News and Notes for Monday, March 10th, 2024
The Guardians have lost Erik Sabrowksi to elbow inflammation and Andrew Walters to shoulder discomfort for a bit. Who will replace them in the bullpen?
One of the more interesting battles of Spring training has emerged in who will take the spot of the second lefty set to be occupied by Sabrowski. As Paul Hoynes reminds Cleveland.com’s readers today, Sabrowski has had two Tommy John surgeries so we probably can’t rely on him coming back. I hope for his sake that he does, his is such a fun story. But, we will have to monitor Koby Allard, Parker Mushinski, Logan Allen, Doug Nikhazy and Joey Cantillo for their chances at the role. Of that bunch, I think I like the idea best of moving Allen to relief and seeing if his stuff plays up a little out there (ala Eli Morgan).
In Walters’ case, we may end up seeing a Ben Lively or Triston McKenzie (both starting split squad games today) moved to a long relief role if Nikhazy or Cantillo secure a spot as a starter, putting Jakob Junis in more of a middle relief position. In case you didn’t hear, there are reports that Parker Messick was hitting 96 mph and sitting 94 in a minor league spring training game; if that happens, that’s some additional starting depth that should be major league ready soon.
The Athletic’s Zack Meisel wrote about Shane Bieber’s comeback. Bieber won’t say it, but it sounds like he’s ahead of schedule. It remains confusing to me how much of “win-now” move signing Bieber is given what the Guardians did and didn’t do the rest of their offseason.
The Guardians beat the White Sox 1-0 yesterday, so be sure to read Nicole’s recap of a dominant pitching performance highlighted by Gavin Williams, again.