Guardians are noticeable absent in ESPN’s latest offseason predictions  

This time in the free agent calendar is known for its scuttlebutt… and not much else. While there’s some buzz that pops up here and there, it’s mostly the calm before the storm ahead of next month’s Winter Meetings. 

But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t the occasional new item that can get the rumor mill moving. On Wednesday, ESPN published a piece of news that did just that with a story from Jesse Rogers that polled 16 MLB executives about what could happen this offseason. 

A news piece that is notably devoid of any mention of the Guardians outside of a single mention of Steven Kwan as a trade candidate. 

While some of those omissions are a good thing (more on that in a second), it also shows that most of MLB’s power brokers aren’t expecting a ton from the Guardians this offseason. 

MLB executives don't seem to think the Guardians will do much this offseason

Let's get to the obvious omissions first. The story opens with the question “Will Kyle Tucker get more than $400 million, and who will give it to him,” where, unsurprisingly, no executives mention the Guardians as a landing spot. 

While only six of the 16 executives polled think Tucker will sign for more than $400 million, the contract he signs with will be in the high $300 million range. It’ll likely more than double the Guardians’ payroll. There’s no way he’s signing with Cleveland. 

The next question  asked the executives where they think the top-three veteran starting pitchers (Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease and Ranger Suarez) will sign this offseason. The Guardians were nowhere on the list. 

And, to be fair, that’s not much of a surprise given Cleveland's abundance of young starting pitchers. And only one executive picked one of the pitchers to sign with a team in the American League Central (Framber Valdez with the Tigers). 

Another category that it makes sense the Guardians aren’t in. 

That trend continues for the next couple of questions which ask where the top free agents hitters could go and which free agent contract will raise the most eyebrows. However, that was  followed by a question asking what the Tigers will do with Tarik Skubal. 

While 10 of the executives predict the Tigers will wait to see what happens with Skubal, the fact that his future is a bit of a question is a worthwhile development for the Guardians. Skubal will be a free agent after the season, so getting him out of the division would be a win for Cleveland.

Speaking of trade candidates, the next portion of the story featured the executive's answer to “Who is the top trade candidate of the winter not named Skubal?” 

Steven Kwan received one vote. 

Even though Kwan still has two years of team control left through arbitration, he’s generated plenty of buzz as a trade candidate over the past six months, and it seems like that buzz will follow the Guardians throughout the offseason. 

Lastly, the story closed by asking the executives “Which smaller-market team will make the most noise this winter,” where the Guardians didn’t receive a single vote. 

The Pirates got the most votes (which may give some more credence to an earlier report that Pittsburgh was ready to spend this winter) while the Guardians got exactly zero. 

Yes, the Guardians are never going to do anything that’s going to result in them being mistaken for the Dodgers, but this year’s free agency class features plenty of players who could fix the holes on their roster. 

They have a variety of internal upgrades on their roster, but they’re not going to be able to contend in 2026 without making some additions. We’ll have to wait and see if that happens.