Guardians have a huge 14-homer problem they tried to fix at trade deadline originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Cleveland Guardians are just 1.0 game back of the AL Wild Card, but they've gone 3-9 since the MLB trade deadline, and it's been a rough season overall.
One of the big reasons why things aren't going well can be simplified to one key statistic: home runs. More specifically, the big problem for the Guardians comes down to the 14-homer benchmark.
As Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report highlighted, there isn't a single player on this Guardians roster, heading into games on Tuesday, who has 14 home runs this season. It's such a major problem that they spent their deadline trying to address it.
Guardians have huge 14-homer problem
"Cleveland Guardians (60-65): Zero players with 14 or more home runs," Miller writes. "... The Guardians added Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe and called up Angel Genao to help address the fact that no one on this roster has hit more than 13 home runs."
This 14-homer benchmark is a very simple one, as there are 113 players in Major League Baseball this year who've hit at least 14 home runs this season.
The Guardians don't have a single player inside the top 113 of home runs hit this season. They did add Lowe, who has 14 home runs this season, and Adell, who has 18 this year, but those were with other ball clubs.
Sitting atop the Guardians' home run leaderboard is rookie Chase DeLauter, tied with Kyle Manzardo and Rhys Hoskins, two sluggers who have a .684 and .685 OPS, respectively, this season.
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The Guardians aren't getting nearly enough power from this lineup, and that includes from Jose Ramirez. He did miss a lot of time due to injury, but he only has 10 home runs this season in 335 at-bats, well below his normal rate.
Simply put, the Guardians have a home run problem. It's going to be very hard to make the playoffs and win games, let alone series, if they cannot hit more home runs.
Adell and Lowe should help, and the offense might finally turn things around. But with their 3-9 record post-trade deadline, things clearly aren't going well yet, and it's thanks to the in-house players who haven't been able to play at a high level this year.
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