The Guardians announced Wednesday that they’ve signed free-agent reliever Paul Sewald to a one-year contract with a mutual option for the 2026 season. He’s represented by ISE Baseball. The righty is reportedly guaranteed $7M on the deal, which will be paid out in the form of a $1M signing bonus, a $5M salary, and a $1M buyout on a $10M mutual option. Sewald can also earn an extra $100K for reaching each of 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 relief appearances in 2025, giving him the opportunity to earn a total of $7.5M on the deal.
Righty Pedro Avila has been designated for assignment to open a spot on the 40-man roster, per the club announcement. Cleveland also signed right-hander Riley Pint to a minor league deal. The Excel client will be invited to spring training.
Sewald, 35 in May, is coming off a frustrating year. He opened the 2024 season on the injured list due to a left oblique strain and missed a bit more than a month, getting reinstated by the Diamondbacks on May 7. Once back on the mound, the results weren’t up to his previous standard, which got him bumped from Arizona’s closing gig in August. He landed back on the IL in September due to neck discomfort and wrapped up the campaign there.
Ultimately, he tossed 39 2/3 innings on the year, allowing 4.31 earned runs per nine. His 26.1% strikeout rate and 6.1% walk rate were still good numbers but were worse than his previous form. From 2021 to 2023, between the Mariners and Diamondbacks, he threw 189 1/3 innings with a 2.95 ERA, 33.9% strikeout rate and 8.6% walk rate.
The Guardians are seemingly making a bet on a bounceback, for which there is some justification. Most of his struggles last year were during a short period where he seemed to be a bit unlucky. In July, he allowed 12 earned runs in 10 innings before losing the closer’s job. Since he only allowed 19 earned runs all year, that was the majority of them. During that month, he allowed a .469 batting average on balls in play and had a 56.2% strand rate, which is unfortunate. That’s why his 3.94 SIERA was miles better than his 10.80 ERA that month.
Sewald averaged 91.4 miles per hour on his fastball last year, which was down from being in the 92-93 mph range in the previous three seasons, but it’s possible that his two injuries played a role there. With better health, perhaps the Guards can get more of the 2021-23 Sewald than the ’24 version.
Though betting on Sewald is a perfectly sensible thing, it’s a bit of a curious path for the Guards at first glance. Cleveland had the best bullpen in the majors in 2024, but it wasn’t close. Their relief corps had a collective 2.57 ERA in 2024, with the Brewers coming a distant second at 3.11. They traded Nick Sandlin to the Blue Jays as part of the Andrés Giménez deal last month but still have Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin and others.
Given that the team doesn’t usually run huge budgets, the most straightforward way for them to allocate their resources this winter would be to upgrade the offense. The Guards hit .238/.307/.395 as a team last year, which was exactly league average. They are going into 2025 with a relatively similar group of position players. They traded Josh Naylor to the Diamondbacks and then signed Carlos Santana, a roughly cash-neutral move since Santana’s salary will be fairly close to Naylor’s this year. They subtracted Giménez, who is more of a glove-first player, but now second base projects to go to a mostly unproven player like Juan Brito or Ángel Martínez.
Perhaps the Guardians will line up a trade with one of their other relievers, but they may also see the value in leaning into their strength by further upgrading the relief corps. Relievers tend to be the most volatile part of a roster these days, with regression and/or injuries entirely possible, so having another experienced arm in the mix hedges against that.
Avila, 28, has posted some solid but not outstanding results in his career thus far. Between the Padres and Guardians, he has thrown 146 1/3 innings in his career with a 3.51 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate, 10.6% walk rate and 49.2% ground ball rate.
He exhausted his final option year with the Friars in 2023, which gave him a tenuous hold on a roster spot. He struggled out of the gate last year, which led to him being flipped to Cleveland. He ultimately finished the year with a 3.81 ERA in 82 2/3 innings.
Despite a solid campaign, Avila’s out-of-options status and a crowded Cleveland bullpen would make it hard for him to keep a roster spot all year, so he’s been nudged off Wednesday. The Guards will now have a week of DFA limbo to figure out what’s next, whether that’s a trade or a fate on waivers. Since the waiver process takes 48 hours, any trades must come together in the next five days.
Any acquiring team would have to deal with the same lack of options, though a team with a less-elite bullpen might be more able to manage that. Avila’s results have been decent, and he still has less than two years of service time, meaning he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and could be cheaply controlled for as many as five seasons.
Pint, 27, was taken by the Rockies with the fourth overall pick in 2016. He was a top 100 prospect but struggled with control in the minors and decided to retire in 2021. At that point, he had thrown 166 2/3 innings on the farm with a 5.56 ERA, 20.5% strikeout rate and 16.8% walk rate.
He un-retired in 2022 and posted decent results that year. He threw 45 2/3 innings across multiple levels with a 4.53 ERA, 56.6% ground ball rate and 29.1% strikeout rate, though the walks were still high at 15.6%. The Rockies were encouraged enough to give him a roster spot to keep him out of the Rule 5 draft.
He spent most of the past two years as optionable depth for Colorado. He has just 3 2/3 major league innings on his track record, allowing nine earned runs for an unseemly 22.09 ERA. He has struck out seven opponents but given out eight walks and plunked another two batters. The minor league numbers have been better. He had a 3.92 ERA in 41 1/3 innings on the farm last year, striking out 36.3% of batters faced and giving out walks at a massive 20.7% clip. He was outrighted by the Rockies in August and elected free agency at season’s end.
Pint is still a project, but the Guardians have a strong reputation for working with pitchers, so it’s understandable why they’d take a shot on a former top prospect without giving up a roster spot. If he gets added to the roster at any point, he still has an option remaining and just a few days of service time.
With Sewald added to the books, RosterResource estimates the club’s total commitments at $96M this year. They opened last year at $98M, per Cot’s Baseball Contracts. After making the postseason last year, perhaps there’s a payroll bump coming. But on the other hand, the club has no broadcast deal for this year. Their agreement with Diamond Sports Group, now known as Main Street Sports, expired last year. MLB will be handling the broadcasts this year, an arrangement that will likely lead to less revenue.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported Sewald’s $7M salary, with Zack Meisel of The Athletic reporting the specific breakdown.
