Guardians disastrous signing from 2025 offseason reunites with D-backs

What a difference a year can make. 

Last offseason, the Guardians spent $7 million on Paul Sewald to add another solid setup option behind Guardians’ closer Emmanuel Clase. 

But now Clase is stuck in a seemingly permanent exile while Sewald is returning to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a $1.5 million big league contract. 

And although the Guardians’ bullpen managed to survive Sewald’s struggles and Clase’s inclusion in a pitch-rigging scheme, Sewald’s contract with the Diamondbacks is another reminder of how much of a failure his time in Cleveland was. 

Former Guardians reliever Paul Sewald returns to Diamondbacks 

This will be Sewald’s second tenure with the Diamondbacks, as he spent the second half of 2023 and all of 2024 in the desert after being acquired in a trade with the Mariners. 

Although he had a 3.57 ERA in the regular season for the Diamondbacks in the second half of that 2023 season, he picked up six saves during Arizona’s run toward the World Series and looked like Arizona’s closer of the future. 

But he had a 4.31 ERA in 2024 while dealing with oblique and neck injuries, which ended up being a precursor to his lone season with the Guardians.

Swald’s 2025 campaign started strong with a save in the Guardians’ Opening Day win over the Royals, but that ended up being the high-water mark of his time in Cleveland due to a shoulder injury that kept him out for most of the summer. 

The Guardians ended up trading him to the Tigers at the trade deadline, but he only managed to throw 4 1/3 innings for Detroit before being outrighted off their roster at the end of the season. 

Sewald started his career with the Mets but found a new level with the Mariners, as he had a 2.88 ERA with 52 saves in 171 2/3 innings during his time in Seattle. That led to the Mariners selling high on his potential with Arizona. 

But the recent part of his career has been defined by injuries, as he’s only thrown 59 1/3 innings over the past two seasons (with a 4.40 ERA). And, if that wasn’t enough, his fastball sat at just 90.4 miles per hour last season, which is nearly two miles per hour lower than his peak. 

But he should get plenty of chances in a Diamondbacks bullpen that’s already been plagued by injuries. 

A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez both saw opportunities at closer for the Diamondbacks last season, but they’re going to start the season on the injured list after undergoing Tommy John surgery last season. The same can be said for reliever Andrew Saalfrank, who will miss all of 2026 due to shoulder surgery. 

Even if Sewald likely wouldn’t be a closer on a majority of half of teams in MLB, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him serve as the Diamondbacks’ closer sometime early in the season. But if it goes like how his time with the Guardians’ went, he may not be their closer for long.