CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians held their postmortem of the 2025 season with reporters on Tuesday afternoon at Progressive Field.
In attendance for the Guardians were president Chris Antonetti, GM Mike Chernoff, manager Stephen Vogt and assistant GM Matt Forman.
The Guardians won the AL Central for the second straight season, overcoming the largest deficit in MLB history (15 1/2 games) to overtake Detroit on the final day of the regular season.
They were eliminated from the postseason by Detroit in the three-game wild card series.
Here are 10 quick hits from the meeting:David Fry underwent surgery on Tuesday at Cleveland Clinic after being hit in the face by a Tarik Skubal pitch on Sept. 23. The surgery was to correct a nasal fracture and a deviated septum.RHP Nic Enright, who made his big league debut on May 25, is scheduled to undergo Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in the near future.Following the 2024 season, the Guardians talked about strengthening their pitching staff. In September, when they completed the biggest rally in MLB history to win the AL Central, the pitching staff went 20-7 with a 2.61 ERA. The Guardians know their offense needs a similar turnaround for next season. They will explore the free agent market, but if the offense does improve, most of it will have to come from internal options.Manager Stephen Vogt expects his entire coaching staff to return for 2026. That includes veteran pitching coach Carl Willis, but Vogt added, “as Carl does every year, he takes some time to reflect and contemplate what he wants to do and he’s earned that. So we intend to have him back if that’s what he would like to do. But again, the ball is in Carl’s court and we’re completely supportive of that.” It sounds like Willis, who helped rebuild the Guardians’ rotation this season, can have the job for as long as he wants.Outfielder Chase DeLauter, who became the first player in franchise history to make his big-league debut in the postseason when he started Game 2 of the wild card series against Detroit, will not play in the Arizona Fall League this year. He had been scheduled to play before starting in Cleveland’s final two postseason games.Vogt told Kyle Manzardo he needs to train harder in the offseason. He said the left-handed hitting first baseman (second on the team in homers and RBI) did a good job hitting behind Jose Ramirez for the first five months of the season. “But I thought the last month, his body kind of fell apart and that’s something that Kyle learned this year along with a number of our young players of what it takes to sustain 162 games physically,” said Vogt.GM Mike Chernoff pointed out that the Guardians had the second best ERA in the American League after Luis Ortiz was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave on July 3. He added that the Guards’ bullpen had the best ERA in the big leagues after closer Emmanuel Clase joined Ortiz on paid leave on July 28 because of MLB’s continued investigation on gambling allegations against both players. Antonetti said the Guardians have heard nothing about MLB’s investigation into Clase and Ortiz.In Brayan Rocchio’s exit meeting with Vogt and the front office, he told them he was angry when the Guardians optioned him to Triple-A Columbus in May and moved him from shortstop to second base when he was recalled in July. Vogt felt that was a good sign because he processed that anger and turned it into good results after being recalled. Vogt said that showed “emotional growth.”
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