The Guardians' Path Forward Is Starting Pitching
We are more than two weeks into spring training games. I am not afraid to admit that during work hours, I am peeping on box scores and MLB's Game Day live updates [Isn't it annoying we don't consistently get in-game data due to the spring training ballpark that the Guards happen to play at], keeping track of standouts both from prospects and those fighting for jobs on the big league club. Deep down, this is me fighting away the seasonal depression with the hope that I'll soon be rooting for this team when they play actual games in a month's time, but it also to dissect every piece of information for what the team might do once they break camp. While the majority might fixate what the Guardos will do with the second base and right field jobs open or how they'll hit against righties, my attention's focused on who is on the bump this spring.
Let's not forget the Guardians didn't get to the ALCS on the back of it starters; outside of Tanner Bibee cosplaying as Peter Parker spinning webs to hold this sinking ship together like in Spiderman: Homecoming, it was the thing destined to sink them in the long run despite the historic bullpen that Stephen Vogt could deploy. It was honestly remarkable they overcame numerous injuries, the corpse of Cookie Carrasco pitching 103.2 innings, third most on the team by the way, and the constant shuffling of a rotation that had every hurdle thrown at them all season. All of that includes one of its deadline acquisitions in Alex Cobb only making cameos due to constant blisters on his pitching hand.
The constant volatility always got in the way despite the organization's internal and external efforts to address it. Cleveland knew what it needed to do this offseason: cleanse the palette for pitchers who got batted around and reload the deck with new options. It's no coincidence they were actively acquiring and signing as many arms as possible, gathering the likes of Luis Ortiz and Slade Cecconi via trades, along with signing back Shane Beiber and some outside-the-box options like Jakob Junis and John Means, who is coming off Tommy John and could pitch sometime in the second half of the season. They are learning the lessons from last year and do not want to get caught with their pants down again when it matters most.
This Guardians team is still expected to have a good bullpen, but you can't expect them to replicate their 2024. That is what the organization is expecting since bullpens are fickle. We can have arguments about who is manning second base or right field and who deserves to play, but it will all be moot if the starters are still getting shelled and requiring more innings from a bullpen that was very taxed from last year. Any potential slippage from the bullpen is definitely possible due to their workload the year prior. They need guys like Gavin Williams and Triston McKenzie to have bounce-back years to give them a chance. They have the stuff to be great pitchers, and we've seen them have success, but they can't have repeats, or this time, the Guardos might not be as lucky to escape the pitfalls that were prevalent last year. Every season brings new challenges, both ones that carry over and new ones that nobody expects. Still, for the Guardians to carry over the success from last year, the starting pitching needs to be the familiar force that it has been on the Lake Shore for the last decade-plus, no if and or buts.