There's hope for the Cleveland Guardians... if you want to see it

So much of our reality can be changed by how we view certain things. There's the obvious "optimist/pessimist" dichotomy with water glasses, but Matthew Berry of NBC Sports, and formerly ESPN, would write an article every year talking about this with regard to fantasy football. You can make any stat seem like a good one or a bad one depending on how you view it, and with Opening Day just a few hours away, my love for the Cleveland Guardians is similar, but I almost always like to take the glass-half-full approach. Obviously, others feel differently, and that's okay, but going into a slog of a season like MLB has, it's hard to go in with downcast eyes. So let's take a look at some negative viewpoints and let me give you the posi vibes I'm feeling.They didn't sign anyone to help on offense!They sure didn't. But the argument for why this is okay is twofold: 1) the free agent list this year wasn't conducive to Guardians players and 2) they saw internal gains that didn't cost any money. Let's look at No. 1 first: the best hitter options were Shohei Ohtani (never happening), Cody Bellinger (too many bad years before his good 2023 and probably asking for too much money), Teoscar Hernandez (feasible, but worrisome BB and K rates decided that for Cleveland), Matt Chapman (too old and Jose Ramirez is already at third), and others that were unlikely to add to what Cleveland needed in a cost-efficient way. Lourdes Gurriel would have been a decent add, but locking him into a four-year contract with the outfield prospects on the horizon was a non-starter. JD Martinez waited until last week to sign, but Cleveland already had a too-many-DHs problem with Josh Naylor, Deyvison De Los Santos, and Kyle Manzardo situation. It was an underwhelming group of free agents that, yes, would have helped, but would have stunted some of the growth that occurred over the winter and spring.That growth is what brought Tyler Freeman to center field, out of the depths of Sunday-only playing time spelling Ramirez at third. Freeman figures to take over CF on most days and the incremental gains on offense from Myles Straw loom large. Freeman isn't going to knock balls outta the park, but he is going to actually...ya know...hit the ball. Freeman is capable of being a league-average bat in center, which is around a 30% increase from what Straw gave you in 2022/2023. The same goes with Bo Naylor at catcher! Naylor appeared in 67 games in 2023 and was the 5th-best hitter by fWAR in only 230 plate appearances. The wRC+s ((wRC+ is basically a measure of offensive production, weighted by the ballpark. 100 is the league average.)) of the guys who did the most catching before Naylor came up were 64, 38, 4, and -17. Having a full season of Naylor at catcher, even if you decrease the extrapolation of 2023 by 10-15%, is lightyears better than what you had.We don't know what the youngsters will do!We sure don't. Brayan Rocchio didn't "win" the job at shortstop, it was more like who stunk less. Freeman and Estevan Florial, acquired in a trade that sent out Cody Morris to New York, are still somewhat unknowns because of their lack of playing time in previous seasons. Bo Naylor will need to adjust to pitchers adjusting to him throughout a full season. "Veterans" Steven Kwan and Andres Gimenez need to show that 2023 was the exception, not the rule. Wouldn't it be great if you had a full roster of veteran players that you knew what you were getting out of them? Maybe, but players don't become veterans without going through the slop and muck of sophomore and junior seasons, burning off the chaff of rookiedom.You have to actually play the players to see what they become. Rocchio has 87 major league plate appearances that spanned months at a time; no one should be expected to develop properly when you can go weeks or months between games at a certain level. Same with Florial: He was rarely called upon by New York when games mattered, getting his handful of PAs during the September doldrums. Freeman has famously been backward Chik Fil A, only playing on Sundays. Let's applaud the front office for finally doing what they should have been and see what some of these players can be!Stephen Vogt is a rookie manager, who knows if he's good!By all accounts, Vogt is Terry Francona without the track record. Every bit of information that has come out on Vogt's background, handling of players, funny anecdotes from his time as a player all have that scream Tito. Yes, he does not have the franchise record in wins. Yes, he is young enough to have played with some of the guys on the roster. ((Ramon Laureano and Vogt were teammates in Oakland.)) No, he does not know all the ins and outs of bullpen management and lineup construction. But the front office and organization have done a marvelous job of surrounding Vogt with smart people who have done the job for ages. Carl Willis returned as pitching coach, Sandy Alomar is still the first base coach, and Craig Albernaz, the bench coach, interviewed for the position Vogt ended up being hired for. Plus, Francona is still with the organization as a consultant. He isn't managing from the sky, but he is available to be an ear to hear or a foot for a kick in the ass whenever Vogt needs it. Similar to the young players, you have to start somewhere.Maybe my arguments didn't help you see some light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe you're still dreading tomorrow's Opening Day matchup as Shane Bieber's last ride or the start of the grueling death march to October where you imagine a first-round exit, or maybe even no playoffs at all. All I can ask is that you have a modicum of optimism for the season. It's a new one, always.