Guardians Rumors

Pat Murphy, Stephen Vogt Win Manager Of The Year

By Anthony Franco | November 11, 2025 at 7:30pm CDT

For the second consecutive season, Pat Murphy and Stephen Vogt have been named the Managers of the Year. Murphy received 27 of 30 first-place votes in the National League. The American League tally was closer, but Vogt picked up 17 first-place nods to keep his title.

Both skippers have won the award in their first two seasons on the job. They’ve each led a small-market franchise to a Central division title in consecutive seasons. Milwaukee won 97 games and played .500 or better ball in every month after starting the season 0-4 in the final few days of March. The Brewers coasted to another division title and held off the Phillies for the top seed in the Senior Circuit.

The Brewers seamlessly integrated a few quality rookies along the way. Caleb Durbin, Isaac Collins, Chad Patrick and Jacob Misiorowski all made strong contributions in their debut campaigns. Milwaukee also weathered a series of early-season rotation injuries behind Freddy Peralta. A mid-April trade for Quinn Priester paid massive dividends. The offense, meanwhile, trailed only the Yankees and Dodgers in scoring despite the free agent departure of Willy Adames.

Milwaukee knocked off the Cubs in a five-game Division Series. They were swept by the Dodgers in the NLCS and are still searching for their first trip to the Fall Classic since 1982. Awards voting takes place at the end of the regular season, so the postseason performance is irrelevant.

While the Brewers were well positioned to make the playoffs by the end of June, the Guardians got in via a late-season run that surely surprised even the Cleveland front office. The Guards were deadline sellers and seemed more or less finished once Emmanuel Clase was placed on administrative leave. A ten-game losing streak dropped them as low as eight games under .500 shortly before the All-Star Break, and they trailed Detroit by as much as 15.5 games in the division.

The Guards went 14-13 in August before reeling off a 20-7 record in September to steal a division title. They never led the AL Central by more than one game but had the edge when it mattered, finishing the season at 88-74. That included a 5-1 showing against the Tigers in the final two weeks of the regular season. Detroit wound up getting the last laugh in October, though, going into Cleveland and bouncing the Guards in the Wild Card Series.

Murphy appeared first or second on all but one ballot in the NL. Cincinnati’s Terry Francona and Philadelphia’s Rob Thomson also received at least one-first place vote. They finished second and third, respectively. Craig Counsell, Clayton McCullough, Torey Lovullo and Mike Shildt all received votes. Toronto’s John Schneider was a close-runner up in the Junior Circuit. He received 10 first-place votes. Seattle’s Dan Wilson (the other finalist) and Boston’s Alex Cora also had at least one first-place nod. A.J. Hinch and Joe Espada received votes.

Full vote tallies courtesy of the BBWAA. Images via Imagn Images.

Guardians Hire Andy McKay As Field Coordinator

By Darragh McDonald | November 11, 2025 at 4:37pm CDT

The Guardians are adding Andy McKay to their coaching staff with the title of field coordinator, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. That job was previously held by Kai Correa, who departed last month to become bench coach for the Mets.

McKay has had an interesting career, oscillating between coaching and front office roles. He had been a coach in college ball for a number of years, before working for the Rockies in the minors as peak performance coordinator. Then he spent a long time working in the Mariners’ player development department, getting hired in October of 2015. That was not long after Jerry Dipoto had become Seattle’s general manager. Dipoto and McKay had worked together with the Rockies.

Going into the 2022 season, McKay was added to Seattle’s uniformed coaching staff with the title of major league coach and senior director of baseball development. However, as noted by Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times, he had to pivot back to the front office during spring training when his replacement left. One year later, he was promoted to assistant general manager. A year ago, the Mariners added vice president to his title.

“It’s sad for me, but I’m thrilled for him,” Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said of today’s news, per Divish. It’s noted by Divish that McKay has held his desire to coach since his collegiate coaching days. He almost got the chance with Seattle a few years ago but it didn’t work out.

He’ll now get to join a big league coaching staff in Cleveland, working under manager Stephen Vogt. The Guardians also lost their bench coach/associate manager when Craig Albernaz became manager of the Orioles, so perhaps another hiring is still to come.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Steve Hargan Passes Away

By Mark Polishuk | November 9, 2025 at 3:57pm CDT

Former big league right-hander and All-Star Steve Hargan passed away last week at age 83. Hargan pitched with the Indians, Rangers, Blue Jays, and Braves from 1965-77, posting a 3.92 ERA over 1632 innings and 354 career games (215 of them starts).

The first eight of Hargan’s 12 MLB seasons were spent in Cleveland, where he worked as both a starter and a reliever in his first two years before gaining a firm rotation foothold in 1967. That breakout campaign saw Hargan post a 2.62 ERA and a league-leading six shutouts over 223 innings, and Hargan was named to the AL All-Star team for the first and only time in his career. Hargan also hit his only career home run on June 19, 1967, in a rare instance of a pitcher hitting a walkoff homer — the righty capped off a complete-game victory over the Kansas City Athletics with a two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth to give the Indians a 4-2 win.

Unfortunately, Hargan developed bone chips in his throwing elbow and underwent an ulnar nerve surgery in 1968. As Hargan told SABR’s Gregory H. Wolf, “I was able to continue on with my career, but I wasn’t the same after that,” and Hargan felt he returned too quickly from his surgery. Apart from some success in the second half of the 1970 season, Hargan’s numbers dropped off during the remainder of his time in Cleveland, resulting in both the loss of his rotation job and a 1973 season spent entirely in the minor leagues.

A trade to Texas helped Hargan gain a fresh start in his career, and he had a 3.81 ERA over 500 1/3 innings (starting 61 of 105 games) with the Rangers from 1974-76. Taken by the Blue Jays in the expansion draft, Hargan pitched for Toronto during the team’s inaugural season but also bounced back to Texas and then to Atlanta in 1977, which ended up being Hargan’s last year of Major League action. Carpal tunnel syndrome bothered Hargan late in his career, and after spending 1978 in the minors, he decided to retire.

We at MLB Trade Rumors send our condolences to Hargan’s family, friends, and loved ones.

Guardians Sign Carlos Hernández To Minor League Deal

By Darragh McDonald | November 7, 2025 at 5:20pm CDT

The Guardians announced that they have signed right-hander Carlos Hernández to a minor league deal with an invitation to big league camp. Prior to the official announcement, Aram Leighton of Just Baseball reported that the two sides were in agreement on a deal.

Hernández, 29 in March, already has a brief history with the Guards. Cleveland claimed him off waivers from the Tigers at the end of July. He was outrighted off the roster a few weeks later and finished the season with Triple-A Columbus. He was able to elect free agency in October.

The righty has long had tantalizing stuff but with difficulty translating it into results. His fastballs sit in the upper 90s as he also throws a splitter, slider and knuckle curve. Despite that intriguing arsenal, his career numbers aren’t great. In 299 2/3 innings, he has allowed 5.14 earned runs per nine. His 20% strikeout rate, 11.1% walk rate and 35.7% ground ball rate are all subpar figures.

Thanks to those struggles, he has often been sent to the minors. He exhausted his final option year with the Royals in 2024 but many teams were still intrigued by the stuff. That led to him bouncing around the league in 2025. He went to the Phillies, Tigers and Guardians on waiver claims before he was eventually outrighted.

There’s an old saying that there’s no such thing as a bad minor league deal. The Guardians have a good reputation for helping pitchers maximize their stuff. They got a close-up look at Hernández late in the year. Though they didn’t keep him on the roster, they are apparently willing to take another shot on him in a non-roster capacity. If he eventually works his way onto the roster, he is out of options but could be retained beyond 2026 via arbitration.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Imagn Images

Guardians Decline Club Option On John Means

By Anthony Franco | November 6, 2025 at 4:52pm CDT

The Guardians have declined their $6MM option on left-hander John Means, per Steve Adams of MLB Trade Rumors. Means is now a free agent. Additionally, left-handers Kolby Allard and Matt Krook, right-hander Ben Lively, catcher Dom Nuñez and infielder Will Wilson have been outrighted off the roster and elected free agency, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic.

Means signed a one-year, $1MM free agent deal last winter. He was rehabbing his second career Tommy John procedure and hoped to make it back for the final few weeks of the ’25 season. That didn’t happen. Means was able to make five rehab starts with Triple-A Columbus but struggled to a 7.97 earned run average over 20 1/3 innings. The Guards weren’t going to make a $6MM commitment off that limited body of work.

The 32-year-old Means was an All-Star with the Orioles in 2019. He pitched to a 3.68 ERA over parts of seven seasons as a generally reliable mid-rotation arm with Baltimore. Injuries have unfortunately robbed him of most of the past four years. He’s looking at minor league offers or an incentive-laden MLB deal.

Of the outrighted players, Allard made the most significant contributions to the 2025 Guardians. He put up a 2.63 ERA across 65 innings as a long reliever. Allard throws roughly 90 MPH and doesn’t miss bats, though, so there’s generally been skepticism about his ability to churn out strong results. This is the second time this year that he went unclaimed on waivers.

Lively was Cleveland’s Opening Day starter this year. He carried a 3.22 ERA over his first nine outings but blew out in May. He underwent Tommy John surgery that’ll cost him the bulk of the ’26 season. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Lively for a $2.7MM arbitration salary. That’s not outlandish but not exactly a drop in the bucket for a low-payroll franchise to devote to a journeyman starter who’ll miss the majority of the season. This serves essentially as an early non-tender, but it’s possible Lively has shown enough to command a cheap big league deal from another club.

Krook was claimed off waivers from the A’s in May. Cleveland kept him in Triple-A for the rest of the season. He turned in 34 innings of 3.18 ERA ball with Columbus. Nuñez is a depth catcher who only made it into two games behind Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges. The former Rockies backstop hit .176 in 76 Triple-A contests. Wilson is a former first-round pick of the Angels who never panned out with the Halos. The North Carolina State product earned his first big league look this year with Cleveland, batting .192/.267/.244 in 34 games.

Orioles Hire Craig Albernaz As Manager

By Mark Polishuk | October 27, 2025 at 11:07am CDT

October 27: The Orioles officially announced Albernaz as the club’s new manager this morning. He will be introduced at a press conference on November 4. Both Elias and Albernaz offered statements in the aftermath of the hiring:

“We are elated to welcome Craig Albernaz as the next manager of the Orioles and our leader on the field,” Elias’s statement reads. “Craig has built an exemplary career across multiple successful organizations and brings a tremendous amount of experience, knowledge, and talent to our organization and to this new challenge. We believe he is the right person at the right time to elevate our baseball operations and guide our team back to the playoffs and a World Series Championship.”

“I am deeply honored and humbled to join the storied Baltimore Orioles organization,” Albernaz’s statement reads. “This is a tremendous honor, and I’m grateful to Mike Elias and the entire Orioles team for entrusting me with the responsibility of leading this talented club.”

October 26: The Orioles are in the final stages of negotiations with Craig Albernaz about a deal to become the team’s next manager, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Moments before Passan’s report, Jon Heyman of the New York Post wrote that Albernaz was the “frontrunner” in the Orioles’ search.

It’s quite an early birthday present for Albernaz, who turns 43 later this week. Albernaz worked as the Guardians’ associate manager this year after acting as the team’s bench coach in 2024, and four seasons on the Giants’ coaching staff as a bullpen and catching coach. Prior to his work on big league staffs, Albernaz spent four years in the Rays’ farm system, including managerial stints at the high-A and low-A levels. Albernaz is a former player, suiting up primarily as a catcher in the Rays’ and Tigers’ farm systems from 2006-14.

Albernaz’s job with the Guardians developed after Cleveland interviewed him about their last managerial vacancy, and Stephen Vogt then hired Albernaz to his own coaching staff. Albernaz was a finalist for both the White Sox and Marlins in their managerial searches last offseason, and he was linked to the Giants’ vacancy this year and also interviewed with the Nationals. There hadn’t been any public indication that Albernaz was in the running for Baltimore’s job, but it isn’t surprising that the O’s were eyeing someone who has been such a popular candidate in recent years.

Like previous Orioles manager Brandon Hyde, Albernaz is becoming a full-time MLB manager for the first time, and is coming to the job at a relatively young age (Hyde was 45 when hired in December 2018.) The circumstances of this hiring for O’s president of baseball operations Mike Elias are much different this time around — Hyde was hired to oversee an Orioles team embarking on a rebuild, while Albernaz will be tasked with getting a contender back on track.

It seemed like Baltimore’s rebuild had paid off when the team had a winning season in 2022, and when the O’s then reached the playoffs in both 2023 and 2024. However, a bunch of pitching injuries and a near team-wide set of offensive struggles essentially sunk this year’s Orioles right out of the gate, as Hyde was fired in May when the team had a 15-28 record.

Tony Mansolino posted a winning 60-59 record after being promoted from third base coach to interim manager, which made Mansolino a candidate for the full-time position this offseason. The Orioles were also linked to former Mariners manager Scott Servais, former Mets manager Luis Rojas, and superstar Albert Pujols in their managerial search, plus Cubs bench coach and ex-O’s player Ryan Flaherty was reportedly under consideration.

Albernaz doesn’t have the experience or the name value as the other candidates, yet he’ll become the latest in a long line of skippers with past ties to the Guardians and/or Rays organizations. Those two teams have made a habit of staying in contention while focusing on player development, which is key for an O’s team that will need several of its young building blocks to rebound from underwhelming 2025 seasons. How the Orioles will augment their young core with offseason additions is now the next goal for Elias with the managerial search concluded.

This has been a busy offseason for managerial hirings and firings, and we’re still not even halfway through the list of teams looking for new skippers in 2026. The Orioles join the Angels (Kurt Suzuki), Giants (Tony Vitello), and Rangers (Skip Schumaker) as teams who have hired new managers, while the Nationals, Padres, Twins, Braves, and Rockies remain searching.

Inset photo courtesy of Joe Camporeale — Imagn Images

AL Central Notes: Hunter, Willis, Melton

By Mark Polishuk | October 27, 2025 at 10:34am CDT

Torii Hunter spoke with Twins president Derek Falvey last week, but the longtime Minnesota outfielder specified to Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press that it was just an informal chat, and not an interview in regards to the team’s open managerial position. However, Hunter said he already has a coaching staff mostly lined up if he ever gets a chance to become a manager, and he seems open to the possibility of a return to Minnesota.

“I guess they’re slow-rolling the process right now; I’m just sitting waiting. If the opportunity presents itself, then it would be something I would look into, think long and hard about…..Now it’s about a conversation to see where they’re headed, what their thoughts are, and then I’m pretty sure they’re going to see what I want to do with the team, who I’m going to bring aboard, my staff,” Hunter said.

Hunter already surfaced as a candidate in the Angels’ managerial search before the team hired Kurt Suzuki — like Hunter, a veteran ex-player with no formal managerial/coaching experience who had been working as a special assistant in the Halos’ front office. Despite Hunter’s interest, it isn’t clear if the Twins are still considering him or any other candidates, as the team has reportedly settled on at least four finalists (Ryan Flaherty, James Rowson, Scott Servais, and Derek Shelton) in their search.

Nationals Interview Brandon Hyde, Craig Albernaz

By Anthony Franco | October 25, 2025 at 2:47pm CDT

2:47PM: The Nationals also conducted interviews with both Cairo and Guardians associate manager Craig Albernaz within the last week, the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports. Albernaz has been a candidate for managerial vacancies with the Giants, Guardians, White Sox, and Marlins over the last two years, and was a finalist for both the Chicago and Miami jobs.

Albernaz worked as Cleveland’s bench coach in 2024 before moving into his current job title this season. Before arriving in Cleveland, Albernaz spent four years on the Giants’ staff as a bullpen/catching coach, and four seasons in various roles in the Rays’ minor league system (including two managerial stints).

2:24PM: Brandon Hyde has interviewed with the Nationals about the team’s managerial vacancy, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Hyde becomes the first known candidate for the manager’s job, as Washington’s first order of business was its search for new front office boss.

Paul Toboni has now had a month as president of baseball operations. The Nats haven’t formally ruled out retaining interim manager Miguel Cairo, but it appears likelier that Toboni will want to hire his own replacement. He’s already begun reshaping the front office, including tabbing Justin Horowitz as an assistant general manager on Friday afternoon.

Hyde is plenty familiar with the Beltway after managing in Baltimore for parts of seven seasons. The O’s won 46.1% of games during Hyde’s tenure, though that’s largely weighed down by the full rebuild in which they were mired for the first three years. Hyde led the O’s to three consecutive winning seasons, including playoff berths in 2023 and ’24. Baltimore didn’t find any playoff success in either of those years but went into this season expecting to compete in the AL East.

A terrible start tanked those plans by April. The O’s were 15-28 when they fired Hyde on May 17. Baltimore played roughly .500 ball the rest of the way under Tony Mansolino. Hyde has been clear that he hopes to find another managerial opportunity. He was very loosely tied to the Giants’ and Angels’ searches that respectively landed on Tony Vitello and Kurt Suzuki. It’s not clear if Hyde ever interviewed for either position, though Heyman writes that he has had interviews beyond the sit-down with Washington.

Offseason Outlook: Cleveland Guardians

By Darragh McDonald | October 24, 2025 at 3:15pm CDT

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

Jakob Junis, Lane Thomas

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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Guardians To Prevent Emmanuel Clase From Playing In Venezuelan Winter League

By Leo Morgenstern | October 22, 2025 at 7:40pm CDT

Emmanuel Clase was preparing to pitch for the Tiburones de La Guaira of Venezuela’s LVBP this winter, as first reported by Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extrabase. However, according to a new report from The Athletic’s Evan Drellich, the Guardians will not grant Clase the approval he requires in order to play in a winter league outside of his home country.

Clase is a Dominican native, so neither the Guardians nor MLB could have stopped him from playing in LIDOM. Yet, as ESPN’s Enrique Rojas noted earlier this month, LIDOM independently decided to prohibit Clase (and his Guardians teammate Luis Ortiz) from playing in the Dominican Republic this winter. So, Clase turned to the Tiburones instead of the Estrellas Orientales, the LIDOM team for whom he played in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 offseasons. Alvarez Montes suggests the Tiburones will try to dispute the Guardians’ decision, but it’s not a fight they’re likely to win.

Clase and Ortiz have been on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave since July, due to an ongoing MLB investigation related to sports betting. Their leave was originally scheduled to last through August 31, but on August 31, MLB and the MLBPA agreed to extend the leave “until further notice.” In a short statement announcing the indefinite extension, the Guardians made clear that they would not comment further until the investigation was complete. Indeed, no meaningful details have since emerged about the situation or either player’s future in MLB. The Athletic’s Zack Meisel reported from Cleveland’s end-of-season press conference on October 7 that there was “still no clarity” regarding either Clase or Ortiz. President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti suggested he’s hopeful the investigation wraps up over the offseason, but he wasn’t able to offer a concrete timeline. “We have to plan as if they won’t be here,” the executive explained.

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