ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- The plan was to play their young players, but when that didn't prove successful, the Cleveland Guardians pivoted. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti picked up his phone and did something rare for his organization: He blanketed the league in the days leading up to the Aug. 3 trade deadline, transforming its ho-hum offense into something much more dangerous.
The moves helped lead Cleveland to yet another division title and now a deep October run as the Guardians head into Monday's Game 6 of the American League Championship trailing Tampa Bay 3-2.
"We felt like it made sense for us to add some veterans to our lineup because of how much we were struggling offensively," Antonetti admitted to ESPN recently. "It's probably the most volume we've ever done."
The longtime Guardians executive had to go back to 2016, when he acquired reliever Andrew Miller, to find the last time he impacted the team during the season as much as this year.
In fact, the moves started long before the deadline, when Cleveland made a rare May deal, acquiring catcher Patrick Bailey from the San Francisco Giants just 40 games into the season.
"Patty's worked really hard with our hitting coaches, both on subtle adjustments and to the swing," Antonetti said. "But his plan and approach to the plate has been awesome."
When the trade deadline rolled around, Antonetti went big even though his team was just 57-56 and three games behind the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Cleveland deepened its pitching staff by adding All-Star Foster Griffin in a trade with the Washington Nationals, but it was the added offensive punch that has most changed the trajectory of the Guardians' season.
Outfielder Jo Adell and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe were acquired in separate deals and have become mainstays in Cleveland's lineup.
"To get all of it, I think that ended up being a pretty big surprise," manager Stephen Vogt said. "Those five [deadline] players have made a huge impact for us and fit our team perfectly personality-wise, too."
The difference in Cleveland's offense has been staggering. From the start of the season to the trade deadline, it ranked 29th in runs and 30th in OPS. From the deadline to the end of the regular season, the Guardians jumped to eighth in scoring and ninth in OPS. The lineup has continued to perform throughout October as well, ranking behind only the Milwaukee Brewers in postseason OPS.
"It does make it thicker," Rays manager Kevin Cash said of the revamped lineup. "You're going to get that veteran approach. It's probably not going to get sped up on them in the moment. I mean, Jo and Nathaniel both probably had the biggest hits for the Guardians [in Game 1] at our ballpark."
'When they said "You're going to Cleveland," I was ecstatic'
The Guardians have been known more for their pitching than their offense during the recent run of success, but this year's lineup was struggling even by those standards. Usually reliable on-base threat Steven Kwan was in the midst of the worst months of his career, and perennial All-Star Jose Ramirez was also underperforming after undergoing hamate bone surgery in June. And the farm system the Guardians have so often turned to for reinforcement wasn't providing the shot in the arm they needed.
It showed in the standings as Cleveland sat at just .500 when the calendar turned from July to August.
"We talked about it at the time, if we need to pivot or make some adjustments, we'll look to do that," Antonetti said.
So with 72 hours to go before the deadline, Antonetti and his front office team pulled the plug on the plan and hit the phone lines. After completing smaller trades for outfielder Blake Perkins and reliever Craig Yoho on Aug. 1, they attacked deadline day by making their three biggest acquisitions: Adell, Griffin and Lowe. The latter two came very late in the day.
"If you asked me 30 minutes before the deadline, we thought Lowe was getting traded somewhere else," Antonetti said. "Something happened. We ended up reengaging 20 minutes before the deadline and then agreed to terms 15 minutes before and then tried to get the medicals done as quickly as we could."
Lowe was part of a contingent of Cincinnati Reds players waiting to hear whether they were getting moved in the final hours. Despite being out of the race, Cincinnati was having a quiet trade season. And so as the clock ticked down to the 6 p.m. ET deadline, Lowe figured he was staying put.
"Once it got to 5:00, 5:30 p.m., I thought maybe we're not going anywhere," Lowe said.
Then he saw missed calls on his phone from a Cincinnati area code and the eight-year veteran knew something was up.
"When they said, 'You're going to Cleveland,' I was ecstatic," he recalled.
Lowe took over for Kyle Manzardo -- who showed promise last season when he hit 27 home runs but went backward this year belting just 13 homers while hitting .215. In Lowe, the Guardians knew they were getting a hitter with a professional plate approach and plenty of postseason experience as he was the first baseman for the Texas Rangers during their 2023 World Series run.
That veteran savvy showed up in Game 1 of the ALCS when Lowe took an 0-2 pitch right back up the middle for a two-run single in the eighth after "taking a shot" earlier in the count. It's the kind of at-bat the Guardians were missing before he came on board.
"You don't need to drive the ball over the wall in that situation," Vogt said after Game 1. "You just need to score the runner from third. And that's all he was trying to do."
'My golfing went downhill fast after the seventh'
Adell was languishing on the last-place Los Angeles Angels when Antonetti placed a call to acting GM John Mozeliak the night before the deadline leading to a deadline-day deal.
While dealing for Lowe added playoff experience to the Guardians' roster, Adell had never sniffed the postseason -- but his power and upside filled a need Cleveland was lacking.
At that time, the normally reliable Ramirez wasn't providing the production the Guardians were used to because the hamate bone surgery had impacted his own power at the plate. Adell stepped in for David Fry, who was optioned to the minors, and suddenly the lineup seemed more formidable. Antonetti was checking off his needs, one by one.
"These were at more typical times and places where we completed these deals," he said with a smile. "I've done them zip lining, bungee jumping, even at a play. Not this time. Glad to get that one before the end of the day."
Adell was actually golfing with his Angels teammates at Trout National Golf course in New Jersey when he got the call.
"My golfing went downhill fast after the seventh hole," he laughed.
But any concerns about his round disappeared quickly when he realized the deal was sending him from a team at the bottom of the standings to a franchise in contention annually.
"It's pretty special," Adell said. "Being with an organization that's run this well is pretty special."
Adell hasn't hit for a high average in the playoffs, but he has driven in some big runs, including two in Cleveland's ALCS Game 1 victory. He and Lowe were the standouts of that game, once again reminding the team of what deadline day achieved for the organization last Monday: a win in the ALCS.
"This kind of happened organically through September," Vogt said of it coming together offensively. "Where it was kind of like, 'Hey, these guys are playing well,' we might want to keep them rolling."
'When you get reinforcements like that, it injects some energy into a group'
Griffin came to the Guardians from the Nationals on deadline day -- between the additions of Adell and Lowe -- and though starting pitching wasn't the highest priority, it was still a need. Griffin was on the wish list of many GMs around baseball.
"That was probably the one that we had the most dialogue on," Antonetti said. "The most players talked about."
The Guardians traded four players for Griffin, who has started and been a bulk reliever for Cleveland. He has pitched key innings throughout October -- and it has been a whirlwind for him.
"A lot of different people have asked me if I've looked back on this season yet ... but I feel like there's still a job to be done," Griffin stated. "I feel like we're not finished quite yet."
One by one, the additions brought into the organization have contributed to the Guardians' winning ways. After overtaking the White Sox to win its third straight division title, Cleveland overcame a 2-0 deficit to eliminate Chicago in the division series. Now, the Guardians are in a battle to get back to the World Series for the first time since 2016 and believe they have the pieces to end their 78-year World Series drought even with their backs to the wall in the ALCS.
"It took us a few days, weeks, to really come together," Vogt said. "But that's the beauty of this player group. They embrace everyone that comes through the doors of that clubhouse because they know they're here for a purpose.
"When you get reinforcements like that, it injects some energy into the group."