BP★ Cade Smith 21 · Erik Sabrowski 17 · Tim Herrin 10 · Hunter Gaddis 9 · Matt Festa 7 · Shawn Armstrong 5 · Colin Holderman 4 · Peyton Pallette 1
Each position lists its starter then backups by games (so platoons & bench show). Starters (mound) & bullpen (left, foul territory) are ranked by WAR; ★ marks the closer (most save chances). MLB Stats API.
2026 roster — value & surplus
Player
Age
Service
G
fWAR
Salary $M
Surplus $M
Brayan Rocchio
25
pre-arb
102
5.1
0.8
+31.1
Parker Messick
25
pre-arb
20
4.5
0.8
+27.8
José Ramírez
33
FA-elig
74
3.5
25.0
-3.0
Gavin Williams
26
pre-arb
21
3.5
0.8
+21.2
Chase DeLauter
24
–
88
2.9
0.8
+17.5
Cade Smith
27
pre-arb
45
2.7
0.8
+16.3
Steven Kwan
28
arb
96
2.4
7.7
+7.3
Joey Cantillo
26
pre-arb
22
2.4
0.8
+14.0
Travis Bazzana
23
–
73
2.3
0.6
+14.1
Austin Hedges
33
FA-elig
52
1.4
4.0
+4.9
Colin Holderman
30
arb
39
1.4
1.5
+7.0
Slade Cecconi
27
pre-arb
20
1.3
0.8
+7.7
Angel Martínez
24
pre-arb
67
1.3
0.8
+7.5
Tanner Bibee
27
arb
21
1.2
4.4
+3.4
Gabriel Arias
26
pre-arb
37
1.0
0.8
+5.5
Erik Sabrowski
28
pre-arb
38
0.9
0.8
+5.0
Patrick Bailey↔ SFG
27
pre-arb
40
0.8
0.3
+4.7
Daniel Schneemann
29
pre-arb
83
0.7
0.8
+3.9
Matt Festa
33
pre-arb
44
0.4
1.0
+1.8
Hunter Gaddis
28
pre-arb
40
0.4
0.8
+1.9
Kahlil Watson
23
–
27
0.3
–
–
Franco Aleman
26
–
11
0.3
0.0
+1.7
Logan Allen
27
pre-arb
2
0.2
0.0
+1.4
Codi Heuer
29
arb
8
0.1
0.6
-0.0
Will Dion
26
–
9
0.1
0.5
-0.1
Petey Halpin
24
pre-arb
38
0.1
0.6
-0.2
Stuart Fairchild
30
–
14
0.1
0.5
-0.2
Daniel Espino
25
–
5
0.0
0.8
-0.7
Shawn Armstrong
35
FA-elig
38
-0.1
4.0
-4.5
Kolby Allard
28
–
4
-0.1
0.1
-0.6
Peyton Pallette
25
–
16
-0.2
0.3
-1.3
David Fry
30
pre-arb
67
-0.2
1.4
-2.6
CJ Kayfus
24
pre-arb
9
-0.3
0.1
-1.9
Tim Herrin
29
pre-arb
42
-0.4
0.8
-3.4
Connor Brogdon
31
arb
15
-0.5
0.9
-3.8
Kyle Manzardo
25
pre-arb
94
-0.5
0.8
-3.8
Juan Brito
24
–
15
-0.5
0.1
-3.1
George Valera
25
pre-arb
13
-0.6
0.2
-3.7
Rhys Hoskins
33
FA-elig
82
-0.7
1.5
-5.9
Cooper Ingle
24
–
7
-0.7
–
–
Bo Naylor
26
pre-arb
28
-0.9
0.2
-5.8
Key additions (new vs 2025)
Player
fWAR
Chase DeLauter
1.9
Travis Bazzana
1.5
Colin Holderman
0.9
Patrick Bailey
0.5
Codi Heuer
0.1
Stuart Fairchild
0.0
Key subtractions (gone from 2025)
Player
2025 fWAR
Jakob Junis
0.6
Carlos Santana
0.5
Ben Lively
0.4
Nic Enright
0.2
Paul Sewald
0.1
Zak Kent
0.1
Current & Historical Payroll
2026 payroll
$67.6M
luxury tax $52M
2027 guaranteed
$40.4M
What the front office was committed to as of 2026, 2026–2032.
Guaranteed $ are contract commitments signed by 2026; arbitration & free-agent years are projected from service time. Hover a figure for its luxury-tax (CBT) & actual-cash values.
current $guaranteed $arbitration (proj)pre-arb (proj)free agentclub optionplayer optionmutual optionvesting option
Summary — luxury-tax (CBT) basis
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Tax threshold
$244M
$247M
$250M
$253M
$256M
$259M
$262M
Guaranteed contracts
$22M
$25M
$20M
$10M
$10M
Proj. arbitration
$13M
$7M
Proj. pre-arbitration
$16M
$8M
Player benefits
$18M
$18M
$18M
$18M
$18M
Total CBT payroll
$70M
$50M
$45M
$28M
$28M
Tax space
+$174M
+$197M
+$205M
+$225M
+$228M
Est. tax bill
—
—
—
—
—
Luxury-tax (CBT) basis: contract AAV + ~$18M benefits/bonus-pool — distinct from the base-salary payroll above. Threshold is the CBA line. Tier-1 payor rates on the overage. Forward years show only guaranteed deals (arb/pre-arb not yet set). Figures are estimates.
Guaranteed / signed (5)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
José Ramírez
33
11.074
$25.0M
$25.0M
$25.0M
$25.0M
$25.0M
$25.0M
$25.0M
Tanner Bibee
27
3.000
$4.4M
$7.4M
$10.4M
$21.4M
$21.0MCLUB
FREE AGENT
Shawn Armstrong
35
7.113
$4.0M
$8.0MMUTUAL
FREE AGENT
Austin Hedges
33
9.166
$4.0M
FREE AGENT
Rhys Hoskins
33
8.053
$1.5M
FREE AGENT
Arbitration-eligible (6)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
Steven Kwan
28
4.000
$7.7M
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Colin Holderman
30
3.120
$1.5M
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Connor Brogdon
31
4.090
$900k
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Codi Heuer
29
4.010
$604k
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Stuart Fairchild
30
3.114
$505k
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Kolby Allard
28
5.021
$100k
FREE AGENT
Pre-arbitration (25)
Player
Age
Svc
2026
2027
2028
2029
2030
2031
2032
David Fry
30
2.154
$1.4M
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Matt Festa
33
2.153
$1.0M
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Cade Smith
27
2.000
$825k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Gavin Williams
26
2.103
$822k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Hunter Gaddis
28
2.073
$810k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Tim Herrin
29
2.058
$801k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Gabriel Arias
26
2.124
$801k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Daniel Schneemann
29
1.120
$801k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Kyle Manzardo
25
1.073
$798k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Brayan Rocchio
25
2.001
$798k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Joey Cantillo
26
0.162
$797k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Slade Cecconi
27
1.155
$796k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Erik Sabrowski
28
1.033
$792k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Parker Messick
25
0.040
$788k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Angel Martínez
24
1.118
$788k
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Chase DeLauter
24
–
$780k
Travis Bazzana
23
–
$634k
Petey Halpin
24
0.009
$621k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Patrick Bailey
27
2.136
$349k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Peyton Pallette
25
–
$254k
Bo Naylor
26
2.113
$203k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
George Valera
25
0.028
$155k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Juan Brito
24
–
$88k
CJ Kayfus
24
0.058
$84k
Pre-Arb
Pre-Arb
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Logan Allen
27
2.093
$13k
ARB 1
ARB 2
ARB 3
FREE AGENT
Graphs
Guardians's path through relative payroll × TAB, smoothed; markers grow and the arrow points toward the present. WINDOW cheap&winning · CONTEND expensive&winning · FORCED-SPEND dead zone · REBUILD cheap&losing. Compare franchises →
Every roster slot ranked best→worst by WAR. Bars = Guardians 2026; the black line = the league-average player at each slot that season. Staying above the line deep into the roster is the depth edge; dropping below it = holes & dead weight.
What each regime is worth — every settled team-season since 1985