So far this offseason, the Guardians have focused on the bullpen by signing free agents Shawn Armstrong, Connor Brogdon, and Colin Holderman. On the offensive side, the only move of significance thus far has been re-signing catcher Austin Hedges. Going forward, the club may look to add a right-handed hitting outfielder, according to Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic. who adds that Cleveland was interested in a reunion with Lane Thomas before he signed with the Royals.
In 2025, the Guardians outfield was led by left-fielder Steven Kwan, who batted .272/.330/.374 with a 99 wRC+ with exceptional defense, including 22 Defensive Runs Saved. That was good for 3.2 WAR according to FanGraphs, but unfortunately for Cleveland, Kwan was the only solid performer among the team’s outfielders, with the rest posting replacement-level numbers on offense. Nolan Jones and Angel Martinez made 384 and 371 plate appearances, respectively, but both only posted a 73 wRC+ and got on base less than 30% of the time. Meanwhile, Kwan and Jones are both left-handed hitters, while Martinez is a switch-hitter who does better from the right side. He posted a 123 wRC+ in 169 PA when facing southpaws this year, compared to just a 48 wRC+ in 315 PA as a lefty facing right-handed pitchers.
At present, nearly every outfielder on the club’s 40-man roster bats from the left side. Apart from the switch-hitting Martinez, the only righty in the group is Johnathan Rodriguez, who batted .197/.260/.366 with a 74 wRC+ in a limited sample of 77 PA this year. He was ranked by MLB.com as the organization’s No. 18 prospect entering 2024 and has upside as a power hitter. He has one option year remaining, so the club may keep him around to see if he can carve out a larger role (or shuffle him to the minors if he can’t).
Still, the club received almost no production from right-handed hitting outfielders in 2025. Out of Martinez, Rodriguez, Thomas, and Jhonkensy Noel, only Martinez’s 123 wRC+ from the right side was above-average. Thomas posted a 48 wRC+ in 142 PA this year and missed significant time with three trips to the injured list. He now plays for the Royals. Noel was even worse with a 28 wRC+ in 153 PA. He struck out 34.0% of the time and walked at a mere 2.6% rate while spending most of the second half in the minors. Cleveland designated him for assignment last week.
As noted by Rosenthal, the club may want to give time to their younger outfielders. Chase DeLauter is the organization’s top outfield prospect and the league’s No. 58 prospect overall, according to MLB.com. He made his debut during the Wild Card Series against the Tigers and will play a larger role in 2026. DeLauter is a left-handed hitter, though, so while he may boost the team’s overall production, he wouldn’t help with the team’s pitfalls from the right side. Three outfield prospects on the Guardian’s Top 30 list – Jaison Chourio, Alfonsin Rosario, and Aaron Walton – are righty or switch-hitters, but they won’t be ready for a few years. The Guardians may simply roll the dice again with their current crop of outfielders, but barring a turnaround from Rodriguez (or more time as a righty hitter for Martinez), that doesn’t leave much room for optimism.
Unsurprisingly, the club may be limited in its options due to payroll considerations. RosterResource estimates their 2026 payroll at $79MM, compared to $102MM in 2025. After winning the AL Central but falling in the first round of the playoffs, the club surely wants to make improvements, though it won’t be a player in the top tier of the market. Harrison Bader is the top righty-hitting option, though he is projected for a two-year, $26MM deal that could be out of Cleveland’s price range. Other free agent options include Miguel Andujar, who had a 125 wRC+ in 341 PA in 2025, as well as Austin Hays and Rob Refsnyder.
Andujar would be perfect for them if they can afford him
If they feel Andujar is unaffordable, I don’t even know what to say. They’ll have Ortiz and Clase’s salaries come off the books, and they no doubt will get a decent chunk of revenue sharing. They can afford to sign any of those righty OF options, but still they talk about hoping the internal options improving at the plate. If that’s the case they should be sending these guys to DriveLine every winter…..if they can “afford” it.
A $79 million dollar payroll for 2026 is absolutely inexcusable and an embarrassment. Why even try? What’s the point? Fold up the franchise and go away. Absolutely pathetic.
Starling Marte on a One Year deal. He still has an arm, though he may not get to all the balls he used to.
He is streaky, no doubt, but hits the ball hard.
He won’t break the bank.
The Guardians and Rays are a problem. Other owners look at them and say “see, I don’t need to spend a lot to win.”
Marte isn’t a bad shout tbh.
I doubt they’re the problem so much as it’s the owners of the Rockies, White Sox, Angels, Pirates, etc. who never let the baseball people do their jobs. I don’t care what a team spends or doesn’t spend as long as they continuously churn out good rosters and win games. More than a few ways to skin cats.
I agree with you! The fans tolerate that garbage, while at the same time they are being charged exorbitant prices for beer, parking, hot dogs, ice cream, and a paid TV Subscription.
Last time they won was 1948.
@seamaholic 2
Hilarious. Tampa and Cleveland are hardly problems. Since when are smart, shrewdly operated teams who pour most of their revenue into cutting edge development a “problem”?
The only problem they pose is to big markets who are embarrassed by being outplayed by them and to big time player agents who can’t bamboozle them.
@Ignorant Son-of-a-b
1) That is not an accurate description of where Cleveland’s payroll will be when 2026 ends, but go ahead, beat the team over the head with irrelevant late December numbers like all Chicken Littles do;
2) “Try” is exactly what this team does, which is win three of the last four division titles and during that span compile a respectable 9-11 postseason record despite having one of the youngest teams in the game each year.
3) Payroll more than anything relates to the age of players (the Dodgers were by far the oldest team in MLB last year) and Cleveland’s payroll will inexorably rise as its young players mature and get better. If they don’t get better, they won’t get paid. But Cleveland cannot and will not pay older players for past achievements because they cannot afford to sweep mistakes under the rug like the big markets do.
4) Three of their four opponents in their division are substantially bigger markets than Cleveland is, yet Cleveland outperforms them, and the fourth, Kansas City, is comparable yet does not have the competition of the other two major North American sports franchises.
There is nothing pathetic about the way Cleveland runs its baseball team. It is one of the most successful franchises in the sport, which is an incredible achievement considering all the disadvantages it has, including revenue that wouldn’t support a starting rotation on most big market teams, much less the other 21 players.
The only thing pathetic are shallow observations by folks like you, but then, your moniker pretty much gave away plot, now didn’t it?
@Gator Bait
Relevance? Let’s say they won the two World Series they lost in extra innings in Game 7, or beat the Rockies in the 2007 World Series, which they would have done had they held onto a 3-1 lead in the ALCS that year. Or they could have just as easily beaten the Braves in 1995 as lost. But then, simplistic fans like you would lose your simplistic little epithets, now wouldn’t you?
Better than spending $300M+ and missing the playoffs.
I agree with most of what you write except the fact that you claim they are one of the most successful franchises. How do you define success? Because on paper in terms of championships (the real success factor in sports..) they are not successful.
They put teams on the field that are above average, coached and managed well but lack the ability to consistently compete in the top 3-4 caliber of the league. When they did spend money on their prime years of 2015-2017 they were every bit the best team in the league because they combined stellar management with optimal player additions.
The reason I am personally frustrated is Jose is a once in a generation talent for the club and they have him at a substantial discount and fail to make up for it with strategic moves to expand the roster. I commend the entire franchise for their performance but playing this game of “we spend less and are better than x teams” as your argument for the ownership model is laughable
What is particularly galling, if I was a Guardians fan; is not only wasting JRAM on a hometown discount but just the fact they are pathetically bad at developing any sort of hitting apparatus to augment JRAM and help him out even a little. Besides Kwan, it seems like every guy in that lineup struggles to hit .200 and show just the minimal amount of power. Over and over again; year after year the same sort of pathetic hitter is churned out of that system. It’s like change the template, completely retool the hitting development in the minor leagues, rethink the type of players you draft because if you’re not going to spend it needs to come out of the farm. And the farm has been dysfunctional for years in regards to producing any hitting talent.
I absolutely love this comment. You are so correct on every level.
Yet, over the past decade, Cleveland has the 4th best winning percentage in MLB and accomplished that on a small market budget in a league with a wide imbalance in available revenue. between the teams.
Haha!! I was thinking along those lines as well.
Andujar deserves more than Lane Thomas and Jake Fraley IMHO. But less than Yaz and Adolis. So, I will say he will get two years at $6.75 million per year for $13.5 million total.
That sounds about right.
Perfect? He doesn’t play RF or CF! The Guardians tail is hanging, as is norm. An unacceptable 77 years.
@ MLB Top 100 Commenter
How in the world is a player like Andujar “perfect” for Cleveland? He’s exactly what they DON’T need: yet another chase merchant. The guy has only walked 78 times IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER. He’s another poor outfield defender to add to the rest of the roster aside from Kwan, and worse, Andujar’s not going to want to be a role player at his age, even though he’s played more than 95 games only once in his entire time in the majors. But mostly he’s just another guy with a poor approach who happened to have a few more balls find grass last year than in other years. Cleveland would be nuts to be fooled by that and sign that guy when consummate proven professionals like Rob Refsnyder remain available. That’s a guy who’d be “perfect.”
Any player willing to sign a minor league contract with an invite to spring training is more than welcome.
Why would it matter if the guy catches the ball with the left or right hand in the outfield?
The title says right handed HITTING
@Erebus
They edited it after the fact. It said Right handed Outfielder at first.
Oh my bad then when I saw it, it already had right hitting. Carry on
Dominguez for Kwan
99Captain, I think you’re a little light on the offer. Try again please.
dewey- no problem, Dominguez and Warren for Kwan.
HAHAHAAHHAAH. Thanks Captain. That gave me the laugh I needed. Dominguez for Kwan? Classic…hahahhahaha
@SorryIGotATouchOfGaddis
I heard that Dominguez, like most Yankee prospects, will be a guaranteed HOFer. I can’t say the same for Kwan. Probably ends up an average player with a few more years left in the bigs… 🙂
I agree. Kwan is washed up. We might need to throw in Jose to make this work for the Yankees.
Cameron Maybin on X proposed a deal of Kwan plus a top 50 to 100 mlb prospect for Dominguez. Yankee entitlement at its finest. Dominguez is batting .184 in the winter league.
They should get lrj so the reds don’t have to, hays would probably be a good option not sure andujar is gonna do much outfield work at this point.
They might actually have to spend money for once to sign a decent bat
Castellanos
O.H.N.O.: Outfielder in name only
They can have Weston Wilson or Johan Rojas then
CLE wouldn’t go near him with a 10-ft pole.
They can have Tyler O’Neill for free! Make it happen, ha!
They need outfielders that can hit period.
I’m seeking tasteful photos of molly ringwald
Bibee straight up for Jasson Dominguez… let’s go!
They’ll just wait for one of the free agents to get anxious & drop his price.
Austin Hays seems like a perfect fit and actually brings offense with him. Marcell Ozuna or Starling Marte make sense if they want a pure DH.
I was actually thinking that if they wanted a right handed hitter and can settle for an everyday DH then Ozuna could probably be signed fairly cheaply on a one year deal looking for a bounce back season.
Just make sure he drinks lots of water
This team has a smaller payroll than they did 25 years ago. What is going on here?
Dick Belding style
Richard Jacobs owned the team until 2000. Larry Dolan bought it and the franchise has been in that family ever since, now being run by his son Paul.
Jacobs wasn’t afraid to spend money. He got their new field built and put some highly entertaining and talented teams on that field. Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, David Justice, Kenny Lofton, Brain Giles, Omar Vizquel, Roberto Alomar, Bartolo Colon. Those were some great teams.
The Dolans, on the other hand, are a little more frugal. They don’t like spending money needlessly. Why spend that revenue sharing money on a free agent when you can just put it in your back pocket?
@Canuckleball
You actually fell for the Dick Jacobs Story, didn’t you? Jacobs operated the team in the easy years, with a new ballpark, no Browns, and a bunch of young talented players the previous general manager unearthed and didn’t cost Jacobs anything during his tenure. Who were the expensive free agents he signed? Cheap, washed up guys like Jack McDowell? Orel Hershiser? Guys on their last legs like Eddie Murray? Dennis Martinez? Dick Jacobs never once signed any player who was in his prime and had exhausted arbitration. In essence, he operated the team no differently than the Dolans did, except his team generated MORE revenue he could pocket. And when he sensed the easy money was running out (because the team was older and the minor league pipeline was drying up because he no longer had a talent evaluator like Hank Peters and the Browns were back) he foisted the team onto the Dolans who paid a record amount for an MLB franchise at the time.
So please, no fairy tale stories about Dick Jacobs, who wasn’t even a baseball fan or someone with deep roots in CLE, and no indictments of the Dolans who ARE Clevelanders and loved Indians….the idea that any white knight will show up and spend more on the Cleveland baseball club is utterly delusional.
The team generated more revenue back then, selling out every home game for 5-6 years with no Browns to compete with, and the free agent market wasn’t ridiculously inflated like it is now. They make peanuts on their current TV deal, which can really hurt a small, economically depressed market in the midwest.
They had those sellouts because they had teams worth watching.
If you took the Browns and every other entertainment option away from Cleveland right now, they still wouldn’t get any sellouts.
You’ve gotta spend money to make money.
@Canukleball
“You’ve gotta spend money to make money.”
Only idiots and paupers believe that old saw. Dick Jacobs sure didn’t.
I think Hays would be a good fit. Andujar is an interesting one. I wanted him earlier in his career but not sure I like him defensively everyday in the OF. Bader is the probably the best of the bunch but he likes big cities.
I also think Hays is best fit. He can play LF when Kwan DH. DH also.
Keep Martinez as RH batter. Jones can go. Rodriguez to Columbus.
Decide (what ??!!??) either Rocchio or Arias at SS. Trade the other.
I am not high on Fry. Hayes is better.
You don’t put a 4-time gold glove winner at DH.
I agree about Jones. I’m so surprised, still, they tendered him a contract looking at what happened since. I would probably take him over Jonathan Rodriguez but I am not even 100% on that train of thought.
Hey hockeyjohn! Hope all is well? Nice to see you on this post. Steven Kwan stays? You want Judge? Lol, lmk
Jays have some depth of impressive and affordable OFs and/or others the Tribe could trade for/with that could help them both teams now and later. Also, some decent prospects in the Jays farm. also pitching. Perhaps J Ram to the Jays finally, or others for ’26 and the Jays attempt to capture that WS! Plus the tribe can perhaps use his salary savings to a sign other younger more affordables/under control players or FA’s for their next run? I am also an old Tribe fan, my 2nd Fav. team next to the Jays of course, and Canadian! Jays ’26 WS, then the Tribe in ’27.
Dude. Jose is never leaving Cleveland. He signed to a team friendly deal to stay here. He will NOT be traded. People need to stop it. He is the top 3 player that has 0% chance of being trade in the MLB along with Ohtani and Judge, It will never happen
Team friendly isn’t the word. He left more on the table than he took…..
Yes, all true. I am well aware. He is also 33, and signex with hopes of a ring aswell, lijely for the gift salary. Yes, still clearly awesome! But, time only moves forward…his contract expires in ’28, he is making $20+mm annually, on his 7 year $141mm. So he is owed $60mm until ’28 and will likely be done at 36 or very close, perhaps also only as a DH by then. Let him go and get his well deserved Ring Cleveland! And Please..lol
bring back a boatload of top prospects to Cleveland that can play now, and build their farm …for future or further trades, like the 3 way with the Pirates last year for Sandlin.
You can hope and wish and one hand and you know the rest. It doesn’t matter. He wants his life in Cleveland. Will a ring really change his legacy outside of Cleveland? No. If he can win one in Cleveland, he goes down a legend and legends never die.
The tribe also seems very trade friendly with the Jays and thrir former Shatkins and duo at the helm. Jose has lots of old friends, and a whole country to love him here!
Vladdy, Bo, Gimme and J Raqm! What an infield!
Dreaming drugs are a heck of a thing.
Maybe they should have went to a cash advance place and so they could have re-signed Lane Thomas. Instead he walks and stays within the AL central with the Royals.
They dodge a bullet with Lane. Dude is injured too much. KC will see this season. He is a guy you like until he is on your team.
Yeah absolutely they did. Just saying he was a RH’d OFer. Also from what I hear the Guardians are relatively cheap.
I am a RH hitter as well but they shouldn’t sign me. They are very money cautious no doubt. It hasn’t affected them as they have the 4th best winning percentage last 10 years (12/15-12/25) only behind Dodgers, Astros, and Yankees, So, you could say they are the 4th best team in MLB. That’s not bad for a team that’s cheap.
How little are you willing to play for? Asking for a Dolan. Couldn’t be much worse than the outfield they had last year (outside of Kwan)
Well. What kind of stats are you expecting of me? I mean even with that, they still won the division. I mean people want to say TIgers collapse but you take all the 162 games into account and and the end, Guards were the winners of the AL central and I don’t take divisions into account because you are where you are. I’m not one of those people who think just because we haven’t won a World Series, our organization is failure. If that’s the case, every team beside the Dodgers would be a bad team. I also am not mad about payroll. As a Guards fan, I am used to it and I like a smart front office and we are, imo, the best front office behind the Dodgers. I would be more upset If I was a Yankees fan and the front office wasn’t spending. They are in a huge market. Could we spend more? Yes. Will we? I think maybe another 10-12 mil this offseason but their is a chance we won’t and we still got to play games next year.
The internal options aren’t great but I would take them over Lane Thomas at this point.
Nick Castellanos, Johan Rojas, Weston Wilson.
Please take your pick and send Bo, J Ramirez and Cooper Ingle back.
The Tigers just cut Justyn-Henry Malloy from the 40 man roster. Move fast kids 😉
I think i got midly moist there? Oh. it was just the tea I spit out when I seen your post. Happy Holidays. 🙂
Supposedly Luis Robert is being discussed in trade talks. Maybe that’s the guy for Cleveland. His batting line isn’t very good but he still runs into dingers, can steal 20-30 bags, and he can play decent CF defense. Maybe getting him out of that dumpster fire in Chicago will fix him. He’s very expensive though, so the White Sox may have to pay down his salary to get him moved.
In-division trade? I think not. I would say Mets followed by Cincy for him.
Would Dalton Rushing, Teoscar Hernandez, and $5MM – $8MM each of the next two years to Cleveland be enough for the Dodgers to trade for Steven Kwan?
Should have made a better offer than Ray’s did for Collins.
Royals not Ray’s you derelict
Hi IQ I see
It is astounding how little these posters understand about Cleveland’s approach to roster building. They are simply not paying attention.
So true
This article and headline could have been written at last Season’s trade deadline. The part about the 76 million dollar payroll is mind blowing.
They don’t have a league average right handed hitting OF, and haven’t for many years. Frustrating as fan.
They have to find someone to patrol center. Keeping Delauter there will not help in keeping him healthy.
Why not Kwan? His speed seems to have diminished a bit lately but he gets such great jumps on balls, it seems like he might be an answer. Better than wearing down Delauter.
Bader is probably the best answer but he’s coming off his second best year so he’ll get a decent spread of reasonably expensive years. At nearly 32 and with an inconsistent past that’s not something the Guards generally go after. For 2026 though Bader is a great fit.
Nah, Cleveland will be lucky to get Austin Hays — and get told to like it.
When your home ballpark is Progressive Field with that left field wall, you don’t move your Gold Glove left fielder out of left field.
The important thing is to play him where the team is best served. If Jones who graded poorly in CF actually starts to hit again his best position is LF, he had something like 19 assists in his shortened 2023 season. Maybe that’s why they kept him. In the last four years there weren’t enough outfielders who could hit to go around so finding someone fleet of foot for CF wasn’t a problem. Now hopefully it is. If enough of fast but fragile Delauter and slow pokes Valera, Jones, Kayfus, Rodriguez etc hit who goes where? Worth a try I think.
Cleveland has done well playing great defenders at lesser positions, Kwan and Gimenez, or stubbornly staying the course on Amed Rosario at SS when 2B beckoned. I’m sure they had valid reasons (Kwan began there cuz we had the uber CF defense of Straw) but the earth didn’t crater when they went elsewhere and played their more natural position. Not sure Kwan is fast enough for CF anymore but if he is I want this wily spider where he can catch the most flies.
Steven Kwan is physically equipped to play an elite LF. Move him to CF and he would be average there defensively at best. Cleveland knows this, even if fans refuse to believe it. Even if Kwan could be adequate in CF, you’d be taking away defensive value in LF *and* eroding the guy’s bat too, because of the physical toll it would take on his legs. There’s a reason why CF is so weak offensively across the league, to play it takes nearly twice the effort as the corners, and if you think Kwan wears down now, what is he going to do playing full-time CF?
Cleveland knows this, which is why they don’t take a fantasy league approach to fielding a real team like so many fans do.
I would start thinking about giving Bazzana refs in center. Keep Brito at second…
Willi Castro
This front office has been looking for power RH outfield bat for over a decade.
Jacob Young for Travis Bazzana who says no
Good to see some people in the comments calling out the cheap and pathetic ownership. The fans continue to support this team year in and year out and have been appreciative of good baseball yet we are so close to having a championship caliber team and using Jose’s discount as leverage to build a real championship ball club and we continue not to do it. Prices and club profits keep going up yet they don’t invest in the roster. For the ones here defending the ownership and claiming “it’s better than spending 300M” you sound weird. Is your job as a fan to defend ownerships profiteering model or hope they put a champion on the field? Spend the money and grab the assets while it’s in reach. Hope the Dolans realize the fans are at a breaking point and you will lose the fan base especially if the team doesn’t spend and struggles this year.
For crying out loud (which you are doing) just go root for the Yankees or Dodgers so you’ll get “what you deserve” as a fan. If you can’t recognize that Cleveland operates the way they have to in order to have consistent bites at the apple in this flawed economic landscape, then you are just being purposefully ignorant. If winning it all were simply “a matter of will” or “wanting to do it”, then how come the Mets or Angels or Mariners or Padres or, hell, the Yankees are having so much trouble doing it?