Guardians’ bullpen silence is getting loud: Where are Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith?
Updated: Mar. 05, 2026, 4:11 p.m.|Published: Mar. 05, 2026, 11:21 a.m.
By Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — There’s a missing persons case unfolding in Goodyear, Arizona, and the suspect is load management.
Through 13-plus games of Cactus League play, Guardians closer Cade Smith has not thrown a single pitch in a game. His bullpen counterpart Hunter Gaddis has made exactly one appearance. Two of the most-used relievers in baseball over the past two seasons — the backbone of the Guardians’ dominant late-inning operation — have been virtually invisible this spring. And on the latest episode of Cleveland Baseball Talk, Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes are asking whether that’s a smart plan or a slow-building crisis.
It is a direct question, and it deserves a real answer. The team’s official posture frames this as intentional. Smith and Gaddis have logged extraordinary workloads over back-to-back seasons, combining for more than 150 appearances between them. The organization is being careful and protective. They know what they have in those two arms, and they don’t want them ground into dust before a pitch is thrown in April.
But here is where concern creeps in. There is a meaningful difference between load management and silence. Hoynes — who has been around this organization long enough to recognize what normal spring training looks like — is not fully buying the “all is well” narrative without some reservation.
“That’s a concern,” Hoynes said. “We’ll have to see how the next couple of weeks unfold. But the question is if Smith isn’t ready to open the season, who closes for these guys?”
That question — who closes? — is the one that unravels everything. Cleveland has built its bullpen identity around having a lockdown ninth-inning option. Without Smith, the entire structure shifts. The alternatives are capable arms. But they are not Cade Smith.
Noga framed the stakes clearly: these two relievers are, in terms of organizational indispensability, nearly as important as everyday players like José Ramírez or Steven Kwan. They are expected to take the mound practically every other night. That kind of workload demands preparation, and preparation requires actual game reps — even in March.
Hoynes leaned into the timeline with increasing urgency.
“I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but obviously 13 games into the season, you want your closer to be at least be on the mound, at least once or twice,” Hoynes said.
There is a silver lining the hosts acknowledged: the extended absence of Smith and Gaddis has created valuable runway for an abundance of bullpen candidates. Colin Holderman, Connor Brogdon, Rule 5 pick Peyton Pallette, and veterans like Pedro Avila and Kolby Allard have all had more opportunities to make their case for a roster spot. The Guardians built a crowded pitching room by design, and that depth is now getting a workout.
But there is only so much comfort a fan can draw from organizational depth when the most important arm on the roster has yet to throw a single pitch in a game setting. The Guardians also have a historical context worth remembering here. Under Terry Francona, Cleveland had a well-documented tendency to pile heavy workloads onto both starters and relievers. This spring’s caution may be, in part, a corrective response to those patterns — protecting what matters most before the marathon begins.
The next few weeks will tell the story. Either Smith ramps up, gets his work in, and arrives sharp for opening day in Seattle, or this quiet spring becomes a very loud April conversation.
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