Chris Antonetti Says Guardians Are In Position To Add Payroll

The team is excited about some of its top prospects, but is actively looking for immediate pitching and offensive upgrades.

The first few days back from Major League Baseball's lockout have featured such a flurry of news and rumors that it's hard to keep up with all of it.

And that's only what's actually reported or floated around on social media. Imagine how many more conversations are had that never actually make it out into the public space.

No doubt, Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff and the Cleveland Guardians front office have a lot of work to do as they try to construct what they hope will be a championship-caliber team. And they don't have much time to do it.

"What used to take days now we have to do in hours," Antonetti said Monday afternoon.

The 2022 Cleveland Guardians are in an intriguing spot because they have a number of really attractive pieces on the current roster - proven all-stars like Jose Ramirez and Shane Bieber - that can be franchise, cornerstone players.

WATCH: Rejuvenated Terry Francona Happy To Be Back With Guardians

But as Spring Training officially launches with the first full-squad workout today, the team's payroll remains where you would have expected to see it 25 years ago.

Antonetti reiterated Monday that they are in a position where they are looking to add pieces and increase payroll, but they are trying to be cognizant of not taking away opportunities from the players they are really excited about at the top of their farm system.

"Yes," Antonetti said when directly asked about being in a position to add to the team's payroll. "But I think the greater challenge for us is that we feel we have a really exciting group at the Major League level, a really healthy farm system. We think we are going to be capable of building really good teams moving forward. We want to make sure that any decisions we make now not only help us in the short term, but at a minimum, we don't want them to adversely affect us in the long term. So that's the balance we have."

"I don't think that how much we have to spend in 2022 dollars is going to be the limiting factor."

The team has been linked to lots of names, some of which have been reported by credible sources and others seem more like rumors. But I think it's fair to assume that the team is at least kicking the tires on most of the free agent options out there. MLB Network's Jon Morosi says the team is interested in Joc Pederson, which would certainly excite fans if he wound up in Cleveland.

Source: Free agent Joc Pederson is drawing interest from the Cleveland Guardians. @MLBNetwork @MLB

— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) March 13, 2022

Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com reported Monday that the team pursued both Reds outfielder Jesse Winker and A's first baseman Matt Olson, but they weren't able to strike a trade to acquire either slugger.

So where do they go from here? I asked Antonetti what his top priorities were as things ramped back up now that the lockout is over.

"There are three priorities," he said. "One was catching - we felt we wanted to improve just the overall depth we have in catching. We love what Austin (Hedges) brings to the table, Sandy Leon's really capable of leading a pitching staff. But beyond that, we have some younger prospects in Bryan Lavastida and Bo Naylor, so we felt we wanted to add someone. That's why we signed Luke Maile the other day." 

Maile is a 31-year old catcher that split last season between Milwaukee and their minor league affiliates. He's played in 231 games with Tampa Bay, Toronto and the Brewers and has been a solid defensive option in his somewhat limited big league time.

"Beyond that, we will continue to look for opportunities if we can continue to improve our pitching staff, especially in the bullpen," Antonetti continued. "And then add offense."

"I think the thing we have to be cognizant of is that any move we make, we have to be thoughtful about who is it taking opportunities away from, and where will they get either playing time or innings. As I said earlier, we really do feel great about some of the young players that are emerging at the Major League level. We think they're not only going to help us this year, but years to come."

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