The Guardians finally checked off one of the hardest boxes on their to-do list, and now comes the awkward part: deciding whether they can afford to keep the guy they just found.
Jo Adell is entering his final year of arbitration, with projections putting him around $9.6 million for 2027. For a club that played its way to the American League Championship Series with a payroll of roughly $75 million, that number carries real weight.
Some around the conversation have floated the idea of trading him or non-tendering him to create breathing room. Paul Hoynes is not in that camp.
“They finally get a right-handed power hitter, and now you’re going to non-tender them or trade them. I think they bite the bullet on [Jo Adell].
They have to pay this guy and keep him in the lineup for one more year. This is a guy that they need.
This is a legitimate 25-to-30 home run guy, 90-to-100 RBI guy. You’ve been searching all over for this guy.
This is the guy you’ve got to sign,” Hoynes said.
That’s the heart of the argument. Cleveland has spent years trying to land a right-handed bat with real pop, and Adell has the profile they’ve been chasing: a legitimate 25- to 30-homer hitter with the kind of run production that can change the shape of an offense.
He finished the 2026 season with 23 home runs and 94 RBIs between the Angels and Guardians, and that came after a 37-homer season for Los Angeles the year before. Once he got to Cleveland on Aug. 3, he gave the lineup exactly the kind of jolt it was missing, hitting seven homers with a .741 OPS in 48 games. He was especially dangerous against left-handers, slugging .660 versus southpaws and quickly becoming the team’s best answer in those matchups.
That fit mattered because of how Cleveland is built. The lineup leans heavily left-handed and switch-hitting, which made opposing managers comfortable attacking them in October. Adell gave the Guardians something they did not have enough of: right-handed thunder in the middle of the order.
He also left his mark in the postseason. Adell tripled twice in the division series against the White Sox, including a bases clearing triple in Game 3 with Cleveland facing elimination, joining Kenny Lofton as the only players in franchise history with multiple triples in a single postseason series.
He followed that with a two-run single to finish off a six-run inning in Game 4 and added a two-run double in the ninth inning of Game 1 of the ALCS. His October wasn’t spotless - he struck out four times in Game 1 of the division series and came up empty in a few key moments against the Rays - but the power he brought changed the way the lineup looked.
The financial picture is not simple, though. Steven Kwan is also in his final year of arbitration and is projected to earn more than $11 million. With a possible lockout looming after the collective bargaining agreement expires on Dec. 1, every dollar is going to matter.
That is why the Guardians’ decision on Adell matters so much. They spent years looking for this kind of bat. Walking away now would mean starting that hunt all over again.
In Other News...
Guardians Just Lost Another Behind The Scenes Voice Rivals Keep Poaching
The Guardians are losing another one of the behind-the-scenes people who helped shape their offensive program, as Conner Watson is headed to Houston to become the Astros director of hitting. Watson spent the past two seasons as Clevelands assistant director of hitting development, and his move is the latest reminder that the organizations player development work keeps getting noticed well beyond Progressive Field.
Chris Antonetti has already acknowledged the staff turnover, and in some ways that comes with the territory for a club whose development pipeline is routinely viewed as a strength. Still, it is the kind of loss that matters, because these roles influence how hitters are identified, coached and pushed forward before they ever become everyday names in Cleveland. The Guardians have built a reputation other teams want to borrow from, but keeping the people who built it together is proving to be a challenge. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Regret Letting These Prospects Slip Away
Clevelands farm system has already produced enough intriguing names to keep tabs on, and a few former Guardians prospects are beginning to look like more than background pieces in other organizations. Juan Brito, Jacob Cozart and Josh Hartle all moved on in separate trades, and each has taken a step that suggests the move may end up benefiting their new clubs as much as it cost Cleveland. Brito landed with the Reds and flashed promise in a limited look, while Cozarts strong Double-A showing for the Angels has put him on a path toward a possible big league debut.
Hartle may be the most interesting of the three because of the role he could eventually fill for Washington. He has been effective at Double-A and looks the part of a pitcher the Nationals can build around in the near future, which only adds to the sense that Cleveland may have parted with more upside than it realized. None of these deals is decided today, but by 2027 the Guardians could be looking at three former prospects becoming useful major leaguers somewhere else. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians May Have Built Something Special With These Two Young Arms
The Guardians have spent years trying to assemble a homegrown pitching core that can carry them beyond one good season, and Gavin Williams and Parker Messick are making that plan look a lot more realistic. Williams emerged as one of the most overpowering arms in the American League, leading the league in strikeouts and carrying that stuff into the postseason, while Messick put together a strong regular season that put him squarely in the Rookie of the Year conversation.
What makes the pairing so intriguing for Cleveland is that both pitchers came through the organizations development pipeline, giving the front office a chance to imagine a rotation anchored from within rather than pieced together from the outside. Williams already looks like the sort of frontline starter who can headline October games, and Messicks rapid rise only deepens the sense that the Guardians may have more than one future ace on their hands. [Read more 🡒]