As I do every year, here are my conclusions regarding the Guardians 2025 draft since we now know the players they drafted, the bonuses they paid them and who they signed as undrafted free agents.
Immediately after the draft was completed, I gave this draft an upside grade of B+ if LaViolette and Walton reached their perceived (by the Guardians, based on when they were drafted) potential and a C- if they didn't.
Now that we have the other two pieces of information (bonuses they paid and who we signed as UFDAs), I have now downgraded that grade to a B on the upside and C- on the downside.
While the original upside was going to be hard to get to, the reason for the change in upside is because I think they really overspent on this group and to a much, much lower importance, they failed to sign ANY undrafted free agents (UDFAs). In a draft with one college sophomore, no important underdrafts (i.e., guys who fell a lot in the draft) and no real HS P flyers who would require an overslot bonus, they still maxed out their bonus pool + 4.99%. That, to me, is almost impossible as they have been so good stretching their bonus money in the past to incorporate a number of flyer picks (HS P and college sophomores) and still coming in below their target bonus pool. One player in an entire draft that might require an overslot bonus (Curley, as a college sophomore) should not cause you to spend all your draft budget, let alone that budget. plus the 4.99% overage. This, added to the bonuses paid to their other overdrafts early in this draft (Walton and Hynes) really downgrades the quality of this draft. I will note, however, that draft expert Jeff Ellis told me that players who attended the draft combine must receive a bonus of at least 75% of their draft slot's value. While I now understand that and it makes perfect sense for what Walton's and Hynes' bonuses were, the obvious solution would have been to draft them more appropriately to their talent level.
One final thought: A part of the draft people don't generally consider is the after-draft signing of undrafted free agents (UDFAs). Any player (HS, JUCO, college) who was eligible for the draft can be signed after the draft with only the amount of a player's bonus exceeding $150 K counting against their bonus pool. As far as I can tell, the Guardians did not sign any UDFAs, although 135 were signed, including 16 college catchers. That's almost 5 UFDAs per team in MLB and Cleveland signed none. I just don't know how that is possible. In addition, Cleveland drafted 2 college catchers who were likely nothing more than organizational soldiers in the last 10 rounds. Historically, when Cleveland drafts college catchers late, this they NEVER get a guy who makes it to the majors and rarely do these guys even get to AAA. They could have used those two picks on college relief pitchers and/or under-the-radar college power hitters. Not a big deal but, still, I can't help but think they left talent on the table by not signing any UDFAs.
The combination of low talent level, spending too much on that talent, not getting a good range of players (no college quality starting pitchers), no real HS P flyers, drafting 2 organizational soldier college catchers (with many available and desirable left after the draft, based on a UDFA database of players signed after the draft), drafting 2 slap hitting LHH first baseman in the first 10 rounds of the draft, all lead to their draft ranking. For a team having all of its selections and even one additional selection (from Arizona) this is the lowest grade I could give, based on the high level of high ceiling guys (because they are college players) that I could imagine.
So, in summary, the Guardians did the worst I could imagine based on the path they chose before the draft. Let's hope LaViolette, Walton and some of the other overdrafts and head-scratching picks the Guardians made actually turn out to be good draft picks. Teams like Cleveland can't really have bad drafts as they don't have th emoney to backfill their ML roster with free agents. Go Guardians!
