CLEVELAND -- Stephen Vogt acknowledged the difficulty of being away from his family, which is based in Olympia, Wash., for extended stretches over the course of the baseball season. But he also made one thing clear on Thursday.
He can’t wait to run it back with the Guardians next season.
“I'll be in Cleveland,” Vogt said. “I'm here. I'm coming back.”
Vogt and the Guardians’ brass heard the recent noise tying the skipper to the Mariners’ managerial opening. After Seattle parted ways with manager Dan Wilson last month, rumors connected Vogt to the M’s.
It’s easy to see a connection. Vogt served as Seattle’s bullpen coach in 2023, the first season after he retired as a player. He just wrapped up his third campaign as Cleveland’s manager, and he noted that the toughest part about his job is being away from his wife and kids for long stretches of the season.
But he and the Guardians squashed any concern about his status.
“I have every expectation that Vogter is going to manage here for a really long time,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “We don't have any interest in Vogter managing anywhere else.”
Vogt’s initial contract with the Guardians ran through 2026, but the team quietly signed him to a contract extension after his first season at the helm in ’24. Cleveland organizationally is coy with the contract statuses for its manager and executives, so the exact length is not publicly known.
But Antonetti said “it's safe to say that” Vogt is under contract for next season and beyond.
The Guardians’ partnership with Vogt has continually been a massive success. Since he succeeded Terry Francona as Cleveland’s manager, he has led the club to three consecutive AL Central titles.
The Guardians had a heartbreaking finish to 2026, as they came two wins shy of winning the American League pennant, dropping the ALCS vs. the Rays, four games to two. Vogt felt they had a great chance to go all the way and lead Cleveland to its first World Series title since 1948.
“This group felt different,” Vogt said. “There was a belief that we were just going to do it. It wasn't like ’25 where we did this historic comeback [to win the division], couldn't believe it, needed a bunch of help from other teams.
“We controlled our destiny, and we went out and grabbed it and took it. That ability for a team to do that is powerful.”
The Guardians will be better next season for their experience this year. So will Vogt. So far, it’s been a good match.
“Vogter continues to be an extraordinary leader for our group,” Antonetti said. “He brings so much to the table with his leadership, the way he connects with players, how prepared he is. But no matter how good something has gone or how well we might do something, he is always pushing to get better, both as an individual and helping us push us to get better.
“I think that's a good recipe for us trying to sustain success because we're not satisfied with where we are. Vogter's been a big part of getting us to this point and he’s going to be a big part of pushing us further.”
Willis sticking around
Vogt has said in the past that as long as he’s the Guardians’ manager, Carl Willis will be his pitching coach, so long as Willis wants. That will remain the case next season.
Willis will return in 2027 for his 17th overall season as Cleveland’s pitching coach and his 10th straight. In fact, Antonetti said as of Thursday, the expectation is the full staff will return.
Willis has tended to operate on a year-to-year basis with his role, and spends some time at the end of each season reflecting and thinking about his future. He confirmed he will return next season in recent days, Antonetti said.
The Guardians ranked eighth in MLB with a 3.77 ERA in the regular season. Under the tutelage of Willis and assistant pitching coaches Brad Goldberg and Joe Torres, Parker Messick emerged as an AL Rookie of the Year and Cy Young Award contender, and Gavin Williams led the AL with 248 strikeouts.
Watson undergoes surgery
Outfielder Kahlil Watson underwent surgery on Tuesday for a bilateral core muscle injury. His expected recovery timeline is eight to 12 weeks.
Watson slashed .239/.264/.341 over 27 big league games this season, beginning with his June 18 big league debut. He finished the season with Triple-A Columbus after being optioned on July 22.