Justin Bruihl's offseason stint with Cleveland Guardians made no sense

The Cleveland Guardians have been quite an odd team for the past few weeks.

Since the conclusion of the 2025 MLB season, many expected the Guardians' front office to be relatively busy throughout the offseason to try to prepare the roster for the upcoming season. Instead, the folks overlooking Progressive Field decided to remain relatively silent, making small moves here and there.

However, one move that drew the eyes of Cleveland faithful and those across the league involved power-hitter Jhonkensy Noel back in early December.

The talented, 24-year-old was designated for assignment in a corresponding move that netted the Guardians relief pitcher Justin Bruihl from the Toronto Blue Jays for cash considerations. That's not the interesting part, though.

What stands out is that the Guardians then decided to designate Bruihl for assignment just three days later. Now, most recently, on Tuesday, Jan. 6, they traded Bruihl to the St. Louis Cardinals for cash considerations.

We have acquired LHP Justin Bruihl from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for cash considerations.

Welcome to St. Louis, Justin! pic.twitter.com/whbyH2cdgZ
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) January 6, 2026

This entire situation makes little to no sense

Why would the Guardians make a trade for a player they never planned on keeping, while in the same vein, getting rid of a 24-year-old that at least had another year of growth before being thrown to the wind?

Noel wasn't good in 2025. That's obvious.

To open the 2025 season with the major league team, he was hitting just .140 in 107 at-bats. While he ended up popping that batting average up a few notches to .161 by the end of the season, it's certainly not enough to be convinced he's anywhere close to being an everyday contributor in the majors.

But in the minors he was back to that pop that made him special. Through 61 games he hit .273 with 12 home runs and 39 RBIs for an OPS of .831.

2026 is already expected to be a questionable season for the Guardians and keeping Noel around wouldn't have done any harm.

Part of the front office's decision to make these moves was to get room to sign reliever Shawn Armstrong, a veteran right-handed pitcher. While that makes the decision to DFA Noel a bit easier to understand, the inclusion of Bruihl into the mess seems to throw everything into the air.

Bruihl isn't a bad pitcher, but he isn't a game-changer by any means.

The 28-year-old has appeared in 93 major league games over the last five years of action. He started with the Los Angeles Dodgers and then worked his way through stints with the Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Blue Jays. During that time, he's ammassed a 4.72 ERA.

It's nice to see him finally settle down somewhere, that is, as long as the Cardinals don't ship him off as well. He would fit nicely into their bullpen rotation after the organization decided not to tender a contract to lefty John King.

While the Guardians come out of this situation unharmed, they pretty much involved themselves in a trade they never planned on exploring. Bruihl wasn't given a chance to work with the team, while Noel was given up on.

Whatever the reason was for all of it, Cleveland still has to consider opening up the checkbook eventually.

For now, it seems they'll be content remaining in the shadows as they approach the 2026 campaign with various question marks sitting above the heads of prospects on the roster.