On Tuesday, the Guardians held an end of season press conference. What can we gather about their plans for 2025?
First of all, I would recommend not consuming the public press conference in clips circulating on social media. Here is the full 25-minute press conference on Youtube:
Now, after you’ve watched this, pretty much discard everything you’ve heard and read the article write-up that the Athletic’s Zack Meisel offered on this presser and the hour-long writer-centric presser that preceded it, and,
consider subscribing to the Selby is Godcast patreon episode where Zack talks about what insights can be gathered. Thank goodness Meisel drops these crumbs to us starving fans.
So, some insights I have gleaned that I want to share:
-Jose Ramirez is definitely putting whatever pressure he is able to on the team to put a title-worthy team on the field, and was upset this summer when the rumors were out there that they were going to trade Steven Kwan. If Jose is to finish his career in Cleveland, he will want to be paid market-value at that time (which means that the team will wait until the end of 2028 to explore extending him because right now, that would be like $30M a year, and by then it may be more like $15M a year).
-The team is not planning a spending spree, but will operate in similar fashion they have in the past in regards to finances. They are aware that their hitting was bottom-third in the league and expressed interest in both external and internal methods of improving their offense. Operating in a similar fashion to how they have operated in the past isn’t necessarily a negative… they have kept payroll in the $100-120 million range, in general. That could give them up to $60M to spend, and currently would allow them almost $40M to spend to get back to 2025 levels. Did they guarantee they wouldn’t decrease payroll? No. But, perhaps I am naive to think that might be a PR pill a little too large for even the Dolans to believe fans would swallow without severe impact on season ticket holders.
-Both Stephen Vogt and Chris Antonetti were clear that anything less than winning a World Series is a disappointment and a failure.
-They will get an extra option year on Juan Brito, which will help with roster flexibility. Even if Brito win’s a job in Spring Training, it will help to have that option should he struggle.
-David Fry is getting surgery on his nose and Nic Enright is getting Tommy John.
So, don’t expect any big spending this offseason (Pete Alonso, Cody Bellinger, etc), but do expect the Guardians to commit some resources in an effort to improve their offense. The team remade their pitching rotation last offseason because it was the biggest need on the roster, so I do expect them to make at least a couple moves to try to help the offense this offseason.
