The Cleveland Guardians have a one-game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the fight for the AL Central, and a four-game cushion over the fourth-ranked AL team in the Wild Card, the Houston Astros. Barring a disaster, Stephen Vogt and his players will be in October.
They still need to officially punch their ticket, but they are in such a good position that it’s time to start thinking about potential postseason scenarios, such as putting together the starting rotation. The unit has two stars in Parker Messick, owner of an elite 2.57 ERA, and Gavin Williams, the current leader in strikeouts in the American League with 244.
After that, there are lots of moving parts and question marks. The team, however, has some options: Foster Griffin, Joey Cantillo, and Tanner Bibee are the main ones.
Is Bibee, however, a good option at this point? He has struggled badly in recent starts; his home run rate has spiked, and he is wildly inconsistent from game to game.
Former Guardians pitcher and current analyst Jensen Lewis suggested that he doesn’t trust Bibee at this point, and it would be extremely risky to have him pitch important postseason games.
“This is a really, really tough decision for Stephen Vogt and this front office to have to make. Look, the numbers don’t lie, right? The last four starts, it’s an 8.24 ERA, but it’s 26 hits in 19 and 2/3. It’s only 14 strikeouts and also eight walks in that duration. So, those are the numbers that are more concerning to me. It’s a lot of traffic. It’s a lot of balls in play. That’s an issue. I don’t know if you can stick him out there for a postseason start right now,” Lewis said.
Bibee’s ERA for the season is up to 4.35, with a mediocre 4.60 Fielding Independent Pitching (FIP). His fastball is extremely hittable, and that’s a big issue that has gotten worse over the last couple of years with the loss of some velocity.
Right now, Griffin and Cantillo are more trustworthy options than Bibee. The latter can certainly eat innings, which becomes an attractive trait in the long and grueling regular season, but his current profile is a bit problematic for short postseason series.
It’s still premature for Vogt to make these decisions at this point, when he hasn’t even officially made the playoffs, but there’s a good chance Bibee is left out of the Wild Card or Division Series rotation.
NEXT: Guardians' Postseason Push Traces Back To One Decision
