The Cleveland Guardians are heading into the offseason with a short but notable list of players bound for free agency, and the front office has some decisions to sort through right away.
Among the 40-man roster names set to reach the market are Foster Griffin, Austin Hedges, Nathaniel Lowe and Rhys Hoskins.
Griffin arrived in Cleveland in one of the club’s deadline moves, but his regular-season numbers never really settled in. In nine starts, the left-hander posted a 5.19 ERA and a 1.62 WHIP.
The postseason told a different story, though. Cleveland used him in three of its 11 playoff games, and he gave the Guardians 10.1 innings with four earned runs allowed, a 3.48 ERA and 15 strikeouts.
At 31, Griffin is coming off what was described as his best big-league season after years overseas spent trying to rebuild his career. That makes his next deal worth watching, and there’s even a scenario where Cleveland could try to bring him back.
Hedges is in a familiar spot too, with the Guardians and the veteran catcher again operating on one-year deals over the last three seasons. His value has long been tied to defense and clubhouse leadership, and that still holds, even if his run prevention has started to slip with age.
Offensively, though, Hedges gave Cleveland something more this year. In his 34-year season, he put up a career-best .702 OPS, along with an 18.2 percent strikeout rate and a 10.2 percent walk rate. Whether the market gives him a real opportunity elsewhere or opens the door for another return to Cleveland remains to be seen.
Lowe came to the Guardians as another headline deadline pickup, and Cleveland leaned on his track record and playoff background. He had been on a strong run with the Cincinnati Reds, but that production didn’t carry over in the same way after the move, as he finished with a .651 OPS in 43 games for the Guardians. Still, he delivered one key moment with a big hit in Game 1 of the ALCS.
Even with that October contribution, the presence of top prospect Ralphy Velazquez in Triple-A makes it feel more likely than not that Lowe heads elsewhere in free agency.
Hoskins, meanwhile, is back on the market after finally landing with a team last offseason. Cleveland brought him in hoping for consistent right-handed power, but that punch never showed up often enough to stick. Now he’s set to test free agency again in 2026.
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For a team that always has to think a step ahead with its relief corps, losing two depth arms at once is the kind of small offseason wrinkle worth watching. The Guardians could still circle back and try to bring either pitcher back later in the winter, but for now the bullpen depth chart has a little less certainty than it did a day ago. [Read more 🡒]
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Two names stand out in that conversation: JoJo Romero and Kris Bubic. Romero brings the profile of a left-handed reliever whose recent postseason work only boosts his appeal, while Bubic offers a different kind of fit with experience both starting and pitching out of the bullpen, even if health questions are part of the evaluation. For the Guardians, the challenge now is deciding which type of help best matches the roster they want to build for another run. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Real Jo Adell Decision After Late Surge
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The bigger question now is whether that production is enough to justify what comes next. Adells postseason struggles did not help his case, and MLB Trade Rumors projects a significant salary jump in 2026, which puts Cleveland in the uncomfortable spot of weighing performance against cost. For a club that has to manage every roster decision carefully, the tender call could become one of those quiet offseason choices that says plenty about how the Guardians view him long term. [Read more 🡒]