Guardians To Carry Rule 5 Pick Peyton Pallette On Opening Day Roster
The Guardians informed Rule 5 pick Peyton Pallette that he’ll make the Opening Day roster. The rookie right-hander announced the decision to the Cleveland beat this evening (relayed by Tim Stebbins of MLB.com).
Pallette made that a fairly easy call with an excellent camp. He has fired six scoreless innings on three hits and walks apiece while striking out 11. Pallette’s fastball has been around 97 mph on average, up two ticks from where it had been last year in the minors. He has gotten swinging strikes on 15% of his offerings.
It’s naturally a small sample but about as strong an impression as a reliever can make during Spring Training. Cleveland nabbed Pallette from the White Sox system in December’s Rule 5 draft. The Arkansas product was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft. Pallette was rehabbing Tommy John surgery at the time. His stuff wasn’t as sharp when he returned, with hitters especially teeing off on the fastball. The Sox moved him to a full-time relief role last year.
Pallette divided the season between the top two minor league levels. He threw 64 1/3 innings of 4.06 ERA ball, striking out an excellent 32.5% of batters faced. Pallette’s command was a little shaky (10.6% walk rate) and the Chicago front office was skeptical enough that they opted not add him to the 40-man roster. The Sox made two Rule 5 picks themselves. They returned one of them, Alexander Alberto, to the Rays earlier this week.
The Guardians will need to keep Pallette on the MLB roster (or injured list) all season to retain his contractual rights. The 24-year-old has work to do to ensure he sticks around, but a fantastic camp earns him his first MLB opportunity.
Cleveland is opening the season without Hunter Gaddis or Andrew Walters due to injury. Pallette joins Cade Smith, Shawn Armstrong, Matt Festa, Connor Brogdon, Erik Sabrowski, and Tim Herrin in the projected bullpen. The final spot should be determined by how the Guardians arrange their rotation. Joey Cantillo is out of options and a lock to make the team. He’d pitch in long relief if the Guardians opt for Parker Messick as the fifth starter. If Cantillo wins a rotation spot, Colin Holderman or non-roster invitee Kolby Allard could claim the final bullpen job.
Poll: Who Will Win The AL Central?
With Opening Day just around the corner, the offseason is more or less complete for MLB’s 30 clubs and teams are now focused on the incoming season and being the team to raise the Commissioner’s Trophy. Until the playoffs begin, however, teams will be focused on a smaller goal: winning their division. In the run-up to the start of the season, we will be conducting a series of polls to gauge who MLBTR readers believe is the favorite in each division. The AL Champion Blue Jays came out on top in the AL East yesterday with 39% of the vote. Today, we’ll be moving on to the AL Central. All teams are listed in order of their 2025 regular season record:
Cleveland Guardians (88-75)
The Guardians managed to sneak their way into an AL Central title in the eleventh hour last year, overtaking the Tigers at the very end of the year thanks to a 20-7 September. They immediately got bounced from the playoffs by Detroit, however, and their response to that quick exit this postseason has left something to be desired. That seemed like a setup for a big offseason, but no such eventful winter occurred. Deserved as Jose Ramirez‘s latest extension may have been, it does nothing to improve the team for 2026. The only potential impact player the team has added anywhere on the roster is veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins, who is in camp on a minor league deal but is all but certain to make the team. More or less running back a roster that won 88 games last year isn’t the worst idea in the world, but it’s easy to feel as though last year’s division champs may have been overtaken by their rivals who made bigger splashes over the offseason.
Detroit Tigers (87-76)
The Tigers took the Mariners to Game 5 of the ALDS before falling just short, and now they’ll be looking to make the most out of what is likely to be Tarik Skubal‘s final season with the organization. A reunion with Gleyber Torres was the only big move on offense (although the impending debut of top prospect Kevin McGonigle could still transform the team’s lineup this year), but the Tigers were very active in overhauling their pitching staff. Framber Valdez joins Skubal at the front of the rotation and helps cushion the blow of losing Reese Olson to shoulder surgery, while Justin Verlander provides some mid-rotation stability in his homecoming at 43 years old. In the bullpen, the addition of a second future Hall of Fame veteran in Kenley Jansen and a reunion with Kyle Finnegan should create a solid back of the bullpen for a Tigers team that had the second-worst bullpen in the AL by FIP last year. Those additions seem likely to be enough to make the Tigers the favorite to finally claim the AL Central crown for the first time since 2014, though that also seemed likely to be the case last year.
Kansas City Royals (82-80)
The Royals had a middling season last year where they remained on the periphery of playoff relevance but never quite cracked the top tier of contenders. They wound up finishing just barely above .500, but will enter 2026 with hopes of a return to the postseason. Better health from Cole Ragans and Kris Bubic should go a long way for the club, as could the ascension of top prospect Carter Jensen as the heir apparent to franchise catcher Salvador Perez. In terms of external additions, the outfield will now feature Isaac Collins, Starling Marte, and Lane Thomas in addition to incumbents Jac Caglianone and Kyle Isbel, while Matt Strahm was brought in to fortify a high-leverage relief mix that already included Carlos Estevez and Lucas Erceg. With a handful of solid (if unspectacular) additions and an exciting young talent coming up from the minors, it’s not hard to imagine the Royals having a better year in 2026. Will that be enough to win the division?
Minnesota Twins (70-92)
2025 was a tough year for the Twins, as the organization was unable to lock down the sale both ownership and fans were hoping for off the field, while the team on the diamond struggled badly and wound up getting blown up at last summer’s trade deadline. Minnesota was saved from the basement of the AL Central by the lowly White Sox, but this offseason a change in control person, the hiring of a new manager, and the sudden departure of team president Derek Falvey led to instability at the top of the organization without much movement on the roster to show for it. Josh Bell and Victor Caratini are both solid complementary additions to the lineup, but neither makes up for the loss of Carlos Correa. A rotation that looked like the team’s strength lost Pablo Lopez before the season even began, while Taylor Rogers and others will be asked to save the bullpen after the losses of Jhoan Duran, Griffin Jax, and Louis Varland. There’s plenty of interesting young talent (Royce Lewis, Brooks Lee, Luke Keaschall, Taj Bradley) on the roster, but a whole lot would have to go right for the Twins to fight their way back to the top of the AL Central this year.
Chicago White Sox (60-102)
The White Sox are still in the midst of what figures to be a lengthy rebuilding process, but more optimism can be found in the organization than has been the case for quite a while now. Young, impactful players like Shane Smith, Colson Montgomery, and Kyle Teel are beginning to establish themselves at the big league level, and the White Sox put in some effort to supplement that budding young core with external additions. Munetaka Murakami is the big addition who could easily add 40 home runs to the White Sox lineup if he pans out, but Anthony Kay, Sean Newcomb, and Seranthony Dominguez could all prove to be savvy additions to the roster as well on he pitching side. It would be a shock if these moves were enough to pull Chicago all the way to the top of the AL Central, but it seems possible that their days of losing 100 games a year are coming to a close.
Who do MLBTR readers think will win the division when all is said and done? Will the Guardians manage to come out on top for the third straight season despite virtually no additions? Will the Tigers finally break through in Skubal’s final season before free agency? Will the Royals’ busy offseason be enough to help them take a leap forward? Or will the Twins or White Sox shock the baseball world? Have your say in the poll below:
Who will win the AL Central in 2026?
Emmanuel Clase, Luis Ortiz Shifted To Unpaid Non-Disciplinary Leave
Major League Baseball announced today that Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz will be shifted to unpaid, non-disciplinary leave to start the 2026 season. Last year, both pitchers were placed on paid administrative leave as part of a sports betting investigation. Evan Drellich of The Athletic was among those to pass the info along.
“As the legal proceedings involving Cleveland Guardians pitchers Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz continue to move forward, MLB and the MLBPA have agreed that both players will remain on non-disciplinary leave from the Club without pay until further notice,” the announcement reads. “This agreement is not an admission of any wrongdoing by Clase or Ortiz. MLB has been closely monitoring the matter since alerting federal law enforcement at the outset of its investigation and will have no further comment until its investigation has been completed.”
Both pitchers were placed on administrative leave in July of last year as allegations surfaced that they had taken part in a gambling scheme whereby they would intentionally throw certain pitches out of the strike zone for the purposes of impacting prop bets. That initial placement was to last until August 31st but was later extended until further notice.
The two pitchers were indicted by prosecutors in Brooklyn in November, charged with wire fraud conspiracy, honest services wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to influence sporting contests by bribery, and money laundering conspiracy. Both pleaded not guilty.
The trial was initially scheduled to begin in early May but Brant James of Yahoo Sports was among those to report that it has been pushed to November. MLB typically keeps an investigation open until the legal process is complete, so it seems possible that the two pitchers will stay on leave for the entire 2026 season.
If that comes to pass, it would lower Cleveland’s payroll, which is already one of the smallest in the league. RosterResource projects the club for $82MM in spending on this year’s roster. The Marlins are the only MLB club to come in underneath that. Ortiz has not yet qualified for arbitration. Clase signed an extension with Cleveland a few years ago and was slated to make $6MM this year. His deal has a 2027 club option worth $10MM with a $2MM buyout.
The club probably won’t run out and immediately spend those savings. There aren’t many free agents of note remaining on the market at this part of the calendar. It’s possible the extra budget space could impact their trade deadline strategy.
Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images
Guardians Release Pedro Avila
Right-hander Pedro Avila is heading back to the open market. Per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com, the righty was informed he would not be making the Opening Day roster with the Guards and was granted his release, perhaps indicating he had some kind of opt-out in his deal.
Avila, now 29, has 146 1/3 big league innings under his belt. Most of that action was out of the Padres’ bullpen but he was flipped to Cleveland a couple of years ago. At the end of the 2024 season, he had a 3.51 earned run average in his career. His 10.6% walk rate was a bit on the high side but he struck out 23.8% of batters faced and induced grounders on 49.2% of balls in play. He tossed four scoreless innings for the Guards in the 2024 postseason.
Despite those pretty decent numbers, Avila was nudged off Cleveland’s roster in the 2024-25 offseason. He then signed with the Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball and got stretched out in Japan. He tossed 82 1/3 innings over 15 appearances with a 4.04 ERA. His 17.8% strikeout rate and 43.9% ground ball rate were both a few ticks lower than his MLB work but his walk rate dropped to 8.7%.
Avila returned to the Guards this winter via a minor league deal. He made six appearances in Cactus League action, logging 8 1/3 innings, allowing three earned runs via ten hits and a walk while striking out four.
The Cleveland bullpen has Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Shawn Armstrong projected for three leverage roles. Matt Festa and Connor Brogdon seem likely to get spots and both are out of options. Erik Sabrowski and Tim Herrin are optionable but are the top two left-handed options. Peyton Pallette is a Rule 5 pick and can’t be sent down if the Guards plan to hang onto him.
The Guards evidently didn’t want to squeeze Avila in there, so he’s been cut loose. He’ll now have a chance to suss out opportunities with other clubs as Opening Day looms next week. There should be a decent amount of roster shuffling as teams make their final roster decisions. Some players will trigger opt-outs or end up on waivers, which will lead to a few transactions.
Photo courtesy of Jordan Johnson, Imagn Images
Travis Bazzana Will Not Make Guardians’ Opening Day Roster
The Guardians are not planning to carry second base prospect Travis Bazzana on the Opening Day roster. According to Tim Stebbins of MLB.com, Bazzana has been informed he won’t make the team but will remain in big league camp for a few more days.
Bazzana, 23, seemingly came into camp with a legit chance to break camp. He is expected to be the club’s long-term answer at second base but the question is when that will start. The first overall pick of the 2024 draft, he split last year between Double-A and Triple-A, finishing his season with 26 games at the top minor league level. In his 120 Triple-A plate appearances, his 26.7% strikeout rate was a bit high but he ran a huge 24.2% walk rate in that small sample and hit four home runs. His .225/.420/.438 slash line led to a 138 wRC+.
Having already showed some success at Triple-A, there was an argument he was ready for the majors, especially considering that the Guards didn’t get much offense from their middle infield last year. On the other hand, his professional track record is still pretty limited. As mentioned, he was only drafted in 2024. He missed some time with injuries last year, appearing in 84 games in total. When combined with the 27 High-A games he played in his draft year, he has only 111 profesional games under his belt.
This month, Bazzana represented his native Australia in the World Baseball Classic, putting up a .188/.235/.375 line in four games. In Cactus League action, he has a .286/.333/.500 line in five games. It’s unknown if the Guards are putting any stock in those numbers or if they always had planned to send Bazzana back to the minors to start the year.
Once upon a time, it was basically guaranteed that a top prospect would be held down in the minors for the first few weeks of a season. By doing so, a club could prevent a player from earning a full year of service time in that season and therefore gain an extra year of club control over the player, a practice commonly referred to as service time manipulation.
The current collective bargaining agreement introduced some new measures, known as the Prospect Promotion Incentive, which have made it far more common for top prospects to break camp. Under these measures, a top prospect can earn his club an extra draft pick if he is promoted early in the season and then goes on to meet certain awards criteria. Also, a prospect can be awarded a full year of service time retroactively even if promoted later, if they are able to finish in the top two in Rookie of the Year voting.
Bazzana is a consensus top prospect, so the Guards could have given him the second base job out of camp and hoped for him to earn them a draft pick. It doesn’t appear they will go that route. Instead, they will send him to the minors, at least to start the season.
Last year, Gabriel Arias and Brayan Rocchio got the majority of the middle infield playing time in Cleveland. Both players were subpar at the plate. They actually had matching wRC+ numbers of 77 on the year, indicating they were each 23% below league average. Arias got strong reviews for his glovework at short, while Rocchio’s defensive metrics were more mixed.
It’s possible that those two are again the primary middle infielders to open the 2026 season, with utility players like Daniel Schneemann and Ángel Martínez also in the mix. Juan Brito is also on the 40-man roster and could push for some playing time, though he hasn’t yet made his major league debut. He still has an option and was limited by injuries to just 31 minor league games last year. The Guards could send him back to Triple-A for more reps but he has over 170 games played at that level overall.
Circling back to Bazzana, even if he doesn’t break camp, his PPI eligibility is still theoretically possible. The Guards have a 186-day season this year and a player needs 172 days in the majors to earn a full year of service time. They could promote him in the first two weeks of the season and keep PPI on the table. Perhaps there’s a scenario where he’s crushing the minors or someone else gets hurt and Bazzana is promoted early enough.
If nothing like that comes to pass, then it will be interesting to monitor exactly when he gets called up, as they will then have motivation to keep him down longer. In 2024, the Pirates held Paul Skenes down until the second week of May but he pitched so well that he earned a full year of service regardless. In 2025, Bubba Chandler was pitching well in the minors but the Bucs held him down until late August, seemingly hoping to avoid a repeat of the Skenes situation.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Jose Ramirez Day-To-Day With Shoulder Inflammation
March 16: Vogt said Monday that Ramirez felt better and there are no plans to send him for imaging (via Stebbins).
March 15: Guardians superstar Jose Ramirez made an early exit from today’s Spring Training game due to what manager Stephen Vogt described postgame (to MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins and other reporters) as “some left shoulder inflammation.” It is a “day-to-day” situation for now, Vogt said, and presumably the Guardians might do some precautionary tests just to make sure Ramirez’s shoulder doesn’t have any structural issues.
Vogt indicated that the injury occurred when Ramirez slid into third base while stealing the bag in the bottom of the second inning. This means Ramirez still felt good enough to play third for two more innings before Carter Kieboom pinch-hit for Ramirez in the bottom of the fourth, so at least the injury wasn’t serious enough to require an immediate removal.
It is entirely possible Ramirez could be back in action in a couple of days, and this minor shoulder problem becomes just a footnote in another tremendous season for the 33-year-old. Still, any potential injury involving Ramirez is noteworthy, given his status as one of baseball’s top stars and his outsized importance within the Guardians’ lineup.
Ramirez’s 13 seasons in Cleveland has him headed to Cooperstown, as the third baseman has hit .279/.353/.504 with 285 homers and 287 stolen bases over 6759 career plate appearances. Since the start of the 2013 season (Ramirez’s debut year in the majors), only six players have posted more than Ramirez’s 57.7 career fWAR. Ramirez is a perennial AL MVP candidate with four finishes within the top three of voting, including a third-place finish in 2025. Perhaps most importantly from the Guards’ perspective, Ramirez has been willing to accept multiple below-market extensions to remain in Cleveland, including another extension this offseason that will keep him with the Guardians through the 2032 season.
It isn’t a reach to say that any kind of significant injury to Ramirez could ruin the Guards’ 2026 season before it even begins. Even with Ramirez continuing to post MVP-caliber numbers, the Guardians were one of baseball’s worst offensive teams in 2025. After an extremely quiet offseason, Cleveland is running back virtually the same offensive core this year, hoping that a bounce-back season from Steven Kwan, continued development from Kyle Manzardo, and breakout years from rookies Chase DeLauter and George Valera can help the team more consistently produce runs. It’s a risky strategy, and one that still relies heavily on Ramirez being his usual self.
AL Central Notes: Valera, Collins, Baldwin
Guardians outfielder George Valera has made a solid case for the left field job this spring. The 25-year-old has an .833 OPS across 10 games. Valera hasn’t been in the lineup since Monday, and manager Stephen Vogt revealed his dealing with a mild left calf strain. He’ll remain sidelined for a few more days, relays Tim Stebbins of MLB.com.
Valera made his debut in the final month of the 2025 campaign. He delivered a respectable 113 wRC+ in his brief stint with Cleveland. The lefty-swinging outfielder was on the bench in Game 1 of the Wild Card round with Tarik Skubal on the mound for the Tigers, but drew the start in right field for the next two games of the series. Valera homered off of Casey Mize in the first inning of Game 2, setting the tone for Cleveland’s lone win.
The Guardians struggled mightily to find consistent offense in the outfield last year. Steven Kwan had a fine season, but Cleveland finished dead last in OPS in both center field and right field. Angel Martinez was the main culprit in center, with Nolan Jones dragging down the numbers in right. The current plan for the upcoming season is for Kwan to move to center field, with Valera and top prospect Chase DeLauter handling the corners, at least against right-handed pitching. Martinez and Johnathan Rodriguez could factor in against lefties.
Outside of a stumble in his first taste of Triple-A, Valera has typically held his own as a hitter at every minor league level. Injuries limited his workload in 2025, but he slashed .255/.346/.457 in 28 games at Columbus.
A newcomer to the division is dealing with a minor injury of his own. Isaac Collins of the Royals is working through back/side tightness, reports Anne Rogers of MLB.com. The outfielder hasn’t suited up for a spring game since Tuesday. Collins downplayed the issue to Rogers, describing the injury as something he doesn’t want to attempt to play through with Opening Day around the corner.
Kansas City acquired Collins and right-hander Nick Mears from the Brewers for Angel Zerpa in mid-December. The outfielder was a bit of a late bloomer, debuting as a 26-year-old with Milwaukee in 2024. He only appeared in 11 games that season, but emerged as an everyday player this past year.
Collins posted a 122 wRC+ across 441 plate appearances in his first extended chance as a big leaguer. He chipped in nine home runs and 16 stolen bases. Braves catcher Drake Baldwin took home NL Rookie of the Year honors fairly comfortably, but Collins finished fourth in the voting, just behind former teammate Caleb Durbin.
Similar to the Guardians, the Royals had a tough time finding reliable offensive production in the outfield last season. The club made sure to address that need this winter, trading for Collins and signing Lane Thomas and Starling Marte. The two veteran additions are right-handed, making them sensible platoon partners for Kyle Isbel and Jac Caglianone. The switch-hitting Collins should be ticketed for an everyday gig in left field, assuming this injury isn’t too serious.
The White Sox outfield will be missing a familiar face this year, with longtime center fielder Luis Robert Jr. getting dealt to the Mets. His potential replacement is now dealing with an arm injury. Brooks Baldwin has been sidelined with elbow inflammation, per Kyle Williams of the Chicago Sun-Times. The versatile 25-year-old hasn’t appeared in a spring game for more than a week. “Talking to the trainers, we got an image, we got everything done,” Baldwin said. “But a lot of soreness in there, [we’re trying] to get it to calm down and take it day to day and see where we’re at.”
Baldwin spent the majority of the 2025 season with the big-league club, slashing .240/.290/.407 with 11 home runs across 103 games. He made 64 starts in the outfield, but also picked up double-digit appearances at second base, third base, and shortstop. Baldwin is headed for regular center field work this year, flanked by Andrew Benintendi and new arrival Austin Hays. If he’s forced to miss time, journeyman Derek Hill and former Yankee Everson Pereira would be candidates to see increased opportunities.
Photo courtesy of Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images
Which Top Prospects Could Be On 2026 Opening Day Rosters?
In the not-too-distant past, it was relatively rare for organizations to break camp with their very best prospects on the roster. It still happened at times, but MLB's service time structure was set up such that keeping a top prospect in the minors for even two weeks to begin the season effectively ensured that he'd be controllable for seven years rather than the standard six. There were obvious exceptions to this thinking -- Atlanta fans surely remember Jason Heyward breaking camp as a 20-year-old and belting a three-run homer on Opening Day -- but there were far more cases of keeping a player in the minors to buy the extra year. Kris Bryant, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and others were all called to the majors just when they'd spent enough time in the minors to give their clubs an extra year of control. There was nothing inherently nefarious about the gambit; teams were operating within the collectively bargained rules and making business decisions.
The 2022-26 collective bargaining agreement sought to implement some real incentives for teams to bring their best players north to begin the season, however, and by and large they've been effective. With the Prospect Promotion Incentives (PPI), any prospect who appears on two recognized top-100 lists and is called up early enough to earn a full service year can net his team a bonus draft pick, either in that season's Rookie of the Year voting or in MVP/Cy Young voting over the next three seasons.
There's also a disincentive to holding a player down. For those same qualified top prospects, a top-two finish in either league's Rookie of the Year voting will net a full year of major league service time, regardless of when they were called up. Said prospects still have around 90% of a season in such instances, which is more than enough time to turn in a ROY-worthy performance.
Teams now know that holding a player down for 15 days or so might lead to him getting a full year of service anyhow and comes with the disadvantage of rendering that player ineligible for future PPI picks. As such, it's become increasingly common for touted prospects to break camp on their teams' rosters.
With that in mind, and with fewer than two weeks to go until Opening Day, it seems worth running through a slate of top prospects who could factor into their teams' Opening Day plans.
Unlock Subscriber-Exclusive Articles Like This One With a Trade Rumors Front Office Subscription
- Access weekly subscriber-only articles by Tim Dierkes, Steve Adams, and Anthony Franco.
- Join exclusive weekly live chats with Anthony.
- Remove ads and support our writers.
- Access GM-caliber tools like our MLB Contract Tracker
AL Central Notes: Twins, Rojas, Buxton, Gaddis, Tigers
The Blue Jays started asking the Twins about Louis Varland three months before the reliever was actually dealt at last summer’s trade deadline, and Bobby Nightengale of the Minneapolis Star Tribune writes that the Twins aimed high in negotiations by asking for one of Trey Yesavage or Kendry Rojas in return. Yesavage (the Jays’ top pitching prospect and future postseason breakout star) wasn’t going anywhere, but Toronto eventually budged in moving Rojas and outfielder Alan Roden in exchange for Varland and Ty France.
Fast forward to Spring Training, and Roden is competing for a starting job in Minnesota’s outfield while Rojas’ high-90’s velocity is turning heads in camp. The 23-year-old Rojas got rocked over 32 1/3 Triple-A innings in 2025 and is still trying to harness his control, but he could be a candidate to make his MLB debut at some point this season. The Twins will continue to develop Rojas as a starter but some scouts believe a high-leverage relief role could be in the southpaw’s future. An initial call-up as a reliever could help Rojas ease his way into the big leagues while not closing the door on a potential future as a rotation piece.
More from around the AL Central…
- Guardians right-hander Hunter Gaddis‘ imaging on his forearm “came back clean,” manager Stephen Vogt told MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins and other reporters earlier this week after Gaddis experienced forearm tightness after his first spring outing on February 27. Gaddis has resumed his throwing progression and it doesn’t seem like the issue will impact his Opening Day status, as Vogt said “everything I’m hearing is that it’s good news and we’re good to go.” Stebbins writes that the Guardians were already giving workhorse relievers Gaddis and Cade Smith gradual builds into the season, as a reflection of how much both right-handers pitched in 2024-25 — Gaddis’ 151 appearances were the second-most in baseball over the last two seasons, and Smith was right behind with 150 appearances. Gaddis augmented that durability with a 6.3% walk rate and 25.2% strikeout rate, and he’ll again be leaned on for key leverage innings in Cleveland’s bullpen in 2026.
- Beau Brieske is slated to throw a bullpen session today as the Tigers gauge his recovery from right ribcage tightness. Brieske has pitched in just two games this spring but manager A.J. Hinch told the Detroit Free Press’ Evan Petzold and other reporters that Brieske “has plenty of time as a reliever to accomplish what he needs to make a run at this team.” Ankle and elbow injuries limited Brieske to 22 Major League innings last season, and his health setbacks surely contributed to a 6.55 ERA. While the ribcage issue is another setback, Brieske is aiming to return to his past role as a solid swingman on Detroit’s staff.
- Bookending the post with some more Twins news, x-rays were negative on Byron Buxton‘s forearm after the outfielder was removed from a World Baseball Classic game yesterday after being hit by a pitch. United States manager Mark DeRosa told reporters (including MLB.com’s Ryan Kelapire) that the sixth-inning removal was just precautionary, and done in part because the USA already had a big lead in what ended up as a 15-5 win over Brazil. Even minor injury situations like this can’t help but raise extra concerns given Buxton’s checkered health history, though it appears the outfielder should be fine.
Offseason In Review: Cleveland Guardians
Spring training is here, but it’s not clear the Guardians ever got the memo that the offseason began. Despite winning the AL Central in 2025, they made practically no additions and will enter the year with one of their lowest team payrolls — if not the lowest — in more than a decade.
Major League Free Agent Signings
- Shawn Armstrong, RHP: One year, $5.5MM (includes buyout of 2027 mutual option)
- Austin Hedges, C: One year, $4MM
- Colin Holderman, RHP: One year, $1.5MM
- Connor Brogdon, RHP: One year, $900K
Total spend: $11.9MM
Option Decisions
- Declined $6MM club option on LHP John Means
Trades and Waiver Claims
- Acquired LHP Justin Bruihl from Blue Jays for cash (later traded to Cardinals for cash)
- Acquired minor league RHP Franklin Gomez from Mets for international bonus pool space
- Selected RHP Peyton Pallette from White Sox in Rule 5 Draft
Extensions
- José Ramirez, 3B: Four years, $106MM (on top of preexisting three years, $69MM; contract includes $70MM in deferred money which actually lowers the amount Cleveland owes Ramirez in 2026)
Notable Minor League Signings
- Rhys Hoskins, Ben Lively (two-year minor league deal), Kolby Allard, Pedro Avila, Carter Kieboom, Stuart Fairchild, Codi Heuer, Dom Nunez
Notable Losses
- Jakob Junis, Lane Thomas, Will Wilson (outrighted), Matt Krook (outrighted), Sam Hentges (non-tendered), Will Brennan (non-tendered), Nic Enright (non-tendered), Zak Kent (lost on waivers), Jhonkensy Noel (lost on waivers), John Means
Cleveland went on an improbable run to its third AL Central title in four seasons in 2025, rattling off a blistering 20-7 record in September to edge out Detroit, who’d led the division for much of the summer. Strong play from the Guardians alone wouldn’t have gotten the job done; they needed the Tigers to also collapse in epic fashion. Detroit obliged, going 7-17 in September to squander what been an 11-game division lead as deep into the season as Sept. 4.
Entering the offseason, it was easy to presume that a Cinderella run of this nature, coupled with practically no long-term commitments and one of the lightest slates of 2026 financial obligations of any team in the sport would have emboldened the Guardians to add to what was an anemic offense. Any such presumptions have been proven incorrect.
The Guardians hit .226/.296/.373 as a team last season. The resulting 87 wRC+ (indicating their offense as a whole was 13% worse than average) ranked 28th in the majors. Cleveland ranked 28th in baseball with 643 runs scored and 29th in each of batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage. Superstar third baseman José Ramirez and and slugging first baseman Kyle Manzardo (who was heavily platooned) were the only members of the roster to manage even a league-average offensive line, by measure of wRC+. Left fielder Steven Kwan was short by the narrowest of margins, at 99. Outfield prospect George Valera hit fairly well but did so in a sample of 48 plate appearances.
Not only was no one else on Cleveland’s roster even a league-average hitter — virtually no one else was even close. First baseman/outfielder C.J. Kayfus hit .220/.292/.415 — good for a 96 wRC+ in 138 plate appearances. No one else on the roster was even within 10% of average. Cleveland gave a total of 2757 plate appearances to Angel Martinez, Gabriel Arias, Daniel Schneemann, Bo Naylor, Nolan Jones, Brayan Rocchio and Hedges. That’s 46% of their team-wide plate appearances. Those seven players combined for a .212/.280/.346 batting line (76 wRC+). They’re all back in 2026.
Cleveland does have some hope for better offense in 2026. They could receive a full year of outfield prospects Valera and Chase DeLauter, but betting on them to this extent is an immense risk. DeLauter was a first-round pick in 2022 and has been a top prospect since. He’s also been regularly injured. Since being taken in the draft three and a half years ago, he’s played all of 138 minor league games. His two playoff games with Cleveland in 2025 marked his big league debut. It’s a similar story with Valera, a former top prospect out of the Dominican Republic who has only once played 100 games in a season despite signing back in 2017. He played 60 regular-season games in 2025 between the big leagues and the minors.
The Guardians also have 2024’s No. 1 overall pick, second baseman Travis Bazzana, very likely to make his big league debut early in the 2026 season. Twenty-four-year-old infielder Juan Brito could also get a look, though he got into only 31 minor league games last season due to injury. Catching prospect Cooper Ingle could make his debut in 2026 as well, and he’d have only the lowest of bars to clear with the bat in order to be an upgrade over the current Naylor/Hedges tandem.
That group unequivocally gives Cleveland some near-term upside, but banking on them as the sole means of offensive improvement is the type of strategy one might see from a rebuilding club or a cost-conscious team whose payroll is already pushing franchise-record territory. Neither is the case in Cleveland. The Guardians are aiming to contend, despite their lack of investment in the club. And while projections will peg their payroll around $80MM or so, that doesn’t include the $10MM of deferred money for Ramirez or the $6MM they won’t be paying to closer Emmanuel Clase while he faces trial for rigging pitches in a gambling scandal that rocked the franchise (and also included starting pitcher Luis Ortiz).
Cleveland’s payroll is going to clock in around $65MM. Their franchise-record mark for Opening Day was about $70MM higher than that, back in 2018. They’ve been between $90-100MM in each of the past three seasons. The last time they trotted out a payroll this low was in 2021, the first year coming off the pandemic-shortened season when they’d just absorbed substantial losses. If we’re willing to set that aside due to unique circumstances, Cleveland hasn’t been this thrifty since 2011-12.
For a team coming off a division title and that type of late-season surge, it’s hard to reconcile. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said in a recent appearance on MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM that the Guardians need to leave space for young players to step up and that their clearest path to contending involves young hitters like Bazzana, DeLauter and Valera helping to carry the offense. There’s some truth behind those comments, but Antonetti surely didn’t want his priciest offensive addition of the winter to be a reunion with Hedges, either. It’s abundantly clear that this front office had little to no money to work with this winter, and that’s borne out when digging deeper into their slate of moves.
Hedges’ $4MM deal to return to the Guardians was surprising at the time and looks all the more confounding in the wake of an offseason devoid of activity. Cleveland seems to place a higher premium on catcher defense than just about any team in the game. In Naylor and Hedges, they’ll have one of the sport’s top defensive duos but also perhaps the least-productive catching tandem in baseball from an offensive standpoint. That pair is generally keeping the seat warm for the aforementioned Ingle, who slashed .260/.389/.419 with more walks than strikeouts as a 24-year-old in Double-A and Triple-A last season. Ingle should make his debut at some point in 2026.
The only other move to address the lineup was a late non-roster deal with first baseman Rhys Hoskins. The former Phillies standout had two pretty pedestrian seasons in Milwaukee in 2024-25 after returning from an ACL tear that cost him the 2023 season. He hit .223/.314/.418 with 38 homers in 221 games while calling the hitter-friendly American Family Field home. Hoskins was a perennial 30-homer threat in Philadelphia from 2018-22, hitting .241/.350/.483 with 130 round-trippers in 2665 plate appearances. He hasn’t approached that level of output since, which is why the market largely checked out on him this winter. He’ll make just $1.5MM if he cracks Cleveland’s roster. There’s obvious bargain potential there, but the 2024-25 version of Hoskins is more of a league-average bat than the difference-maker sorely lacked by Cleveland.
Whether ownership-driven or a conscientious decision by the baseball operations staff — the former seems much likelier — improvements in the lineup will have to come down to the Guardians’ young players. Beyond Ingle, names to watch include:
- Travis Bazzana, 2B (No. 1 pick in 2024): .245/.389/.424, 17.6% walk rate, nine homers, 17 doubles, five triples, 12 steals in 84 games between Double-A and Triple-A
- George Valera, OF (international free agent out of the Dominican): .220/.333/.415 in 48 MLB plate appearances, plus .318/.388/.550 in 170 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A
- Chase DeLauter, OF (2023 first-rounder): .264/.379/.473 with a matching walk and strikeout rates of 15.8% in 177 minor league plate appearances (mostly in Triple-A)
- Juan Brito, INF (acquired from Rockies in 2022 Nolan Jones trade): .243/.355/.437, 12.8% walk rate, 23.1% strikeout rate in 125 minor league plate appearances (mostly Triple-A)
- C.J. Kayfus, 1B/OF (2023 third-rounder): .220/.292/.415 in 138 MLB plate appearances, plus .300/.390/.539 with 14 homers, an 11.9% walk rate and 25.2% strikeout rate in 369 plate appearances between Double-A and Triple-A
In addition to the lack of big league experience, one thing that stands out among that group is a lack of games played in 2025 — at any level. Valera (60 games in 2025) and DeLauter (42 games) have been consistently hurt throughout their minor league tenures. A pair of oblique strains limited Bazzana to 84 games in his first full season. Brito played 31 games due to thumb and hamstring surgeries. Kayfus logged 130 games — the only one of the bunch close to a full season.
Cleveland needs so much to go right that it’s hard to see this club being even an average MLB offense. DeLauter and Valera seem ticketed for Opening Day outfield roles but need to prove they can both stay healthy and hit big league pitching. The options behind them (Angel Martinez, Nolan Jones, Johnathan Rodriguez, Petey Halpin) don’t inspire much confidence. Bazzana is probably starting the year in Triple-A, meaning the Guardians will go with a combination of Gabriel Arias (.220/.274/.363 in 2025) and Brayan Rocchio (.233/.290/.340) in the middle infield.
The entire Guardians offense hinges on superstar third baseman José Ramirez, so perhaps it’s fitting that he was at the center of the only truly notable transaction Cleveland made this winter. Ramirez signed an extension that guaranteed him four years and $106MM in new money (on top of his preexisting three years). He’s now locked up through age 39. It’s fair to wonder whether this was really necessary. He was already under club control through his age-35 season. If Ramirez slows down and this turns into a Miguel Cabrera/Tigers situation, the Guardians could live to regret the deal.
In the short term, it seemed to pay some dividends. Ramirez agreed to defer $10MM annually over the seven years of his contract. He has a $25MM salary for the upcoming season, but only $15MM will be paid out this year. In theory, that should’ve given Cleveland more room to add to the roster, but that didn’t pan out. As such, the most consequential deal of their offseason actually subtracted from the 2026 payroll.
Ramirez might be the most singularly important player to his roster of any team in Major League Baseball. An injury to him would decimate Cleveland’s entire offense, but there’s no real fallback plan if he gets hurt. They’ve been fortunate to keep him as healthy as they have. Ramirez has missed only four games in each of the past two seasons. Dating back to 2020, he’s played in an incredible 96.5% of Cleveland’s games. He’s a true iron man, but he’s now 33 years old. If he were to incur an injury, the infield would likely include a combination of Brito, Rocchio, Arias and Bazzana to the left of Manzardo.
The Guardians’ pitching staff is in better shape, as is frequently the case, but it’s not as dominant as it was when the Guards were habitually churning out borderline Cy Young candidates. The sextet of Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee, Logan Allen, Parker Messick, Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo gives manager Stephen Vogt six solid options, but no one from the group feels like a true No. 1 starter. Williams’ 3.06 ERA gives him that look on the surface, but he walked more hitters than any qualified pitcher in baseball last year. Metrics like SIERA (4.35) and FIP (4.39) are far more bearish.
There’s some depth, primarily in the form of righty Austin Peterson and lefty Doug Nikhazy. Both are on the 40-man roster. Peterson had a strong showing in the upper minors but has yet to debut at 26 and isn’t an especially touted prospect. Nikhazy struggled in the upper minors and in the majors last year. Non-roster options include Kolby Allard and old friend Pedro Avila. Former top prospect Daniel Espino is finally healthy again, but he’s pitched a total of 19 innings since the 2021 season ended. Anything he contributes will be a bonus, but it’s hard to rely on him given that injury track record.
The one area Cleveland made some small additions is in the bullpen. Veteran Shawn Armstrong is coming off a big year in Texas. His overall body of work since 2020 is strong, but it’s been a roller coaster in terms of year-to-year ERA marks; he’s ranged everywhere from 1.38 in 52 innings with the ’23 Rays to 6.75 in 36 frames with the O’s and Rays in ’21. On a cheap one-year deal, he’s a nice addition — particularly for a club that has a good track record of coaxing strong performances out of unheralded pitchers.
That ability will be pivotal with the Guardians’ other big league signing in the ‘pen, too. Connor Brogdon had a nice run with the Phillies from 2020-23 (3.55 ERA in 142 innings) but has struggled since. He still sat better than 95 mph with his heater and notched an impressive 13.2% swinging-strike rate in 47 innings with the Angels last year, even while limping to a 5.55 earned run average. If the Guardians can help to curb his susceptibility to home runs (2.11 HR/9 with Anaheim), he could be a nice bullpen piece both in 2026 and 2027, as he’d be arbitration-eligible next winter.
Antonetti & Co. also rolled the dice on a $1.5MM guarantee for hard-throwing former Pirates righty Colin Holderman. He can be optioned, so he’s not a clear lock to make the roster, however. The 30-year-old righty, who sits 97.4 mph with his sinker, notched a 3.52 ERA while fanning nearly one-quarter of his opponents in 2023-24. His strikeout rate plummeted in 2025, however, as he was rocked for a 7.01 ERA in 25 2/3 big league frames.
There’s no sugarcoating the fact that this was an immensely disappointing offseason for Cleveland fans. Their 2026 chances rest entirely on Ramirez continuing his iron-man ways and several oft-injured prospects simultaneously staying healthy and breaking out in their first extended looks of major league action. The pitching staff should be solid or better once again, but the depth beyond the top six rotation arms isn’t great.
Cleveland’s blank-slate payroll (aside from Ramirez and Bibee) seemed to set the stage for at least a modest addition or two in the lineup. Instead, their offseason will be remembered more for its inactivity than anything else. It’s a huge bet on in-house improvements, and there’s little to no safety net if those prospects fall to injuries or struggle to adjust to major league pitching.
How do MLBTR readers grade Cleveland’s offseason?
How would you grade the Guardians' offseason?
-
D 37% (646)
-
F 37% (642)
-
C 19% (325)
-
B 5% (78)
-
A 2% (42)
Total votes: 1,733