The Cleveland Guardians' most prominent offseason headlines will likely revolve around whether or not they're going to trade Steven Kwan.
There's another outfielder who will be almost as expensive who actually warrants similar chatter: Jo Adell.
Adell is heading into his final arbitration season, too, and MLB Trade Rumors projects him to get $9.6 million in that process.
Given the way Adell played in Cleveland after being acquired from the Los Angeles Angels, it's not clear whether the Guardians would want to keep Adell around at that cost.
If Adell isn't a given to be kept in Cleveland, they have two main options.
The preferred one would be to trade him and get some value back for him.
If a team didn't want Adell in a trade, though, the Guardians could also non-tender him. That would mean not offering him a contract at all. He'd immediately become a free agent, but the Guardians wouldn't be staring at a $9 million payday for Adell that way, either.
"For years, the Guardians have been searching for something the organization's farm system simply could not produce — a right-handed power hitter capable of protecting José Ramírez in the middle of the lineup," the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast crew on Cleveland.com wrote this week . "They finally found that guy in Jo Adell. Now they might have to decide whether they can afford to keep him. According to projections from MLBTradeRumors.com, which uses an algorithm fed with player comps and historical arbitration data, Adell is looking at a salary of around $9.6 million heading into 2027. That number lands him squarely in the conversation about whether the Guardians trade him, non-tender him, or pay up."
Adell is one of those confusing players who shines in flashes but then also has long periods of struggle.
In 48 regular season games with Cleveland after the midseason trade, he hit seven home runs and had a .740 OPS. His Wins Above Replacement was 0.8 with the Guardians.
In 11 playoff games, Adell was 8-for-41 with no homers, a .195 average and a .624 OPS (although he missed one homer to dead center in Cleveland by just feet and instead turned it into one of his two postseason triples).
Adell struck out 15 times in 46 playoff plate appearances.
He's also confusing as a defensive player. He robbed three home runs in the same game earlier this season, but overall Adell isn't a positive impact on defense, despite his athleticism and strength.
So there'll be a lot for Cleveland to consider here, and while Adell will fly lower under the radar compared to Kwan, what the Guardians decide on Adell will be a key call for their future, too.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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