The Cleveland Guardians need more relief pitching depth, and Tyler Rogers could provide a boost for the bullpen.
Chris Antonetti said last month at MLB’s GM meetings that the Cleveland Guardians were looking to add to their bullpen this offseason. At the time, it was a surprising statement from the President of Baseball Operations, but it makes sense for the team to add to its reliever depth.
The thing is, though, the Guardians are elite at developing pitching. If Cleveland is going to spend on a reliever, they should go all-in and get one of the top arms on the market.
One pitcher the Guardians should prioritize in free agency is LHP Tyler Rogers.
The left-hander split time between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets in 2025 and had arguably the best season of his career, registering an ERA of 1.98 and a 0.94 WHIP in 81 appearances. Rogers also had 32 holds and two saves on the stat sheet, too.
Cade Smith still looks to be Cleveland’s closer heading into the 2026 season, but the Guardians still need a pitcher who can come in during the middle of an inning, during a high-leverage situation, and get out of a jam. That’s exactly the type of pitcher Rogers has been throughout his career.
Plus, the Guardians are still relatively thin in the left-handed reliever market. Yes, Erik Sabrowski had a solid second season, and Tim Herrin showed signs of being his 2023 self at the end of 2025, but there are still question marks about how they’ll perform next year.
Rogers is a much more established reliever and would certainly help Cleveland’s depth in that department.
That said, adding the 34-year-old wouldn’t be perfect for the Cleveland. What the Guardians really need is a punch-out pitcher, and Rogers only had a strikeout rate of 16.1 percent and a whiff rate of 15.9 percent in 2025.
Maybe Carl Willis and the pitching coaches can help Rogers unlock some more swing-and-miss potential that Rogers didn’t know he had.
With Antonetti admitting the Guardians could look outside the organization for relief help, it’ll be interesting to see who the organization ends up targeting, and if Rogers does end up being on Cleveland’s radar this offseason.