With the calendar turned to 2026, it\u2019s time to offer our first projection of what the Guardians\u2019 Opening Day Roster will be by the end of March.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a mostly quiet offseason for Cleveland. There may be some notable additions, still, but if things remain mostly status quo, here\u2019s what I expect when the Guardians arrive in Seattle.<\/p>\n
Projected Lineup (vs. RHP)<\/p>\n
2. Chase DeLauter, RF, LHH<\/p>\n
4. Kyle Manzardo, DH, LHH<\/p>\n
7. Daniel Schneemann, 2B, LHH<\/p>\n
9. Brayan Rocchio, SS, SH<\/p>\n
David Fry, C\/1B\/RF\/DH, RHH<\/p>\n
Stuart Fairchild, OF, RHH<\/p>\n
Analysis: I have decided that giving Jones $2 million PROBABLY means he is on the team to start, especially with George Valera being given another option. I see Valera and Brito being given an opening stretch in Columbus to get hot, especially as Valera\u2019s good numbers from September aren\u2019t supported by his underlying metrics. I also think Fairchild will manage to beat out Angel Martinez IF Fairchild is healthy, as Martinez also has minor league options.<\/p>\n
Analysis: Chances are, the Guardians will have a pitcher injury (hopefully minor), in which case Logan Allen will be in the rotation (unless he is the injury). If their top six pitchers remain healthy, however, I don\u2019t think the Guardians will deny Messick the chance to have a rotation spot for fear of putting Allen in Triple-A. Allen is amazing depth to have in Triple-A, and should be seen as such if the five starters who are better than he is stays healthy. Pallette is a Rule-5 selection, so, if he looks viable, he should get a shot to start the year. Brogdon doesn\u2019t have an option, so he may stay over Colin Holderman who does have 2 options remaining and can work on whatever the Guardians staff asks him to do for a while in Columbus until he is inevitably needed at some point.<\/p>\n
My Ideal Opening Day Roster (only players currently on Guardians\u2019 roster):<\/p>\n
2. Chase DeLauter CF, LHH<\/p>\n
David Fry C\/1B\/RF\/DH, RHH<\/p>\n
Daniel Schneemann IF, LHH<\/p>\n
Analysis: If the Guardians aren\u2019t going to make external acquisitions, I want them to lean as heavily as possible into the youth movement. I\u2019d let Brito and Travis Bazzana compete for the second base job and Arias and Schneemann compete for the utility infielder job and may the best man win. I\u2019d give Fairchild a look before ditching him for Angel Martinez if he struggles and keep going down the line. I\u2019d have Cooper Ingle locked a loaded for if Bo disappoints again. If Fry is more July 2024-2025 Fry than 2023-June 2024 Fry, get Johnathan Rodriguez or Ralphy Velazquez in the holster for him by June. If you\u2019re honestly afraid to block players, don\u2019t block them and see what this farm system can do. By the way, I suspect Jones will make it through waivers and the team can, then, get essentially another option year on him, which will be nice depth with Valera and DeLauter somewhat injury prone. Speaking of DeLauter, plan for a lot of load management for him, which will involve seeing Fairchild, and either Schneemann or Arias in centerfield a good bit under this arrangement.<\/p>\n
Analysis: I cheated a little bit here as Briuhl is technically DFA\u2019d, but I think he finds his way back and I like his arm angle\/pitch mix on the club, while keeping Herrin as good depth in Triple-A. No offense to Peyton Pallette – I\u2019ll totally buy him if the Guardians keep him – but in this sceanrio, he is returned to the White Sox and Pedro Avila *INNINGS EATER* makes his triumphant return.<\/p>\n
What do you think? How do you believe it WILL go for Opening Day and how SHOULD it go? Let me know in the comments below<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the calendar turned to 2026, it\u2019s time to offer our first projection of what the Guardians\u2019 Opening…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,38929,2565,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-507986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians-analysis-editorials","12":"tag-clevelandguardians","13":"tag-guardians","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115848767662205983","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=507986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/507986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=507986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=507986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=507986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}