For a team that won the American League Central and reached the playoffs in 2026, which had a team OPS of .669, the Cleveland Guardians have had a fairly quiet offseason. 

The needs are clear: an outfield bat and a hitter who can handle left-handed pitching. Yet the Guardians haven’t added a position player from outside the organization on a major-league deal for 2026.

With spring training quickly approaching, here are three possible reasons for Cleveland’s quiet winter thus far. 

The Guardians undeniably have an exciting young core at the MLB level or on the precipice of making their big-league debuts. Those players include Chase DeLauter, George Valera, C.J. Kayfus, Juan Brito, and Travis Bazzana.

Chris Antonetti said earlier this offseason that if they made any external additions to the position group, the organization didn’t want to block the young core of playing time. Yes, this group of players is largely unproven, but perhaps the organization is incredibly confident that they are the answer to the Guardians’ lackluster 2025 offense.

Maybe Cleveland’s lack of offseason moves is because they truly do believe in this young core. Perhaps the team believes a full season of playing time for DeLauter and Valera could outperform any outfielder on the open market or trade block.

There’s only one way to find out: let the kids play. 

Bo Bichette, Cody Bellinger, and Kyle Tucker, easily the three most notable position player free agents, have yet to sign for the 2026 season. Cleveland isn’t in play for any of them, but the fact that the trio remains unsigned could be affecting the Guardians' chances at landing one of the second-tier free agents.

As long as these three players remain free agents, it feels like the market has stalled out a bit. With that, it makes sense that the team’s potential backup options for these players, who could also be logical fits with Cleveland, such as Austin Hays, Harrison Bader, and Randal Grichuk, have yet to sign with a team, too. 

They could be waiting to feel out what their value could be, or take advantage of a team that misses out on one of the stars, and is willing to overpay for outfield help.

It feels like once this trio signs with whatever team they choose, the market should quickly pick up, and hopefully, the Guardians will be candidates to sign one of the remaining free-agent outfielders. 

There were reports that the Guardians reached out to both Adolis Garcia and Lane Thomas before they signed with their respective teams for 2026. Obviously, the front office couldn’t convince either of them to come to Cleveland to play a platoon role. 

From the outside, things have been quite surrounding the Guardians, but maybe the Garcia-Thomas situation has been the same as with other free agents.

Ultimately, the front office is the only one that knows the master plan and the reason for the inactivity. Whatever the rationale, let’s hope it ends with Cleveland back in the playoffs in 2026.