This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Guardians were nervous entering this offseason.

You hear the words “culture” or “chemistry” so often during the baseball season, especially with teams who are at the top of their division leaderboard. Success can stem from homers and good pitching, but it can also stem from creating a fun brotherly bond with every teammate in the room. It’s what fueled the Guardians all through 2024.

A lot of that is credited to Austin Hedges, as it should be. The man who wore a vintage red Cleveland crop top before every game to make everyone laugh and also had an effortless ability to connect with anyone who walked into the room is the obvious ringleader in the clubhouse. But there has to be someone above him to allow this comfortable environment to exist.

Enter Stephen Vogt and Craig Albernaz.

When Vogt was named the manager of the Guardians, he already had a little bit of a national reputation of being the funny guy. He’s been seen on TV doing Chris Farley impressions and singing Disney songs. But Albernaz bringing a similar -- but different -- life to the party was more of a pleasant surprise.

Both Albernaz and Vogt interviewed for Cleveland’s managerial opening last winter. Part of that process included giving a fake Spring Training speech to those on the hiring board, pretending it was a clubhouse full of eager players. Albernaz, in his thick Boston accent, opened his speech by asking for an interpreter so that everyone in the room could understand him.

Immediately, he was a crowd favorite.

The Guardians wanted both Vogt and Albernaz on this staff. Luckily for them, the duo have been close friends for years. Vogt and Albernaz played together in Tampa Bay’s Minor League system in 2011 and ’12, creating a bond that would flourish more than a decade later as manager and bench coach in Cleveland. Their families spent the All-Star break together at Walt Disney World. They both share the manager’s office on road trips. Vogt loves to make jokes about Albernaz’s height (or lack thereof, at just 5-foot-8) and Albernaz comes back at him with a vengeance.

It’s a beautiful friendship that allows everyone who watches to know that it’s a jovial environment for everyone to have fun.

It’s also why the Guardians were on edge entering the winter.

At the time they hired Albernaz as their bench coach, they knew other teams would soon be calling to offer him manager roles. It was inevitable. And when the Marlins and White Sox both had a managerial vacancy, Albernaz quickly became a finalist for each position. And as much as the Guardians supported him to make the decision that was best for him, it was hard not to think about what they’d be losing if he took another job. After much deliberation, Albernaz decided to decline them both, returning to Cleveland to be Vogt’s associate manager for 2025.

“I was just very humbled to even be considered for both spots,” Albernaz said. “I just want to be around great people and where I can learn and grow, continue to get better. … Ultimately, just to be around this group, the players, it doesn't get better for me.”

The Guardians were ecstatic.

“It was one of the highlights of the offseason for us,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said. “He's endeared himself to so many people in such a short time. I think about how he didn't have many preexisting relationships coming in, and he's built so many great relationships across the organization.”

Almost any bench coach you talk to would say that their dream is to one day become a manager. It’s the goal of a lot of coaches. And for Albernaz, who shares that same dream one day, to have it dangling right in front of him, it wasn’t necessarily easy to turn it down.

“It was difficult. It was,” Albernaz said. “It was tough, but also it wasn't tough in the same regard, because I know where I'm at, I know what I value, what my wife values. … I think it's when you get to that position that you're fortunate enough to have those conversations, you can kind of decipher what you value and what you want to see your future should be.”

Albernaz chose a future in Cleveland. And now, the Guardians know they have an even better chance at repeating the same unprecedented chemistry that radiated their clubhouse last year in 2025.

“He's a huge part of our culture and what the group created as an identity,” Guardians general manager Mike Chernoff said. “So just from even a personal standpoint for all of us, we're really excited about that.”