Cleveland Guardians players fuming after puzzling $16,500,000 hitter sale, President's assurance fails to assuage angry locker room
All is not well at the Cleveland Guardians clubhouse. Players directed their cumulative anger towards the front office after the club's bewildering trade dealings.
While there has been unrest among the Guardians players in the aftermath of their timid trade deadline, the bench-clearing brawl on Saturday night seems to have diverted the attention of the onlookers.
The franchise turned a few heads after letting go of their ace pitcher Aaron Civale to the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Kyle Manzardo.
If the starting pitcher's trade wasn't bad enough, the Guardians traded veteran slugger and 2022 NL Silver Slugger award winner Josh Bell just before the trade deadline culminated.
The decision to let go of two of their star players, especially when they were just one game behind first-place Minnesota Twins in the American League Central, irked a lot of players in the locker room.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today broke the news of the developments behind the curtains. He wrote, in his column:
"The Guardians’ players were so upset with the front office surrendering that president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff boarded a 6:30 a.m. flight to Houston the next morning instead of waiting for the club to return home"
Such was the scale of their discontentment that team president Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff jetted off to meet the team leaders to address the situation.
The front office assured the players of a strong influx next season to de-escalate the situation, stating that the injuries to Shane Bieber and Triston McKenzie forced their hand in the MLB trade deadline.
Guardians manager Terry Francona felt the collective frustration of the players was understandable.
However, Francona made it clear the players' frustration should not affect their performance on the pitch as it would only make matters worse for the AL franchise chasing a wild card spot. He said:
“I just told ‘em that 'if you are frustrated, if you’re angry, OK. But if that trickles into our play on the field, that doesn’t help anybody.”
Cleveland Guardians season has gone into a tailspin since the conclusion of the trade deadline
The development at the trade deadline has disrupted the Guardians' season as they were swept aside by the Houston Astros after the trade deadline.
The much talked about series against the White Sox also ended in disappointment for Cleveland as they succumbed to their second successive series defeat, losing five of their six games since the conclusion of the trade deadline.
Things are only going to get worse for the team as third baseman José Ramírez is facing a lengthy suspension after he punched Tim Anderson in an all-out fistfight on Saturday.