INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden begins his 15th IndyCar season in a new role — as the most veteran IndyCar driver at Team Penske.

It comes at the same time Newgarden is trying to rebound from one of his worst seasons in more than a decade. He’s also trying to help the series’ most successful team rebuild its image following two cheating scandals over the past two years, and he’s still trying to get acclimated to seeing longtime teammate Will Power and Ron Ruzewski, Penske’s ex-managing director, working together at a rival team.

Yes, for the 35-year-old, two-time series champ it’s going to take some time for it to make sense.

“That was weird,” Newgarden said Tuesday, explaining his reaction to seeing Power and Ruzewski in Phoenix for a Firestone test earlier this month in their new jobs at Andretti Global.

“It was more weird seeing Ron. I was like ‘What the heck?’ Like I just wanted to debrief with Ron. I was like ’Yeah, what do you think of this? We like this tire, right?′ It was so silly. I’m like ’What are you even doing over there, both him and Will.”

Newgarden, like the other full-time drivers, was in Indianapolis for the first of IndyCar’s two media content days at Indianapolis Motor Speedway despite losing power at his home during the weekend’s winter storm. Power, his longtime former teammate, is scheduled to talk during one of Wednesday’s two driver sessions.

Newgarden has been around long enough to understand that change is the norm when living in racing’s fast lane.

For most of the past eight seasons, though, the Tennessean has been able to maintain his focus on winning races and capturing championships for one of the series most stable teams.

Things started changing last season as Power was strung along in the final year of a contract with a team he had driven for since 2009. His uncertainty and desire to stay with Penske became an overarching theme of the season.

Then, in qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, Power and Newgarden landed in the second cheating scandal involving Roger Penske’s iconic team in just over a year. Moments before both drivers readied to make their runs for the pole, inspectors found both cars had a modified spec part. The modification was to a safety part, Team Penske for appearances-sake filled a seam near the part — which was illegal, even though IndyCar said it found no evidence it provided a competitive advantage.

As a result, Penske fired Ruzewski, team president Tim Cindric and IndyCar general manager Kyle Moyer. Penske changed the leadership structure in July by promoting Jonathan Diuguid to president of Penske Racing and made Travis Law the team’s competition director. Then in September, team officials announced Power also would not return this season. They signed David Malukas as Power’s replacement.

The decision gave Newgarden a new title — longest tenured driver on a three-car team fighting hard to get back in the championship mix.

“We are the evil empire, about to strike,” Newgarden joked. “I want to tell you, yeah it feels all different. It feels similar in a lot of ways. When I go in the shop, obviously, we’re going to have some changes, but it feels like business as usual in a lot of respects, so I’m excited.”

The 45-year-old Power is excited for another reason.

“There’s nothing more I want to do this year than beat Penske every single weekend,” Power said last week in Daytona Beach, Florida.

Newgarden, on the other hand, holds no ill will toward the teammate who welcomed him to Team Penske back in 2017. But, as Power understands well, Newgarden doesn’t intend to cede anything — even to an old friend.

“I just have a pothole detector,” Newgarden said. “It’s like instead of not seeing where they are, I’m going to find them this year, so that’s my strategy. It’s not a good strategy, but if I can just avoid them without falling into the crevices, I think we’re going to be better off. I’m like 90% positive if we fall in less potholes. We’re going to be better.”

___

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Piggybacking off of this Feed post from DJourn from earlier: Are y’all going to Braves Fest on Saturday? Granted, it’s forcasted to be absolutely brick cold in Cobb County on this coming Saturday but hey, it’s Braves Fest. We didn’t get it last year and it only comes once a year. I’m planning on going, myself but also I totally understand if the cold ends up being too much — heck, I’m even second-guessing myself a tiny bit. We’ll see what happens, haha.

Anyways, the floor is now yours. Here’s a random clip:

The Cleveland Cavaliers have a tricky stretch coming up.

They are expected to be without Evan Mobley (calf) for the next one to three weeks and are still without the services of Darius Garland (toe) and Max Strus (foot). Additionally, standout two-way player Nae’Qwan Tomlin only has eight more games he can be active with the Cavs unless they convert his contract to a standard deal. For reference, the Cavs have seven games before the All-Star break.

This all creates a crunch where the Cavs could need more available bodies that they trust to provide NBA minutes as they await the Feb. 5.

With that in mind, it isn’t surprising that the Cavs are reportedly waiving two-way player Chris Livingston.

Livingston hasn’t provided many meaningful minutes for the Cavs this season despite the team’s injuries. The Akron native had just 17 minutes of playing time spread across three games with the team.

The majority of Livingston’s time has been spent with the Cavs’ G League affiliate, the Cleveland Charge. Livingston has appeared in 16 games with the Charge and averaged 16.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists on .437/.258/.844 shooting splits.

The release of Livingston opens up one of the team’s three two-way spots. Additionally, it stands to reason that another one of those two-way spots will be made available when the team presumably converts Tomlin’s current contract to a standard NBA one.

Luke Travers occupies the Cavs’ other two-way spot. He’s appeared in just 12 games this season for the Cavs this season. Travers is averaging 18.1 points, nine rebounds, and 5.1 assists on .430/.284/.636 shooting splits in 14 G-League appearances.

We’ll see what direction the Cavs go with those openings. It’s worth mentioning that Killian Hayes — who is playing well — isn’t eligible for a two-way deal due to his previous service time. Darius Brown and Tristan Enaruna are potential internal candidates for a deal. The team can also look outside the organization for a possible two-way player.

NEW YORK (AP) — Freddy Peralta is willing to consider a multiyear contract with the Mets before reaching free agency.

But he wants to get settled in New York first.

“I’ve got to see around, share time with my teammates and think about different ideas, learn about everybody, coaches (and) the organization in general,” the All-Star pitcher said Tuesday. “And then we can see.”

Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns expressed a similar sentiment after acquiring Peralta in a trade with Milwaukee last week, saying he would definitely allow the right-hander an adjustment period before potentially broaching a long-term arrangement.

The 29-year-old Peralta is due to make $8 million this season after the Brewers picked up their club option on a deal he signed in 2020. He can become a free agent following the World Series.

So next winter, Peralta could be in line for a very lucrative contract as one of the most attractive players on the open market. And with only one year of club control remaining, he couldn’t fully ignore the chatter about a potential trade from small-market Milwaukee this offseason — or resist connecting the dots that made a move to the Mets a likely outcome.

“I was trying to avoid that but I couldn’t because family members (and) everybody (was) talking about it all the time,” Peralta said on a Zoom call with reporters. “But I had a feeling that I was coming to the Mets.”

His hunch came to fruition last Wednesday, when New York sent pitcher Brandon Sproat and touted prospect Jett Williams to the Brewers for Peralta and right-hander Tobias Myers.

The deal reunites Peralta with Stearns, who ran Milwaukee’s front office from 2015-23. Stearns pulled off one of his biggest moves with the Brewers on Dec. 9, 2015, when he acquired Peralta, then a 19-year-old who hadn’t pitched above rookie ball, from the Seattle Mariners for veteran first baseman/designated hitter Adam Lind.

“I knew that something was going to happen and it was a little hard at the same time, because I spent my whole career in Milwaukee and there’s a lot of great memories over there,” Peralta said. “But this is a business and anything can happen. I was prepared for the moment. And being honest, I’m really happy to be here in New York and be a member of the Mets organization.”

Peralta’s arrival gives New York a much-needed frontline starter and appears to cap a hectic offseason for the retooled Mets, who parted ways with lineup mainstays Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Brandon Nimmo as well as star closer Edwin Díaz.

New York’s rotation wore down last season, when the Mets had the best record in the majors through June 12 but missed the playoffs.

Peralta made the National League All-Star team and finished fifth in Cy Young Award balloting last year, when he led the NL with 17 wins and also set career bests with a 2.70 ERA in 176 2/3 innings over 33 starts. He struck out 204 batters, six shy of his single-season high established in 2023.

Peralta and Dylan Cease are the only major league pitchers to make at least 30 starts and record at least 200 strikeouts in each of the last three seasons. The Mets haven’t had a pitcher make 30 starts in consecutive campaigns since Steven Matz and two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom did so in 2018 and 2019.

Kodai Senga, who had 202 strikeouts as a rookie in 2023, is the lone New York pitcher with a 200-strikeout season since 2019.

Converted reliever Clay Holmes led the Mets with 12 wins, a 3.53 ERA and 31 starts last season, when only Holmes, Senga and David Peterson reached 100 innings for New York.

“I think that’s the No. 1 important thing for me — to be healthy, to be ready every five days to take the ball and go and pitch and be there for the team,” Peralta said. “That’s what I have on my mind all the time — get the necessary work with the trainers in the weight room, mentally with the pitching coaches, just to protect myself and try to be there every five days. Because I know when you have 30 starts, ideally 30-plus starts, something good is going to be on the line.”

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB

San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama prefaced what he said about the recent shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Good as part of federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis with an initial disclaimer.

“PR has tried,” he said, “but I’m not going to sit here and give some politically correct (answer).”

The 22-year-old from France then expressed dismay and disgust over the incidents, but admitted he didn’t feel comfortable offering his complete thoughts on the situation as the debate over the Trump administration’s immigration tactics rages nationally.

“Every day I wake up and see the news and I’m horrified,” Wembanyama told reporters on Tuesday, Jan. 27. “I think it’s crazy that some people make it seem like, or make it sound like, it’s acceptable, like the murder of civilians (is) acceptable. Every day I read the news and sometimes I’m asking very deep questions about my own life. But, you know, I’m conscious also that saying everything that’s on my mind will have a cost that’s too great for me right now. So I’d rather not go into too many details.”

When asked later if being a foreigner in the United States played into his hesitancy, Wembanyama answered, “For sure.”

NBA TRADE RUMORS: Injuries to star players complicate deadline moves

Wembanyama is the latest NBA player to be asked to comment in the wake of Pretti’s death in Minneapolis on Saturday, Jan. 24, which led to the postponement of an NBA regular-season game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry and Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, Donovan Mitchell of the Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks forward and former Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns, as well as the National Basketball Players Association, have condemned the shooting publicly.

“Following the news of yet another fatal shooting in Minneapolis, a city that has been on the forefront of the fight against injustices, NBA players can no longer remain silent,” the NBPA said in a statement. “Now more than ever, we must defend the right to freedom of speech and stand in solidarity with the people in Minnesota protesting and risking their lives to demand justice.”

Wembanyama, in the midst of a breakthrough third season with the Spurs near the top of the Western Conference standings, followed the union’s lead.

“It’s terrible. I know I’m a foreigner, and I live in this country, and I’m concerned,” he said.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Victor Wembanyama shares thoughts on Minnesota, being foreigner in USA

For the third time in his career, third baseman Jose Ramírez has committed to the Cleveland Guardians, and vice versa. By agreeing to a seven-year, $175 million extension that supersedes the three years and $69 million Ramírez had left on his previous deal and will keep him under contract through his age-39 season, the two parties have effectively ensured that this player-team relationship will, incredibly, go the distance.

The first investment in this unique partnership came nine years ago, when Ramírez, an unexpected key contributor on Cleveland’s pennant-winning club in 2016, agreed to an extension that guaranteed him $26 million over five seasons, with club options for 2022 and 2023 worth $11 million and $13 million, respectively. As the expiration of that deal drew near — and with Ramírez having established himself as an all-around superstar — the two sides explored the possibility of a longer, more lucrative pact leading up to the 2022 season.

Considering Ramírez’s tremendous on-field value relative to his modest salary — and a potentially larger payday looming in free agency — it was hardly a certainty that such a contract would come together. For a small-market club such as Cleveland to pay Ramírez enough that he would eschew the chance to cash in as a free agent was a daunting task. The Guardians even prepared possible trades to send Ramírez to either the Blue Jays or the Padres in the event that a deal could not be reached.

[Get more Cleveland news: Guardians team feed] 

But against all odds and despite most precedents involving comparable situations, Ramírez and the Guardians hashed it out late in spring training 2022, constructing a seven-year, $141 million contract that worked for both sides. The deal undeniably still underpaid Ramírez, but it was a sizable enough investment — and an outlier relative to the franchise’s bottom-tier payroll — to warrant his putting down deeper roots with the only organization he’s ever known. Having received just a $50,000 bonus when he signed as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic, Ramírez secured generational wealth a dozen years later — a monumental achievement regardless of whether his salary exactly matched his star-level performance.

Now, after another four seasons of face-of-the-franchise production, Ramírez and the Guardians have tripled down on their relationship with a new nine-figure deal, one that should extend to the conclusion of his playing career. Just three active players — Jose Altuve, Salvador Perez and Mike Trout, all of whom debuted in 2011 — have been in the majors with one team longer than Ramírez, who arrived in 2013. If Ramírez completes this deal as planned and retires thereafter, he will have played in parts of 20 seasons with Cleveland, joining an extremely exclusive group of players in major-league history who played with one franchise for two decades, a cohort that is almost entirely enshrined in Cooperstown. 

Certainly, Ramírez will be headed to the Hall of Fame one day, too. Although the league’s top honor has continued to elude him — no player in MLB history has amassed more MVP votes without winning the award — his statistical résumé stacks up comfortably. Since becoming an every-day player in 2016, Ramírez is tied with Mookie Betts for third among position players in fWAR, behind only Francisco Lindor and Aaron Judge. Assuming he stays healthy — and he hasn’t been on the injured list since 2019 — Ramírez will become just the ninth member of the 300 home run/300 stolen base club at some point in 2026. And if his still-elite power-speed form is any indication, Ramírez might have a chance to join the 400 HR/400 SB club, occupied by only Barry Bonds.

In short, the numbers speak for themselves, and Ramírez’s eventual place at or near the top of every franchise leaderboard will eventually be rewarded with a statue at Progressive Field and a plaque in upstate New York. But his individual efforts have yet to manifest in the collective triumph he and the Guardians continue to chase. World Series winners in 1948 and never since then, Cleveland’s drought is nearing eight decades, the longest in MLB. When the Cubs ended their own infamous drought by defeating Cleveland in 2016, they passed off the burden to their Great Lakes neighbors. Ten years later, the Guardians’ wait for a championship continues.

By some measures — and accounting for its market size — Cleveland’s efforts to contend with Ramírez have been admirable, if not downright impressive: The Guardians have qualified for the postseason six times and won the sixth-most regular-season games in MLB over the past nine seasons. But viewed another way, Cleveland hasn’t come especially close to winning it all, reaching the American League Championship Series only once during that span, when they lost to the Yankees in five games in 2024. 

Even as the personnel has changed year over year, Cleveland’s success has often been rooted in its pitching. But the lineup surrounding Ramírez has rarely resembled that of a legitimate contender, with last year’s offense representing a new low, even amid a historic second-half surge to claim another AL Central crown. The Guardians arrived in October with an offense that ranked 28th in wRC+, with only Ramírez and sophomore slugger Kyle Manzardo posting above-average batting lines in the regular season (All-Star Steven Kwan was a touch below at 99 wRC+). And with spring training fast approaching, Cleveland has done nothing this winter to upgrade its position-player group.

Several factors have contributed to this inaction. Most glaringly, ownership has demonstrated a complete unwillingness to elevate the payroll above the lowest rungs of the league. The front office has also exhibited a reluctance to part with prospects in trades for more proven commodities. But the complete lack of external additions can also be explained by the genuine belief Cleveland has in its internal options on offense — a belief informed in part by Ramírez’s unlikely example.

“After 650 plate appearances of Jose Ramírez, we wouldn’t have said that he would have gone on to be an every-day player, let alone a Hall of Fame-caliber player,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said at the winter meetings in December. “Michael Brantley’s first 500 or 600 plate appearances weren’t great. Some other guys like Grady Sizemore come up and hit the ground running and is an All-Star from the day he sets foot on the field.”

Indeed, Ramírez posted a 78 wRC+ across 635 plate appearances in the majors from 2013 to 2015 before breaking through as a regular in 2016. So while Cleveland’s front office isn’t counting on any of its current young players to blossom into Hall of Famers like Ramírez did, it doesn’t want to discard them prematurely. As such, the projected depth chart features several players who have yet to entrench themselves as reliably productive hitters but remain in the mix for playing time.

“We want to find that right balance of urgency and patience,” Antonetti said. “Obviously, we have urgency, we want to win as many games as we can and compete for a World Series … but with each individual, [we want to] have enough patience to give them an opportunity to be productive players.”

Gabriel Arias (76 wRC+ in 1,034 career plate appearances) has yet to translate his tremendous physical tools into reliable production. Brayan Rocchio (77 wRC+, 911 PA) has shined in some big moments, but the overall offensive output has underwhelmed. The versatile Angel Martinez (77 wRC+, 653 PA) has taken well to Ramírez’s mentorship as a fellow Dominican switch-hitter, but his on-base skills have been woefully inadequate. Bo Naylor (88 wRC+, 1,041 PA) is still seeking consistency at the plate while balancing the rigors of catching.

“As we looked at a lot of the possibility of external additions, one of the questions we continually have to ask ourselves is, ‘Whose opportunity does this impede? Which guys will we not be able to give plate appearances to because we’re signing a free agent?,’” Antonetti reiterated recently when asked about Cleveland’s lack of additions. “And in the end, we made the determination that we have a really exciting group of young players that are starting to emerge at the major-league level and depth beneath that. We want to give them the opportunity to contribute and fuel our success.” 

Perhaps these players will reward Cleveland’s patience in 2026. If not, it will be on the next wave of bats — Chase DeLauter, George Valera, C.J. Kayfus, Travis Bazzana — to form a worthwhile supporting cast while Ramírez is still in his prime. Kwan and Manzardo have answered the call, but more firepower is required. If the Guardians want to capitalize on this championship window opened in part by Ramírez’s brilliance, it will take more than just their headlining superstar.

Some consternation about Cleveland’s stagnant offseason is warranted, but it’s also not unique within the AL Central. No division has spent fewer combined dollars in free agency, with the last-place White Sox actually accounting for a healthy portion of said expenses. The Tigers have been quiet, promoting familiar sentiments about trusting their young players while Tarik Skubal’s historic arbitration case looms large. The Royals have made some intriguing trades but have spent very little in free agency and have a lot to prove after last year’s letdown. The Twins have some solid pieces but haven’t remotely replaced all the talent they dealt away last summer.

So without a juggernaut atop the division raising the standard through aggressive roster-building, the Guardians — with a top-tier manager in Stephen Vogt and a trustworthy track record of run prevention — have a compelling case as the team to beat in the AL Central in 2026. Of course, that doesn’t absolve the organization of the well-earned skepticism regarding its plan to score more runs this year. 

But amid another quiet offseason, Cleveland has at least reinforced one of its few organizational certainties: Ramírez is the foundation on which the entire operation is built, and that will remain the case until the switch-hitting, base-stealing, slick-fielding, unrelenting, 5-foot-8 dynamo has dirtied his last uniform. 

For the third time in his career, third baseman Jose Ramírez has committed to the Cleveland Guardians, and vice versa. By agreeing to a seven-year, $175 million extension that supersedes the three years and $69 million Ramírez had left on his previous deal and will keep him under contract through his age-39 season, the two parties have effectively ensured that this player-team relationship will, incredibly, go the distance.

The first investment in this unique partnership came nine years ago, when Ramírez, an unexpected key contributor on Cleveland’s pennant-winning club in 2016, agreed to an extension that guaranteed him $26 million over five seasons, with club options for 2022 and 2023 worth $11 million and $13 million, respectively. As the expiration of that deal drew near — and with Ramírez having established himself as an all-around superstar — the two sides explored the possibility of a longer, more lucrative pact leading up to the 2022 season.

Considering Ramírez’s tremendous on-field value relative to his modest salary — and a potentially larger payday looming in free agency — it was hardly a certainty that such a contract would come together. For a small-market club such as Cleveland to pay Ramírez enough that he would eschew the chance to cash in as a free agent was a daunting task. The Guardians even prepared possible trades to send Ramírez to either the Blue Jays or the Padres in the event that a deal could not be reached.

[Get more Cleveland news: Guardians team feed] 

But against all odds and despite most precedents involving comparable situations, Ramírez and the Guardians hashed it out late in spring training 2022, constructing a seven-year, $141 million contract that worked for both sides. The deal undeniably still underpaid Ramírez, but it was a sizable enough investment — and an outlier relative to the franchise’s bottom-tier payroll — to warrant his putting down deeper roots with the only organization he’s ever known. Having received just a $50,000 bonus when he signed as a teenager out of the Dominican Republic, Ramírez secured generational wealth a dozen years later — a monumental achievement regardless of whether his salary exactly matched his star-level performance.

Now, after another four seasons of face-of-the-franchise production, Ramírez and the Guardians have tripled down on their relationship with a new nine-figure deal, one that should extend to the conclusion of his playing career. Just three active players — Jose Altuve, Salvador Perez and Mike Trout, all of whom debuted in 2011 — have been in the majors with one team longer than Ramírez, who arrived in 2013. If Ramírez completes this deal as planned and retires thereafter, he will have played in parts of 20 seasons with Cleveland, joining an extremely exclusive group of players in major-league history who played with one franchise for two decades, a cohort that is almost entirely enshrined in Cooperstown. 

Certainly, Ramírez will be headed to the Hall of Fame one day, too. Although the league’s top honor has continued to elude him — no player in MLB history has amassed more MVP votes without winning the award — his statistical résumé stacks up comfortably. Since becoming an every-day player in 2016, Ramírez is tied with Mookie Betts for third among position players in fWAR, behind only Francisco Lindor and Aaron Judge. Assuming he stays healthy — and he hasn’t been on the injured list since 2019 — Ramírez will become just the ninth member of the 300 home run/300 stolen base club at some point in 2026. And if his still-elite power-speed form is any indication, Ramírez might have a chance to join the 400 HR/400 SB club, occupied by only Barry Bonds.

In short, the numbers speak for themselves, and Ramírez’s eventual place at or near the top of every franchise leaderboard will eventually be rewarded with a statue at Progressive Field and a plaque in upstate New York. But his individual efforts have yet to manifest in the collective triumph he and the Guardians continue to chase. World Series winners in 1948 and never since then, Cleveland’s drought is nearing eight decades, the longest in MLB. When the Cubs ended their own infamous drought by defeating Cleveland in 2016, they passed off the burden to their Great Lakes neighbors. Ten years later, the Guardians’ wait for a championship continues.

By some measures — and accounting for its market size — Cleveland’s efforts to contend with Ramírez have been admirable, if not downright impressive: The Guardians have qualified for the postseason six times and won the sixth-most regular-season games in MLB over the past nine seasons. But viewed another way, Cleveland hasn’t come especially close to winning it all, reaching the American League Championship Series only once during that span, when they lost to the Yankees in five games in 2024. 

Even as the personnel has changed year over year, Cleveland’s success has often been rooted in its pitching. But the lineup surrounding Ramírez has rarely resembled that of a legitimate contender, with last year’s offense representing a new low, even amid a historic second-half surge to claim another AL Central crown. The Guardians arrived in October with an offense that ranked 28th in wRC+, with only Ramírez and sophomore slugger Kyle Manzardo posting above-average batting lines in the regular season (All-Star Steven Kwan was a touch below at 99 wRC+). And with spring training fast approaching, Cleveland has done nothing this winter to upgrade its position-player group.

Several factors have contributed to this inaction. Most glaringly, ownership has demonstrated a complete unwillingness to elevate the payroll above the lowest rungs of the league. The front office has also exhibited a reluctance to part with prospects in trades for more proven commodities. But the complete lack of external additions can also be explained by the genuine belief Cleveland has in its internal options on offense — a belief informed in part by Ramírez’s unlikely example.

“After 650 plate appearances of Jose Ramírez, we wouldn’t have said that he would have gone on to be an every-day player, let alone a Hall of Fame-caliber player,” president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said at the winter meetings in December. “Michael Brantley’s first 500 or 600 plate appearances weren’t great. Some other guys like Grady Sizemore come up and hit the ground running and is an All-Star from the day he sets foot on the field.”

Indeed, Ramírez posted a 78 wRC+ across 635 plate appearances in the majors from 2013 to 2015 before breaking through as a regular in 2016. So while Cleveland’s front office isn’t counting on any of its current young players to blossom into Hall of Famers like Ramírez did, it doesn’t want to discard them prematurely. As such, the projected depth chart features several players who have yet to entrench themselves as reliably productive hitters but remain in the mix for playing time.

“We want to find that right balance of urgency and patience,” Antonetti said. “Obviously, we have urgency, we want to win as many games as we can and compete for a World Series … but with each individual, [we want to] have enough patience to give them an opportunity to be productive players.”

Gabriel Arias (76 wRC+ in 1,034 career plate appearances) has yet to translate his tremendous physical tools into reliable production. Brayan Rocchio (77 wRC+, 911 PA) has shined in some big moments, but the overall offensive output has underwhelmed. The versatile Angel Martinez (77 wRC+, 653 PA) has taken well to Ramírez’s mentorship as a fellow Dominican switch-hitter, but his on-base skills have been woefully inadequate. Bo Naylor (88 wRC+, 1,041 PA) is still seeking consistency at the plate while balancing the rigors of catching.

“As we looked at a lot of the possibility of external additions, one of the questions we continually have to ask ourselves is, ‘Whose opportunity does this impede? Which guys will we not be able to give plate appearances to because we’re signing a free agent?,’” Antonetti reiterated recently when asked about Cleveland’s lack of additions. “And in the end, we made the determination that we have a really exciting group of young players that are starting to emerge at the major-league level and depth beneath that. We want to give them the opportunity to contribute and fuel our success.” 

Perhaps these players will reward Cleveland’s patience in 2026. If not, it will be on the next wave of bats — Chase DeLauter, George Valera, C.J. Kayfus, Travis Bazzana — to form a worthwhile supporting cast while Ramírez is still in his prime. Kwan and Manzardo have answered the call, but more firepower is required. If the Guardians want to capitalize on this championship window opened in part by Ramírez’s brilliance, it will take more than just their headlining superstar.

Some consternation about Cleveland’s stagnant offseason is warranted, but it’s also not unique within the AL Central. No division has spent fewer combined dollars in free agency, with the last-place White Sox actually accounting for a healthy portion of said expenses. The Tigers have been quiet, promoting familiar sentiments about trusting their young players while Tarik Skubal’s historic arbitration case looms large. The Royals have made some intriguing trades but have spent very little in free agency and have a lot to prove after last year’s letdown. The Twins have some solid pieces but haven’t remotely replaced all the talent they dealt away last summer.

So without a juggernaut atop the division raising the standard through aggressive roster-building, the Guardians — with a top-tier manager in Stephen Vogt and a trustworthy track record of run prevention — have a compelling case as the team to beat in the AL Central in 2026. Of course, that doesn’t absolve the organization of the well-earned skepticism regarding its plan to score more runs this year. 

But amid another quiet offseason, Cleveland has at least reinforced one of its few organizational certainties: Ramírez is the foundation on which the entire operation is built, and that will remain the case until the switch-hitting, base-stealing, slick-fielding, unrelenting, 5-foot-8 dynamo has dirtied his last uniform.