Left-hander Kolby Allard has elected free agency after being sent outright to Triple-A Columbus, according to his transactions tracker at MLB.com. That indicates he cleared waivers after being designated for assignment earlier this week.
Players have the right to reject outright assignments if they have a previous career outright or at least three years of service time. Allard qualifies on both counts and has exercised his right to head to the open market.
He is free to explore options with other clubs but the most likely outcome is that he re-signs with the Guards on a new minor league deal in the coming days. It’s common for players to return to their former clubs in these instances and that’s especially true with Allard specifically. He has been bouncing on and off the Cleveland roster for the better part of a year now, since he is out of options.
He signed a minor league deal with the club in February of 2025. He was added to the roster in April. In July, he was designated for assignment, elected free agency, re-signed to a new minor league deal and was back on the roster in less than a week. He was outrighted again at season’s end, then signed a new minor league deal ahead of this year’s spring training. He was added to the roster in late March and lasted on the roster for a couple of weeks before Monday’s DFA.
The transactions are probably not pleasant but Allard is presumably happy to get some major league pay and service time. The Guards, meanwhile, get some extra depth by keeping the relationship with Allard going.
Last year’s results were excellent, in that he tossed 65 innings as a swingman, allowing 2.63 earned runs per nine. That kind of run prevention wasn’t sustainable when he was only striking out 15.8% of batters faced, which is why he cleared waivers multiple times. This year’s results have been far worse, in a much smaller sample. He logged 8 2/3 innings over four appearances, allowing ten earned runs.
Perhaps news of a new deal with the Guards will emerge in the coming days, though there are several other clubs dealing with injuries, so the possibility of him signing elsewhere can’t be entirely ruled out.
Photo courtesy of Gary A. Vasquez, Imagn Images
White Sox should throw a bit of money at this guy. Their pen is atrocious.
That would be money wasted. His career year was last season under the tutelage of Carl Willis.
AA please DFA Jose Saurez and get Allard. He cannot be any worse than Saurez.
I agree with him over Suarez, but think he can definitely be worse. I watched him pitch 3 mop up innings against the Braves last week. I’ll always root for him, but something definitely needs to change.
Allard can definitely be MUCH worse!
He’ll likely resign a minor league deal with them although I wouldn’t mind the Braves bringing him back on a minor league deal. Not that I truly want him to pitch in the show or think he can make an impact but I like feel good stories for those who were drafted high with an organization continuing to get a shot with an organization that spent a lot of time developing them. Bring back Kyle Muller and you’ll have the 3 “can’t miss” pitching prospects that were in our organization along with Ian Anderson from the 1910’s lol smh
He’s only going to sign elsewhere if he gets a major league deal. Brian Bridges in 2015 thought there was no chance Allard would be available at pick #14. He found out why he was. The Braves drafted his HS C in the 2nd round and he was even worse.
Guardians have plenty of questionable choices in their bullpen, they really don’t need another. Last year was a blessing, let’s move on to the next arm.
“Meanwhile” should START the sentence, not come in the middle between commas.