The Guardians finally landed the kind of bat they have spent years trying to grow on their own. Now comes the uncomfortable part: paying for him.
Jo Adell, who arrived in a mid-season move and immediately filled a glaring hole in Cleveland’s lineup, is projected by MLBTradeRumors.com to make about $9.6 million heading into 2027. That figure puts him right in the middle of an offseason decision the Guardians would probably rather avoid: keep him, trade him, or walk away entirely.
For a club that has to watch every dollar, the broader arbitration picture only adds to the strain. With 13 players potentially eligible for arbitration, Cleveland is staring at an estimated $48.7 million in raises across the roster. That total doesn’t even include the five pending free agents the Guardians may also want to bring back.
On the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, beat reporters Paul Hoynes and Joe Noga dug into what that means for the organization, and Hoynes made his stance clear.
“They finally get a right handed power hitter and now you’re going to non-tender him or trade him,” Hoynes said, not hiding his frustration with the idea. “I think they bite the bullet on this guy. They have to pay this guy and keep him in the lineup for one more year.”
The case for keeping Adell goes beyond the obvious financial headache. Since joining the Guardians, he drove in 32 runs, and Hoynes described him as “a legitimate 25 to 30 home run guy. A 90 to 100 RBI guy.”
That matters in Cleveland for another reason: the organization’s farm system has long come up short when it comes to producing right-handed power. Moving Adell now would send the Guardians back into the same search that’s frustrated them for years.
“This farm system has been unable to produce a right handed power hitter, you know, for years. Now you’ve got one at least for one more year, why not ride him and try and see if he can replicate what he did for you in two months over the course of six months,” Hoynes said.
There is also the reality of Adell’s situation on the open market. He is reportedly a Scott Boras client, which makes a team-friendly long-term extension unlikely. Cleveland acquired him knowing he had only one year of team control left, and that same detail now forces the front office into a tougher conversation.
The Guardians could still choose the trade route and try to turn Adell into help elsewhere, possibly pitching depth. But as Noga pointed out, the reaction from the fan base would not exactly be subtle: “Guardians fans won’t like it because you finally got the guy you were looking for.”
For a team built around control and cost-conscious moves, $9.6 million is a real number. Still, replacing middle-of-the-order power is usually more expensive than keeping it around - especially when the answer didn’t come from the farm system, but finally showed up in Cleveland’s lineup.
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 🡒]