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Guardians non-tender 3 players, sign 3 others to 1-year deals
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- Guardians non-tender 3 players, sign 3 others to 1-year deals
CLEVELAND — The Guardians non-tendered three players, thus granting their free agency, and signed three others to avoid arbitration ahead of the Nov. 21 league-wide deadline to tender contracts.
The Guardians reached one-year deals to avoid arbitration with utility man David Fry , outfielder Nolan Jones and right-handed reliever Matt Festa .
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Fry missed most of the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, which also prevented him from playing the field. He then took a 99 mph fastball to the face from Detroit Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal , which ended his season.
Fry never got it going offensively, hitting just .171 with a .592 OPS in 66 games, a step back from his All-Star season in 2024. He is expected to be able to return to playing the field defensively in 2026.
Festa became a regular in the Guardians' 2025 bullpen as a middle reliever, appearing in 63 games and posting a 4.12 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 54 2/3 innings.
Jones had his moments but finished with a mostly down 2025, hitting .211 with a .600 OPS in 403 plate appearances. He'll again try to carve out a larger role in Cleveland's outfield in 2026.
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Outfielder Will Brennan , left-handed reliever Sam Hentges and right-handed reliever Nic Enright were all non-tendered and are now free agents.
Brennan was running out of chances in the outfield as younger options made their way up the minor league ladder, and he's also recovering from both Tommy John surgery and a sports hernia procedure. He appeared in only six games at the major-league level in 2025.
Hentges has thrown only 23 2/3 innings in the major leagues since the conclusion of the 2023 season while rehabbing from shoulder and knee surgeries.
Enright recently underwent Tommy John surgery.
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The Guardians also tendered 2026 contracts to the remaining 32 pre-arb and unsigned arbitration-eligible players on the 40-man roster, which now stands at 38. That will afford the Guardians some 40-man roster flexibility, whether that comes via free agency, in trades or with the Rule 5 Draft. The Guardians recently protected four players from the Rule 5 Draft by added them to the 40-man roster.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians sign David Fry, others to 1-year deals for 2026
