The Cleveland Guardians made a handful of roster moves on Tuesday with five in total, while one of their decisions was received poorly amongst Guardians fans.
Included in their roster moves involving five players in their system, four players were selected from both the Akron RubberDucks and Columbus Clippers to bring their players up to the forty-man roster for the offseason; fan favorite relief pitcher Nic Enright was not one of them.
Enright was ultimately designated for assignment, potentially ending his time in the Cleveland Guardians organization and system. Enright pitched in 27 games for the Cleveland Guardians in the 2025 season. During those games, he posted a 2.03 ERA, totaling two wins and one save while recording 30 strikeouts, and had a 2.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
The news of his designation came as a surprise to many Guardians fans, especially in the wake of all of the news surrounding former Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase and his legal troubles.
The help needed regarding relief pitching would surely have been welcomed from Enright, who posted relatively impressive stats when on the mound for Cleveland. In the wake of the drama-filled 2025 season that saw many ups and downs for the Guardians after their Wild Card round collapse against their division foe Detroit Tigers, the door may not be completely closed on a return for Enright.
According to MLB.com, designation for assignment (DFA) means, “a player is immediately removed from their team’s 40-man roster. The team then has seven days to decide what happens next: the player can be traded, placed on waivers for other teams to claim, released, or if they clear waivers, sent outright to the minor leagues”. Enright could still be in play to return to the team, especially with his life story being one that truly inspires those that know of Enright’s recent health struggles.
In December 2022, Enright was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma, forcing him to put his baseball career on hold while undergoing difficult treatments to battle the on-going symptoms brought on by the illness. Even following his return to baseball, Enright continued his multiple rounds of immunotherapy while making his MLB debut for the Cleveland Guardians in 2025, earning his first career save with the team.
Enright could find his way back to Cleveland, but the door is also open for another team to sign him off of waivers once cleared; his story will never be forgotten regardless of where he plays in 2026.
Enright’s story of resilience and determination to beat cancer and follow his dreams of pitching in the MLB was one that many fans read and immediately earned their fandom, as those stories are inspiring in regard to making your dreams come true and never giving up.
Guardians’ fans will want to monitor the team’s offseason moves closely, with the hopes that the team will go out and potentially bring in more talent to the team in order to compete for a title in the talented American League.
