Guardians manager Vogt tweaks staff after winning AL Central title. Willis, Alomar Jr. both return

CLEVELAND (AP) — Guardians manager Stephen Vogt will have two invaluable coaches again by his side for his second season.

A finalist for AL Manager of the Year after leading Cleveland to 92 regular-season wins and an AL Central title, Vogt tweaked his staff on Wednesday with the biggest moves being Craig Albernaz and Carl Willis staying put.

Albernaz, who was the club’s bench coach in 2024, was promoted to associate manager while Willis will return for his 15th season in Cleveland.

Vogt leaned heavily on Albernaz last season during and after games while navigating his first season as a manager — at any level. Albernaz became highly coveted this offseason, with the Miami Marlins and Chicago White Sox among the teams who inquired about him as a manager.

Instead, he’ll stay with Vogt in Cleveland and have a new title.

“So excited he’s coming back,” Vogt said during a Zoom news conference. “Obviously for him to get the two opportunities and for him to choose to come back to us, it just speaks to who Alby is. His responsibilities won’t change. It was just a recognition of, ‘You’re more than a bench coach, you mean more to us than a bench coach.’”

The same is true of Willis, who was instrumental in the Guardians working through some major pitching issues this year. Ace Shane Bieber was lost for the season after just two starts and the team had to plug major roles in the bullpen after Trevor Stephan and James Karinchak got hurt in spring training.

There had been speculation the 63-year-old Willis would retire or maybe join new Cincinnati manager Terry Francona’s staff.

“I couldn’t be more thankful that Carl’s coming back, what he means to this organization, what he means to me, what he means to our pitchers and the rest of our staff,” Vogt said. “We lean on him a lot. This is the most experience on our staff and for Carl to want to come back to want to be with us, we couldn’t be more thrilled.

“I know I’m looking forward to sitting next to him for another season and him having to hear my words during the game and calm me down.”

The team on Wednesday also promoted Grant Fink to hitting coach. He’ll replace Chris Valaika, who joined Francona with the Reds. Fink was the club’s minor league hitting coordinator the past three seasons.

“As we looked at the landscape of the hitting across the game,” Vogt said, “we kept going back to Grant and what he brings from a leadership standpoint, from familiarity with a lot of our players and familiarity with the other three hitting coaches on our staff.”

Also, first-base coach Sandy Alomar Jr. will be back in 2025 for his 16th season.

In addition, the Guardians promoted Kai Correa to major league field coordinator/director of defense, baserunning and game strategy.

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