MLB Notebook: Cleveland Guardians Preview

Stephen Vogt’s first year as manager was an unqualified success. Cleveland won 92 games, took home a competitive AL Central, reached the ALCS and Vogt was named Manager of the Year. Now, can the Guardians keep it going?

Here’s our look-in at the 2025 edition of the Cleveland Guardians:

HITTING FOR POWER

Jose Ramirez is the face of the franchise, a likely Hall of Famer, and the third baseman continues to put up vintage seasons. On the power front, he’s good for 30 homers and 100-plus RBIs. Across the infield at first base, veteran Carlos Santana continues to hit 20-plus home runs.

Ramirez and Santana have to produce because power everywhere else is a major question mark. Lane Thomas was a solid pickup at the trade deadline last year, but the centerfielder has to re-find the form that saw him hit 28 homers for Washington in 2023. He slipped last season.

Johnkensy Noel is a big, muscular hitter, who had some big moments in the playoffs last October, but we aren’t yet sure how much Noel will play or how consistent he can be. He slugged .486 in 67 games last year.

If Noel and Thomas can come through, Cleveland will have decent power production. If not, they’ll be scraping for runs.

GETTING ON BASE

Steven Kwan is an excellent leadoff hitter, averaging a .360 on-base percentage over the past three seasons. Kwan hit a career-high .292 for batting average last year. His table-setting is invaluable for this lineup.

Ramirez, with this batting averages around .280, his 30 or so stolen bases, and his on-base percentages that hover in the .350 range, can also set the table when he’s not cleaning it up.

Beyond this, Cleveland has issues. While Santana continues to produce OBPs that exceed his batting average by 100 points, that still only gets the OBP to the .320 range. Nolan Jones posted a .356 OBP in part-time duty last year. But if Jones plays, it likely means Noel won’t.

This is another area the area the Guardians really need Thomas to produce—he steals about 20 bases—but unlike with power, there’s no previous track record of Thomas consistently talking walks or hitting for average.

STARTING PITCHING

Tanner Bibee looks good at the top, with ERAs in the low 3s. The rest of the rotation is interesting—and I mean that for better and for worse. Gavin Williams, Luis Oritz, Ben Lively, and Joey Cantillo have all pitched reasonably respectably, but in limited duty. How will they perform as full-time rotation members? The answer to that question likely decides the answer to who wins the AL Central.

BULLPEN

The tandem of Cade Smith in the eighth inning and Emmanuel Clase in the ninth, is as sure a thing as any team in baseball has. Tim Herrin and Hunter Gaddis got regular work for the first time and were fantastic. Vogt has four great arms to go to, and Paul Seewald and Jake Junis behind them aren’t bad either.

OUTLOOK

It’s hard for me to get too excited over Cleveland’s chances, given the fact the offense usually struggles and there’s question marks in the rotation. But this is an organization that’s managed to overcome those problems before, they have the great bullpen, and Vogt has proven a worthy heir to the great Terry Francona in the dugout. The betting markets give them a very modest Over/Under of 82.5. I think they’ll at least exceed those expectations again.