Chris Antonetti's GM meeting comments show Guardians championship window will be wide open in 2027 

After not hearing much from the Guardians’ contingent at the first day of the General Manager Meetings, The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel published a dispatch from Vegas yesterday morning. 

And boy was it worth the wait. 

In the story, Mesiel included quotes from Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti, who said, among other things, that the Guardians are planning on raising payroll for the 2027 season. While there’s still some reason to be skeptical that will translate to wins in 2027 (see their ill-fated spending spree ahead of the 2023 season), it’s a promising step in the right direction. 

The Guardians could go on a spending spree this winter 

The Guardians’ quest to add payroll is two-fold. The first part comes from their own roster, as they have 13 arbitration-eligible players who are all due for raises (some more than others). The second part stems from their external interests, as Mesiel added that the Guardians are "intent" on adding starting pitching, which could also result in some rising costs. 

They’ve found ways to work around that in years prior (like when they traded Josh Naylor’s rising salary for Slade Cecconi’s pre-arbitration salary), but it seems like this offseason is going to come with the addition of established starting pitching. 

The good news when it comes to those acquisitions is that the Guardians are already in a good spot thanks to Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and Tanner Bibee. This free agent class has a deep middle-class of established, veteran pitchers who should be available on a budget, and the Guardians seem poised to pounce on at least one of those options. 

Antonetti also touched on the Guardians’ offense, by saying the Guardians were seeking a “complementary player” to balance out the lineup. Sound familiar? 

While that kind of sentiment is sure to elicit plenty of eyerolls throughout Northeast Ohio due to the Guardians’ recent results using that formula (Josh Bell and Rhys Hoskins, to name a few), it makes more sense this offseason. 

Chase DeLauter and Travis Bazzana should both be better next year after strong rookie campaigns, while Jo Adell should continue to be an RBI machine in the middle of the lineup (assuming he isn’t traded). Even Angel Martínez and Patrick Bailey showed some pop at the bottom of the lineup. 

Plus they have Ralphy Velazquez lurking in Triple-A along with fellow promising hitters like Kahlil Watson and Cooper Ingle. 

At this time last year the Guardians’ offense looked like a huge question mark given they were coming off a year where they had the worst batting average in baseball, but it’s a different story this winter. While there’s still room for a marquee addition, it’s still in a good spot if there are no additions.

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