The peak of hot stove season is fast approaching with the winter meetings beginning Sunday, but the Cleveland Guardians didn’t want to wait any longer to make their first signing of the offseason.
As fans of the team are all too aware, the Guardians are not typically big spenders. But they’ve mastered the art of finding little-known pitchers whom they can tinker with until they make a major impact, and perhaps they’ve already found one who can help the bullpen next year.
On Wednesday, the Guardians signed right-handed pitcher Connor Brogdon, most recently of the Los Angeles Angels, to a major league contract, per the official Major League Baseball transactions log.
According to a report from Zack Meisel of The Athletic, Brogdon will make $900,000 this year on his fully guaranteed deal. He is arbitration-eligible for the final time in 2027 if the Guardians want to keep him on the roster for a second season, but if he gets designated for assignment or released at any point, he will become eligible for free agency next year instead.
Brogdon, 30, now has six partial seasons of major league experience under his belt, totaling 192 innings. Once a 10th-round pick for the Philadelphia Phillies, there was a time when it appeared the hard-throwing righty would be a long-term staple of the bullpen for the National League East contenders, but his strong 2021 and 2022 seasons gave way to tougher times.
Of note, Brogdon threw 8 2/3 innings of two-run ball for the Phillies during their 2022 playoff run, including four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts in the World Series against the Houston Astros.
This season with the Angels, Brogdon threw 47 innings, his most since 2021, but struggled mightily. His 5.55 ERA was by far the worst of his career in anything resembling a full season, and his 5.24 FIP indicated that he didn’t get particularly unlucky in the process.
The Guardians, though, have earned a strong enough reputation to trust that somehow, Brogdon will find his way back to above-average form this season, even though no signing is ever guaranteed to work out.
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