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Guardians Sign Shawn Armstrong

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December 20: Cleveland has officially announced the addition of Armstrong. The right-hander will earn $4MM in 2026, reports Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com. The deal also includes an $8MM mutual option for 2027, with a $1.5MM buyout. Left-hander Justin Bruihl was designated for assignment to clear space on the 40-man for Armstrong.

December 18: The Guardians and right-hander Shawn Armstrong have agreed to a deal, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The ISE Baseball client will be guaranteed $5.5MM on a one-year pact with a mutual option. The Guards have a full 40-man roster and will need to make a corresponding move to make this deal official.

Armstrong returns to his original organization. He was drafted by Cleveland back in 2011 and pitched for them in the majors from 2015 to 2017. In the almost decade since then, he has spent time with the Mariners, Orioles, Rays, Marlins, Cardinals, Cubs and Rangers.

Despite that nomadic journey, his performance has been fairly steady in some respects. His earned run average has wobbled from year to year, but that’s not unusual for relief pitchers, who pitch a small number of innings annually and can have ERA swings from a few bad games. From 2019 to 2025, Armstrong tossed at least 36 innings in each full season with at least 52 frames in five out of six. His strikeout rate finished between 22% and 27% in each of those. His walk rate has finished below 9.2% in six straight seasons.

Put it all together and Armstrong has thrown 363 1/3 innings since the start of 2019 with a 3.96 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate and 7.8% walk rate. Despite that fairly solid trajectory, he settled for a modest $1.25MM deal with the Rangers for the 2025 season.

Texas was surely pleased with that investment. Armstrong averaged about 94 miles per hour on both his four-seamer and sinker while also mixing in a cutter, slider and curveball. He tossed 74 innings on the year with a 2.31 ERA, 26.1% strikeout rate and 7% walk rate. His .196 batting average on balls in play and 76.3% strand rate were unsustainably fortunate but his 3.07 FIP and 3.36 SIERA suggest he would have fared well even with neutral luck. He saved nine games and registered 12 holds for the Rangers.

Armstrong has parlayed that into a new deal worth more than four times his last one, the biggest payday of the 35-year-old’s career. The Guardians had a strong bullpen in 2025, as their collective 3.44 ERA was third in the majors behind only the Padres and Red Sox. They are down one key member, as Emmanuel Clase is under investigation for a gambling scandal and may never pitch in the majors again.

The Guards don’t usually have tons of money to throw around but have been busy augmenting their bullpen with minor moves. They have signed Colin Holderman and Connor Brogdon to big league deals. They acquired Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays and selected Peyton Pallette from the White Sox in the Rule 5 draft. Those new arms will add to a group which includes incumbents Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and others.

Photo courtesy of William Purnell, Imagn Images

Guardians Sign Stuart Fairchild To Minor League Deal

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The Guardians announced this afternoon that they’ve signed outfielder Stuart Fairchild to a minor league deal. The deal includes a non-roster invite to MLB Spring Training.

Fairchild, 30 in March, was a second-round pick by the Reds back in 2017. He was traded to Arizona as part of the Archie Bradley deal back at the 2020 trade deadline and made his MLB debut with the Diamondbacks in 2021, but made his way back to Cincinnati (after brief pit stops in Seattle and San Francisco) by the end of the 2022. He’d spend the next few years in the Reds’ outfield mix and ultimately appeared in 223 games across parts of three seasons.

The outfielder hit fairly well during his time in Cincinnati, with a .232/.316/.403 slash line that was good for a 94 wRC+ overall. He split time between all three outfield spots with the Reds and managed to go a respectable 23-for-29 on the base paths during his time in the organization. While his overall production was slightly below league average, his ability to handle center field and swipe bases was valuable enough to keep him on the roster in a part-time role. Fairchild’s main draw was his ability to hit left-handed pitching as his .256/.354/.424 (114 wRC+) slash line against southpaws made him a solid complement to the team’s lefty outfield bats like Jake Fraley and Will Benson.

Headed into the 2025 season, however, the Reds lacked a clear path to a roster spot for Fairchild following the club’s acquisition of Austin Hays as well as the decision to move Spencer Steer into the outfield. With those righty bats in the club’s outfield plans, Fairchild became expendable and was designated for assignment. With a need for additional outfield depth while Ronald Acuna Jr. was on the injured list, the Braves traded for him not long afterwards. Between Acuna’s injury rehab and the early-season suspension of Jurickson Profar, there was plenty of playing time to be had in the Atlanta outfield mix. Fairchild took on some of that load, ultimately appearing in 28 games for the club where he hit a paltry .216/.273/.333 with a 27.3% strikeout rate across 55 plate appearances.

A dislocated pinkie finger cost Fairchild around a month of the 2025 season, and between that injury and poor performance when healthy he found himself DFA’d by Atlanta back in July. He was scooped up by the Rays in a minor trade but did not make an appearance for the MLB club before being designated for assignment once again at the outset of the offseason. He cleared waivers successfully and elected free agency, leading to the Guardians being able to add him on this non-roster pact.

For Cleveland, Fairchild’s addition means they’ve found a decent right-handed depth option for an outfield that lost Lane Thomas to the Royals in free agency this year. The Guardians have a heavily left-handed outfield mix as things stand, with Steven Kwan in left field, Chase DeLauter in center, and George Valera in right. Johnathan Rodriguez and Angel Martinez should serve as decent right-handed complements, but Fairchild offers some additional depth behind that group and protection against the possibility that the Guardians, whose 87 wRC+ in the outfield ranked 26th in the majors last year, don’t make a more significant addition on the grass.

Guardians Acquire Justin Bruihl, Designate Jhonkensy Noel For Assignment

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The Guardians have acquired left-hander Justin Bruihl from the Blue Jays in exchange for cash considerations, according to announcements from both clubs. The Jays had designated the lefty for assignment earlier this week. To open a 40-man spot, the Guards designated outfielder Jhonkensy Noel for assignment.

Bruihl, 29 in June, signed a minor league deal with the Jays ahead of the 2025 campaign. He eventually earned a roster spot and had a decent season, in some ways. His 5.27 earned run average in the majors doesn’t look nice, but that came in a small sample of 13 2/3 innings. He also had a strong 27.7% strikeout rate and 46.2% ground ball rate in that time. His 10.8% walk rate was a bit high but he was really held back by a .459 batting average on balls in play. ERA estimators such as his 4.16 FIP and 3.42 SIERA were far more optimistic.

His minor league numbers look more like those latter metrics than his big league ERA. He tossed 42 innings for Triple-A Buffalo with a 3.43 ERA, 27.8% strikeout rate, 9.1% walk rate and 58.4% ground ball rate.

Bruihl doesn’t throw especially hard. His two-seamer averaged just 90.2 miles per hour this year. He also mixed in a cutter at 87.5 mph and a 78.4 mph slider. He nonetheless managed to punch guys out and avoid hard contact. The Jays sent him between Triple-A and the majors this year but he was enough of a factor to be on their ALDS roster against a lefty-heavy Yankee lineup. He wasn’t carried on the roster for subsequent rounds.

Despite some intriguing numbers this year, he got squeezed off Toronto’s roster this week. He exhausted his final option in 2025 and will be out of options going forward. With the Jays also having lefties Brendon Little, Mason Fluharty and Eric Lauer on the roster, they designated Bruihl for assignment.

The Guards are intrigued enough to bring him aboard. Their southpaw relief contingent is currently headlined by Erik Sabrowski and Tim Herrin but those two each walked more than 15.5% of batters faced in 2025. Joey Cantillo could be in the mix but he’s more of a long reliever. With Bruihl’s option status, he’ll have to perform but there’s a path for him to earn a job in the Cleveland bullpen. He has under two years of service time, meaning he hasn’t yet qualified for arbitration and can be controlled for five full seasons if he can hold a roster spot.

The unfortunate side effect of adding Bruihl is that the Guards have cut “Big Christmas” from the roster barely a week before the holiday he’s named after. Noel has shown some big power in his career but also has a poor approach at the plate. In his 351 big league plate appearances, 32.8% of them have ended in a strikeout while he has only drawn a walk 4.8% of the time.

Despite hitting 19 home runs, his .193/.242/.401 batting line translates to a 79 wRC+. He’s not a good defender nor is he a burner on the basepaths, so he really needs to hit to provide value. The homers help but the overall offense has been lacking.

Like Bruihl, he exhausted his final option season in 2025. That was going to make it harder for the Guards to keep him on the roster, especially with guys like Chase DeLauter and George Valera reaching the big leagues this year.

He’ll head into DFA limbo and see if the Guards can line up a trade or if anyone wants him on waivers. If he lands somewhere else, he can be controlled for five full seasons. Since he has less than three years of service and doesn’t have a previous career outright, he will not have the right to elect free agency if he is passed through outright waivers unclaimed.

Photo courtesy of Ken Blaze, Dennis Lee, Imagn Images

Guardians Manager Stephen Vogt Signed Multi-Year Extension

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When the Guardians originally hired Stephen Vogt as their new manager following the 2023 season, it was announced that he’d signed a three-year contract covering the 2024-26 seasons. Vogt, however, isn’t coming up on the final year of his contract as it might have seemed. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports that the Guardians quietly signed Vogt to a multi-year extension following the 2024 campaign. The new contract was never announced, nor was it reported at the time.

Vogt, 41, has been named American League Manager of the Year in each of his two seasons as Cleveland’s skipper. Under his watch, the Guardians have twice enjoyed late-season rallies to force their way into the postseason. The ’24 Guardians won 88 games and topped the Tigers in the ALDS before falling to the Yankees in the ALCS. In 2025, Cleveland won 92 games but lost to the Tigers in a 2-1 Wild Card series defeat. Overall, Vogt is 180-143 as a big league manager.

It’s not entirely clear how long Vogt’s new contract runs, but he’s likely signed through at least the 2028 season now. He’ll continue overseeing a club that’s anchored by perennial MVP candidate José Ramirez and is on the cusp of welcoming a new wave of top prospects who could comprise the Guardians’ long-term core.

Outfield prospect Chase DeLauter made his big league debut in 2025. He’ll be joined by 2024 No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana at some point in 2026, and fellow top prospects like infielder Angel Genao and catcher Cooper Ingle could make their debuts this coming season as well. Bazzana and Ingle both reached Triple-A in 2025; Genao held his own as a 21-year-old in Double-A. Pitching prospect Khal Stephen, acquired from the Blue Jays in the deadline deal sending Shane Bieber to Toronto, dominated up through the Double-A level in ’25 and could be an option to join Vogt’s rotation in 2026.

Though the Guardians are unlikely to ever field a payroll that’s consistently in the top half of the league, the presence of Ramirez, some quality arms (e.g. Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibee), looming young prospects and a perennially successful player development department should continue to put Vogt and the Guardians organization in position for success within the American League Central.

Guardians Sign Colin Holderman

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The Guardians announced the signing of right-hander Colin Holderman to a one-year deal, reports Robert Murray of FanSided. It’s reportedly a $1.5MM salary for the ACES client. The Guards had a 40-man vacancy, so the roster is now full.

Holderman, 30, was non-tendered by the Pirates last month. That wasn’t a terrible shock, as his 2025 season wasn’t great, due to some injuries and struggles when healthy. However, he was actually quite good in the prior two seasons, so the Guards will see if they can find a bounceback.

Over the 2023 and 2024 seasons, Holderman tossed 107 1/3 innings out of the Pittsburgh bullpen. His four-seamer and sinker both averaged above 97 miles per hour, while he also mixed in a cutter and a slider. He allowed 3.52 earned runs per nine frames. His 9.7% walk rate was a tad high but acceptable. His 24.6% strikeout rate and 45.8% ground ball rate were both a bit better than par. He earned two saves and 48 holds, living up to his surname.

But as mentioned, he wasn’t able to keep it going in 2025. He missed about three weeks in April due to a right knee sprain. After being reinstated, right thumb inflammation put him back on the IL for about six weeks. Around those IL stints, he posted a 7.01 ERA in 25 2/3 innings. He walked 12.8% of batters faced while only getting strikeouts at a 14.4% clip.

Holderman had qualified for arbitration a year ago as a Super Two player. The Bucs paid him $1.5MM in 2025. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Holderman for a modest bump to $1.7MM in 2026. The Pirates decided not to pay that after his poor season, so they non-tendered him and sent him to free agency.

Cleveland’s manager Stephen Vogt recently said that his club would be looking to add depth to the bullpen. Holderman is a low-cost pick-up and he also has options, so he can be kept in Triple-A if he’s not able to get back on track. He added a splitter in 2025, though he only threw it 3.9% of the time in his truncated season. Perhaps some better health will give him some time to flesh that out more. If he is still on the 40-man roster at the end of the season, he could be retained beyond 2026 via arbitration.

Robert Murray of FanSided reported the agreement. Zack Meisel of The Athletic reported the $1.5MM salary. Photo courtesy of James A. Pittman, Imagn Images

2025 Rule 5 Draft Results

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The 2025 Rule 5 draft is taking place this afternoon at the Winter Meetings in Orlando. This post will be updated with the results as they come in.

As a refresher, the Rule 5 draft is a way for players potentially talented enough for the big leagues but blocked by their current clubs to find opportunities elsewhere. Any players that were 18 and under at the time of their original signing and went professional in 2021, and any players who turned pro at 19 years of age or older in 2022, are eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft if they are not on a 40-man roster.

Though the amateur (Rule 4) draft now has a lottery to determine the selection order, the Rule 5 draft still goes the old-fashioned way of reverse order of standings from the season that just ended. Clubs need to have an open 40-man roster spot in order to make a pick but aren’t obligated to make a selection on their turn. If they do make a pick, they will have to pay $100K to the team they select from. The selected players must stay on the active roster (or injured list) for the entire 2026 season or else be placed on waivers. If they clear waivers, they must be offered back to their original team. They cannot be optioned to the minors.

Players like Anthony Santander and Ryan Pressly have been notable picks in other recent years while guys like George Bell and Roberto Clemente are found deeper in the history books. Last year, 15 players were selected. Only four of those remain with the club who selected them and only three of those have had their rights fully transferred to their new club. The White Sox took Shane Smith from the Brewers. The Marlins took Liam Hicks from the Tigers. Mike Vasil was taken by the Phillies from the Mets but was later traded to the Rays and then went to the White Sox via waivers.

The one other pick from last year’s draft which is still live is Angel Bastardo, who the Blue Jays took from the Red Sox. He was recovering from Tommy John surgery and spent the entire 2025 season on the injured list. He is still on Toronto’s 40-man but they don’t yet have his full rights, as a player needs at least 90 active days to remove the Rule 5 restrictions. If the Jays are willing to roster him for about three months during the 2026 season, they could then gain his full rights and option him to the minors. All other picks were eventually returned to their original organization and/or became free agents.

This year’s picks will be featured below as they come in…

  1. Rockies: RHP RJ Petit (from the Tigers) (Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs was on this before the official announcement)
  2. White Sox: RHP Jedixson Paez (Red Sox)
  3. Nationals: RHP Griff McGarry (Phillies)
  4. Twins: C Daniel Susac (Athletics) (Susac was then traded to the Giants, per Longenhagen. The Twins will get minor league catcher Miguel Caraballo in return, per Bobby Nightengale of The Minnesota Star Tribune)
  5. Pirates: RHP Carter Baumler (Orioles) (The Pirates then traded Baumler to the Rangers for RHP Jaiker Garcia. Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News previously suggested Texas would likely get Baumler)
  6. Angels: pass
  7. Orioles: pass
  8. Athletics: RHP Ryan Watson (Giants) (Will be traded to Red Sox, per Chris Cotillo of MassLive. The A’s will get Justin Riemer in return, per Cotillo.)
  9. Braves: pass
  10. Rays: pass
  11. Cardinals: RHP Matt Pushard (Marlins)
  12. Marlins: pass
  13. Diamondbacks: pass
  14. Rangers: pass
  15. Giants: pass
  16. Royals: pass
  17. Reds: pass
  18. Mets: pass
  19. Tigers: pass
  20. Astros: RHP Roddery Muñoz (Reds)
  21. Guardians: RHP Peyton Pallette (White Sox)
  22. Red Sox: pass
  23. Mariners: pass
  24. Padres: pass
  25. Cubs: pass
  26. Dodgers: pass
  27. Blue Jays: RHP Spencer Miles (Giants)
  28. Yankees: RHP Cade Winquest (Cardinals)
  29. Phillies: RHP Zach McCambley (Marlins)
  30. Brewers: pass

Second round (all others passed)

Photo courtesy of Mike Watters, Imagn Images

Guardians Notes: Kwan, Bullpen, Valera, Rocchio

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As expected, it has been a quiet start to the offseason for the Guardians. Their only major league moves thus far have been to re-sign backup catcher Austin Hedges and add middle reliever Connor Brogdon. Cleveland rarely attacks free agency, and they seem generally unlikely to make major moves on the trade front in either direction this winter.

The Guardians heard teams out on Steven Kwan at the deadline. They didn’t find an offer to their liking, and they’re less inclined to sell after making a surprise late-season run to another AL Central title. Unsurprisingly, ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote this morning that while the Guards aren’t going to close themselves off to offers, they’re currently inclined to hold him into next season.

An offseason trade would be selling at a bit of a low point. Kwan had a .700 OPS or worse in each of the final four months. His overall .272/.330/.374 line was league average, but that was carried mostly by a fantastic April. It’s primarily a reflection of a drop in his batting average on balls in play. BABIP volatility is to be expected for a player who rarely hits the ball hard but is one of the sport’s five best pure contact hitters. The bat-to-ball skills and plus defense in left field give him a solid floor, and both FanGraphs and Baseball Reference valued him around three wins above replacement.

Kwan is under team control for two seasons. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projects him for an $8.8MM salary. The Guardians don’t have much on the books beyond the well below-market José Ramírez contract. They’re not under any financial pressure to move him. Even if other teams value him just as highly as they did over the summer, a trade would remove the only established outfielder from Stephen Vogt’s lineup. Rookies Chase DeLauter, Petey Halpin and George Valera and the out-of-options Nolan Jones are currently in line to divide the center and right field playing time. The Guards already need to add to the outfield, and a Kwan trade would only push that further.

Cleveland is also in the market for multiple relievers, Vogt told reporters at the Winter Meetings (link via Tim Stebbins of MLB.com). “We need depth in the bullpen,” the two-time AL Manager of the Year said. “We have four, maybe five guys in our bullpen, and we need eight.”

It’s safe to assume Emmanuel Clase isn’t coming back. That keeps Cade Smith in the closer role. Hunter Gaddis is a quality setup arm from the right side. The rest of the group is in flux. Brogdon and Matt Festa are out of options and probably set to open the season in middle relief. Neither should be ticketed for leverage spots. There’s even less certainty from the left side. Tim Herrin and Erik Sabrowski have each shown promise but struggled to throw strikes. Even if a depth starter like Joey Cantillo or Doug Nikhazy ends up in long relief, they need more trustworthy arms.

Additionally, Zack Meisel of The Athletic reports that the Guardians have been granted a fourth option year on both Valera and second base prospect Juan Brito. Players can typically only be optioned to the minor leagues in three separate seasons after being added to the 40-man roster. After that, teams need to pass them through waivers and outright them off the 40-man to send them down.

Exceptions are made for players who have less than five full seasons (90+ days) on an MLB or minor league active roster. That usually occurs because the player took a while to reach full-season ball — especially for international signings who signed their first contract at 16 — and/or missed chunks of a season to injury. Valera didn’t play a full minor league season until 2021 and missed most of this past season working back from knee surgery. Brito didn’t play a full season until 2022, so he’d have been eligible for the fourth option even if he were fully healthy. He missed most of the ’25 season because of thumb and hamstring issues.

Valera and Brito could each be in the mix for Opening Day roster spots. The Guardians have the flexibility to send them to Triple-A Columbus for another season, though both right field and second base are open in the short term. There’s probably more pressure on Brito to break out, as top prospect Travis Bazzana has already hit his way to Triple-A. Bazzana has the higher ceiling and is viewed as the long-term second baseman, meaning Brito might not have much runway even if he breaks camp.

Vogt told reporters that Brayan Rocchio will play a lot of shortstop during Spring Training. They’ll move Gabriel Arias around in a utility role, leaving the door open for Brito or Bazzana to play their way into the second base job early in the season. Rocchio divided his time evenly between the middle infield spots this year, though he was mostly at the keystone in the second half. He’s out of options and probably isn’t in jeopardy of losing his roster spot, but he’s a .222/.293/.327 in more than 900 plate appearances over parts of three seasons. He’s entering his age-25 campaign and in a bit of a make-or-break spot himself if he’s going to remain an everyday player.

Cardinals Claim Zak Kent

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The Cardinals announced Friday that they’ve claimed right-hander Zak Kent off waivers from the Guardians. The Cards already had a pair of 40-man vacancies and are now up to 39 players on the roster.

Kent, 28 in February, made his big league debut in Cleveland this past season. He tossed 17 2/3 innings out of the Guards’ bullpen and yielded nine earned runs (4.58 ERA) with a 21.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate. Kent averaged 92.6 mph on his four-seamer and 93.6 mph on a sparsely used sinker. His breaking offerings include a mid-80s slider and a low-80s curveball.

Though Kent didn’t show much in his relatively limited run at the MLB level, he turned in a sharp 2.84 ERA in 38 Triple-A frames last year. Command issues still plagued him, evidenced by 13.2% walk rate, but he also set down more than 31% of his opponents on strikes. He’s long been credited as having a pair of plus breaking pitches, but his sub-par fastball velocity and poor command have undercut the quality of both those breaking pitches.

Kent is out of minor league options, so the Cardinals can’t send him to Triple-A Memphis next season without first passing him through waivers. Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Kent is eligible for a fourth option, so perhaps the Cards will apply for that and be granted another option for Kent. There’s no guarantee he makes it to spring training on the 40-man roster, but if he does stick on the roster all winter, Kent should have an opportunity to win a job in what should be a wide-open competition for at least four bullpen spots (five, if the Cardinals trade JoJo Romero, as expected).

Guardians, Connor Brogdon Agree To Major League Deal

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The Guardians and right-hander Connor Brogdon have agreed to a major league deal, reports Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Brogdon will make a salary of $900K next year, per Zack Meisel of The Athletic. The Guardians have 40-man vacancies and don’t need to make a corresponding move.

It’s a bit surprising to see Brogdon, 31 in January, secure himself a big league deal. He settled for a minor league deal with the Angels last winter. He was added to the roster a couple of times during the season, but was later passed through waivers in both instances. He tossed 47 innings for the Halos around those transactions, allowing 5.55 earned runs per nine.

Those were obviously not great results but the Guardians are presumably seeing something attractive under the hood. Brogdon’s 24.6% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate were both close to league average. His ERA was inflated because he allowed 11 home runs, almost doubling his previous career high of six. There are some ERA estimators which consider home run spikes to be fluky. Brogdon’s SIERA, for instance, was just 3.86 this year.

It’s also perhaps worth pointing out that Brogdon’s velocity came back. He averaged 95.5 miles per hour on his fastball in 2025. In 2024, he had battled plantar fasciitis and only tossed three big league innings. In that small sample of work, his fastball was down to 92.8 mph.

The Guardians presumably feel there’s a path to get Brogdon back to his previous results. From 2020 to 2022, then with the Phillies, Brogdon tossed 113 innings with a 3.42 ERA, 25.1% strikeout rate and 7.3% walk rate. He earned three saves and 16 holds. He also tossed 8 2/3 postseason innings with a 2.08 ERA in 2022, as the Phils made it all the way to the World Series. His fastball velo was in the 95-96 mph range for those seasons.

In 2023, his results backed up. He posted a 4.03 ERA with a 20.5% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. His average fastball velo fell to 94.7 mph. The following year, he bounced to the Dodgers and battled the aforementioned plantar fasciitis situation. With the Angels in 2025, his results weren’t fully back but the velo and strikeouts were close to his best years in Philadelphia.

The Guards generally have pretty good bullpens and that was the case in 2025. Even though they lost Emmanuel Clase to a gambling investigation in July, the club’s relief corps still finished the season with a collective 3.44 ERA, third in the majors behind the Padres and Red Sox. Brogdon will jump into that mix as the Guards try to coax better results out of him than the Angels did in 2025.

Brogdon is out of options, meaning he can’t be sent to the minors without being exposed to waivers. If the Guards pass him through waivers at some point, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with at least three years of service time. However, since he has less than five years of service, he would have to forfeit his remaining salary commitments in order to exercise that right.

The $900K salary isn’t that high, considering the MLB minimum will be $780K next year. However, it is perhaps enough to dissuade other teams from claiming Brogdon. It’s also very unlikely Brogdon choose to leave that money on the table. Perhaps the Guardians are planning on having Brogdon in Triple-A as non-roster depth at some point in the future. If he is holding a roster spot at the end of the 2026 season, he can be retained via arbitration for 2027.

Photo courtesy of Ed Szczepanski, Imagn Images

American League Non-Tenders: 11/21/25

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Every American League team has officially announced their non-tender decisions. It was a quiet evening in terms of subtractions, with only the Rangers parting with any marquee players. All players who were non-tendered are free agents without going on waivers. A few teams dropped pre-arbitration players from the back of the 40-man roster. It’s possible they preferred not to expose them to waivers and are hopeful of re-signing them to non-roster deals.

Here’s a full list of today’s activity in the AL, while the National League moves are available here. All projected salaries are courtesy of MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz.

  • The Angels announced they’ve non-tendered outfielder Gustavo Campero and catcher Sebastian Rivero. Campero is a depth outfielder who has hit .202/.272/.346 over the past two seasons. Rivero operated as the club’s third catcher for most of the season but spent the final few weeks on the active roster. Neither player had been eligible for arbitration. All their arb-eligible players were easy calls to retain.
  • The Astros technically made one non-tender, dropping infielder Ramón Urías after he was designated for assignment earlier in the week. He’d been projected at $4.4MM.
  • The Athletics officially non-tendered outfielder JJ Bleday, the club announced. He’d been designated for assignment on Tuesday, so this was inevitable unless they found a trade partner. Bleday had been projected at $2.2MM.
  • The only non-tenders for the Red Sox were first baseman Nathaniel Lowe and reliever Josh Winckowski, each of whom had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Lowe was projected at $13.5MM, while Winckowski was at $800K.
  • The Guardians non-tendered outfielder Will Brennan and relievers Sam Hentges and Nic Enright. The latter had been designated for assignment on Tuesday. Hentges hasn’t pitched since undergoing shoulder surgery in September 2024. He underwent a right knee procedure a few months ago and will be delayed this offseason. Brennan only appeared in six MLB games this year and underwent Tommy John surgery while in the minors in June. He’d been projected at $900K.
  • The Mariners non-tendered reliever Gregory Santos, reports Francys Romero. He’d only been projected at $800K, narrowly above the MLB minimum, so the move was about dropping him from the 40-man roster. Seattle acquired the 26-year-old righty from the White Sox over the 2023-24 offseason. He has only made 16 MLB appearances with a 5.02 earned run average over the past two years because of lat and knee injuries. Seattle also non-tendered relievers Trent Thornton and Tayler Saucedo (the latter of whom was designated for assignment on Tuesday). Thornton had been projected at $2.5MM and is coming off a 4.68 ERA through 33 appearances. He suffered a season-ending Achilles tear in August.
  • The Orioles non-tendered swingman Albert Suárez, the team announced. Everyone else in their arbitration class was offered a contract, surprisingly including first baseman Ryan Mountcastle (as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan). Suárez, 36, was a solid depth starter in 2024. He was limited to five MLB appearances this past season by a flexor strain but is not expected to require surgery.
  • The Rangers non-tendered each of Adolis García, Jonah Heim, Josh Sborz and Jacob Webb. MLBTR covered those moves in greater detail.
  • The Rays only non-tendered outfielders Christopher Morel and Jake Fraley, each of whom had been designated for assignment earlier in the week. Marc Topkin of The Tampa Bay Times reported last night that the Rays were open to bringing back Fraley at a lower price than his $3.6MM arbitration projection.
  • The Royals non-tendered outfielder MJ Melendez and reliever Taylor Clarke, per a club announcement. Melendez, who’d been projected at $2.65MM, was an obvious decision. The former top prospect never developed as hoped and is a career .215/.297/.388 hitter over parts of four seasons. Clarke isn’t as big a name but comes as the more surprising cut. He’d been projected at just $1.9MM and is coming off a 3.25 ERA with a 21.4% strikeout rate over 55 1/3 innings out of the bullpen.
  • The Tigers are non-tendering utility player Andy Ibáñez, according to Romero. He’d been projected at $1.8MM. The righty-hitting Ibáñez had been a solid short-side platoon bat for Detroit between 2023-24. His production against southpaws dropped this year (.258/.311/.403), limiting his value. The Tigers optioned the 32-year-old to Triple-A in early June and kept him in the minors until shortly before the trade deadline. Detroit also dropped the six pitchers they’d designated for assignment earlier in the week: Tanner Rainey, Dugan Darnell, Tyler Mattison, Jason Foley, Jack Little and Sean Guenther.
  • The only Twins non-tender was outfielder DaShawn Keirsey Jr., who’d been designated for assignment this morning to make room for the Alex Jackson trade. Everyone in the arbitration class was brought back.
  • The White Sox non-tendered outfielder Mike Tauchman, as first reported by Bruce Levine of 670 The Score. The lefty hitter turned in a solid .263/.356/.400 line in 93 games this past season. Tauchman has gotten on base at plus rates in three straight years but was also non-tendered by the Cubs a year ago. The 34-year-old (35 next month) had been projected for a $3.4MM salary. The Sox also announced they’ve dropped lefty reliever Cam Booser and first baseman Tim Elko. Neither had been eligible for arbitration. The former posted a 5.52 ERA in 39 appearances after being acquired from the Red Sox last winter, while the latter hit .134 in his first 23 MLB games despite a 26-homer season in Triple-A.
  • The Yankees announced five non-tenders. Relievers Mark Leiter Jr., Scott Effross, Jake Cousins and Ian Hamilton were all cut loose, as was pre-arbitration righty Michael Arias. Leiter, who’d been projected at $3MM, never clicked in the Bronx after being acquired at the 2024 deadline. He posted a 4.89 ERA in 70 innings as a Yankee. Hamilton, Effross and Cousins were all projected just above the MLB minimum but are cut to clear roster space. Hamilton was on and off the active roster and posted a 4.28 ERA in 40 big league frames this year. Effross was limited to 11 appearances and has been plagued by various injuries for the past three and a half years, while Cousins is working back from Tommy John surgery. Arias has never pitched in the big leagues and could be brought back on a minor league deal.

The Blue Jays tendered contracts to all unsigned players on the 40-man roster.

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