Former Guardians relief ace agrees to one-year deal with San Francisco

Last week, the Guardians elected to not tender a contract to left-handed reliever Sam Hentges after he spent all of the 2025 season rehabbing from arm and knee injuries. 

It didn’t take long for him to find a new home. 

Earlier today, Hentges agreed to a one-year, $1.4 million contract with the San Francisco Giants today, per Fansided’s Robert Murray. Hentges was projected to earn $1.3 million through arbitration, so he earned a bit of a pay bump. 

Former Guardian reliever Sam Hentges inks contract with Giants 

The Guardians’ non-tendering Hentges was a bit of a surprise, so it’s not a surprise that it didn’t take him much time to find a new home. 

While Hentges hasn’t pitched in a game since July 2024 after undergoing Tommy John surgery, he posted a 2.93 ERA from 2022 to ‘24 and blossomed into a relief ace with the Guardians after starting his career as a starter. 

His best season came in 2022 when he posted a 2.32 ERA with 72 strikeouts in  62 innings. He followed that up by allowing just two runs across 6 2/3 postseason innings. 

But that potential ended up not being enough for the Guardians to decide to keep Hentges around on the roster despite the fact they tendered him a contract last year knowing that he was going to miss the entire season. 

Any chance Hentges had of returning to action in 2025 was dashed in September when he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. 

That time away led to him being lapped in the Guardians’ trust tree by fellow left-handers Tim Herrin and Erik Sabrowski. 

He’s now going to join a Giants bullpen that’s been a work-in-progress since they traded Camilo Doval to the Yankees at last year’s trade deadline. Ryan Walker led the way with 17 saves, but he also finished the year with 4.11 ERA. 

They also have some other lefties in the fold in the form of Erik Miller, Matt Gage and Reiver Sanmartin, but Hentges is arguably a more interesting option than all of them so long as he’s able to stay healthy. 

The Giants took a big swing last year by acquiring Rafael Devers from the Boston Red Sox, but they still finished the year at 81-81. While Hentges alone won’t fix that, he’s a valuable middle-leverage arm for new manager Tony Vitello to lean on.