OK, in 2025 I said how much I disliked the Guardians draft and actually lowered an already low grade when I saw how much they overpayed for the talent they got.
So now let's turn the page to 2026 which, in my opinion, set a new low for recent Cleveland drafts with the draft room repeating past mistakes, drafting exactly the wrong kinds of players, drafting ZERO quality college pitching prospects, trying to show, once again, that they are the smartest guys in the room and smarter than everyone else.
Let's now see how the smartest guys in the room did in terms of paying for their poor draft in 2026.
1 - Hunter Dietz, LHP, Arnkansas ($4.0 MM)
2. Ryan Peterson, RHP, Sam Houston St. ($1.5 MM)
3. Nathan Taylor, RHP, Cincinnati (0.800 MM)
4. Cal Randall, RHP, UCLA (0.600 MM)
5. Eric Nachtheim RHP, McNeese St. (0.300 MM)
6. Cam Johnson, LHP, Oklahoma (0.350 MM)
7. Savion Sims, RHP, HS ($1.0 MM)
8. Chris Katz, 1B, Mercer (0.250 MM)
9. Gavin Van Kempen, RHP, East Carolina (0.200 MM)
10. Christian Coppola, RHP, St. Joseph's (0.195 MM)
11. Mark Quatrani, C, Notre Dame (Not drafted - could have offered him $0.26 - 0.5 K)
12. Grayson Fitzwater, 1B, VMI ($0.150 MM)
13. Judd Utemark UTIL Ole Miss (Not drafted)
The total for my shadow draft through round 10 - $9,195 MM)
Total budget for Cleveland's draft ($9.303 MM)
Thus I came in underbudget and with a little tougher negotiation I could have had $750 K left for an overslot signing or two in rounds 11-20.
If the Guardians don't sign Schmidt, their actual draft comes in with a CEILING of a "C" grade if they can fix Peterson and if Sims makes the majors.
This is as close to a total failure of any draft in the last decade for the Guardians and not something a resource-limited team can have.
The only plus for the organization is that Dolan was able to put $1.5 MM (international pool not spent) + $3.2 MM (the value he would have had to spend on pick #29 he traded, along with Matt Wilkinson for Bailey + $1.6 MM (the amount he doesn't have to pay since Schmidt didn't sign). That's $6.3 MM he gets to keep in his pocket and that doesn't count the $813 K he would have had to spend if they had gone 5% over their draft budget.
Therefore, Dolan has avoided spending over $7 MM this year on prospects. If that isn't cheap, I don't know what is.
Good night and good luck. See you next draft season and place my shadow draft in your 2026 time capsule. I think, 5 years from now, you would be ecstatic with my haul from this draft compared to the minimal haul the Guardians actually got.
As always, I think your take on the draft is laughable. You just like to bellyache, I have come to that conclusion. With an exception or two, I LOVE this draft, and every publication I saw dole out grades gave it an A or A-, loving the big, hard throwing pitchers with upside, and a few really good position players. The 25 draft is still very much up in the air, but it is early.
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