Cleveland Guardians tender contracts to seven arbitration-eligible players

The Cleveland Guardians showed signs of offseason life Tuesday, tendering contracts to their seven arbitration-eligible players.

As expected, the Cleveland Guardians tendered contracts to their seven arbitration-eligible players Tuesday, which included Shane Bieber, Franmil Reyes, Austin Hedges, Amed Rosario, Cal Quantrilll, Bradley Zimmer, and Josh Naylor.

None of the seven have signed a 2022 contract to this point, though that’ll come in due time – it wouldn’t be a surprise to see most of it take place after the dust settles from the new CBA/impending lockout.

According to MLB Trade Rumors, here are the projections for what each player stands to earn this coming season:

• Austin Hedges – $3.8 million
• Amed Rosario – $5 million
• Franmil Reyes – $4.4 million
• Shane Bieber – $4.8 million
• Bradley Zimmer – $1.5 million
• Cal Quantrill – $2.8 million
• Josh Naylor – $1.2 million

It bears repeating that just because a player like Bradley Zimmer is being offered a contract, it doesn’t mean his future with the team is guaranteed. Though it was a bit surprising to see both Zimmer and Oscar Mercado still on the 40-man roster when the deadline to set it passed, there is still plenty of offseason to go for the Guardians to retool their outfield.

If you’re active on social media, you’ve surely seen plenty of fans upset that the Guardians haven’t gone out and blown $500 million on the big free agents around baseball. And sure, it’s considerably less sexy, but locking up those seven key contributors and maybe even extending Reyes or, say, a certain perennial MVP candidate over at third base should be considered huge offseason wins.

There’s still plenty more to do; expect the Guardians to be far more active once the new CBA is in place and the offseason can resume – whenever that might be.

Steve DiMatteo is the host of the California Penal League Podcast, which you can find on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts.