Guardians’ offseason plans include farewell to clubhouse mouse, rest and video games

DETROIT -- The Guardians’ season ended on Sunday. There was no trip to the postseason. Just a quick flight back to Cleveland with thoughts of what might have been.

Some players and staff members returned to their homes straight from Detroit. Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, and GM Mike Chernoff were in Detroit conducting exit meetings with players, coaches and staff members.

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Here’s what outgoing manager Terry Francona and some of his players have on their to-do list as they enter the offseason:

“I’ve got a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning to discuss my surgeries,” said Francona.

Francona is scheduled to have his right shoulder replaced and undergo a double-hernia operation in mid-October at Cleveland Clinic.

Meanwhile, he intends to supervise the cleaning out of his office at Progressive Field.

“You can collect a lot of stuff over 11 years,” said Francona.

“I’ve been trying to catch a mouse in my office for the last two years,” said Francona. “I’ve got to say goodbye to him.”

Here are what some of his players will be doing:

• Catcher Bo Naylor: “I’ll either be at home in Canada or Phoenix. I’ll be chilling and ripping through some video games. Anyone who knows me knows what I’ll be doing.”
• First baseman-outfielder Kole Calhoun: “I’m going to go home and play dad. Take the kids to school, play some golf, do a little traveling and see what happens. ... I’ll listen this offseason. I’ll train, but we’ll see about playing next year. I don’t think I’ll jump through the hoops I did this year, but we’ll see if there’s somethig out there. This is the first time in my career I’m going to bring it up with my family and see if we’re going to keep doing this.”
• RHP Tanner Bibee: “I’m going to Romania. My girlfriend plays soccer there. She played at Cal State Fullerton before turning pro. I played soccer when I was 13, but not at her level.”
• LHP Sam Hentges: “We’ll go back to the Phoenix area, unwind and hang out a little bit. Give the body time to rest and recover. I’ll give it a week or two and get back to work.”
• OF Will Brennan: “I’ll rest and then I’ll start making the necessary adjustments I need to make. Overall, I want to rework my approach (at the plate), get back in the gym and come back physically fit for next year. ... It’s going to be nice to get out of the tunnel vision of the season and take a full view of this year, summarize it, think about it and see what adjustments I need to make.”
• 2B Andres Gimenez: “I’m going home, sleep a lot, eat a lot and be a dad fulltime.”
• INF Tyler Freeman: “I’m going to shut down for a week or two. Then start working with my trainers to get my size back (Freeman lost weight during the season). It’s hard to keep your weight during the season. ... I want to make some adjustments with my swing. I’ll be working with my hitting coach at home so hopefully I can have a bigger role next year.”
• SS Gabriel Arias: “I’m going to go home and rest. My wrist should be healed in about a month, and then I can start swinging the bat.” Arias suffered a hairline fracture of his right wrist on Sept. 24.
• OF Oscar Gonzalez: “I’m going to go home and work. I’m not going to play winter ball.”
• CF Myles Straw: “I’m going be a dad and work on some baseball activities.”
• LF Steven Kwan: “I’m going to Chicago to see my girlfriend.”
• RHP Triston McKenzie: “I’ll spend a couple days in Cleveland and talk to some of the trainers and figure out (a throwing program). But I’ll just go home to Florida and decompress.” McKenzie made only four starts this year because of a strained ulnar colleratal ligament in his right elbow.

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