CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Stephen Vogt\u2019s blunt assessment of the Guardians\u2019 bullpen situation at this week\u2019s MLB winter meetings included the revelation that the club needs to fill as many as five bullpen spots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of took me by surprise,\u201d Paul Hoynes shared on the latest Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Guardians find themselves in this predicament due to the expected departure of Emmanuel Clase, who is facing federal gambling charges and leaves a gaping hole at the back end of their bullpen. But the issue extends far beyond just replacing their closer – the entire relief corps needs significant augmentation.<\/p>\n
With the Rule 5 draft offering a potential low-cost pathway to bullpen reinforcement, the Guardians\u2019 front office is weighing their options carefully. With the 21st pick, the club seleced 24-year-old righty Peyton Pallette from the White Sox. <\/p>\n
If he makes the club, Pallette wouldn\u2019t be Cleveland\u2019s first success story with Rule 5 selections. The podcast highlighted Trevor Stephan, who became a valuable bullpen piece after being selected in the 2020 Rule 5 draft before suffering an elbow injury in spring training 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a great pick by them,\u201d Hoynes noted on the podcast regarding Stephan. \u201cHe worked that into a multi-year deal. Unfortunately, he\u2019s been struggling a little bit coming back from Tommy John surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, the Rule 5 approach comes with significant risk. Any player selected must remain on the 26-man roster for the entire season or be offered back to their original club. This restriction creates a strategic challenge that the Guardians are weighing carefully.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think they\u2019d take two guys from the Rule 5 unless they really liked them because when you do, you\u2019ve got to keep them on the 26 man during a regular season,\u201d Hoynes explained. \u201cI don\u2019t know if they really want to do that kind of two, if they probably untested guys and you know, commit to keeping them on the roster, you know, and eating up those two roster spots.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Guardians tried this approach last season when they selected Deyvison De Los Santos for his power potential. Despite giving him opportunities at multiple positions, he didn\u2019t make the cut.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tried him at first base, they tried him in the outfield. He had the kind of power they liked, but just… it just wasn\u2019t the right time for him,\u201d Hoynes recalled.<\/p>\n
As Cleveland prepares its roster for 2026, the bullpen reconstruction project looms as one of their biggest challenges. The coming weeks will reveal whether they rely on Rule 5 selections, free agent signings, trades, or some combination to address what has suddenly become a critical area of need.<\/p>\n
How the Guardians navigate this bullpen crisis could determine their competitive viability for the upcoming season. For the full discussion on Cleveland\u2019s bullpen strategy and other winter meetings insights, don\u2019t miss the latest episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast with Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes.<\/p>\n
Podcast transcript<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. I\u2019m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes from the winter meetings in Orlando just ahead of today\u2019s Rule 5 draft. Hoyns, he joins us from the hotel there with Major League Baseball\u2019s winter meeting still going on. Fresh off his announcement as the newest recipient of the Career Excellence Award by the bbwaa yesterday, Paul Hoynes still sort of basking in the afterglow of that moment. I asked you before we started recording, who was the, the most outrageous? Who\u2019s the craziest person to reach out to you since you heard you, you had won the award?<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: There\u2019s been a lot of people, Joe, remember Charlie Steiner, who is, he\u2019s a Dodgers broadcaster now. He grew up in Cleveland. He, he texted me kind of out of the blue. Paul Dolan, the Guardian\u2019s owner, Oral Hershiser, Charlie Nagy, Omar Visquel, Carlos Baerga is here. Carlos did a video with me and sent it to Albert favorite guy. I don\u2019t know how that went over, but he sent it to Kenny Lofton and Albert Bell. So it\u2019s been a, it\u2019s been a remarkable. It really has. It\u2019s been really, it, it\u2019s, it\u2019s heartwarming. I mean, so many text messages from the guys I grew up with in, in Cleveland Heights that I haven\u2019t heard from for a while. And just other writers, Bud Shaw and all the, the guys, Burt Graef, all the guys I used to work with that have retired. It\u2019s, it\u2019s been, it\u2019s been really, really cool.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: This is going to be the summer on all media platforms. I\u2019m sure we\u2019re going to get to see and hear from, from you a lot more to talk about it. And great. I saw a couple of posts on Twitter, you know, Marquette, your alma mater, posting about, you know, one of their alums getting into the hall of Fame, the Hockey hall of Fame, making a post about, you know, you have relatives who are in the Hockey hall of Fame and now you\u2019re in the Baseball hall of Fame. This is, this is going to be, it\u2019s going to take on a life of its own. And I\u2019m so excited to sort of wander in the sh. Shadow of that as we get towards July and, and, and, you know, witness your, your big moment here for you, Paul, it\u2019s going to be awesome. But there\u2019s work to be done before that. This team needs to be built. This Guardians roster needs some, some work. Let\u2019s, let\u2019s talk a little bit about what\u2019s going on there. The, the search for relief pitching goes on at the winter meetings.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, they, they, Stephen Vogt basically said we, we\u2019ve got three or four guys in the pen, we need eight. So that kind of took me by surprise. You looking for that many arms. I thought, you know, if you look at it, they, they\u2019ve got about five or six, you know, maybe five or six guys that, that have pitch form last year. But it, it sounds like they\u2019re trying to upgrade that position, you know, with the loss of class A. Expected loss of class A, I should say so. You know, they\u2019re, they\u2019re, they\u2019re, they are looking for, you know, arms. They\u2019re looking for relievers and they could possibly do one. They could, you know, the, for the Rule 5 draft. They could today. They could. They\u2019ve got two open spots on the RO. Could take that.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: In the past they\u2019ve had a little bit of success just in exactly that. In that regard. Trevor Stefan, who, who had a couple of pretty solid seasons before he suffered his elbow injury, but he was a Rule 5 selection and he survived what the entire, I believe it was the 2021 season or 2022 season. With the 2021 season on the Guardians roster, became a big part of the bullpen the following year.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that was a great pick by them. Worked that into a multi year deal. Unfortunately he\u2019s been struggling a little bit coming back from Tommy John surgery and he is not on the 40 man, but I\u2019m sure he\u2019ll come to a camp on a minor league deal with a chance to kind of make that club. But he\u2019s got to kind of rediscover his fastball.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that\u2019s something coming off the injury that I want to give him as much time as possible, but again, not really being maybe considered as an option in that bullpen. So that makes them have to go out and turn over every rock and dig and look and try to, you know, really work the, the ch there to fill out that bullpen. Do you see both of those available roster spots getting filled with the Rule 5 draft? Or maybe they, they take one pick and then if there\u2019s somebody there that they like and then leave that other spot open for maybe a trade to get worked.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think that\u2019s the way they\u2019ll go, Joe. I don\u2019t think they take two guys from the Rule 5 unless they really liked them because when you do, you\u2019ve got to keep them on the 26 man during a regular season. And that would Seem, I don\u2019t know if they really want to do that kind of two, if they probably untested guys and you know, commit to keeping them on the roster, you know, and eating up those two roster spots.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: The Guardians last year took Davis and De Los Santos sort of looking for some, some pop and you know, a bat in the outfield. De Los Santos didn\u2019t make the club out of spring training. He was returned to the Diamondbacks. But eventually he was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Marlins and, and wound up having a pretty nice season in the minor leagues with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he, you know, they decided late in camp that he wasn\u2019t, they couldn\u2019t carry him. They what They, I remember trying them, they tried him at first base, they tried him in the outfield. He had the kind of power they liked, but just. It just wasn\u2019t the right time for him.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that\u2019s sort of what these, the Rule 5 picks, you know, they need to be able to finish their development at the majors league level and it\u2019s not always something that a team like the Guardians can afford to keep a roster, a spot for that. So we\u2019ll see how the, the, the Rule 5 draft progresses and if there\u2019s a new name we have to get familiar with here overnight. But we\u2019ll, we\u2019ll keep an eye on that. Let\u2019s turn our attention to guys who are already in the organization, already on some of these rosters and are hoping to be on the rosters for the the World Baseball Classic, which kicks off about halfway through spring training. It\u2019s a, you know, two week tournament where portions of some of these major league rosters are going to look pretty thin with superstars, you know, playing for their home countries. The Guard letting us know that number one overall pick from 2024 Major League Baseball draft, Travis Bazzana, who\u2019s at AAA Columbus, he\u2019s going to be participating for his home team native Australia.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe, he is. He spent the first half of the off season back home in Australia and he has returned to Goodyear, Arizona. The Guardians training site. He\u2019s working out there and then he\u2019ll go back to. I think it\u2019s in somewhere in Tokyo or Australia to play on the team and then, you know, for the wbc it\u2019s kind of good. You know, it. Australia, Australia definitely wants them and it sounds like the Guardians have given him permission to go. The big thing was his health, as we know. He, he had, he missed a bunch of time last year with a right and left Strained oblique. So that seems to be healed and he\u2019s ready to go. So it\u2019ll be interesting to see how he plays.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, it sort of makes sense now now that we think about it. When we were so surprised that Bazzana didn\u2019t participate in the Arizona Fall League this during the off season, right after the, the end of the regular season, you know, we, we sort of questioned that because he seemed like the kind of candidate for a spot in the Arizona Fall League. He would have been perfect for it because he needed at bats, coming back off of injuries, you know, and that sort of thing. But he was still recovering from the, the oblique strain at the time and, and also, you know, he probably wanted to, you know, was thinking about this moment and you know, wanting to be healthy and fully ready to participate in the WBC and be one of the sort of the featured players on his national team. As, you know, a player of his caliber from the college ranks and now, now in the minor leagues would, will surely be. So Bazzana not the only Guardians position player though being considered for a spot. You\u2019ve got team Venezuela with a couple of options in the middle of the infield for Cleveland and, but, but one of them, you know, has, has, has declined. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Brian Rocchio and Gabriel Arias, Cleveland\u2019s double play combination. Originally they were kind of on the preliminary roster for Venezuela, but Rocchio came to the Venezuelan authorities and told them he didn\u2019t, he didn\u2019t think, he thought he should stay in spring training with Cleveland to continue to develop and compete for a job, a spot in a team with. While, you know, Arias is, you know, still kind of part, you know, he\u2019s still a possibility to make the Venezuelan roster. You know, I was talking to Omar Lopez yesterday, Venezuela\u2019s manager. He said, you know, Andres Jimenez is going to play shortstop for Venezuela. So Arias is probably, if he makes a club, dies playing the club, he\u2019s going to be probably more of a utility role.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, but he did play winter ball in Venezuela and hit pretty well, you know, something like 30 some games. And so I had a couple of home runs and drove in some runs. So just the numbers there, you know, strong but not overwhelming. But if, if I\u2019m picking a team of Venezuelan players just based on defensive talent alone, you have to consider Gabriel Arias because we\u2019ve seen arm is electric in the, in the, in the field and you know, he can do some nice things. Diane Frias, another minor league prospect for the Guardians under consideration by his Columbia national team.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he\u2019s, he played in the 2023 WBC for Columbia utility infielder that was in camp last year as a, as a spring training invitee. He\u2019s been in the system for about five or six years, Joe.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, and, you know, it\u2019s a nice, nice piece to have if you\u2019re Columbia to add as well. You know, obviously having experience with the club would certainly help, but Team Canada is the big one that, you know, we\u2019re sort of monitoring here because Bo Naylor has expressed an interest and the team has sort of said, you know, they\u2019re interested in having him, inviting him to play. The jury\u2019s still out though, on the two arms and Kate Smith and Eric Zabrowski and how protective the Guardians will, will be of those two.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, definitely, that\u2019s a, that\u2019s a, that\u2019s a big point. Chris Antonetti was talking about just all the, the options and all the hoops you have to jump through to get these players ready. Not only ready earlier than normal, but to just give him permission to play in the wbc. He said in a general tone, a general point of view, said it\u2019s usually easier to give the position players, you know, the green light rather than pitchers because you can go wrong with pitchers. And if you look at Zabrowski and, and Cade Smith, they both pitched a lot last year. I mean, Smith has pitched, you know, he\u2019s, he\u2019s done some heavy lifting over the last two years. So, you know, I would, I would, I would think that the Guardians would be very, very cautious about letting those two guys go. And especially Zabrowski had Tommy 2 Tommy John operation.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, the, the history of, of injuries for Sabrowski is a red flag. The, the workload for Kate Smith is a red flag for sure. It just makes you wonder if the Guardians have the sort of, you know, sort of influence over these players to, to be able to say, hey, we really wouldn\u2019t like you to play. But you know, Steven Voats said it\u2019s their country. It\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s hard to stop them when they want to.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, that is definitely the, you know, tough assignment and it\u2019s, you know, the WBC is probably a great thing, but it comes at the worst possible time of the season for, for most the big league clubs. So you put, their players are coming off the off season, they\u2019re coming into camp, they\u2019re just getting ready and then you get into those environment, that competitive environment, and you can risk injuries. That\u2019s always a concern. You know, I think, Joe, if, if the player wants to play bad enough for his country. You probably want to let, you probably gonna let him go. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: You don\u2019t want to create friction, friction with the organization because you got to sit across the table from these guys at some point and, you know, get them to sign deals. It\u2019s, it\u2019s, it\u2019s something that, you know, you don\u2019t want to have to add that to the mix as well. Yeah.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Kate and Kate Smith and, and Kate Smith and Bo Naylor pitched. I mean, they played for, you know, in 2023 for Canada as well.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, that\u2019s a great experience for them. Again, it\u2019s, it\u2019s about winning in October, not winning in March, so very important. Speaking of winning in October, the Orioles building a juggernaut under, under Craig Alberna\u2019s Albie\u2019s getting some firepower. They\u2019ve already signed or they already traded for Taylor Ward to bolster their outfield in Baltimore. And now comes the news that Pete Alonso, 5 years, $155 million deferrals, no opt outs. Pete Alonso going to play first base for the, the Baltimore Orioles and Craig Albanez and, and they\u2019re moving the left field fence back in a little bit more H. The, the perfect scenario for these guys.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. Is that wall on, on wheels, Joe. Do they just kind of push it back and forth whenever, whenever they choose? I mean, this is crazy.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: I mean, wasn\u2019t there an owner in Cleveland that had the, the wheels in. On the wall in right field years ago at the old Municipal Stadium?<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: It was Bill Beck.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Was it Bill Beck? And they didn\u2019t. They put a rule in that said.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: You couldn\u2019t do that, but this was it. When he owned the Triple A club in Milwaukee, they would, depending on the, the opposition coming in, they\u2019d move the fences back or bring them in.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: I don\u2019t know. All I know is last four or five years that the, the outfield wall in left field, the, the Aaron Judge wall in left field at Camden Yards is going to be looking a little different, but it\u2019s, it ain\u2019t going to matter the way Pete Alonso hits home runs. I know the Polar Bear, one of your favorite nicknames in, in all of baseball. He hits some. He hits them pretty deep. So what do you think of Pete Alonso signing there? And you\u2019ve got Schwarber, you\u2019ve got Edwin Diaz signing yesterday. The top of the free agent market is starting to, to move a little bit.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, that\u2019s a, that\u2019s a good thing, I think. Movement with the rest of the market. But you know, Alonzo, he might have to pay for some broken windows behind, behind the right field wall and.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: At Camden Yards. I mean, the warehouse. He\u2019s going to have to, he\u2019ll break some windows there, I think, because that right field porch, that\u2019s, that\u2019s perfect for him.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: You bring up a point there and just, I want to get your thought on. Does Major League Baseball need a signing window? Do they need a free agency, like, you know, window to when it, when it starts and when you can stop and to just sort of force the action and maybe center it around the winter meeting so that, you know, we get a little bit more of a deadline feel and these teams and these players, you know, sort of have to, have to feel like they, they need to make moves and make them, you know, more often. Obviously they\u2019re in this for the entertainment value first and foremost. And that would be sort of a more entertaining way to get this whole process done.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I mean, what the NBA does it, the NFL does it. I mean, it seems like they\u2019re agent periods are over like in the snap of. Snap of the fingers and it\u2019s only baseball that lingers and kind of twists in the wind and you\u2019re still signing players. You know, when teams went after spring training opens. You know, I, I don\u2019t know how if they, that\u2019s the way they want it, but it would, it would not. It would be nice to add some urgency to the process.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah, you would have to give the, the players Association, I guess, would, would want some sort of takeaway from that. There would have to be something that you give them in negotiating that. But, but who knows? Maybe that could, hopefully that something like that doesn\u2019t hold up the, the next collective bargaining agreement. That would, that would be a, a tragedy if, if that got, you know, thrown into the mix there. Speaking of tra. No, not, not speaking of tragedies, did we talk about the, the Forge C. Frick winner announced today at the, the winter meetings there? The guy who\u2019s going to be joining you on the stage at the Glimmer Glass Festival in Cooperstown when you, when you receive your, your career excellence award, your platinum pen. It\u2019s Joe Buck. It\u2019s the Fox broadcaster Joe Buck. Guardians and Indians fans remember him from the 2016 World Series and his unabashed love affair with Kyle Schwaber. Kyle Schwaber, Paul Hoynes, Joe Buck. This winter meetings is like 2016 all over again. What\u2019s going on? This is, this is great, but just the news that Joe Buck is going to follow in Tom Hamilton\u2019s footsteps. Hammy won the Frick Award last year, was honored at the hall of Fame. Joe Buck will be there on stage with you come July.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Joe Buck, you know, one of the most. Wow. The most decorated announcers in the business. I mean, he\u2019s done NFL, he\u2019s done baseball, he\u2019s done everything. Really accomplished guy. And, you know, he. He follows his father\u2019s footsteps. Joe, that\u2019s. That\u2019s pretty cool. You know, when you think about that.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: Yeah. 1987, Jack Buck, the legendary broadcaster of the. The St. Louis Cardinals, he wins the Frick Award. So now Joe Buck and Jack Buck, the first father, son duo, broadcasters in the hall of Fame. Kind of. Kind of amazing. This is a guy who\u2019s broadcast more all Star games and more World Series games than anybody else. And at least on tv, you know, that\u2019s. It\u2019s just amazing, the longevity of the career. I think he started. Called his first World series game at 27. Could you imagine calling a World Series game at 27, Hoynsey, that. I couldn\u2019t find my rear end with both hands at 27. That\u2019s amazing.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: That is amazing. And, you know, he\u2019s a proud. I\u2019m looking forward to hearing his speech, Joe. I mean, I might just.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: You tell him to go first.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he\u2019s going for. I\u2019m going first. I\u2019m not following that ad break.<\/p>\n
Joe Noga: All right, well, the Rule 5 draft is set to begin here in about 20 minutes. As we finish recording this, you\u2019ll have the latest on that, I\u2019m sure. And then. Then you\u2019re getting on a plane and coming home and getting probably the. The. The biggest hug of your life when you step off that plane. Hoynsi, congratulations again. Thanks for finding time for us. And we\u2019ll check in with you again tomorrow on the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast.<\/p>\n
Paul Hoynes: Good deal, Joe. Thanks, man.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014 Stephen Vogt\u2019s blunt assessment of the Guardians\u2019 bullpen situation at this week\u2019s MLB winter meetings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-341705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}