Cleveland Guardians and Their "Situationships": First Base

I've been out of the dating game for a long time now, as I've been with my wife for 10 years this upcoming March, but because my day job is in a school system, I'm up to date on the modern-day vocabulary. ((I recently figured out what a "gyat" is.)) One of the more common ones the teens throw around is "situationship", which is when two parties are dating but not defined. Those of us millennials might have called this term "talking", and those older you might have used this sentence, "well, I don't *like* like her." What the word boils down to is if you're not ready to have "the talk" yet but still want all the advantages of being in a relationship, it's a "situationship". And boy is the 2024 Cleveland Guardians roster full of situationships. Over the next couple of days, I'll take a look at some of the positions rookie manager Stephen Vogt will have to figure out and "define the relationship" at. Today is...

First base/designated hitter

Those involved: Josh Naylor, Deyvison, De Los Santos, Kyle ManzardoThe first one out the gate and we have a "menage a trois" of sorts! Well, not really, as we all know Josh Naylor will play every day somewhere. If his ankle is busted or balky, then the lefty slugger will be riding the pine on the bottom half of home games while still hitting in the heart of the lineup. JNaylor had his most put-together season in the majors in 2023, with 17 dingers, 97 RBI, and a triple slash of .308(!!!)/.354/.489. He is the unequivocally "second banana" to Jose Ramirez in the lineup and is in no danger of losing PAs to rookies, as long as he's healthy.Now the fun part: De Los Santos versus Manzardo. It shouldn't be posed that way, as both could be extremely good hitters in this lineup, providing length and power for Vogt. But there is the sticky wicket of service time with Manzardo and the Rule 5-ness of De Los Santos that must be navigated. Because De Los Santos came from the Arizona Diamondbacks in the Rule 5 draft over the offseason, he must remain on the Guardians' major league roster for the entirety of the season or be returned to Arizona. Normally, that wouldn't be an issue, as we've seen the team do as such with Trevor Stephan to mixed results, but DDLS is a head-scratcher all his own. Things working against him (or for him, as some of these are helpful): he's 20, he's never played above Double-A ball, and the strides he showed last season that caught the eye of the Guards front office came in the hitter-friendly confines of the development league. So while the power is prodigious, ((He had 20 HRs in 2023 in AA.)) it is also suuuuper young and very likely not ready for primetime.Manzardo has the look of everything working out: he played extremely well in the Arizona Fall League after missing some time with a shoulder injury in 2023, and given the new service time rules, the team might think it's advantageous to start him on the Opening Day roster. "What are those rules?", you might ask. If a player performs well enough to be first or second in Rookie of the Year voting, he gets a full season of service time no matter when he came up, but a team can accrue extra draft picks at the end of the first round if the player accrues that full season and finishes in the top three of ROTY/MVP/Cy Young voting. There is also a pre-arb bonus pool for players based on a WAR-type formula and the top 100 players split from the pool, easing the burden off teams. ((We can argue if they *need* to be eased of the burden another time.)) But Cleveland is a risk-averse franchise that generally does not tip-toe in pushing the envelope of service time. Remember when Francisco Lindor needed to "work on his defense" in his rookie season? Counter-point, they had no issue using Steven Kwan early in 2022, so maybe the tides are changing. If they do not see DDLS as a long-term piece or can acquire his full rights from Arizona, allowing him to be sent to the minors without fear of losing him, then they may just drop Manzardo at first and keep him there forever.Verdict: Naylor and Manzardo are everyday players, De Los Santos is returned to ArizonaI don't want it to happen, because players with De Los Santos's power profile do not come available on the market often, but there is a reason he was left unprotected by Arizona. While it could be entirely possible that the work in the dev league is real and De Los Santos found some "hit tool +1s" powerups in the desert, it's much more likely that the jump in level will be too much to keep him around for a full season. I love the swing by the organization to find some power, and if all they did was tie up a 40-man spot on the cheap over the winter, it wouldn't be something they missed out on. Manzardo is a big piece of the future for the franchise and should be on the Opening Day roster in some capacity, on defense or at DH. And we know that JNaylor loves the big time and THRIVES in the clutch, so be on the lookout for an extension sometime in the spring.