This offseason feels like it could get loud for the Guardians.
They reached the ALCS, but that doesn’t erase the gaps that showed up along the way. Cleveland still has to thread the needle between contending and cutting costs, and that usually means some uncomfortable decisions. With that in mind, a handful of players who are under club control could wind up in trade talks before long.
Jo Adell is the first name that stands out, and maybe the easiest one to squint at twice. The Guardians just brought him in during the summer, but his Cleveland stint already looked like a compact version of what he is: plenty of swing-and-miss, trouble against right-handed pitching, and enough raw power to change a game with one blast. He also could be heading into his final arbitration year at nearly $10 million, which makes him too expensive to simply walk away from, but still the kind of player whose name could surface in rumors.
Tanner Bibee looked like the kind of arm Cleveland would never dream of moving when the club handed him a five-year, $48 million deal 19 months ago. But the postseason changed the tone.
Bibee posted a 4.36 ERA over a career-high 188 innings in the regular season, then made only one postseason appearance and didn’t get into the ALCS at all while the pitching staff unraveled. He’s set to make $38.4 million over the next three seasons, a bargain in today’s game, yet that same affordable contract may make him attractive to another team if the Guardians decide a clean split makes more sense.
Slade Cecconi is in a similar bucket, just with a different path. Cleveland picked him up at the start of 2025 in the Josh Naylor deal, and while he’s shown flashes, the results have still been uneven.
His 4.59 ERA with the Guardians tells the story. He began the year in the rotation, got pushed to the bullpen after the Foster Griffin trade, and had mixed results there too.
Griffin is now a free agent, which could open another rotation door, but that doesn’t mean Cecconi has to be the one to walk through it. He carries a projected $2 million arbitration salary and enough versatility to appeal to a team that wants a cheap arm, even if Cleveland would be giving up depth in the process.
David Fry’s place on this list comes with a different kind of emotional weight. He’ll always have that walk-off homer against the Yankees in the 2024 ALCS, but sentiment doesn’t stop a roster from moving.
Fry was coming off Tommy John surgery in 2025, and even with that behind him, his season ended at a .201/.313/.364 line in 91 games. His value is tied to his ability to play all over the field, though that got narrowed late in the year when the Guardians used him mostly at first base.
Cleveland needs offense this winter, and swapping Fry for a more impactful bat would be one obvious way to chase it.
Then there’s Brayan Rocchio, which is the one that probably hits closest to home for Guardians fans. He’s already delivered enough signature moments to stay in the conversation with the fan base, including his walk-off two-run homer: "GOODBYE!
GOOD NIGHT! UNBELIEVABLE!"
But the roster math is getting crowded. The Guardians suddenly have a middle-infield logjam with Rocchio, Angel Genao and Travis Bazzana, and Genao showed enough last season to suggest he deserves everyday work.
Rocchio has fought his way back and made himself into a gamer, but Cleveland has never been shy about making the hard call if it helps the long view. A trade here would fit that mold.
In Other News...
Astros Just Poached A Guardians Hitting Mind Fans Should Notice
The Astros have added another familiar name from Clevelands player-development pipeline, hiring Conner Watson as their new director of hitting. Watson spent the past two seasons as the Guardians assistant director of hitting development, a role that put him in the middle of one of baseballs more closely watched organizational systems for turning raw tools into big league production.
For Cleveland, it is another reminder that its development staff remains a target for clubs looking to sharpen their own infrastructure. Houstons front office has been active on that front, bringing in Watson after recently naming Spencer Medick as director of pitching, and it is doing so while the Astros are still trying to fill both their general manager and manager openings. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Just Made Their First Base Direction Pretty Clear
Rhys Hoskins gave the Guardians a useful veteran bat after arriving on a minor league deal and earning a spot on the roster, but his stint in Cleveland never really changed the long-term picture at first base. He appeared in 95 games and supplied 13 home runs, yet the overall offensive return fell short of expectations, leaving the club where it has been leaning for a while now: toward the younger core.
With Hoskins now a free agent, the path forward at first base looks even clearer for Cleveland. The organization is expected to keep prioritizing left-handed, developing hitters such as Ralphy Velazquez and Kyle Manzardo, a sign that the Guardians are more interested in building around their next wave than revisiting a short-term fix. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Keep Stockpiling Pitching With Another Intriguing Young Arm
The Guardians have added another arm to their growing international pipeline, officially signing 17-year-old left-hander Nerio Reyes out of Venezuela. Reyes trained at CJB Academy in Maracaibo, and his arrival fits neatly with Clevelands long-running habit of betting on young pitchers with upside and room to develop.
Reyes is expected to make his professional debut in the 2027 season in the Dominican Summer League, giving the organization time to let him grow into his body and his craft. For a club that has steadily leaned into finding and shaping pitching talent from Venezuela, this is another reminder that the Guardians are still building the same way, one young arm at a time. [Read more 🡒]