The six-man competition for the five-man Cleveland Guardians’ starting rotation has reached a somewhat surprising conclusion. It rightfully was determined by spring training performance rather than other considerations, such as previous experience or remaining minor league options.
Tanner Bibee was named the Opening Day starter, and Gavin Williams, Slade Cecconi and Joey Cantillo are set to return to their jobs. That left the organization to decide between Logan Allen and Parker Messick for the final spot.
Messick was given the nod, and manager Stephen Vogt recently got honest about the demotion of Allen and the difficult decision it was.
“It was super tough to make a move like this,” Vogt said. “Logan has been a huge part of what we’ve done over the last two years. He’ll still be part of it, but it just won’t be on Opening Day.”
Allen made 73 starts for Cleveland over the past three seasons, including a career-high 29 last year, which was third on the team behind Williams and Bibee, who made 31 each. Though his personal record was just 8-11 in 2025, the Guardians were 14-15 in his starts.
However, a subpar spring training was capped by a disastrous performance against the Seattle Mariners, when he gave up 12 runs on 14 hits in just 2.1 innings. It left Allen with an 18.00 ERA, which would have been hard to justify when compared to Messick’s 3.60 number.
The rookie followed up his strong performance after being called up to make his major league debut last August, as the Guardians went to a six-man rotation to deal with a difficult schedule. He was 3-1 and earned two very impressive victories in September as Cleveland rallied from 11 games behind to overtake the Detroit Tigers and win the AL Central.
This spring, Messick had an ERA of below 2.00 until struggling a bit in his latest outing by allowing three home runs to the Kansas City Royals. His WHIP of 1.13 is the best on the staff for pitchers who threw more than 8.0 innings.
Allen had one minor league option remaining, and he will begin the season at Triple-A Columbus. He could be the first pitcher recalled if and when another starter is needed.
Based on his consistent career to date, the left-hander is likely to bounce back and make the most of another chance whenever he gets it.
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