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 guaranteed $7MM on the deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Zack Meisel of The Athletic, that’ll be paid out in the form of a $1MM signing bonus, a $5MM salary, and a $1MM buyout on a $10MM 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 $7.5MM 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 him to spring training.
Sewald, 35 in May, is coming off a bit of 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.
In the end, 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, which there is some justification for. Most of his struggles last year were during a short period of time where he seemed to be a bit unlucky. In the month of July, he allowed 12 earned runs in 10 innings, just 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 are both on the unfortunate side. 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 a bit better health, perhaps the Guards can get more of the 2021-23 Sewald than the ’24 version.
More to come.
