The Cleveland Guardians may have had one of the best bullpens in baseball in 2025, but now the position group is a top priority.
The Cleveland Guardians organization has been known for one key thing over the last few decades: pitching development.
That said, the team is being shy about what position group they desperately need to address this offseason, and that’s the bullpen.
During an interview at MLB’s Winter Meetings earlier this week, Stephen Vogt made is clear that the team needs more arms in their bullpen, even if it’s just for depth.
“Yeah, we need a lot. We need we need depth in the bullpen,” Vogt emphasized. “ We have, you know, four, maybe five guys in our bullpen, and we need eight. So that's an area we're addressing for sure.”
Yes, Cleveland had one of the best reliever cores in baseball last season, posting a 3.44 ERA (3rd) and a 1.23 WHIP (5th), both among MLB leaders, but a lot of the same arms that were in the bullpen last year won’t be back in 2025.
The Department of Justice is currently investigating Emmanuel Clase. Jakob Junis and Kolby Allard are free agents and don’t look like they’re returning. Nic Enright underwent Tommy John surgery and will miss all of next season. Zak Kent was recently claimed off waivers by the St. Louis Cardinals.
At the very least, that’s a chunk of innings the Guardians are losing, even if some of those pitchers may not be high-leverage
Right now, the Guardians can ink in Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Erik Sabrowski, and Matt Festa in with roles out of the bullpen. Tim Herrin could be an option if he can re-establish some consistency during spring training. After that, there are jobs up for grabs.
Connor Brogdon signed a major league deal with the organization a few weeks ago, and Peyton Pallette was selected in the MLB Rule 5 Draft on Wednesday, and could be an interesting piece. That said, Cleveland can’t count on two projects to turn into lockdown relievers come October.
The Guardians still need to add a veteran arm to this position group, whether that be through free agency or trade.
Given Cleveland’s success with identifying pitching talent, it’ll be interesting to see what direction the team goes to address this void, especially with how vocal the front office and skipper have been about needing more relievers.