Former Guardians outfielder resurfaces on MLB deal with faraway Giants

In 2022, Will Brennan wasted no time introducing himself to Cleveland with an electric final month of the season that resulted in him earning a spot on the team’s postseason roster. 

In a matter of a month, Brennan went from playing in Triple-A to racking up hits against the Yankees in the American League Division Series. 

But that ended up being the high point of Brennan’s time with Cleveland, as injuries and ineffectiveness moved him down the outfield depth chart before he was outrighted off the roster last November. 

But now he’s going to get a chance to resurrect his career on the West Coast. On Sunday, the Giants announced that they’d signed Brennan to a one-year split-level deal that will pay him $400,000 in the minors and $900,000 when he’s in the majors. 

Former Guardian Will Brennan inks split-level deal with Giants 

The Giants inking Brennan to a cheap deal is a win-win for both sides since Brennan will be able to get a chance to rebuild his value on a flexible deal while the Giants can throw him into their big league depth at little-to-no cost. 

Not much went right for Brennan in his final season with the Guardians. He was initially told that he was going to break camp with the Guardians before the front office pivoted at the last moment and traded for Nolan Jones, which left Brennan as the odd man out. 

He ended up appearing in six games for the Guardians before suffering an elbow injury that eventually required Tommy John surgery. He also underwent surgery for a sports hernia injury late in the season, but Mercury News’ Justice de los Santos reported on Sunday that Brennan is fully healed from both injuries. 

Brennan’s a career .267 hitter, but that doesn’t tell the whole story of a career that’s been plagued by injuries. Brennan’s posted solid contact numbers throughout his career (12.7% strikeout rate) and is an above-average fielder, but he never really got a chance to prove it across a full season thanks to a variety of injuries. 

He would have been an obvious fix for the Guardians’ outfield issues last season had he not gotten hurt. 

He’s going to have an uphill battle to earn a spot on the Giants’ big league roster, however. While the Giants have a variety of strong incumbent options in their outfield in Heliot Ramos and Jung Hoo Lee, they also went out and acquired Harrison Bader in the offseason along with fellow contact savant Luis Arraez. 

That said, Brennan has two minor league options remaining, so he’d stand out as one of the team’s top depth options given that he’ll be able to move seamlessly between the minors and bigs. 

Even though Brennan never panned out in Cleveland, he’s always stood out as an obvious player who could end up excelling elsewhere. Now he’s going to get a chance to do just that with the Giants.