Insider Suggests Guardians Should Give Starter A Break

Joey Cantillo has been a valuable member of the Cleveland Guardians rotation all year. He has posted a solid 3.89 ERA in 148 innings, pitching 31 games and starting 30 of them.

That lone relief appearance came this weekend. For most of last week, there were rumblings about putting an opener ahead of Cantillo to help him solve his early-inning issues, and while there was a pitcher between the southpaw and the opener, the strategy came to fruition on Saturday.

Daniel Espino started that game against the Minnesota Twins and tossed two scoreless frames. Franco Aleman pitched after that, and then Cantillo took the ball and tossed four scoreless frames with eight strikeouts.

Cleveland.com’s Paul Hoynes suggested that Cantillo needs some type of physical and mental break from the rotation after eclipsing his career-high in starts by a significant margin.

“Cantillo was scheduled to start Saturday against the Twins, but rookie Daniel Espino is filling (filled) in an opener’s role. I think we have to give Cantillo a break. He’s already made 30 starts this season. His career high before this season was 13. That’s a big jump in workload, and his control may have suffered,” Hoynes wrote.

Cantillo thrived as a reliever on the weekend, and he was marvelous in a shorter outing out of the bullpen. This gives manager Stephen Vogt some options.

Either Cantillo should be used after an opener or as a multi-inning reliever when the situation calls for it. It’s important, however, to be mindful about his workload because if things break right for the Guardians, they will also need the lefty for another month after September.

Perhaps a permanent move to the bullpen is a good idea at this point. It’s a role in which Cantillo has succeeded in the past, as he posted a 3.21 ERA last year in 34 games, and only 13 of them were starts.

The Guardians have some options to occupy a rotation spot. Ben Lively is doing well in Triple-A, and Logan Allen and Slade Cecconi can step up and do a decent job, too.

Perhaps Cantillo, with an opener in front of him, is a better option than all of those listed alternatives, but it may be time to pay close attention to his workload. His 148 innings represent a career-high by 52.2 frames.

It’s important to keep him fresh because he has a 4.60 second-half ERA with evident control issues.