The Cleveland Guardians went 88-74 to win the American League Central in 2025, but they ultimately fell short in the playoffs once again when they lost to the Detroit Tigers in the Wild Card round. It was clear, once again, that the offense desperately needs to add some thump in the offseason, but with Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz’s alleged gambling issues severely clouding their futures, there are holes in the pitching staff as well.
Cleveland hasn’t made any noise in free agency or on the trade market yet, and fans are getting a bit antsy. With Clase likely gone for good, the Guardians are surely poking around for value adds to the bullpen, and one analyst tossed out a potential “target” from the Los Angeles Dodgers.
During a recent episode of Locked On Guardians, Justin Lada and Jeff Ellis discussed how they believe the Guardians should be prioritizing bullpen upgrades during the Winter meetings. There is one prospect from the Dodgers who Lada would like to see Cleveland make a move for.
“You want another guy to target? Another guy to target is Jose Rodriguez, who was at the Dodgers. Jose Rodriguez could be one of those guys. I like to sleep on the change-up, but the command is pretty bad,” Lada said.
It’s a creative target to bring up, but this is not somebody Guardians fans are going to get excited about. Rodriguez is 24 and just posted a 5.50 ERA across Double-A and Triple-A this past season.
He has been knocking on the door of reaching the big leagues, but considering how many bullpen woes and injuries the Dodgers went through in 2025, it’s somewhat alarming that he couldn’t make his way onto the roster at some point. He clearly still has things to work on, but if the Guardians believe they can unlock something in him, he’d likely be easy to obtain.
He is not in LA’s top 30 prospects on MLB.com, so he won’t be costly. For a team that doesn’t love spending money, these are the kinds of moves the Guardians have to make to patch the bullpen together in Clase’s absence.
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