Guardians pitching depth takes hit with loss of two relievers with MLB experience 

Even if the 2026 MLB season technically isn’t over just yet, some players and teams have already begun to make moves to help get ready for 2027. 

That small tidal wave of moves made its way to the Guardians this week, as relief pitchers Carlos Hernández and Connor Brogdon both elected free agency on Thursday after spending the season with the Guardians. They both ended the season as non-40 man guys in the minors for the Guardians, which is why they were able to elect free agency before the official end of the season. 

Neither of them may have been big parts of the Guardians’ pitching plans in 2026 (and likely weren’t a part of the future), the loss of both of them deals a minor blow to the Guardians’ pitching depth ahead of what could be a huge offseason. 

Connor Brogdon and Carlos Hernández are both free agents now

Ironically, both Hernández and Brogdon pitched down the stretch for the Guardians despite the fact they were two outliers on the roster. 

Brogdon earned an Opening Day roster spot with the Guardians after they inked him to a $900,000 contract in the offseason, but he lasted a little more than a month on the roster before getting designated for assignment after he posted a 5.28 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. He spent two months at the team’s Arizona Complex after getting DFA’d before getting moved to Triple-A. 

He spent a little more than a month with the Clippers before surprisingly getting called up at the end of September as the Guardians navigated their final wave of pitching injuries. He made one appearance with Cleveland in that time before getting DFA’d again. 

Hernández’s time with the Guardians was a bit more chaotic. He re-signed with the Guardians on a minor league deal last offseason but spent the start of the season on the injured list after he fractured his right leg and left arm in a car crash in Venezuela over the winter. 

He made his return to the mound in July in the Arizona Complex League, and spent 72 hours with the Guardians at the start of September after he was called up when rosters expanded. He allowed one run in three innings before being DFA’d, and he finished the season with the Clippers. 

Again, neither of these losses are going to mean much in the grand scheme of things since neither pitcher did much with their big league opportunity. But it does remove both of them from the Guardians’ depth at a time when the team’s leaders could be in the dark on how their pitchers are doing during the lockout. 

There’s going to be at least one or two pitchers who come back a bit sore or dinged up after throwing on their own during the lockout, and Hernández and Brogdon would have both been solid options to fill some spring training innings. 

The good news is that the Guardians are still able to re-sign both of them to contracts, though any deal with either of them would probably come later in the offseason. There are worse options to take a depth flier on. 

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