Key Sign Might Indicate Guardians Are Out On Roki Sasaki

January 8, 2025

By Andres Chavez

The Roki Sasaki rumors department is never disappointing.

Each day, a new update appears, usually involving a mystery team having met with him or gaining ground, or a specific organization bowing out of the race.

The Cleveland Guardians, like just about every other baseball club in MLB, want Sasaki.

He has the potential to be a generational talent, boasting a 100 mph fastball and multiple secondary offering capable of missing bats consistently.

It appears, however, that the Guards won’t be signing the Japanese star.

Nothing has been written in stone just yet, but Cleveland is preparing to go ahead with its international free agent contingent.

Other teams, like the Los Angeles Dodgers or the San Diego Padres, have put their international signings on hold as they awair for Sasaki’s decision.

“The Cleveland #Guardians are not putting their international signings on hold as most of them have already arrived at the organization’s Dominican Academy for their signing ceremony next week. This most likely indicates the team will not be in the running for Sasaki,” Guardians Prospective wrote on X.

So far the Dodgers and Padres are the only organizations putting their signings on hold, a strong indication that they are the favorites to get Sasaki on a cheap rookie deal.

Other teams might join them, though.

The New York Yankees, for example, think they have as good a chance as anybody.

<

How about a few more years of contractual agreement with Kwan??

Guardians fans want clarity on Josh Naylor, Andres Gimenez trades: Hey, Hoynsie

Updated: Jan. 11, 2025, 8:04 a.m.|Published: Jan. 11, 2025, 7:46 a.m.

By Paul Hoynes

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Do you have a Guardians question that you’d like to have answered in Hey, Hoynsie? You can subscribe to Subtext here, text Hoynsie at 216-208-4346 for a two-week free trial or email him at phoynes@cleveland.com.

Hey, Hoynsie: I’m having trouble getting past that trades of Josh Naylor and Andres Gimenez. I get the metrics and the money aspect, but to me Gimenez was a generational star, the best second baseman I’ve ever seen including Roberto Alomar. To take a huge chunk out of a team that won the AL Central and should have won the ALCS is ludicrous. — Jim Zakos.

Hey, Jim: The front office left itself open to some serious second guessing this winter, especially if they don’t find a solid replacement for Gimenez at second base and Father Time catches up with Carlos Santana, who was signed to replace Naylor at first base.

Hey, Hoynsie: I trust the Guardians’ front office, but I don’t think they got enough of a return for Josh Naylor. I would have kept him until the trade deadline. I think they would have gotten a better pitcher in return. — Scott Sazima.

Hey, Scott: You’re not alone, but with Naylor being eligible for free agency at the end of the upcoming season, the Guardians return was going to be limited. Yes, they could have waited for the deadline, but if they were contending I can’t see them trading him. Then he could have walked away at the end of the year and all the Guardians would have gotten was a draft pick.

Hey, Hoynsie: Was the signing of Carlos Santana worse than keeping Josh Naylor? Why did this trade take place? — Anthony Mancuso.

Hey, Hoynsie: If the Guardians hadn’t found what they considered a good replacement for Naylor in Santana, they may not have dealt Naylor to Arizona. For most of the offseason the Guards felt they’d open 2025 with Naylor at first base.

They felt getting right-hander Slade Ciccone and a Competitive Round B draft pick from Arizona, plus being able to sign Santana for just about the same money Naylor received in aribtration, was the best deal they could get.

Some people felt the Guards traded Naylor because he was out of shape. Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations, denied that. I think the fact that Naylor was a free agent after 2025 was the driving force behind the trade.

Hey, Hoynsie: You mentioned that you thought Gleyber Torres might be a a good addition for the Guards. Now he’s with the Tigers, but what about Brandon Rodgers? ― Mike L., Middleburg.

Hey, Mike: I thought Torres would be a good fit because he could help the G’s offensively, but that was strictly me speculating. The front office has been signing middle infielders for years. I get the impression they’re going to replace Gimenez with one of their internal candidates.

Hey, Hoynsie: Stephen Vogt was a big league catcher and bullpen coach. Do you think these experiences impact how he handles the pitching staff in a way that others without that background might not? — Arthur Greenbaum, Worthington.

Hey, Arthur: Sure it helps him. Vogt is also smart enough to lean on his pitching coaches, starting with Carl Willis.

Hey, Hoynsie: With Steven Kwan signing a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with the Guardians, does than mean there’s no talk about a multiyear deal? — CDL, Strongsville.

Hey, CDL: There’s nothing stopping Kwan’s agents and the Guardians from negotiating a mulityear deal. In the past, Cleveland has extended several players at or near the end of spring training.

Hey, Hoynsie: With the arbitration process completed, and the payroll being lower than last year, is the 40-man roster complete? Will the Guardians make any more additions? — Patrick Grijak, Garfield Heights.

Hey, Patrick: Spring training is still a month away, and the regular season doesn’t start until March 27, so there’s plenty of time to make additions to the roster. There’s certainly some veteran free agent starting pitchers and outfielders available who could help the Guardians.

Hey, Hoynsie: Who is most likely to hit in the No. 2 spot behind Kwan for the Guardians in 2025? —Tim Johnson, Rockville, Indiana.

Hey, Tim: The Guards used 10 different players in the No.2 spot last year. The departed Gimenez was the busiest with 78 starts. Angel Martinez (24), Lane Thomas (14), Tyler Freeman (11), Daniel Schneemann (eight), Will Brennan (eight), Kyle Manzardo (seven), Jose Ramirez (six), David Fry (four) and Brayan Rocchio (one) were the others.

I’ve always liked a switch-hitter in that spot so it could be Martinez, who hit .242 (22 for 91) with three homers and eight RBI batting second last year. Thomas would provide speed at the top of the lineup, but his power will probably put him in the middle of the lineup.

Prospect Juan Brito, a switch-hitter, has been mentioned as a possibility to start at second base. But it would be a big ask to have a rookie bat second behind Kwan.

Hey, Hoynsie: Is Ramirez’s club-friendly contract preventing the Guardians from signing Kwan to a mulityear deal because such a contract would probably be more than Ramirez’s? — Carl, Las Vegas.

Hey, Carl: No, it isn’t. You’re right about one thing, if Kwan signs a multiyear deal, it will be for less than Ramirez’s contract. Kwan isn’t in Ramirez’s tax bracket, but there’s certainly room on the payroll to sign him to an extension.

Hey, Hoynsie: Gavin Williams was derailed in 2024 by tossing weighted balls during spring training. Did this happen during spring training and how will they prevent this from happening again? — Bud, Arizona.

Hey, Bud: The injury happened in spring training. Williams, as part of his rehab, continued to use weighted balls. It is a part of almost every pitcher’s routine in the big leagues and minors.

<

Guardians Ace Reveals He Was Close To Leaving Cleveland

January 11, 2025

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians are known for their impeccable player development skills, promoting from within, and spotting talent like no few other teams in baseball.

Negotiating with players on the open market, however, has brought the organization more disappointment than joy throughout recent history.

Shane Bieber was, for a few weeks after the World Series, free to sign with any squad of his liking.

The team ace is recovering from Tommy John surgery performed in April, so his market didn’t go as he expected, say, one or two years ago.

However, it might have been that injury the one element giving the Guardians a chance for their offer to be in the ballpark of what Bieber and his agency wanted.

The player, however, did admit that he was close to leaving.

“Shane Bieber was very close to leaving Cleveland. “It was looking bleak… I’ll just leave it at that”, Chris Rose posted on X.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1877756073328672910

You can watch the video and look at Bieber’s expressions.

It’s pretty clear that he wanted to return to Cleveland and you can see it in his facial expressions when he discusses how close he was to leaving.

Apparently, he was about to give up when one morning his agency and the organization were able to settle and find common ground.

Now, the Guardians will have him for 2025, and potentially 2026 depending on if the star hurler exercises a player option.

He will miss the first couple of months as he completes his rehab, but once he regains full health, Bieber will want to pick up where he left off: he pitched 12 scoreless frames to open 2024 before going down with the injury.

<

Guardians’ 2025 roster analysis: veterans, rookies and prospects — The week in baseball

Updated: Jan. 11, 2025, 2:07 p.m.|Published: Jan. 11, 2025, 1:38 p.m.

By Paul Hoynes

CLEVELAND, Ohio — The face of winter rarely changes. There’s snow, there’s ice and the sidewalk always needs to be shoveled.

Spring training, however, is nearing. The Guardians will soon be migrating to their spring training home in Goodyear, Arizona to find 26 players for the season opener on March 27.

Speculation swirls in February and March when it comes to baseball. What rookie is hitting everything in sight in the desert? What veteran could lose his job?

The thing to remember is that almost every player in every big-league camp fits into one of three categories. There’s the veteran who knows he’ll be on the club when the season opens. There’s a group of players who are competing for the two or three spots that could be open on the roster. Then there’s the prospects, who are in camp to see what it takes to get to the big leagues.

Let’s take the Guardians’ 40-man roster and break it down into those three groups. The field will become more crowded when the G’s announce who their non-roster invitees to spring training will be.






Starting pitchers

Opening day bound: Tanner Bibee, Luis Ortiz, Ben Lively, Gavin Williams.

Duke it out: Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, Joey Cantillo and Slade Cecconi.

Be a sponge: Doug Nikhazy.

Recovery room: Shane Bieber (right elbow), Daniel Espino (right shoulder).

Bullpen

Opening day bound: Emmanuel Clase, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin and Cade Smith.

Duke it out: Pedro Avila, Andrew Walters, Erik Sabrowski and Cecconi. Relievers Luis Frias and Parker Muschinski have been invited to camp on minor league contracts.

Be a sponge:: Franco Aleman and Nic Enright.

Recovery room: Trevor Stephan (right elbow) and Sam Hentges (left shoulder). Hentges is expected to miss the season.

Catchers

Opening day bound: Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges.

Duking it out: Dom Nunez and Jake Anchia have been invited to camp on minor league deals.

Be a sponge: The Guardians top catching prospects, according to MLB.com, are Jacob Cozart and Cooper Ingle. They haven’t played above Class AA and it’s unclear if they’ll be invited to big league camp.

Recovery room: David Fry (right elbow) is not expected to be able to catch this season.






First base

Opening day bound: Carlos Santana.

Duking it out: Kyle Manzardo and Jhonkensy Noel.

Be a sponge: The G’s top two first base prospects, Ralphy Velazquez and C.J. Kayfus, according to MLB.com, have not played above Class AA. Utility man Gabriel Arias made one start at first base last year.

Recovery room: Fry (right elbow) is the backup first baseman, but he’s not expected to be able to play in the field this year.

Second base

Opening day bound: The G’s have posted a help wanted sign at second base following the trade of Andres Gimenez.

Duking it out: Juan Brito, Angel Martinez, Tyler Freeman, Daniel Schneemann and Arias.

Be a sponge: Brito has yet to make his big league debut, but he hit 21 homers at Class AAA Columbus last year. No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana could make the occasional visit to big league camp as well this spring.

Third base

Opening day bound: Jose Ramirez.

Duking it out: Arias, Schneemann, Martinez and Freeman will compete for playing time at third when Ramirez DHs.

Be a sponge: As long as Ramirez can take the field, third base is his.






Shortstop

Opening day bound: Brayan Rocchio.

Duking it out: Arias, Schneemann and Freeman.

Be a sponge: It seems like every infielder on the roster can play shortstop. Welbyn Francisca, according to MLB.com, is the Guardians top shortstop prospect, but has yet to play above Class A.

Left field

Opening day bound: Steven Kwan.

Duking it out: Will Brennan, Fry, Martinez and departed Estevan Florial played a lot of left field last year during Kwan’s two trips to the injured list. Fry will be out of the mix this year.

Be a sponge: George Valera, who hit 15 homers with 50 RBI last season at Triple-A, is in camp on a minor league deal after being released by the G’s.






Center field

Opening day bound: Lane Thomas.

Duking it out: Thomas took over center last year after being acquired at the trade deadline, but Freeman still made the most starts (82) in center. They had nine players make at least one start in center last year.

Be a sponge: Petey Halpin was added to the 40-man roster in November after his Class AA season ended early due to a broken left wrist. Martinez, a converted infielder, made 18 starts in center.

Mystery guest: Gold Glove center fielder Myles Straw was outrighted to Triple-A and remains there as he collects on his five-year $25 million contract.

Right field

Opening day bound: The platoon of Brennan and Noel.

Duking it out: Jonathan Rodriguez, Schneemann, Martinez and Thomas saw time in right field last year. In the long run, Thomas may be better suited for right field than center.

Be a sponge: Chase DeLauter, if he’s invited to camp, and Valera have something in common — they have to stay healthy to get a shot.

Designated hitter

Opening day bound: A platoon of Manzardo and Arias.

Duking it out: Fry, when healthy enough to swing the bat, could see time there. Ramirez, when he wasn’t playing third, made 32 starts at DH last year.

Be a sponge: Valera, Arias and DeLauter could get some spring-training at-bats here.






Shake the money tree

Several former Guardians avoided arbitration and still had a good payday on Thursday when players and teams were scheduled to exchange salary figures for the 2025 season.

Josh Naylor agreed to a one-year $10.9 million deal with Arizona; Aaron Civale agreed to a one-year $8 million deal with Milwaukee; Willi Castro, former Cleveland farmhand, agreed to a one-year $6.4 million deal with the Twins; Ernie Clement agreed to a one-year $1.97 million deal with Toronto; Nick Sandlin agreed to a one-year $1.67 million deal with Toronto; Eli Morgan agreed to a one-year $950,000 deal with the Cubs and Kyle Nelson agreee to a one-year $825,000 deal with Arizona.

Names you should remember

UT Jake Bauers, who played with Cleveland in 2019 and 2021, has signed a minor league deal with the Brewers with an invitation to big-league camp.
INF Andrew Velazquez, who played with the Indians in 2019, has re-signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal.
RHP Shawn Armstrong, Cleveland’s 18th round pick in 2011, has signed a one-year deal with Texas.
OF Leonys Martin, who played with the Indians in 2018 and 2019, has hit eight home runs for La Guaira in Venezuela.
INF Erik Gonzalez, who played with the Indians from 2016 through 2018, is hitting .295 for Escogido in the Dominican Republic.
OF Abraham Almonte, who played for the Indians from 2015 through 2017, is hitting .111 (6 for 54) for Estrellas in the Dominican Republic.
RHP Ben Heller, Cleveland’s 22nd round pick in 2013, has signed a minor league deal with the Cubs.

<

Let’s stop wasting time. It’s 2025 already, which means baseball season is around the corner. So, it’s time to go around the horn.

Over the next few weeks leading up to Spring Training, we’ll go position by position to break down each area of the Guardians’ roster. Let’s start with catching.

Projected starter: Bo Naylor

Look solely at his offensive numbers from 2024 and you’ll be underwhelmed. Naylor was just barely over the Mendoza Line with a .201 average and just a .614 OPS (73 OPS+). He hit 13 homers and knocked in 39 runs in 123 games but also struck out 122 times. But still, if you ask anyone in the Guardians’ organization, they’ll tell you they were thrilled with the year the young backstop had.

It’s more than just offense and defense for a catcher. It’s learning a pitching staff, understanding how to come up with a game plan, figuring out how to call a game at the Major League level, gaining the confidence to run pitchers’ meetings and so much more. These are the areas that Cleveland’s front office and coaching staff saw Naylor grow exponentially last year, which should help with his confidence going into ’25.






The backup: Austin Hedges

The Guardians were quick to lock up Hedges again for the 2025 season after ’24 came to a close. After carrying him on the ’22 roster, losing him for the next season and then bringing him back, it was clear that the backup catcher is the glue that holds this clubhouse together. He’s the leader in the room who can connect with anyone, including serving as a right-hand man to his manager Stephen Vogt and assistant manager Craig Albernaz.

Vogt will be the first to tell you, though, that Hedges is more than a cheerleader. Collectively, his offensive numbers weren’t attention-grabbing, but he did deliver a handful of big hits for Cleveland last year when it needed them most. He also is still one of the best defensive catchers in the game. And with Naylor looking to continue his development behind the dish, there isn’t a better partner for him than Hedges.

This year, the Guardians will be leaning heavily on Hedges to handle the backup duties when Naylor isn’t on the diamond, because David Fry will not be able to catch. At the end of last season, Fry underwent elbow surgery and will not be able to play in the field for all of 2025. At some point, he’ll be able to at least DH. This was the case for Cleveland for the second half of ’24 because of Fry’s injury, so it’s nothing the team isn’t already used to.








Question to answer: Can Naylor finally take the offensive step forward this organization has been waiting for?

This is the second consecutive offseason that the Guardians are hoping Naylor will be able to improve his offense. In 2023, the narrative was that it was his first big league season, so it’s easy to be overwhelmed. In ’24, it was his first full big league season, so he was still learning so many things. But now, the reasons for his offense lacking are running thin.

Naylor had a great bat in the Minors, hitting as many as 21 homers in 2022 (between Double- and Triple-A) and compiling as high as an .891 OPS in 60 games in Columbus in ’23. The potential is there. Naylor just needs to prove he can take this last developmental step in ’25.






Who else is in the Pipeline?

• Guardians No. 11 prospect Jacob Cozart (High-A Lake County)
• No. 13 Cooper Ingle (Double-A Akron)
• Unranked catcher Dom Nuñez (Triple-A Columbus)






IN THE NEWS

• MLB.com took a look at 40 likely future Hall of Famers who will play in 2025. Did any Guardians make the list? Check here.

Tier 1: They were in years ago.
1. Mike Trout (85.7 WAR)
2. Justin Verlander (82 WAR)
3. Clayton Kershaw (76.4 WAR)
4. Max Scherzer (73.2 WAR)

Tier 2: May as well start engraving those plaques
5. Freddie Freeman (61.1 WAR)
6. Mookie Betts (59.7 WAR)
7. Jose Altuve (58 WAR)
8. Paul Goldschmidt (56.5 WAR)
9. Francisco Lindor (54.2 WAR)
10. Manny Machado (53.6 WAR)
11. Bryce Harper (52.5 WAR)
12. José Ramírez (51.5 WAR)
13. Aaron Judge (51.4 WAR)
14. Nolan Arenado (50.6 WAR)

Tier 3: The Living Legends In Their Primes zone
15. Shohei Ohtani (40.4 WAR)
16. Juan Soto (36.3 WAR)

Tier 4: Mr. 500.
17. Giancarlo Stanton (42.5 WAR)

Tier 5: Young stars on the right path.
18. Ronald Acuña Jr. (28.3 WAR)
19. Yordan Alvarez (23.3 WAR)
20. Fernando Tatis Jr. (20.4 WAR)
21. Bobby Witt Jr. (18.5 WAR)
22. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (17 WAR)
23. Julio Rodríguez (15.4 WAR)
24. Gunnar Henderson (13.6 WAR)
25. Corbin Carroll (10.8 WAR)

Tier 6: We’re going to have to include some starting pitchers, aren’t we?
26. Chris Sale (54 WAR)
27. Gerrit Cole (46 WAR)
28. Zack Wheeler (37.2 WAR) or someone like him

Tier 7: What if they win that third Cy Young?
29. Blake Snell (24.5 WAR) – or Jacob deGrom (43 WAR)

Tier 8: We’re going to have to include some relievers, aren’t we?
30. Kenley Jansen (24.8 WAR)
31. Aroldis Chapman (23 WAR)
32. Edwin Díaz (13.4 WAR) or Josh Hader (12.2 WAR)

Tier 9: We’re going to have to include some catchers, aren’t we?
33. J.T. Realmuto (34.8 WAR)
34. Salvador Perez (18.3 WAR)

Tier 10: The young stars with two or fewer years of service.
35. Elly De La Cruz (8.2 WAR)
36. Jackson Merrill (5.3 WAR)
37. Paul Skenes (4.3 WAR)
38. Jackson Chourio (3.9 WAR)
39. Wyatt Langford (2.9 WAR)

Tier 11: The 2025 rookies, whomever they may be.
40. Travis Bazzana, Roki Sasaki, or someone like them

Consider this a placeholder, for the future legend you haven’t even seen debut yet. Consider this: Between 1990-99, every year aside from 1994 – which of course wasn’t played to completion – had at least one rookie position player who eventually made the Hall. Between 1980-89, every year aside from 1983 and '85 had at least one. In the 1970s, every single year had a rookie future legend.

You may not have thought all that much, for example, of Adrian Beltré when he was a below-average hitter in 1998-99, but he was there, and he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer. It’ll happen this year, too, whether it’s a consensus top prospect like Bazzana or Marcelo Mayer, or someone you haven't even heard of yet.

<

• The Guardians avoided arbitration with outfielders Steven Kwan and Lane Thomas on Thursday afternoon by inking them each to a one-year contract. But that doesn’t mean all extension talks are completely off the table.

• We are almost at Hall of Fame announcement day. Here are four reasons why CC Sabathia should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

MORNING LINEUP REMINDER

For anyone who hasn’t been listening already, remember that MLB launched the Morning Lineup Podcast last year and it is continuing all through the offseason. And I’m one of the four co-hosts!

In January, we are spending each week focusing on a different division. Starting Monday, we will be talking all things AL Central. Monday will also be the Guardians-focused day, hosted by yours truly. If you’re missing baseball in these final weeks before pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, get your fix with this daily podcast (on weekdays) that makes sure you don’t miss one piece of Hot Stove news. And we promise to keep each episode under 10 minutes.

TRIVIA

How many players in the National Baseball Hall of Fame represent the Cleveland organization?

A. 5
B. 9
C. 13
D. 17

<

C. 13.

Nap Lajoie (1937), Tris Speaker (1937), Bob Feller (1962), Elmer Flick (1963), Stan Coveleski (1969), Lou Boudreau (1970), Early Wynn (1972), Earl Averill (1975), Bob Lemon (1976), Joe Sewell (1977), Addie Joss (1978), Larry Doby (1998) and Jim Thome (2018).

<

Recent Free Agent Contract Puts Guardians Cost Efficiency In Perspective

January 11, 2025

By Andres Chavez

On Friday night, it was reported that the Toronto Blue Jays signed high-end reliever Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million contract.

Everybody knows that elite relief pitching is very expensive, as a dominant bullpen is a key component in any World Series-caliber roster.

What does this have to do with the Cleveland Guardians? Nothing, or at least not directly with Hoffman.

They do have a World Series-caliber bullpen, though, arguably the best in the league.

We bring up Hoffman because his price puts the Guardians’ elite player development skills in the spotlight for all the right reasons.

“To put this into perspective…. Hoffman gets $11MM a year to close for Toronto. The #Guardians four horsemen bullpen group of Clase, Smith, Gaddis and Herrin will make a combined $6.9MM in 2025,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.

Yes, the Guardians’ four best relievers, all among the best in the league, will make less than Hoffman in 2025 combined.

And yes, that includes Clase, who has been among MLB’s most dominant relievers for a few years now.

The Guardians all-time saves leader will make $4.9 million this year, in case you were wondering.

Clase’s contract is to team-friendly that many front offices don’t understand how Cleveland managed to get him to sign it.

Part of the answer is that they had faith in him and were willing to invest important resources in one of the most volatile and fragile positions in baseball.

The other three relief stars make near the league minimum and were also products of the Guardians’ elite pitching development lab.

Only Smith was a highly-regarded relief pitching prospect: Gaddis is a ‘failed starter’ and Herrin is a late-round pick.

<

FRANCO ALEMAN




ANDREW WALTERS


2 Hard-Throwing Rookies Will Give Guardians Bullpen More Options

January 10, 2025

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians had MLB’s best bullpen in 2024.

The unit finished last year with the best bullpen ERA in the league at 2.57.

They were so dominant that the next best team, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a 3.11 mark, which is more than half a run worse than the Guards.

Emmanuel Clase and Cade Smith led the unit with amazing performances that put them among the best relievers in the majors, but make no mistake: this is a very deep unit.

Besides those two, they enjoyed incredible contributions from Tim Herrin, Hunter Gaddis, Pedro Avila, Erik Sabrowski, Eli Morgan (traded this off-season), Sam Hentges, Andrew Walters and others.

It’s precisely Walters, plus another young righty, the ones that will continue to feed this unit with talented, hard-throwing rookies.

“Clase came in at number 4. The team still has Gaddis, Herrin and two hard throwing talented rookies in Walters and Aleman. Crazy talented pen still in 2025,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.

The Cleveland Guardians had MLB’s best bullpen in 2024.

The unit finished last year with the best bullpen ERA in the league at 2.57.

They were so dominant that the next best team, the Milwaukee Brewers, had a 3.11 mark, which is more than half a run worse than the Guards.

Walters pitched 8.2 innings at the major league level last year, in which he didn’t allow any runs.

Prior to his stint in MLB, he posted a 2.32 ERA in 50.1 frames between Double-A and Triple-A, with an incredible 79 strikeouts.

Aleman, protected in November from the Rule 5 by being added to the 40-man roster, had an amazing showing in Triple-A in 2024.

He delivered a 1.99 ERA in 22.2 frames with Columbus, with 34 punchouts to his name.

He might encounter some issues with walks here or there, but in the end, talent and strikeout stuff will almost always prevail.

In Walters and Aleman, the Guardians have two pitchers with the ability to be their 2025 version of what Smith was for the team in 2024.

<