The Guardians have declined their option on relievers Shawn Armstrong and Trevor Stephan for 2027, and selected the contract of shortstop Milan Tolentino.
Armstrong had a 1.04 ERA in 8.2 innings in the playoffs, but a 4.58 ERA during an injury-plagued 2026. I guess it wasn't worth the extra $6.5M to keep him for 2027 (they owe him a $1.5M payment in any case). Stephan has yet to be able to find his former relief excellence since he had Tommy John, putting up an ERA of 10.44 in the minors last season.
Tolentino is 24 years old and put up only a 102 wRC+ in Columbus for 2026 but he did have an .806 OPS vs RHP and he has a sensational glove. I think he could be a better utility infield option than Daniel Schneemann or Gabriel Arias. He's a depth piece and this prevents him from becoming a minor-league free agent.
Next up is making decisions on whom to protect from the Rule-5 draft by November 17th and who gets tendered contracts among arbitration-eligible players by November 20th. And, we will see if the Guardians do anything before then.
