When it comes to pitching development, Cleveland has been a model organization for years. The Guardians have churned out quality starter after quality starter. Among the names they've either drafted or acquired as a prospect and developed into a true big leaguer are Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Shane Bieber, Trevor Bauer, Mike Clevinger, Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Logan Allen, Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Cal Quantrill, Danny Salazar and Triston McKenzie. Journeyman Ben Lively turned his career around in Cleveland recently. Matthew Boyd parlayed eight strong starts with the '24 Guardians into a two-year deal with the Cubs and looks completely revitalized.
Not all of those arms have sustained their success, of course. Injuries and general pitcher attrition hit the Guardians, just like any other club. Salazar, McKenzie and plenty of others in the past decade have run into health troubles that derailed their careers. Bieber's 2024 lasted only two starts before Tommy John surgery, and he was traded to the Blue Jays in July before making it back to a big league mound in Cleveland (albeit in a deal netting a pretty strong pitching prospect, Khal Stephen). Daniel Espino went from the sport's top pitching prospect to the poster boy for the "What if..." crowd after a series of significant injuries -- including two shoulder surgeries -- blew up his promising career. He's still with the organization but hasn't pitched in a game since 2022 (when he tossed only 18 1/3 innings).
The Guardians have had similar success in the bullpen, churning out names like Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Trevor Stephan, Hunter Gaddis, Cody Allen, Bryan Shaw, Sam Hentges, James Karinchak and more. As with the starters -- even more so, in fact -- injuries and attrition have whittled away at the group, but Cleveland has generally been able to bank on piecing together a strong relief corps while rarely investing significant money to do so.
Over the past decade, Cleveland starters rank second in the majors in innings pitched and are tied for fifth in ERA. The rotation has been so good that Cleveland relievers have pitched the fewest innings of any team in the game. Their relievers, unsurprisingly, lead MLB in earned run average in that span.
We've come to take for granted that the Guardians will just produce a good pitching staff even when they lack clear name value. Almost as if by magic, they seemingly pluck strong pitching performances from thin air. That hasn't quite been the case in 2025, however, and there's reason to wonder whether they can get back on track in 2026.
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a couple of yrs ago, it looked like bibee, logan allen, mckenzie were destined for stardom. all 3 have bottomed out seemingly overnite.
another tm with seemingly endless supply of talented arms are the rays, and their rotation too hasnt developed at all (except for mayb rasmussen).
Not a subscriber so I could only read the first paragraph, but I’m guessing it’s about their lack of a true closer and nobody really in the pipeline to be one. This winter they’ll have to break down and either sign one or trade for one. I know ownership/FO shudder at the thought of doing that, but next year is gonna be a long season if they don’t.
Your guesses stink. Pay the subscription fee so you can have a valid opinion.
The one thing the article proves is that no matter how good your pitching is you need to keep developing and drafting or acquiring it constantly. It’s the most fragile component in any organization and can go from stacked to lacking in the space of a single season. You can’t let your guard down for a second. I can’t see how every teams first round pick or at least 2 of the first 3 isn’t a P every year.
When does John Means debut? Anyone know?
within the next week or two. He’s made three rehab starts in the minors already
The Ortiz debacle has really hurt.
If MLB moves to banish Clase and Ortiz forever for whatever guilt they may have in their micro betting nonsense (who the F really cares?) after giving AJ Hinch a one year wrist slap for his role in a macro cheating scandal that gave Houston a World Series title and deprived teams in the running like Cleveland and LA, I’ll just puke. Let these two chastened pitchers return to this organization and a fair part of the pitching issue is resolved.
Those two pitchers deliberately threw balls in a major league game so that people could make money and you don’t care? I sure do. Banning them will hurt my team severely, but I’m in favor of it. I’m also in favor of a deeper investigation into whether other pitchers across the leagues are doing the same thing.
Where was this desire, nay the demand, for a deeper investigation into the vile widespread cheating that went on for nearly two years affecting once in a lifetime playoff odds? THAT was big stuff but it quietly went away … for the good of the game I guess.
Ball one! If true, that certainly can hurt, I know it puts the hitter in a better position but it doesn’t put him in the truly heightened position Houston hitters were in when those garbage can lids telegraphed which pitch to expect. Nope, not even close yet you seem eager to dump these two alleged knuckleheads — innocent til proven guilty, right? — in your worry for the integrity of the game. The game had no integrity back then I guess.
I think you are kidding yourself if you think all that occurred was a couple of deliberately thrown balls.
And, I’m not the one comparing this issue with the Astro’s sign stealing scandal. They are both wrong and separate issues.
Come on, I assume you can comprehend what you read so you have to know that mlb had to grant immunity for players to speak about.it, so either way there was no chance of you ever getting the pound of flesh you desire. Meanwhile, I DO care about this cheating scandal – be it micro,.macro.or Marco polo.
Stealing signs itself is not against the rules. The use of technology and way they signaled each other is what was nefarious.
Players betting on games has been against the rules and punishable by a lifetime ban for over 100 years. It is one of cardinal rules of the sport.
The two should not even be discussed together, players betting on the sport is exponentially worse.
Seems to me that even after 1920 there were incidents that were forgiven. One involving Speaker & Cobb, if my memory is right
In 1926 they said insufficient evidence was found. That was 99 years ago…
I think they may have brought Sherlock Holmes in on that case, but he was at the end of his career so he didn’t really care anymore thus in insufficient evidence.
Pickles – Assuming that Ortiz and Clase actually were involved, what do you think is a reasonable punishment?
Cal Quantrill is available
Pass
Maybe Cleveland pitching would look a lot better if the offense produced more runs.
Because that paragon of justice and jurisprudence Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis said it must be so so must it be. The guy was a complete nutter. If you think his stance on that poor illiterate hillbilly Shoeless Joe who hit .375 with a .976 ops in the WS was harsh and intemperate — as most did back ‘in the day’ — you should get a load of his outlandish cases and sentences against WW 1 draft dodgers and conscientious objectors. Most of those were overturned by the Supreme Court, a staunchly conservative court then too but baseball decided it wanted to be a law unto itself and who better than the Sauerkraut hating judge from Chicago who tried to have Kaiser Wilhelm and his royal family extradited so he “and his six sons and 5000 German military leaders could be lined up against a wall and shot down in justice …”. Well, as they say there’s stupid and then there’s baseball stupid.
IMO its not a big secret why Clevelands rotational success has been on a downward trend for the last few years. The org has failed to develope starters who can throw strikes consistentently. This is a head scratcher, because the org SOP was to target young pitchers that were command and control over velocity types….then work on methods of gaining velocity.
Its hard to imagine, but the present core of the Cleveland rotation (Bibee, Williams, Allen) were more highly rated as prospects than the far more successful cores of the previous rotations.
Look back over the last ten years. Cleveland’s rotation always ranked at or near the top of MLB in not allowing walks. It also, not surprisingly, ranked very high in IP. Now, not even close.
There is a positive in Cleveland’s present rotational situation. Bibee and Allen are pitching in their age 26 season, Williams in his age 25 season.
Many of the big names in Clevelands recent pitching past didn’t hit their elite stride until they were in their age 27 seasons…or older.
Kluber was 28.
Carrasco and Bauer were 27.
Earlier, Cliff Lee was 29.
Williams and Bibee have been much better in their careers so far than those four illustrious pitchers before the light bulbs went off…and generally, Allen has been as good. So, while looking at the here and now it may not look that good, a view from a few steps back looks much more promising.
Ridiculous that you are making people pay money for writers who struggle with basic English and punctuation. “Their relievers, unsurprisingly, lead MLB in earned run average” shouldn’t have any commas.