can you forgive us for sending C.C. and Manny away to other teams?

Are you OK with Lindor at shortstop and Omar Vizquel on the Mariners?

Should Franmil Reyes have made the main roster?

What batting order would you suggest versus lefties and righties?

Let us know in the forum below and if you make a compelling case we will adapt it in-game. We want every squad to be the best they possibly can be and appreciate your help fine-tuning the Guardians for Eternal Baseball.

Photo Credits:

• Cleveland Indians vs. Baltimore Orioles (top photo) by Erik Drost.
• Cleveland Indians 22nd Consecutive Win by Erik Drost.
• Cleveland Indians Home Opener (pitcher photo) by Erik Drost