5 Guardians the front office needs to extend by the start of next season 

Every year, the Guardians always seem to ink some member of their core to a contract extension. In 2022, José Ramírez holed up in the visiting manager’s office at Chase Field to finalize the most-important extension in team history (they also inked Myles Straw and Emmanuel Clase to extensions that spring)

A year later, it was Andrés Giménez and Trevor Stephan’s turn. Although the front office left Goodyear in 2024 without making a deal, they wasted no time this spring by signing Tanner Bibee to a five-year extension. 

Normally extension talk is reserved for that spring window, but it’s been the topic du jour for Guardians fans over the past couple months due to Steven Kwan’s eventful foray through this year's trade deadline.

With all of that in mind, here are five Guardians who the front office needs to lock down before the start of the 2026 season.  

5 Guardians the front office needs to extend by the start of next season 

Steven Kwan
Free agent after the 2027 season 

Kwan is the most ready-made player for an extension on Cleveland’s roster. He’s young, has a proven track record and has become a fan favorite and leader in the clubhouse. But, at this point, the deciding factor could come down to how much the Guardians are willing to spend on him. 

Ramírez’s extension still stands as the biggest contract in franchise history, but it seems like any potential Kwan extension has a chance to eclipse that. He’s done nothing but hit since joining the Guardians (.285 career batting average) and has become one of the best defensive outfielders in the game. 

While Ramírez’s contract was like water in an oasis for Guardians fans, the calluses are still there from all the other times the franchise traded away star players instead of extending them. Kwan has a chance to join that list. 

Gavin Williams
Free agent after the 2029 season

Williams cleared up any doubts as to whether he was the ace of the Guardians’ staff on Wednesday when he came tantalizingly close to tossing a no-hitter against the Mets.

While he showed flashes of dominance during his rookie campaign in 2023, he took a big step back last season due in large part to an elbow injury he suffered during spring training. Well, he’s fully healthy this year and showing exactly how good he can be.

Although he still offers too many free passes (MLB-leading 66 walks), he’s attacking the strike zone with more conviction and is beginning to look more like a major league pitcher, not just a guy who throws the ball hard. 

Williams seems to be implementing everything the Guardians are teaching him, and it’s paying off with on-field success. 

Bibee’s extension was for $48 million and covered all of his arbitration-eligible seasons. It shouldn’t take much more to lock Williams down. 

Cade Smith
Free agent after the 2029 season

In 2022, the Guardians inked Clase to a five-year, $20 million deal that was one of the best contracts in baseball (prior to his suspension). They won’t get that lucky with Smith. 

While he has less saves under his belt than Clase did at the time he signed his extension, Smith already has one incredible relief season on his résumé and seems poised to get the lion’s share of save opportunities from here on out. 

And those save opportunities are exactly why the Guardians shoulder consider signing Smith to an extension. Saves cost a lot in arbitration, which means that Smith’s price will only go up as he gets more and more opportunities to close games.

He won’t be eligible for arbitration until after next season, but the Guardians can get ahead of that by signing him to an extension. 

Kyle Manzardo
Free agent after the 2031 season

The Guardians traded for Manzardo at the trade deadline in 2023 in the hopes that he could be their first baseman of the future, and he’s done exactly that. While it hasn’t been a perfect journey, Manzardo is one of three Guardians with an OPS+ above 100 and is on pace for a 20+ HR, 60+ RBI season. 

Signing Manzardo to an extension would also help exorcise some of the demons generated by their inability to sign Josh Naylor to an extension prior to their trade of him. 

Cleveland never seemed super eager to sign Naylor to a long-term deal, but they traded for Manzardo for a reason. He has the least amount of service time of any MLB player on this list, so his price tag would (theoretically) be the cheapest. 

Travis Bazzana
Has yet to make MLB debut

Now we’re having fun.

Cleveland took Bazzana with the No. 1 pick in last summer’s draft, and he’s already the top prospect in their farm system and the No. 13 prospect in baseball, per MLB Pipeline. 

The 22-year-old missed nearly two months this summer with an oblique injury, but has played well since coming back, posting a .273 average with eight RBI and 15 walks in 21 games. 

While Bazzana isn’t on the 40-man roster, he’s getting closer to knocking on the major league doorstep, and seems destined to make his MLB debut at some point next season — if not right out of camp. 

Even if the list of players who have signed extensions before playing a major league game features plenty of busts, the Guardians should at least consider trying to ink Bazzana to an extension that would cover all of his arbitration years.