Guardians offseason storylines: Cleveland needs a new hitting coach, pitching help
CLEVELAND, OHIO - OCTOBER 17: Matthew Boyd #16 of the Cleveland Guardians throws a pitch during the first inning against the New York Yankees during Game Three of the American League Championship Series at Progressive Field on October 17, 2024 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
By Zack Meisel
7h ago
CLEVELAND — Matthew Boyd had worn the No. 48 for much of his major-league career, but in Cleveland, those digits belonged to closer Emmanuel Clase. So as Boyd considered a new number when he joined the Guardians over the summer, he thought about 29. Nope, that’s Tim Herrin’s number. Austin Hedges wore 27.
What about 19, his son’s birthday?
“Oh, can’t wear that,” Boyd thought. “Not here.”
No, that’s the number Bob Feller made famous during his Hall of Fame career in Cleveland. No one will wear No. 19 again. Even an outsider like Boyd knew that.
Well, actually, he’s an insider. His great-grandmother was Feller’s cousin.
On occasion this past season, he’d walk past the Feller statue that stands outside the center-field gates at Progressive Field and greet the guy who resides somewhere on a far-off branch of Boyd’s family tree.
When Boyd was 12, his father gifted him a signed Feller picture. Boyd’s father and grandfather served in the military, and Boyd’s dad taught him about Feller’s service aboard the USS Alabama during World War II in the middle of his big-league career.
In high school, Boyd chose Feller as his subject for a biographical presentation. He consulted the now-defunct Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, Iowa, for more information, and at the end of his delivery, Boyd casually mentioned the distant relation.
In 2015, as a rookie pitcher with the Detroit Tigers, Boyd visited Cleveland for the first time as a big leaguer. He toured the Feller exhibit in the ballpark’s terrace club, a shrine with old newspaper clippings, Navy gear, gloves and baseballs and a grainy, black-and-white video featuring Feller throwing his envied heater past a speeding motorcycle.
Over the years, Boyd has downplayed the connection. He didn’t want to attach his name to such an icon or invite the public to make comparisons as he embarked on a major-league career.
“He was a hero,” Boyd said. “The last thing I want to do is be an impostor.”
Then, he wound up in Cleveland, with the only franchise Feller ever pitched for, in the building with a press box seat still reserved for the guy who, in retirement, would sit in his third-row perch and jinx any opposing pitcher flirting with an Opening Day no-hitter. (Feller is the only pitcher in AL/NL history to accomplish that feat.) Boyd, fresh off his recovery from Tommy John surgery, ended up starting playoff games for a team that threatened to win its first World Series since 1948, when Feller was a rotation mainstay.
“The irony of playing in Cleveland is kind of cool,” Boyd said.
Boyd’s arrival in the middle of the summer and emergence as a reliable entity in a beleaguered rotation was one of many subplots fueling the Guardians’ wild ride to the ALCS. His uncertain future will be one of many storylines to follow this winter. Will distant family ties be enough to keep the free-agent pitcher in Cleveland?
Here is a collection of thoughts about what lies ahead for the Guardians.
The Guardians need a new hitting coach. Chris Valaika trimmed about 20 minutes off his commute from Columbus when he joined the Cincinnati Reds as their director of hitting and a hitting coach. No, this doesn’t mean new Reds manager Terry Francona will next poach pitching coach Carl Willis. Cincinnati retained its well-regarded pitching coach, Derek Johnson.
Throughout the year, Willis voiced how he felt indebted to the Guardians organization. He made stops in Seattle and Boston but has worked for Cleveland for much of the past 30 years. He coached CC Sabathia in the low levels of the minors, then guided him to a Cy Young Award a decade later. He helped Cliff Lee and Shane Bieber follow suit. When the Guardians clinched the AL Central in September and Willis reflected on his decision to return under a new manager, he stressed how he wanted to see the franchise end its World Series drought. That doesn’t sound like someone who would seek work elsewhere. He could, however, ponder retirement, as he did a year ago.
As for the hitting coach vacancy, it could be a chance for Stephen Vogt to shape his staff the way he wants after inheriting some holdovers from Francona’s group. Vogt also might need a new bench coach if Craig Albernaz lands the Miami Marlins’ managerial gig. Albernaz has ties to Marlins president Peter Bendix from his lengthy tenure with the Tampa Bay Rays, as well as to Marlins assistant GM Gabe Kapler, whom Albernaz coached under with the San Francisco Giants.
Francona signed a three-year deal (with a club option) with the Reds, so maybe Valaika could be a candidate to succeed him. The Guardians interviewed Valaika for their managerial gig before they hired Vogt.
Anyway, the 2025 Ohio Cup might be one for the history books.
The Guardians, the poster child for pitching development, need starting pitching help. They haven’t faced this sort of quandary in at least a decade. There’s Tanner Bibee and then … a ton of questions. Can Triston McKenzie return to his Cy Young Award-caliber form? Can Gavin Williams brush aside a disappointing season and take a massive leap in 2025? Can Joey Cantillo or Logan Allen or Doug Nikhazy be trusted? Can Ben Lively duplicate his age-32 breakout season?
That’s a lot of hoping.
There’s some level of mutual interest between the club and free agents Bieber, Boyd and Alex Cobb, but it’s difficult to forecast what’s realistic.
Boyd is a Scott Boras client, which typically spells doom for any Cleveland endeavor, but his experience with the Guardians couldn’t have gone much better. And because it went so well, he could have more suitors than a typical pitcher who made eight starts after returning from elbow surgery.
Shane Bieber, who underwent Tommy John surgery in April, will be a free agent after the World Series. (Mike Lawrie / Getty Images)
Bieber is eyeing a June or July return, so he could sign a one-year deal like Boyd did, or he could gain some security and sign a backloaded two-year deal, as has become trendy for pitchers in his situation. There will probably be teams that would outbid Cleveland, but is Bieber comfortable enough with the Guardians’ medical staff to want to stick around and boost his value before his next round of free agency?
Cobb is 37 and just had a season marred by injuries, so for a team starved for starting pitching help (what a bizarro world this is) and averse to risk, to invest in someone his age probably doesn’t sit atop the priority list.
go-deeper
GO DEEPER
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For much of the season, between a quarter and a third of the Guardians’ payroll was tied to non-contributing players. Jean Segura, who was never fitted for a Cleveland uniform after the Josh Bell trade and probably spent the year sailing on a yacht in the Maldives, earned $8.5 million. The Guardians will pay him another $2 million in the form of a buyout and then never speak to him again. They paid Myles Straw $4.9 million to suntan on The Oval all summer on Ohio State’s campus. They still owe him $15.5 million over the next two years (including a $1.75 million buyout for 2027). Bieber was the second-highest-paid player on the roster at $13.1 million, but he made only two starts before tearing his elbow. Ramón Laureano ($5.15 million) didn’t make it to Memorial Day with the club. James Karinchak ($1.9 million) never made an appearance.
The salaries for Segura, Straw, Bieber, Laureano and Karinchak added up to more than $28 million. Scott Barlow, the team’s third-highest-paid player ($6.7 million) was designated for assignment in September.
All but Straw’s paycheck will come off the books. Josh Naylor, Andrés Giménez and Steven Kwan are due modest raises. Lane Thomas, José Ramírez and Ben Lively will receive slight bumps as well. Nothing crazy, though. There should be some payroll flexibility (based on their historic trend of pinching every penny, that is; there ought to be plenty of flexibility).
As for Straw, his skills are best suited for a team with a stout outfield so he can be advantageously deployed when a team can squeeze the most out of his defense and base-running skills. This isn’t that team until it finds another legitimate source of offense to join Kwan and Thomas. Straw couldn’t crack the outfield rotation this year, even as the team cycled through Laureano, Estevan Florial, Tyler Freeman, Will Brennan, Jhonkensy Noel, Daniel Schneemann, Angel Martínez and Johnathan Rodriguez. The Guardians can’t simply assume Chase DeLauter will save them in 2025; they could use an everyday outfielder, especially with Thomas due to hit free agency next winter.
The love affair between the Guardians and Hedges could continue for another year, but the team needs more offense out of its catcher spot. Hedges isn’t going to be the one to provide that. The Guardians either need Bo Naylor to break out or they need to create the sort of catching team that thrived in the first half of the season. Fry was the key to that setup, but once he suffered an elbow injury in late June, he no longer had defensive versatility, and the Guardians had to lean on Naylor and Hedges. Fry is visiting Dr. Keith Meister this week. Few patients exit his office without stitches and a lengthy recovery timetable.
Speaking of Fry, he isn’t overly emotional. He’s usually the one supplying a lighthearted one-liner in his Texan baritone that perfectly encapsulates a game or a player’s performance. He talks like a sports fan at a bar who is mesmerized watching Ramírez’s base running or Cade Smith’s fastball. After the Game 5 loss to the New York Yankees, though, he was overcome with emotion. There was, of course, the disappointment associated with a season ending as he debriefed with Hedges and Naylor. There was also the fact that when he returned to his locker and checked his phone, he had a video from his wife: Their 1-year-old daughter had taken her first steps that night at Progressive Field.
Team president Chris Antonetti said he expects Josh Naylor will be “an anchor” for the 2025 Guardians. Granted, he’s not going to come out and declare, “We intend to trade him in December to the highest bidder.” Sigh. If only executives spoke in such definite terms. Anyway, Naylor, who has one more year of team control and is projected to earn about $12 million in arbitration, will be a popular subject of hot-stove conversation this winter.
Kyle Manzardo went 6-for-19 with a homer in his first postseason. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
Kyle Manzardo is ready for everyday at-bats. Fry’s defensive versatility — or lack thereof, depending on the status of his elbow — will factor into the equation at first base/designated hitter/catcher. The Guardians can’t just trade Naylor for the sake of cashing in a little bit of value for a soon-to-be free agent. They need his power. They need to be bolstering their roster, not subtracting from it, so dealing him for a prospect doesn’t make much sense unless they have a corresponding solution for the middle of their order.
Three contract extension candidates to consider:
• Kwan: He seems like a safe bet to remain a quality player for a while, one of the toughest outs in the league who now can slug some, in addition to being a Gold Glove finalist for the third consecutive year. He’s going to command a lot more money than he would have, say, two years ago, when the sides had brief conversations that didn’t amount to much.
• Thomas: He’ll be a free agent after the 2025 season, so it might be a dialogue worth starting. The Guardians witnessed him at his best and his worst. He has shown flashes of being an imposing power hitter and a super threat on the bases, but he hasn’t quite put it all together in one season. Would he rather just bet on himself in 2025 and test free agency? The Guardians could always use productive outfielders.
• Bibee: They didn’t come close when negotiating a deal last spring, and Bibee delivered another strong season. He’s only one more year from reaching arbitration, so this could be Cleveland’s last chance to lock him up long-term.
