Jakob Junis’ Rangers deal adds extra layer of confusion to Guardians’ offseason 

In 2025, Jakob Junis was one of the best stories surrounding the Cleveland Guardians. 

While Junis didn’t get as much attention as some of the bigger names on the Guardians’ roster, Junis was a quietly consistent contributor in the Guardians’ revamped bullpen, and he ended up posting a 2.97 ERA in 66 2/3 innings. 

And while the Guardians decided to revamp their bullpen this offseason, they never seemed to show much of an interest in reuniting with Junis. 

The veteran pitcher finally found a new home for 2026 over the weekend, however, as he inked a one-year, $4 million contract with the Texas Rangers, which is actually less than the $4.5 million contract he signed with the Guardians for 2025. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was the first to report the deal. 

His deal also includes a mutual option for 2027, per the Dallas Morning News’ Shawn McFarland. 

Former Guardian Jakob Junis finds a new home with the Rangers 

As mentioned above, Junis turned in a solid 2025 with the Guardians in a season where Cleveland had to shuttle through a variety of relief arms due to Emmanuel Clase being placed on paid leave. 

Junis initially started the season as a bit of a depth arm but ended up moving up Stephen Vogt’s trust tree as the season went on and the positive results started stacking up. 

That marked the second straight strong season for Junis, who has benefited from a mid-career move to the bullpen and has posted a 2.83 ERA in 133 2/3 innings over the past two seasons. 

A lot of Junis’ success is built around his slider, which he threw 44.5% of the time last season with a whiff rate of 31.4%. 

But it seems like the rest of the baseball world may think that strong season is a bit of fool’s gold considering he had to settle for a contract that was less than one he signed with the Guardians.

One of the biggest reasons for concern could be his velocity, as his fastball speed dipped more than a mile an hour while hitters also posted a .625 slugging percentage against his four-seamer. 

He’s still going to get plenty of high-leverage changes for the Rangers, however, as  the biggest arms in Texas’ revamped bullpen arm Tyler Alexander, Alexis Díaz and Chris Martin. Not exactly a murder’s row. 

And the reason that Junis is a part of that underwhelming group is because the Guardians’ front office made upgrading the bullpen a clear need this offseason. Instead of bringing in Junis, the Guardians decided to bring in Shawn Armstrong, Colin Holderman and Connor Brogdon on major league contracts along with picking Peyton Pallete in the Rule 5 Draft. 

Even if that unit is better than the one Cleveland had last season, the loss of Junis could still come back and hurt them depending on how his 2026 goes.