3 Guardians who could benefit from a position change in 2026 

While the Cleveland Guardians ended up making the postseason in 2025, they still had a roster that was a bit underwhelming. But just because it was underwhelming doesn’t mean that it didn’t have some intriguing players. 

In fact, one could argue it had a variety of interesting players who were a bit miscast in the role they were being used in. With that in mind, here are three Guardians who could benefit from a position change in 2026. 

These three Guardians need to be at a new position in 2026 

LHP Logan Allen

We’re kicking the list off with Allen, who almost exclusively worked out of the starting rotation since being recalled by the Guardians in 2023. 

We say almost exclusively because he made a single appearance out of the bullpen on May 31 that may have given his MLB career new life. 

While the 4.26 ERA he posted in 107 2/3 innings after that relief appearance doesn’t jump off the page, he went at least five innings in all but one of the 19 starts he made in that time frame and threw eight scoreless innings against the Twins in his penultimate appearance of the year. 

The Guardians will need to make some kind of move in their starting rotation after finishing last year with a six-man rotation, and Allen stands out as a solid option to move to the ‘pen (so long as he isn’t traded). 

The obvious red flags in this situation are his lack of velocity (his fastball averaged 90.6 miles per hour last season) and struggles with command (9.2% walk rate). But just because that was the case in the rotation doesn't mean it’ll be the case if he moves to the bullpen. 

Kolby Allard had some success out of the Guardians’ bullpen last season working as a soft-tossing lefty swingman, and Allen could be an option to fill that void in 2026. 

OF Angel Martínez

It feels odd to say that Martínez would benefit from a change to the infield given he came up as an infielder, but he almost exclusively played in center field last season. The results weren’t pretty; he was worth -9 Defensive Runs Saved in the outfield.

But just because he was a bad defender in the outfield doesn’t mean that he can’t be a successful major leaguer. He showed a good amount of pop last year with 11 home runs (even if it came with an uptick in strikeouts) and showed solid acumen on the basepaths despite only being in the 57th percentile in sprint speed. 

Martínez has one of the best arms in all of baseball (93.3 mph) and graded out as an average defender on the infield, so a move shifting him to a middle infield utility guy would be a better use of his talents as opposed to trying to shove a square peg into a round hole by using him in the outfield. 

1B C.J. Kayfus

Kayfus was drafted and came up as an infielder before learning right field in the minors. And, although more than half of his appearances with the Guardians last season came in the outfield, he’s still thought of as a first baseman. 

That should change in 2026. 

The Guardians’ outfield needs to be better next season (and likely will be thanks to internal promotions and external acquisitions), but the best way for them to guarantee that’ll be the case is by moving Kayfus to right field full-time. 

He was able to hold his own in right last year (so long as the ball wasn’t over his head) and should be even better next season after an offseason of preparation. 

Kyle Manzardo has earned the right to be an everyday first baseman and Kayfus has the kind of pop the Guardians were missing from their outfield. 

This would be the perfect case to kill two birds with one stone.