Guardians have golden opportunity to improve their outfield at Winter Meetings 

The Winter Meetings are almost here. While it may seem they’re already here based on the sheer amount of deals that have been done in the past 24 hours, the true chaos generated by all of the baseball world being together for the Winter Meetings has yet to come. 

And one year after trading Andrés Giménez to the Blue Jays at the Winter Meetings, the Guardians once again seem uniquely poised to take advantage of that chaos. 

They’ve already lit some embers on the hot stove by bringing back Austin Hedges and signing reliever Connor Brogdon to a one-year deal, but that could end up looking like child’s play depending on how things go during the Winter Meetings. 

The biggest way that could happen is by Cleveland’s front office reshaping its outfield, which was highlighted as the team’s biggest potential move in a new story for MLB.com. In it, the outlet laid out the most burning question for every team ahead of the Winter Meetings. The Guardians’ need was simple: How will they improve their offense?

It’s time for the Guardians to improve their offense at the Winter Meetings 

Here’s what MLB.com had to say about that question: 

“This is the Guardians’ biggest question this offseason. Even with another stellar campaign by perennial MVP candidate José Ramírez, Cleveland ranked 28th in MLB in runs per game (3.97) in 2025, ahead of only the Rockies and Pirates. Young players taking a step forward would help improve the production next season, but whether it’s through trade or free agency, the Guardians should still augment the group with external acquisitions.”

Even though Chase DeLauter debuted in the postseason and George Valera impressed down the stretch, the best course of action for the Guardians would still be for the Guardians to add an external option to that outfield picture. 

The Cardinals have a variety of players who would make sense as trade targets (we’re not going to stop banging the drum from Brendan Donovan), whereas the free agent market has solid options like Harrison Bader or Austin Hays.

Another interesting option could be Luis Arraez, who we highlighted last month. On Thursday, ESPN’s Bradford Doolitte published a new story that was a “stock watch” of all 30 teams ahead of the Winter Meetings, where he had the Guardians listed at No. 20. 

While that’s a bit of a disappointing spot to be, he also mentioned the Guardians as a potential landing spot for Arraez thanks to his strong contact-based approach. 

The Guardians are always going to be a contender thanks to the presence of José Ramírez, but it’s also clear that a lineup consisting of Nolan Jones, Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Arias isn’t going to cut it. 

While there’s always a chance the Guardians could blow things up by trading Steven Kwan, it’s looking more and more like Cleveland is going to splash next week.