The Guardians sought to bolster their bullpen Wednesday by signing Connor Brodgon, a potential reclamation project, to a major league contract.
CLEVELAND — The Guardians announced Wednesday that they had signed right-handed relief pitcher Connor Brodgon to a major league contract, adding a measure of depth to the team’s bullpen.
Brogdon has spent parts of six seasons in MLB, including 2025 with the Los Angeles Angels. The 30-year-old has a career 4.36 ERA across 186 total appearances.
Brogdon enjoyed some success in his initial three seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, posting a 3.27 ERA in 2022 and starring in the playoffs as a member of the club’s NL championship team. However, his performance declined slightly in 2023, and injuries limited him to just four outings in 2024 with the Phillies and Los Angeles Dodgers.
During his 2025 campaign with the Angels, Brogdon struggled with a 5.55 ERA and 11 home runs allowed in 43 big league appearances, and he even spent some time in Triple-A. LA eventually designated him for assignment in October and he chose to become a free agent.
Despite the down year, Brogdon still managed to strike out 49 batters in just 47 innings of work, and his Baseball Savant metrics painted a somewhat more promising picture with solid fastball velocity (95.5 mph on average) and a seven-foot extension rate that ranked in the 92nd percentile among all MLB pitchers. His expected ERA also stood at 3.91, meaning he may have been done in by some bad luck.
These metrics would seemingly make Brogdon a perfect reclamation project for Cleveland’s vaunted “pitching factory,” which besides developing young starters has also had a knack for making something out of otherwise no-name relievers. Examples in this past year alone include Jakob Junis and Kolby Allard, both career journeymen who put up sub-3.00 ERAs as key contributors in the Guards’ pen.
The relieving unit will need some retooling in 2026 as the Guardians chase a fourth AL Central Division championship in five years, as Junis is a free agent and Nic Enright and Sam Hentges each elected free agency after being removed from the 40-man roster (Hentges signed with the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday). There’s also the looming question of star closer Emmanuel Clase, whose future in baseball appears to be nonexistent amid his federal indictment for alleged pitch rigging.
According to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel, Cleveland will pay Brogdon $900,000 in 2026. The team would also control his rights through 2027 before he would hit free agency again in 2028.
It’s a major-league deal for Brogdon worth $900,000 for 2026, per source, and then the Guardians would have one more year of control of him in 2027 before he can become a free agent. https://t.co/5PbhC1R9Ev
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) December 3, 2025