I've talked at length on here about the Guardians' attempts to repopulate their rotation in the manner of their late-2010s legendary one, and how they've altered standpoints so many times that it's amazed the strategies can work. The most recent strategies involved smashing the preexisting model together with a class of rookies in 2023, and then smashing that unit together with a series of new veterans last year. And all of this has given way to the Guardians' 2025 rotation...which has no identity.
Here is what the Guardians are working with currently: Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Logan Allen, all homegrown pitchers of varying quality, Luis Ortiz, who they got from Pittsburgh, and Slade Cecconi, who they got from Arizona. And then currently injured are Ben Lively, done for the season, Shane Bieber, expected to return soon, and John Means, expected to return eventually but who knows for how long. For once, this rotation doesn't seem to have a master plan, it's just 'whoever's around that can still throw'. And seeing as 9 years ago the Guardians went to a World Series with 'I mean we have Ryan Merritt to start if we absolutely need him', that's a hard fall.
Bibee and Williams are atop this rotation, and they are both...fine. Not blowing the doors off the place, just fine. Williams actually has a winning record, he's 5-3 with a 3.89 ERA and 72 Ks, but his WHIP is 1.471. He's been decent, but he hasn't put together an OMG campaign yet, despite years of promise in the minors. Bibee is similarly mediocre, he's 4-6 with a 3.79 ERA and 65 Ks. Bibee is the ace, and compared to past aces like Kluber and Bieber he's not much at all. Luis Ortiz leads the team in strikeouts but also leads the league in losses with 8. Nobody's getting consistently rocked, but everybody has like 3.70, 4.30 ERAs and it's...not gonna win this team a Championship. Or even a division title, seeing how the Tigers' rotation is doing.
So now it's even more important for the Guardians' contact game to keep working, because at the moment it's all they've got. Luckily Jose Ramirez still has his on-base streak, Steven Kwan is still hitting .300, and Carlos Santana is having another consistent year in his late 30s. There's a lot of .230 averages otherwise but they're doing their best, and we've all seen this team erupt late before, they're due for a lull or so. Worryingly, though, they're at .500 and have lost a lot of easy matches to non-competitive teams. To survive in this division, the Guardians need to find a groove and dial in, because what they have is 'fine' when it should be exemplary.
It definitely can be done, but I'm not sure if the Guardians have it in them this year. Certainly not in this state.
Coming Tonight: It's wild, knowing how young and cool he was for the A's, seeing him grow into the veteran hurler he's become.
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