Guardians News: Carl Willis mulling future; updates on David Fry, Nic Enright 

On Tuesday, Cleveland Guardians brass held a postmortem press conference to debrief on the 2025 season while also providing some insight into how 2026 could go. 

And although the 2026 offseason is in its infancy, it looks like it’s going to be an interesting offseason at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. 

This will be a pivotal offseason for the Cleveland Guardians 

The first order of business came with Stephen Vogt’s coaching staff, as pitching coach Carl Willis is going to take some time to figure out his future before deciding if he wants to come back next season (which he’s done in years prior). 

“The ball is in his court at all times,” Vogt said, per The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel. “As long as I’m here and he wants to be here, Carl Willis will be our pitching coach.”

Willis has served as the architect of the Guardians’ pitching factory and has been a mainstay in the Guardians’ third base dugout, but he’s also 64-years-old and may not want to subject himself to the 162-game slog of the major league season. 

Vogt also said that he plans on having some of his coaches interview for some of the seven managerial vacancies across the league. Assistant manager Craig Albernaz and major league field coordinator Kai Correa have long been viewed as rising stars throughout the league. 

On the player side, David Fry underwent a nasal septoplasty procedure at the Cleveland Clinic to repair a deviated septum and a fractured nose that he suffered when he was hit in the face by a Tarik Skubal fastball. 

Fry was back around the team during the postseason, but it remains to be seen how this surgery will impact his availability for the start of spring training. 

That said, we know the Guardians will be without relief pitcher Nic Enright next season, as he’ll undergo Tommy John surgery in the coming weeks and will miss next season, He posted a 2.03 ERA in 31 innings in 2025 and was quickly rose Vogt’s trust tree, but he went on the injured list at the beginning of September. 

President of baseball operations Chris Antonetti was also asked about Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz, and he said that the team still doesn’t have any clarity on their sports betting investigation. 

They’re both currently playing in winter ball and are getting paid by the Guardians while they’re on non-disciplinary paid leave, but Antonetti told reporters that the club has no choice but to act as if they won’t be back with the Guardians. 

The Guardians are currently paying both player’s salaries, so some kind of clarification on their roster status early in the offseason would help to allow them to pivot and use that money elsewhere. Ortiz is making $747,000 (the league minimum), while Clase will make $6.4 million next season.