Major League Baseball is a harsh business, and the Cleveland Guardians lived by that principle on Tuesday.

By 4 p.m. ET on Tuesday, teams had to add eligible prospects to their 40-man rosters to protect them from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. The Guardians added four such prospects: infielder Angel Genao, outfielder Kahlil Watson, and right-handed pitchers Austin Peterson and Yorman Gómez, according to the official MLB transactions log.

All of that was pretty standard procedure, but the Guardians entered the day with only three open spots for those players, so they had to designate someone for assignment. And, per the transactions log, they chose right-handed pitcher Nic Enright, who underwent Tommy John surgery in October, so he was unlikely to impact the upcoming season on the mound.

However, there’s much more to this story. Enright was one of the feel-good stories of the Guardians’ season, pitching to a 2.03 ERA in 27 appearances and even picking up a save shortly after All-Star closer Emmanuel Clase was placed on leave as MLB investigates his alleged role in the ongoing gambling scandal embroiling the club. And more importantly, Enright fought back to make his major league debut this season just 2 1/2 years after being diagnosed with cancer — Hodgkin’s lymphoma, to be precise.

As of August, Enright was scheduled to undergo another round of treatment this month, per Tim Stebbins of MLB.com.

Right before Enright’s initial diagnosis, he was selected by the Miami Marlins in the 2022 Rule 5 Draft, so there’s a bit of unfortunate symmetry here. He was DFA’d by Miami in May of 2023, so he was allowed to return to the organization that drafted him to continue his climb to the big leagues.

Certainly, if Enright clears waivers, the Guardians would welcome him back with open arms. But even with the knowledge that he likely won’t pitch much or at all this year, it’s entirely possible that a team could claim him and stash him on its 40-man roster until the season begins and he can be added to the 60-day injured list.

Enright has certainly been through tougher times, but getting cut by the Guardians after such a strong start to his career and the amount of adversity he’s already been through has to leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

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