Cleveland Guardians, Myles Straw agree to five-year, $25 million contract extension

The Guardians have signed another player to a long-term extension, locking up center fielder Myles Straw to a five-year deal.

Another day, another contract extension for the Cleveland Guardians.

On Saturday, the team announced it had come to terms with center fielder Myles Straw on a five-year extension that includes club options for 2027 and 2028.

The deal in total is worth $25 million, with an $8 million team option for 2027 and an $8.5 million option for 2028. Essentially, the team is buying out Straw’s arbitration years and potentially three years of free agency.

Straw hasn’t been with the team long, but has certainly made an impression. He came over last season at the trade deadline in a deal with the Houston Astros (the Guardians sent reliever Phil Maton and catching prospect Yainer Diaz). In 60 games and 268 plate appearances with the Guardians last season, Straw hit .285/.362/.377 with two home runs, 16 doubles, 13 stolen bases and a 104 OPS+.

Straw is never going to have overwhelming power numbers, but that’s not what the Guardians are looking for out of him. He’s the quintessential leadoff hitter, getting on base at a solid clip and wreaking havoc on the basepaths. And now he’ll be setting the table for Cleveland’s lineup – and playing stellar defense – for years to come.

The Guardians have really been letting it rip on contract extensions in the past few weeks, locking up closer Emmanuel Clase, third baseman José Ramírez, and now Straw. It’s the way this front office operates, locking up young talent at affordable deals that allows them to develop a core that will ultimately – hopefully – carry them to playoff contention (they did it with Ramírez too in his first extension with the team – and it could be argued the team certainly pulled it off again).

Now, for the question remaining: Who’s next?