Cleveland Guardians 2025-2026 Offseason Wishlist

One day, Ramírez is going to be elected into the Hall of Fame and be remembered as one of the league’s most impressive switch-hitters of all time. There’s no other way to put it, so it’s worth just confronting the Guardians with those words up front. Cleveland so desperately needs offense to surround Ramírez as one man simply can’t hold an entire team on his shoulders.

Despite Ramírez posting a 6.3 fWAR season with 30 home runs, 83 RBI, 44 stolen bases, and a slashline of .283/.360/.503, Cleveland still had a bottom-10 offense by fWAR (t-24th, 13.2 fWAR). The third-worst team wRC+ and ranking 20th in home runs will not bring a team to the playoffs and that’s plain and simple. Not only do they need better offense, they need power from a source that’s not their All-Star third baseman. Here’s some names they could go after:

Free Agent Targets: Ryan O’Hearn (L), Jorge Polanco (S), Rhys Hoskins (R)

In a season that saw Ryan O’Hearn traded at the deadline from the Orioles to the Padres, he had his best season of professional baseball, hitting .281/.366/.437 with 17 home runs and 21 doubles to go along with 63 RBI. His 130 wRC+ and 3.0 fWAR were both career-highs, and his prowess as a solid left-handed bat that can hit both lefties and righties with would make him a nice slugger to add to a lineup that needs more power.

Jorge Polanco, who just had an outstanding comeback performance in 2025, is an interesting player to look at for Cleveland, and he would be the third switch-hitter in the Guardians’ lineup behind Ramírez and scrappy second baseman Brayan Rocchio.

This year with the Mariners, he hit .265/.326/.495 with 56 extra-base hits and enjoyed his best wRC+ of his entire career (132) and halved his strikeout rate from 29.2% to just 15.6%. His strengths at the plate align strongly with those of the Guardians.

Rhys Hoskins is more of an under-the-radar pick for teams to land, and he had a decent showing in 2025 that could endear him to the likes of the Cleveland Guardians. Hoskins only appeared in 90 games for the Brewers this year, but posted a 109 wRC+ with a strong 11.9% walk rate while only hitting 12 home runs.

Hoskins has multiple 30-home run seasons under his belt, and if he’s able to work with Cleveland’s hitting lab to get better at making consistent contact at the plate, he could be a match made in heaven at a budget for the Guards.

Trade Targets: Brendan Donovan (L), Luis Robert Jr. (R), Alek Thomas (L)

Brendan Donovan, Just Baseball’s fifth-best second baseman of 2025, made his first All-Star Game this season and has been openly on the trade block over the offseason. Donovan hit .287/.353/.422 and was the Cardinals’ second-most valuable player by fWAR (2.9) and had the 14th-best strikeout rate among qualified hitters (13.0%). His style of contact hitting (95th-percentile whiff rate) fits right in with the Guardians and he could be a strong addition.

Luis Robert Jr. has been in trade rumours for ages now and is coming off two terrible seasons at the plate, and he’s only played in more than 110 games in a season once in his six-year big-league career. He was the eighth-most valuable player on the 60-102 White Sox this year by fWAR (1.8) and hit .223/.297/.364, so his trade value is at an all-time low.

Also, Robert is entering the final two seasons of his six-year, $50 million deal with the White Sox so they’ll be looking to shed his contract. If Cleveland can get him for a relatively low price and if he can return to form, this would be a great add.

An under-the-radar option for the Guards could be the 25-year-old outfielder Alek Thomas of the Arizona Diamondbacks, whose slap hitting and defensively-sound skillset align nicely with those seen in Cleveland in recent years. Thomas had a tough 2025 season and will definitely need to bounce back going forward, but this means his price tag will be a lot lower than most other options on the market – he’s firmly in Cleveland’s budget.

Make the Rotation Stronger

The Guardians’ starting rotation for 2026 is currently composed of Gavin Williams (R), Tanner Bibee (R), Slade Cecconi (R), Parker Messick (L), and Logan Allen (L) and could certainly use some improvement. In the AL Central, the Tigers, Royals, and Twins arguably have better rotations and Cleveland needs to improve in this department. They need to bring in veteran presences and there are some names in free agency that could solve this problem.

Williams and Bibee are a strong 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation, and Cecconi showed a strong 4.30 ERA in his first season with the Guardians, with 11 of his 23 outings being quality starts. Left-hander Joey Cantillo had a good rookie season in 2025 as well, and could easily slot in as one of their back-end rotation arms. However, Cleveland needs to make some decisive moves in order to compete with an AL Central that could easily produce three playoff teams next season.

Free Agent Targets: Zack Littell (R), Tyler Mahle (R), Aaron Civale (R)

Littell had his best season to date in 2025, posting a 3.81 ERA and a 10-8 record with the Rays and Reds, throwing 186.2 innings with an excellent 1.5 BB/9 rate. Littell wouldn’t command too hefty of a free agent contract in comparison to some others on the market, and Cleveland could certainly take a flyer on him to capitalize on his prime while it aligns with their window of playoff competition.

Mahle hasn’t been able to hold a consistent starting role for a whole season in quite some time, not breaking the 100-inning threshold since 2022, but his 2025 season was fantastic while he was healthy. He threw up a 2.18 ERA over 16 starts for the Texas Rangers but relies heavily on his defense, only striking out 19.1% of batters. Cleveland owns the third-best defense in MLB for 2025 according to fWAR (28.0) so the fit could be very strong for these two sides.

Civale pitched in Cleveland from 2019 to 2023, but has pitched for five teams over the last three seasons. He’s been a streaky pitcher over the last few years, but has a career 3.77 ERA over 738.1 innings with the franchise and this could be his opportunity to re-establish himself as a strong starting pitcher in this league. While he might be a shot in the dark to take a chance on, Civale has been a trade deadline acquisition the last three seasons so he’s not someone they have to be stuck to.

Trade Targets: MacKenzie Gore (L), José Berríos (R)

The Nationals have made it clear they’re listening to calls on starting pitcher MacKenzie Gore who made his first All-Star appearance this season and struck out 180+ batters for the second consecutive season. Gore will be a free agent following the 2027 season and he could be the Guardians’ best lefty starter and potentially their ace. Cleveland is one of the teams that could put together a trade package of prospects that could land them such a strong young pitcher.

José Berríos and the Toronto Blue Jays are in somewhat of a ‘limbo’ situation at the moment, with the right-handed reliever currently left without a spot in Toronto’s rotation. A recent quote from Blue Jays GM Ross Atkins indicates that Berríos was not thrilled with being left off Toronto’s postseason and World Series roster, so things could be moving towards a trade there.

He has started 30+ games in a season seven times in his career, and could be a great piece for Cleveland as a reliable starter. You always know what you’re going to get from José Berríos.

Closing Thoughts

The Guardians have an interesting offseason ahead of them, and their strong prospect pool affords them the ability to go after some of the marquee pieces on the trade market. Similarly, they definitely have the room to spend on strong free agents – it’s just a matter of whether they will or won’t go for it.

2025 was a tough year for the Guards to swallow for many reasons and the future is rather uncertain in Cleveland – if they want to compete they need to make the necessary changes this offseason. Their team on paper right now would still be competitive in the AL playoff hunt, but they very well could be the third-best team in their division in 2026 and that should be taken seriously.

Cleveland has a very entertaining style of play and brand of baseball, and baseball is simply better when the Guardians are good. They seem to always defy expectations and outperform their predictions, so maybe they’ll do more than the predictions in this article have proposed. Keep your eyes on Cleveland this offseason, they have the capability to do some big things.