The MLB Winter Meetings have come and gone, and now 2025 is about to come to a close, which means spring training is right around the corner.

After winning a second straight American League title in 2025, the Guardians’ main offseason priority has clearly been revamping an already great bullpen that’s still reeling from the loss of Emmanuel Clase. However, that decision has left the Guardians with massive question mark around their lineup, which was one of MLB’s worst in 2025.

In fact, the Guardians’ lone position player free agency signing is Stuart Fairchild, who has a career .223 average and signed a minor league deal. All of that inaction leads us to ask an obvious question: How can the Guardians improve thier offense in the next months without making a splash signing?

Here are three ways they can do so.

The Guardians have multiple avenues they can explore to improve their lineup

Improvement from within

The clearest path to improvement for the Guardians is for the the young players on the roster to take a step forward. Bo Naylor struggled for much of the season, but finished on a high note, CJ Kayfus had ups and downs once he got called up and Chase Delauter didn’t get a shot until the postseason, yet all three showed promise when given a shot.

Chase DeLauter’s first Major League hit comes in the #Postseason! pic.twitter.com/KueX0Oh3ef

— MLB (@MLB) October 2, 2025

There are plenty other young players with a chance to contribute in 2026 outside of those three along with Travis Bazzana, Kyle Manzardo, George Valera and others.

If any of those young players are able to take a step forward than the offense should be in a better spot without any outside help.

However, if they don’t take that step, it could be a long summer in Cleveland.

Low-cost platoon signing

With Lane Thomas and Jhonkensy Noel gone, the Guardians have an obvious hole in their outfield — so much so that Johnathan Rodríguez is the only right-handed hitting outfielder on their roster.

If the Guardians don’t change that then teams will be able to deploy a left-handed-heavy approach out of the bullpen that will keep the Guardians at a consistent disadvantage.

Luckily for the Guardians, there are multiple free agents who could help fill that void without breaking the bank. A few players worth looking at include Austin Hays, Harrison Bader, Randal Grichuk, and Starling Marte. 

A cycle in just FOUR ABs for Austin Hays. 🤯

(MLB x @HankookTireUSA) pic.twitter.com/tSWXbxGR4H

— MLB (@MLB) June 23, 2022

Trading a bullpen arm

The Guardians’ bullpen has been one of the team’s big strengths over the past couple seasons, and is still one of the better units in the league even with the loss of Clase.

The Guardians’ front office has put a clear emphasis on adding depth to the bullpen since the offseason began, which could lead to could be a situation where the Guardians trade one of their depth pieces to get a young bat.

A recent example of what a trade could look like is the Nationals trading relief pitcher Jose Ferrer to the Mariners in exchange for catching prospect Harry Ford.

Whatever the rest of the offseason has in store, it is clear the Guardians need to improve their offense for 2026. There are multiple avenues they can go to fix their problems, but more players are coming off the board with every passing day. The clock is clearly ticking on the Guardians, and they have yet to make a big move.