The Cleveland Guardians appear to be in a good spot right now, but could certainly use an upgrade in certain spots. On the hitting side, this team could benefit from adding another outfielder to the mix, but that’s a need that could be fixed with in-house options. The trade deadline isn’t too far away, which will give the Guardians a chance to upgrade at positions of weakness.
Zack Meisel of the New York Times recently wrote about one area that the Guardians definitely need to address at the deadline.
“On the pitching side, the Guardians are short on big league-ready starting pitching beyond the five on their active roster. If they suffer an injury, a starter could shoot to the top of their priority list. But what level of starter? As one evaluator pointed out, there’s significant difference in acquiring a pitcher who can chew up innings to help a team get to the postseason, versus a pitcher the team is itching to hand the ball to in October, Meisel wrote.
The starting pitching is one of the main reasons this team is atop the AL Central right now. As Meisel mentioned, this team could be an injury or two away from disaster. The Guardians don’t have much MLB-ready pitching available in Triple-A.
If an injury does happen, Logan Allen or Daniel Espino are the two most likely pitchers to receive a call to Cleveland. Allen has started 73 big league games for the Guardians, so he could be a viable option. Espino is a former first-round pick who hasn’t reached the MLB yet. He has been mainly working as a reliever in Triple-A this season, so it’s unclear how much he can contribute in the rotation. The rest of the pitchers on the 40-man roster are inexperienced or relievers.
Ideally, the Guardians would acquire a frontline starter like Tarik Skubal. That’s a dream that probably won’t happen because he’s pitching for a division rival, and the Guardians probably don’t want to give up the haul of prospects to acquire Skubal.
Other possible options for the Guardians are Zac Gallen, Seth Lugo, and Freddy Peralta. These are ace-type pitchers that could be handed the ball in Game 1 or Game 2 of a playoff series. The Guardians already have some studs in Gavin Williams and Parker Messick, who could be top options for a playoff series as well.
Injuries can happen at any moment, so it’s important to have more than enough depth, especially at the starting pitching spot. The Guardians have the farm system to acquire these types of pitchers at the deadline.
If this team is serious about contending in October, then they need to add another pitcher to the mix.
NEXT: Guardians Linked To 2 Potential Trade Deadline Targets
