Guardians officially have the lowest payroll in MLB originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Cleveland Guardians generated some goodwill among the fanbase with the recent contract extension news for Jose Ramirez.
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The reality is that the Guardians aren’t exactly shelling out the cash, though.
As of Saturday night, Jan. 31, the Guardians have the lowest cash payroll in baseball.
That did belong to the Chicago White Sox, but they signed Austin Hays on Saturday to move out of the basement.
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Here’s how the list looks now, via Spotrac’s charts:
This is a common complaint for the Guardians, who find a way to be competitive every year despite ranking near the bottom in payroll every season.
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Right now, the Guardians are a decent amount lower in payroll than they were last season, and that’s still with the books reflecting more than $6 million for Emmanuel Clase that almost surely isn’t going to end up being paid.
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There aren’t a ton of major free agents left, so it’s not even like there’s a lot of money the Guardians could shell out if they wanted to.
And to be clear — there’s no indication from reporters that Cleveland is pursuing anyone.
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This is what the team is at this point. It’s up to the players the Guardians have to make the most of what’s in the clubhouse, because it isn’t getting much of an upgrade.
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