Team Awards and Predictions for The 2025 Cleveland Guardians Season
We did it. We finally got to Opening Day. This winter felt eternal and interminable, mostly from a weather standpoint, but also from a “oh god oh god, the Browns suck again” view. Not even the red hot, best-record-in-the-East-and-often-the-NBA Cavaliers could make the winter months tolerable in Northeast Ohio. But we are finally here. We made it through the “hot” stove season, spring training split squad matchups, and 87,000 “DoLaNz ChEeP” memes on Twitter til today. Opening Day. The best day of the year.
So I wanted to do a prediction article, a preview of sorts if you haven’t been following along, and also yet another way for me to shove you the reader’s nose in the fact that I got last year’s regular season win total EXACTLY RIGHT. So without further ado, here are my team awards and predictions for the 2025 Cleveland Guardians baseball team.
Team MVP
Jose Ramirez
Can it be anybody else other than The Goat? Of course not. Ramirez is as pure as the driven snow we got on Wednesday morning, recently telling The Athletic’s Zack Meisel that he lost some fat and put on some muscle so he weighs the same, all in an effort to go not only 40/40/40 but 100/100. JRam is without question one of the Top 10 best players in the bigs, and he figures to continue on that path in 2025. He plays Gold Glove caliber defense at third, no easy task for someone listed at 5’8” and can easily be kindly described as a “bowling ball”. On the most recent WFNY CornerCast, I asked my cohost Ethan if he thinks Jose could hit 110 combined home runs, doubles, and stolen bases. We both said yes. It’s an unprecedented task, but if there is one player in the bigs that can do whatever they want to do on a baseball field, it’s the Goat.
Ramirez has been a fixture in the No. 3 slot in the lineup and manager Stephen Vogt has discussed with reporters as well as Ramirez about moving the slugger up in the lineup behind leadoff All Star Steven Kwan. The move would 1) give Ramirez more at-bats, meaning more opportunities to punish pitchers 2) lengthen the lineup by moving a switch hitter after Kwan to change up handedness issues; and 3) give youngster Kyle Manzardo the chance to see more meatballs with runners on. It could be a boon to his already stellar production, and put him on the shortlist of AL MVP candidates.
Honorable mentions: Steven Kwan, Tanner Bibee, Lane Thomas
Team Cy Young
Gavin Williams
I won’t go chalk here like I did with Hosey, and rather take everyone’s darkhorse favorite in Gavin “Big Rig” Williams. Williams had a rough 2024, marred by injury, and he just never got going properly. But if the results we saw in spring training indicate future production, Williams is about to take this league by storm. A 38.2% K-rate in 17 innings, 26 Ks against 68 total batters faced, Williams found the hammer curveball this winter and used it to nail down opponents. If he’s able to start generating whiffs the way he was in spring training, a 19.0% swinging strike rate, the Guardians have their top two starters for the next three to four years.
Honorable mentions: Tanner Bibee, Shane Bieber, Cade Smith
Team Rookie of the Year
Andrew Walters
This one was hard, but not for the reasons you’d think. Right now, there are no players on the 26-man roster that have “rookie” status. Walters is in Triple A, same with players like Juan Brito and Doug Nikhazy, and others are on the injured list and don’t project to be in the bigs until midseason if at all, your Chase DeLauter’s and Daniel Espino’s. So Walters is the pick here, simply because he’s the one who might be called on sooner rather than later. If injuries or poor performance knock someone out of the pen, Walters should be ready to take over a spot and shine like he did in the run up to the playoffs in 2024.
Honorable mention: Juan Brito
Most Improved Player
Brayan Rocchio
Let’s first preface this with his 2024 was manageable. He didn’t fall on his face at the plate like some expected him to, with a 10% BB rate, a 20.4% K rate, and defense good enough to make it to being a Gold Glove finalist in the AL. But this is based off his October, when he had a 102 wRC+, a .695 OPS, and showed up when the team needed him in the playoffs. Rocchio is a great weapon at the bottom of the lineup, like a pseudo leadoff hitter and someone that allows Kwan to act more like a No. 2 hitter when he’s up and Rocchio is on. It’s asking a lot for him to hit at that level over a full season, but if he can eek his production closer to league average while keeping up his production on defense at the most important spot on the infield, Rocchio could earn himself a big extension by finally cashing in on the talent many expected from him.
Honorable mentions: Kyle Manzardo, Jhonkensy Noel
Best Offseason Move
Re-signing Shane Bieber
You could easily say that this should be Nolan Jones, but I want to give it to The Biebs. Bieber looks to return to the rotation after Tommy John surgery sometime over the summer. It could be late May, it could be early July, but regardless, Bieber will be back in a Guardians uni and help a starting pitching squad that needs a little more veteran presence. The “old” arms that were expected to help have not: Ben Lively is still around but he can’t be expected to keep it going like last year and Triston McKenzie will start the season in the bullpen as he tries to cut down on walks and gopher balls. The first results back from Tommy John are always a little scattered, but even if he’s only 75-80% of what he can be, the addition of Bieber to the rotation will help immensely and help keep the bullpen numbers low.
Honorable mentions: Nolan Jones, Luis L Ortiz, Paul Sewald, Carlos Santana
Record and finish
89-73, first place in the AL Central, losing the ALCS to the Boston Red Sox
I think Cleveland takes a small step back in the win column from last year’s 92, but I think overall it’s an amazing year for a club that consistently gets picked for third or worse in the division. Yes, Kansas City has a nice lineup and Bobby Witt is amazing. Yes, the Detroit Tigers have the reigning Cy Young winner and someone who could challenge him in Jackson Jobe, alongside some interesting young hitters. Yes, the Minnesota Twins keep on churning even when most of their lineup is blasted away with injuries. But Cleveland has identified some of the issues they had with their roster, kept most of their prospects if they want to go big at the deadline and make a push, and they have enough baseline production to win games while planning for growth from some of their younger players like Rocchio and Manzardo.
I expect a fun year of #GuardsBall at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario, as we get to watch Jose and Santana playing for our club yet again, younger vets like Bibee and Lane Thomas take over more of a leadership spot, and big flies from Jones and Noel. Happy Opening Day to all!
