Former Chicago Cubs Reliever Signs With Guardians

Free agency has officially opened this offseason. 

Free agency officially began on November 2, 2026, and free agents can now sign with any team. The Chicago Cubs have made a couple of moves in the early portion of free agency by re-signing Gabe Klobosits to a Minor League deal. 

The start of free agency is usually quiet for the most part. The top-end free agents wait a couple of weeks or even months to sign with a team, and teams usually make some smaller free-agent moves in the first few weeks. 

That has definitely been the case this offseason. There haven’t been any notable free-agent signings yet, but things should start to pick up in the coming days with the GM Meetings set to take place this week in Las Vegas (November 10 to November 12)

One notable signing has affected the Cubs, though. The Cleveland Guardians have signed former Cubs reliever Antoine Kelly to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Major League Spring Training camp. 

Kelly spent most of the 2026 season in the Cubs organization. Chicago sent cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers in early June to acquire the young left-handed pitcher. The southpaw then spent the last 3 ½ months with the Iowa Cubs. 

The 26-year-old definitely had some ups and downs in his time with Triple-A Iowa. He finished with a 4.25 ERA, 1.652 WHIP, 22 walks, and 36 strikeouts over 29 ⅔ innings pitched. Kelly really struggled with walks and couldn’t find the strike zone at times with a below-average 57.6% strike rate. 

However, the left-hander did post some encouraging metrics in the minors last season. His .302 expected slugging percentage against, 86.7 mph average exit velocity, 4.3% barrel rate, 24.2% strikeout rate, 64.5% zone-swing rate, and .221 expected batting average against all ranked pretty well. 

Kelly also threw the ball in his one Major League appearance this past season. He threw 1 ⅓ scoreless innings with one walk and one strikeout in a close game against the New York Yankees on July 31. The Cubs were down by only two runs at the time, and the southpaw did a nice job keeping the deficit there. 

Kelly was eventually designated for assignment by the Cubs on September 26, and the young left-hander elected free agency just a few days later. He will now look to make an impact with his new team this spring.