For the Guardians, Connor Brogdon suddenly looks like more than a footnote.
What had been shaping up as a $900,000 investment that produced little beyond 15 pitching appearances at the start of the season has turned into a fresh opportunity, thanks to a late-season bullpen opening and a roster that didn’t offer many obvious alternatives. Brogdon was back in Progressive Field’s bullpen door Monday night, called on to cover the final two innings of a loss to the White Sox.
That was not exactly the path anyone would have drawn up when the year began. Brogdon arrived with six seasons of MLB experience and 8 2/3 innings of postseason work, but after he was designated for assignment in May, there wasn’t much noise around him. His return to the Guardians’ September bullpen still came as a surprise, especially with other relievers already sitting on the 40-man roster.
The call-up over the weekend came after Franco Aleman’s dud against the Twins on Saturday. At first, Brogdon looked like the kind of short-term insurance the club could shuffle through quickly. Monday’s game, though, hinted at a wider role for the rest of the season.
His outing came in a game that was already out of hand, and Slade Cecconi seemed positioned to finish it off until he reached his quasi-pitch limit of 40ish pitches. That left Brogdon with the final two outs. He got the first one after Jo Adell made an outfield assist on an Andrew Benintendi RBI single, then finished the inning by striking out Colson Montgomery with a 96 mile per hour fastball.
That punchout is the kind of pitch that likely got him back into the picture in the first place.
Brogdon’s path to this point has been a winding one. After clearing waivers, a knee injury sent him to the Arizona Complex League, and he didn’t make it back to Triple-A until the start of August. His numbers at Columbus weren’t eye-catching - a 6.35 ERA in 12 outings - but he did strike out 13 batters, and that swing-and-miss ability clearly still matters to the Guardians.
Aleman’s rough outing forced Cleveland to make a bullpen move, and the choice to go with Brogdon says plenty about how the club sees the rest of its pitching depth. Logan Allen has the most MLB experience among the 40-man options in Triple-A, but he would overlap with Cecconi in the bullpen.
Austin Peterson, who tossed two scoreless innings in relief in his debut, has mostly worked as a starter in Triple-A. Andrew Walters would make sense in a different year, but he just underwent arm surgery that will keep him out for all of 2027.
With an open 40-man spot available, the Guardians chose Brogdon. Now he has one last chance to turn that odd little roster decision into real value.
In Other News...
Guardians Rookie Just Delivered The Response Cleveland Needed Most
Petey Halpin gave Cleveland exactly the kind of night a young player can use to change the conversation. After an early defensive misplay, the rookie answered with the biggest swing of the game, a go-ahead three-run homer against the White Sox that helped the Guardians beat Chicago 6-3 and move into first place in the AL Central. It was the sort of response teams remember, especially from a player still trying to carve out his place on a club with real division ambitions.
Halpins night carried a little extra weight because of the matchup, too. He had not done much against left-handed pitching before, but he came through with his first home run off a lefty and added key hits along the way, drawing praise from teammates and coaches for the way he handled the moment. For Cleveland, it was more than a promising rookie performance. It was the kind of contribution that can steady a dugout and hint at what the Guardians might have in him going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Just Grabbed Back First Place At The Perfect Time
Parker Messick and Anthony Kay gave the night an immediate feel of a game that would be shaped on the margins, and for a while that is exactly how it played. Cleveland and Chicago matched up with both starters leaning on the same trends they had shown against this opponent all season, before the Guardians found a third-inning breakthrough and started stacking enough contact and pressure to turn it their way.
Jo Adell, Tommy Pham, Petey Halpin and Jose all helped push the inning-to-inning advantage along, while the bullpen piece mattered just as much once the lead was in hand. Hagen Smith, Sean Newcomb and Hunter Gaddis each had a hand in the late work, and for Cleveland the bigger picture was as important as the box score: a win like this came at exactly the right moment in a tight race, with first place back within reach again. [Read more 🡒]
Guardians Face A Steven Kwan Decision Fans May Hate
Steven Kwans name has become one of the more interesting long-term conversations around Cleveland as the season moves along, because the Guardians are staring at a familiar kind of front-office crossroads. He is entering the final year of his contract, and after 2027 he could be on track for free agency, which makes his future a real issue for a club that has to balance present value with the realities of its roster cycle.
Kwans season has still carried plenty of value, with his overall impact showing up strongly in bWAR even as his offense has been a little below his usual standard. That tension is what makes the coming offseason so delicate for Cleveland: whether to explore a trade while his market is still strong or push for a long-term extension and keep one of its most recognizable everyday players in place. [Read more 🡒]