Jim Ingraham: Good to have Guardians back, even on the road and with non-competitive payroll

Opening day is a wonderful day, no matter how good or bad your team. It's never a bad day when the boys resume play, even when it's far from home. The Guardians could not get any farther from home for opening day than Oakland. The A's are one of only four American League teams that won fewer games than Cleveland last year, but at least we've got the solar eclipse going for us, so that's something. The Guardians, who — egad! — won fewer games than the Tigers last year, have some catching up to do this season, starting with their schedule, which looks like it was put together by a pack of drunken raccoons. In case you hadn't noticed, the victory-challenged Guardians will start the 2024 season with an 11-day, 10-game, three-city road trip. That's right, 10 games in 11 days, with one day off (Friday, April 5, in Minnesota). Opening day is today, March 28. The Guardians' first game in Cleveland will be April 8. In the interim they will play four games in Oakland, three in Seattle, three more in Minnesota and, finally, back to Cleveland for Eclipsepalooza on April 8. Normally this would be the kind of schedule that would send the team officials upon whom it was foisted into a full froth. Ten games in 11 days, all on the road? The Guardians could be 10 games under .500 before they even SEE Progressive Field. Or, at least, the new and supposedly improved Progressive Field, which is not to be confused with the offensively challenged, unimproved roster that will play there. As you might have heard, noticed, seen or suspected, Guardians ownership has decided to cater to the food and drink crowd more than its baseball fan base that has gone 75 years since its last championship parade. To that end, the ballclub is nearing the end of Phase One of a two-phase, two-year ballpark makeover, which will emphasize culinary and libation style over baseball substance. According to the baseball scientists at FanGraphs, the Guardians are one of five teams who project to an opening day payroll of under $100 million. "Baseball has a huge mythology about how smart teams can win on the cheap," wrote FanGraphs' Michael Baumann. "But in order to do that you have to make smart decisions." Baumann further points out that Cleveland has two stars, Jose Ramirez and Shane Bieber, but "even considering both players are on massively below market deals ... they take up a huge percentage of Cleveland's budget." How huge? According to FanGraphs, the combined 2024 salaries of Ramirez and Bieber are $30.125 million, which translates to a whopping 30.6 percent of the Guardians' entire payroll. Baumann's conclusion: "You can't build a team like that!" But the Guardians have no choice, due to frugal ownership. It's why, over the last decade or more, so many elite players drafted and developed by Cleveland left as free agents, seeking contracts consummate with their abilities, which they knew they would never get by remaining with a team that, as Baumann puts it, "budgets as much for its entire roster as the Rangers do for pitchers on the injured list." According to Spotrac, the Guardians' total team payroll for 2024 is $86.4 million, which is the lowest of any team in the AL Central, and almost the lowest of any team in the major leagues. The Twins are the "big spenders" in the division, with a payroll of $118 million, which ranks 18th in the majors. The White Sox are 19th with $117 million, the Royals 20th with $105 million, the Tigers 21st with $95 million and the Guardians are sitting on the back porch at No. 28. The only teams with lower payrolls than Cleveland are the Pirates ($72 million) and A's ($47 million). Meanwhile, the ballpark renovation continues, marching in lockstep with the countdown to opening day, when the Guardians will finally throw open the gates so all their thirsty and hungry customers can finally come in and check out Phase One of the ballpark makeover, while also getting something new and exciting to eat and drink — and maybe even catch a few innings of the game. The Guardians players will also be excited knowing that their fans will be well-fed so the fans will not have to experience the solar eclipse on an empty stomach. Best of all, however, is that the Guardians players will finally be done with their zany season-opening globetrotting road trip — and the worker bees at Progressive Field will have completed, for now, Phase One of the ballpark redo. That might be the reason the Guardians are starting the season with 10 games, in 11 days, in three cities not named Cleveland. Guardians officials may have requested it, to buy them 11 more days to tidy up at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Happy Opening day. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com. Follow him @Jim_Ingraham on X.