Now that the World Baseball Classic is behind us and the same can be said, to some extent, about the offseason and spring training, it’s time for the Cleveland Guardians and every MLB team to focus on the regular season, which will return this week.
The Guardians’ first series will be vs. the Seattle Mariners on the West Coast. The roster is nearly finalized, with only a couple of spots left to decide.
The folks at Bleacher Report published their power rankings ahead of the start of the 2026 campaign on Monday, and the Guardians appear in the 16th spot, a member of the third tier of teams, together with the Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers, San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and San Diego Padres.
Here’s what Joel Reuter had to say about Cleveland heading into the start of the season:
“The Guardians front office continues to be allergic to spending, settling on a couple of middle relievers and a minor league deal with Rhys Hoskins as their only notable moves of the winter. Rising in-house talent like Chase DeLauter, George Valera, Joey Cantillo, and Parker Messick will be counted on to elevate this team in the AL wild-card race,” he said.
Reuter is spot-on about the fact that the Guardians are allergic to spending. That has been the case for years, and it became more evident during the 2025-26 offseason.
However, it’s also important to consider that Cleveland, at least this time, didn’t want to spend important money on the team to avoid blocking some of their up-and-coming talent.
Splashing the cash on an outfielder would have meant stealing playing time from Chase DeLauter, CJ Kayfus, and George Valera. Bringing in a starting second baseman would have blocked Travis Bazzana. A mid-tier starter could have kept the talented and controllable Parker Messick in the minors. And so on.
Yes, the Guardians will need to spend on at least one star-level player at some point to elevate their ceiling. However, as currently constructed, this team definitely looks better than its 16th-place ranking indicates.
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