Where does Guardians president Chris Antonetti rank on our list of The 40 Most Influential People In Cleveland Sports?

Posted by author October 16, 2024 Sports

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti ranks ninth on The 40 Most Influential People in Cleveland Sports, our ranking of the people who currently wield the most influence over Cleveland’s sports happiness.

In this series, we are picking the top 40 athletes, front office personnel, owners, and even those who work on the periphery of sports, to see who does the most to shape the happiness of Cleveland sports fans.

The 40 Most Influential: See how we are determining the Top 40 and the full list so far.

Next up, the president of the Guardians.

No. 9. Guardians president Chris Antonetti

Raise the curtain for the 2024 Cleveland Guardians. Bring out the players and coaches for a well-earned batch of roses, recognition, rounds of applause. And save a spotlight moment for president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, who has once again drafted and developed a roster that’s surprising fans with its readiness to win.

And make it quick. Antonetti has earned his No. 9 ranking on Cleveland’s top-40 most influential sports figures. But it won’t be long until he has to prove himself again.

See, when most pro sports execs build a 92-win roster comprised mostly of home-grown prospects — many of whom are young and under team control — pressure subsides. Fans exercise patience. The drive to improve never stops, but the urgency behind it simmers.

In the small-market baseball world, however, arbitration clocks are always ticking. Free agency looms like an expiration date for talented players, leaving people like Antonetti (and Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff) tasked with re-stocking the prospect cupboard before his current wave of winners price themselves out of town.

Guardians fans can’t envision their diamond without newly minted stars like Steven Kwan, Emmanuel Clase or Josh Naylor. But all three can become unrestricted free agents over the next five years — Naylor in 2026, Kwan in 2028, and Clase in 2029. And if we’re honest, Cleveland faces long odds to keep all three in-house.

Two years (in Naylor’s case) is a long time. Four (in Kwan’s case) and five (in Clase’s) should feel like an eternity. If the price is right, plus the team is winning, Guards ownership will do everything it can to retain those core pieces

But Cleveland’s financial “ifs” are bigger than anything in Texas. And the Guardians learned last season, when they followed a 92-win season with 76, how fickle success can be. Come next July, Naylor could find himself mashing meaningless meatballs for a franchise fading from playoff relevance, forcing Antonetti to confront a familiar midsummer’s conundrum:

Buy or sell?

The Guardians ask themselves the same thing every summer, in some regard. Last season, Cleveland pondered trading ace pitcher Shane Bieber, to yield peak value for a player whom the Guardians might not be able to afford come free agency. Last month, the Guardians traded three of their top-30 prospects for Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas in hopes of bolstering their bats for the postseason. Each case study explains opposite ends of a midsummer deadline day’s dilemma.

Hindsight tells us Cleveland should’ve sold Bieber, who has since undergone Tommy John surgery and will enter free agency this offseason. Fans wonder if he will ever regain his Cy Young form again, or whether that question is Cleveland’s to consider anymore.

Hindsight also says buying Thomas, who hit a go-ahead grand slam during Cleveland’s Game 5 ALDS win over the Tigers, looks like a home run. The Guardians recognized a roster ready to win and added Thomas’ bat to a lineup in need. The move won them a critical playoff game. Cleveland’s Thomas risk should inspire the franchise to take more.

But Antonetti can’t count on hindsight when MLB’s trade stove burns hot. Instead, he’s stuck staring into a crystal ball with a blurry view of the future.

Will selling the next pending free agent yield enough young talent to justify a season lost? Will buying the next deadline addition bring enough postseason magic to account for the dent in future talent? Can’t tell. Hard to see. Even harder to thread the needle between both realities while baseball’s arbitration and free agency clocks tick ominously overhead.

Such is the performance of baseball’s premiere small-market president. Every successful season requires the right balance (juggle?) between near- and long-term planning. So when it’s time to celebrate the 2024 Guardians, be it at a parade or after a loss to the New York Yankees, save a shining moment for the GM. Clap your hands, throw your flowers, check your hindsight takes at the door.

But make it quick. Because Antonetti’s next successful season will require an equally acrobatic encore.