When Cleveland made its push this year, the Guardians didn’t get there on the back of one star going supernova. They got there because a cluster of young players moved the needle - Chase DeLauter, Parker Messick, Gavin Williams, Angel Martinez and others all took a step forward while Jose Ramirez was not at his best.
If the Guardians are going to keep climbing toward their first World Series since 1948, they’ll need more of that kind of internal surge next year, assuming there’s baseball at all. Two names that have drifted off the radar still have a path to matter in 2027.
CJ Kayfus is the first. His big-league look this year didn’t go the way anyone wanted, as he hit just .182/.280/.364 with an 83 wRC+ in 25 plate appearances. Cleveland sent him to Triple-A to get regular at-bats, but that stint didn’t spark much either: he posted a .240/.352/.353 line with a 93 wRC+ across 199 trips to the plate.
Then came the injury. Kayfus hurt his ankle in July, needed surgery, and his season was done.
Even so, there’s still a real opening for a reset if the lockout doesn’t erase spring training in 2027. He hasn’t exactly forgotten how to hit.
In that huge 2025 September run, Kayfus was one of Cleveland’s most productive bats, putting up a 144 wRC+ with six doubles and two homers in the month. He turns 25, which means the window is hardly closed.
Khalil Watson’s path looks different, but the idea is the same: the talent is still there, even if the track record has gotten messy. The former first-round pick reached the majors with Cleveland this summer and briefly looked like he could carry the club in June. But the follow-up was rough, and he was eventually sent back to Triple-A after finishing his MLB stint with a .239/.264/.341 line, plus one home run and nine steals in 91 plate appearances.
At Triple-A, Watson showed why teams keep betting on him. He put together a season with 19 homers, 24 stolen bases and a 116 wRC+, flashing the kind of power-speed combination that can change a roster if the bat plays at the top level.
The missing piece is contact. In the majors, he struck out 35.2 percent of the time and walked only 3.3 percent.
Watson recently had core muscle surgery, but he is expected to be ready for spring. If he stays healthy, Cleveland will give him another shot.
In Other News...
Guardians May Have A 2027 Rotation Answer Emerging Late
Austin Petersons late-season run gave the Guardians a useful look at a pitcher who may fit somewhere in their plans beyond this October. In the final regular-season game, he covered the last five innings and helped save the bullpen for the postseason, a practical assignment that also happened to showcase the kind of versatility Cleveland tends to value. His appearances suggested real upside, and his background as a minor league starter only adds to the intrigue.
With the pitching staff still unsettled behind the top three starters, Peterson has put himself into the mix for a bigger role down the line. Whether that path leads back into a rotation conversation or into a bullpen job, he has given the organization something it did not necessarily have a few weeks ago: a reason to keep watching his development closely. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Could Exploit Angels Chaos To Strengthen Their Biggest Advantage
The Guardians already dipped into the Angels roster once by landing outfielder Jo Adell for minor league catcher Jacob Cozart, and that move may have only sharpened the focus on what else could be available as Los Angeles sorts through its usual roster churn. Cleveland has made a habit of building around run prevention and pitching depth, so any chance to add another arm from a team under pressure naturally stands out.
Reid Detmers is the name that keeps surfacing as a possible fit, especially after a strong recent season showed what he can look like when everything clicks. The appeal for Cleveland is obvious: a starter with upside, some track record and a profile that could slot into a rotation built on consistency. The catch is the same one that always comes with talent of this kind, since his remaining club control is limited and theres no indication a deal is anywhere close. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Already Face A Tough Call On Four Familiar Names
The Guardians offseason got moving quickly with four familiar names electing free agency from last years roster: Austin Hedges, Rhys Hoskins, Nathaniel Lowe and Foster Griffin. Even before the market really gets going, Cleveland has a few obvious holes to sort through, including first base, backup catcher and a spot in the pitching rotation, which gives this next stretch a little more urgency than usual.
How the front office handles those decisions will say plenty about the direction of the roster. Griffin appears to be the most appealing option among the group, while Hoskins looks like the least likely to come back, and the rest of the picture may be shaped as much by the market as by the Guardians own preferences. For a club trying to keep its offseason on track, it is the kind of early test that can quietly define everything that follows. [Read more 🡒]