The Guardians pulled off one of the most incredible comebacks in baseball history to win the American League Central in 2025. Going into the winter, they have a lot of good pieces in place and will look to strengthen the roster as they try to win a third straight division title in 2026.
Guaranteed Contracts
- José Ramírez, 3B: $69MM through 2028.
- Tanner Bibee, RHP: $43MM through 2029, including $1MM buyout on 2030 club option.
- Emmanuel Clase, RHP: $8MM through 2026, including $2MM buyout on 2027 club option. Deal also includes 2028 club option.
- Trevor Stephan, RHP: $4.75MM through 2026, including $1.75MM buyout on 2027 club option. Deal also includes 2028 club option.
- Austin Hedges, C: $4MM through 2026.
Other Financial Commitments
- Owe $2.75MM to Blue Jays as part of Myles Straw trade
Option Decisions
- Club has $6MM option on LHP John Means with no buyout
2026 guarantees: $44.5MM
Total future commitments: $131.5MM
Arbitration-Eligible Players (service time in parentheses; projected salaries courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz)
- Kolby Allard (5.004): $1.9MM
- Sam Hentges (4.157): $1.3375MM
- Steven Kwan (4.000): $8.8MM
- Ben Lively (3.133): $2.7MM
- Nolan Jones (3.007): $2MM
- Will Brennan (2.155): $900K
- David Fry (2.154): $1.2MM
- Matt Festa (2.153): $1MM
Non-tender candidates: Hentges, Lively, Jones, Brennan
Free Agents
2025 was quite the rollercoaster season for the Guardians. They were 31-26 at the end of May and in possession of a Wild Card spot. But then they hit a skid, going 9-16 in June, which included part of a ten-game losing streak that went from June 26th to July 6th. After that losing streak, they were 40-48 and seven games back of a playoff spot.
Amidst that losing streak, right-hander Luis Ortiz was placed on leave due to a gambling investigation. It seemed the season was slipping away, so trade rumors started to swirl around players like Emmanuel Clase, Steven Kwan and Shane Bieber. Then Clase himself was placed on leave alongside Ortiz, also due to that gambling investigation. That took him off the trading block but also harmed Cleveland's bullpen. As the deadline came and went, they did some modest selling. They flipped Bieber and Paul Sewald, who were both on the injured list at the time, but held Kwan and everyone else.
Amazingly, everything turned around from there. The Guards went 14-13 in August and then an incredible 20-7 in September. That latter month included a ten-game winning streak from September 11th to 20th. As the Guards were surging, the Tigers were scuffling. Cleveland managed to finish a game ahead of Detroit, winning the Central for a second straight season. The Tigers got the last laugh by beating the Guards in the Wild Card round, but it was still an incredible run for the Guards, and one that could give them momentum going into 2026.
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And all next summer, you get to read about the Yankees, Mets, Red Sox, Phillies and Dodgers all you want and then some. Including, who all they thought about signing but didn’t.
I have a subscription why can’t I read it on this app?
Great write up, as always. Hope they upgrade the outfield and snag some buy-low options for the rotation. Seems like they can always catch some lightning in a bottle there.
Very generous to say that Bazanna is “mashing his way through the minors”
Yeah, I know BA isn’t the end all and be all anymore but a .243 BA isn’t exactly mashing. For a 1/1 you might like just a wee bit more.
That said about Bazzana I still want them to hand over 2B to him very early on. End of April if he has a decent start as I think he’ll be okay but I don’t hold out huge hope for a top 2 ROY finish. I think LF might be the future home for Brito.
Too bad Cleveland didn’t go hard after Polanco following the Gimenez trade as an interim slot. He was waiting for a few more shekels, Houston apparently came close but not this cheapie outfit. 7 million for Sewald though, go figure. I mean the dude has a career ops better than 20 mill a year bad defense Santander and had just one really bad year, last. Weird.
Travis will be a centerfielder in cleveland come mid june next year. Book it !
Clase is only making 6.4 million in 2026. In 27 and 28 options for 10 million each year. If clase is banned the contract is off the books. So 7.2 million for clase and oritz off the books combined for 2026 if banned!
Which is the likely outcome but devastating.. tons of surplus value between Clase and Ortiz. No way you go out and spend $7 million in free agency and get anywhere near the talent of those two.
As bad a season as Santana was having, it was better than Manzardo or Kayfus. And wouldn’t it have been nice to have Shane Bieber for the Tiger series? This team is far too cheap. They didn’t have a single outfielder other than Kwan with a WAR above 0.1). Of the potential OF signees mentioned — Yastrzemski, Kepler, Bader and Mullins — Mullins and Kepler had replacement level seasons. Yastrzemski has had a respectable 2.5 average WAR in his career, but he’ll be 35. Bader had a career best season at 31, but he’s a regression candidate and he’s going to cost too much for the Guardians. Kayfus may be a prospect, but neither he nor Manzardo has proven himself yet and neither was as good as the departed Santana, so 1B.DH is still an open question. Guardians need to acquire at least one top of the order bats and btween OF/1B/DH there are plenty of places to put them.
Santana had a,second half OPS of .467, he stopped hitting, age finally caught up it seemed. Manzardo hit well — 27 HR, couldn’t field much but the team needed the bat more. A bit less than Manzo but Kayfus also hit better than Carlos. Hated the Carlos signing at 12 million, especially since his specialty was hitting LHP. But you’re right in general, cheapness didn’t help.
You discredited yourself with the first sentence. Manzardo ans Kayfus both had much better offensive seasons than Santana.
@Jon M
Correct. I don’t see how anyone could have mourned Santana’s departure, Except, of course, for one solitary contest: Game One of the Wild Card Series. Cleveland would have won that game (and the series) had Vogt not opted for Jonathan Rodriguez in RF and Jhonkensy Noel at 1B, two useless players who combined for two unearned runs and no hits in a 2-1 loss to Skubal and the Tigers. Had Santana been on the team, he would have played 1B and shoved Kayfus to RF and CLE would have won 1-0. Of course, a good argument could be made that CLE never would have won the Central at all had Santana stayed on the club, so it’s kinda moot.
@Pickles McGee @Bronxlou
Were CLE even a smidge as cheap as you think they are (they aren’t; they spend what comes in the door to the same extent every other team does) they would never have signed Santana in the first place. It was an ill-advised move, but one thing it was not was cheap. Any more than Sewald or Bieber or Junis were cheap. But don’t let the facts keep you from your simplistic narrative which is sure to keep the applause rolling in from the whiny CLE fanbase..
According to fangraphs Ramirez was the best 3b and Kwan the 2nd best LF. After that, its replacement players basically. FO has been mediocre lately.
And yet…three Central titles in the last four years, competing against more well-heeled clubs than themselves (except for KC, which has nevertheless been on a spending spree in a vain attempt to curry favor for a new stadium).
Fans tend to make instant judgements, usually negative, on young players just beginning their MLB careers.
Cleveland fans still mourn the loss of one year of Josh Naylor’s services.
Well, Kayfus and Manzardo are both well ahead of Naylor at the same points in their respective careers.
In Naylors first season…279 PAs…had a 90 wRC+ and 23 XBHs. In only 138 PAs, Kayfus had a 96 wRC+ with 15 XBHs.
Kayfus also out produced Naylor in the Minors.
Manzardos numbers are even more stark, compared to early Naylor. At age 24, in 687 PAs, Manzardo has a 109 wRC+. Naylor at the same age and with 633 PAs, had an 88 wRC+.
Manzardo has twice as many home runs, and a 65-51 advantage in XBHs.
Guardians fans should be thrilled with the early returns from both Kayfus and Manzardo.
Agreed. Manzardo looked gassed down the stretch and Kayfus looked like a complete hitter in the minors. If they could just find a RH power bat to compliment the lineup.
who would have thought myles straw would contribute 2.9 WAR this season?
Probably the better question is how Straw came to be so bad after CLE gave him an extension. From 3.3 and 2.7 WAR seasons in 2021 and 2022 to nothing in 2023 and 2024. So who is the real Myles Straw? It’s a real question because, given the cumulative nature of WAR, one could make a case this year was his best year in the majors by a significant margin. Can Toronto expect something similar next year? Who knows? But I wouldn’t bet on it.