Guardians GM sounds off with honest Dodgers take

The Cleveland Guardians are currently in first place in the American League Central standings. Despite having one of the lower payrolls in MLB, Cleveland continues to find ways to win. The Guardians have been one of the more successful teams in baseball over the past decade. Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff knows the ball club is not the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he does not want to make excuses.

“Regardless of what the economic system is, we have to find a way to win. We’re not making excuses,” Chernoff said recently, via MLB Network Radio. “Now, our payroll is 70 something million dollars and you have teams out there with 370 something million dollar payrolls. We’re facing the Dodgers the second series of the year and the guy on the mound is making 70 million dollars, and our whole payroll is around that. We don’t make excuses.

“We just go out and try to win and we’ve made the playoffs seven out of the last 10 years… We do have to do things differently in the current system and that definitely makes it hard… Whatever the system is, we have to find a way around it.”

The Guardians have done a tremendous job of developing talent. Whether they draft a future star such as Travis Bazzana or acquire an impactful player, Cleveland finds ways to win despite having a lower payroll than big market teams.

The Guardians were defeated by the Boston Red Sox by a final score of 9-4 on Sunday, but they are still in first place in the AL Central with a 34-27 record.