The Guardians have valued continuity with coaching and front office personnel.
But when you are a consistent contender and do more with less like the Guardians have done over the last decade, personnel are often poached and promoted at other jobs, and this offseason has been no different for Cleveland.
Now two-time AL Manager of the Year Stephen Vogt lost his top lieutenant and best friend in baseball, Craig Albernaz, who was hired as the manager of the Orioles.
Albernaz resisted overtures last offseason despite interest from the Marlins and White Sox. But it seemed inevitable with as many openings as teams had for managers this offseason that he would land one of those jobs.
The Guardians and Vogt filled his spot on the staff with Tony Arnerich from Seattle, who took over for Vogt as the Mariners’ bullpen coach after Vogt left to take Cleveland’s manager job in 2024.
Arnerich, in addition to bearing a resemblance to Vogt — maybe enough to swap spots in case of an ejection — is also a former catcher who played five years in the minor leagues before joining the Mariners’ staff in 2014. Since then, he served the organization as a catching and hitting coordinator, major-league catching and hitting coach, and the bullpen coach.
Before Albernaz left, field and game coordinator Kai Correa was hired away by the Mets to be their bench coach. It’s possible Correa could have been bumped up to the bench coach and associate manager if Albernaz left first. However, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza could be on the hot seat in 2026, and Correa could take over his role if things are rocky. Correa was previously a minor-league coach with Cleveland before the Giants hired him to be their bench coach, and then coming to Cleveland when Vogt was hired.
Pitching coach Carl Willis has already confirmed he’ll return for his ninth consecutive season and his 13th season overall in the role with the organization.
While the esteemed Willis will be back in the fold, he remains year-to-year on the staff due to his age and other family commitments.
Will assistant pitching coaches Joe Torres and Brad Goldberg be targeted as pitching coaches for other organizations to fill out their staff — possibly Baltimore with Albernaz? Torres has been with the organization since 2017 and has been the Guardians’ assistant pitching coach since 2022.
Goldberg, a Beachwood graduate and childhood Cleveland fan, has risen through the ranks quickly, joining the organization in 2022 and advancing to Double-A pitching coach in 2023, bullpen coach on the Guardians’ staff in 2024 and assistant pitching coach for 2025. His quick ascent may have to do with the need to promote him if other teams tried to hire him away for a promotion.
The Rockies also interviewed Guardians assistant GM Matt Forman for their open GM role. Forman ended up coming back to the Guardians, while the Rockies settled on another Cleveland front office member — Paul DePodesta of the Browns, formerly an assistant GM with the Athletics and Mets.
Roles in front offices and coaching staffs have filled out pretty quickly at this point, so it’s possible that the poaching this year may end with Albernaz and Correa.