CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians find themselves with a degree of payroll flexibility as the 2026 season approaches, but at the same time they face a ticking clock and a complex organizational dilemma: how to strengthen their historically weak offense without blocking the development path of their highly-touted prospects.

After pulling off perhaps the most improbable division title in franchise history — coming back from 15 1/2 games down despite fielding one of the worst offenses in team history — the Guardians can’t count on lightning striking twice. They need to spend, and spend wisely on an approximate budget of $100 million.

“They’ve got like just over $40 million committed to seven players,” Paul Hoynes explained on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. “So they’ve got some money to

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