Adding Pitching Wouldn’t Be Bad For Guards Either

The Cleveland Guardians have made a reputation over the past 10 years or so as a pitching factory. They’ve pretty much always have had solid pitching.

Since 2007, Cleveland has had five Cy Young Award winners: C.C. Sabathia (’07), Cliff Lee (’08), Corey Kluber (’14 and ’17), and Shane Bieber (’20). This list doesn’t include some guys who had excellent seasons, like Carlos Carrasco, Roberto Hernandez (Fausto Carmona), and Trevor Bauer.

For most of the 2025 season, the pitching was floundering. Tanner Bibee was inconsistent for much of the first five months of the season. Ben Lively had to have Tommy John surgery in May. Luis Ortiz was suspended.

Slade Cecconi was a pleasant surprise, making 23 starts but still had a 4.30 ERA.

Only Gavin Williams, who finished the season 12-5 with a 3.06 ERA, could be counted on to provide solid starts, and he too, had some problems, leading the American League in walks, which led to game where he could only go five innings.

In September, everything gelled. The Guardians went to a six-man rotation with Joey Cantillo, who started the season in relief joining the rotation along with rookie Parker Messick, who compiled a 2.72 ERA in seven starts.

And Bibee started to pitch like we’ve seen him in the past.

So, what about 2025. We know the Guardians’ optimists will think everything is fine, but we (like a lot of baseball people) look at track records. We feel comfortable with Williams and Bibee right now, but we think the front office should still be in the market for pitching this winter.

Cantillo was a solid prospect for a long time, but he’s made just 21 big league starts and he also has issues with the strike zone. When he throws strikes consistently, he’s tough to beat, but he doesn’t do it enough.

We had some snide comments about Cecconi when he was traded to the Guardians (after all he was the return for a guy who hit 30 HRs the year before) and when he was activated, because of a 6.66 ERA in 77 innings for the Diamondbacks in 2024, but he’s kind of an old school pitcher. He induces weak contact and doesn’t have a high K rate.

He pitched a game in Sacramento where he went seven innings of two-hit ball and people on social media were incensed because he only had two strikeouts.

As we said Messick has seven big league starts. Lively likely won’t be back until middle of the year. And although we like Cecconi, he looks like a solid middle to back of the rotation guy.

Among the top prospects, Khal Stephen, the return for Shane Bieber, pitched in AA, and Doug Nikhazy, who made a couple of token appearances with the big club, and had a 5.02 ERA in AAA, are the closest to being ready.

We would like to see the front office add another proven veteran to the mix heading into 2026.

It doesn’t need to be a front of the rotation guy, more like a veteran who can provide innings to keep the bullpen fresh early in the season. That would serve Steven Vogt very well.

And it wouldn’t hurt to have Carl Willis work with him.

New Minority Owner For Guards, New Hope For Fans

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced it Thursday, the Cleveland Guardians have a new minority owner in David Blitzer, who reportedly owns about 25% of the team.

This should be good news for baseball fans in northeast Ohio, although it did bring out a number of the Dolan defenders on social media.

Let’s face it, for most of the time the Dolan family have owned the team, they have been run on a shoestring budget. And since we are firmly in the camp that no Major League Baseball team is struggling to stay solvent, that means the Cleveland owners have made a lot of money having the Indians/Guardians as an asset.

Does the family have some positive attributes as owners? Of course. They are notoriously great in hiring good management and letting the baseball people run the organization. Team president Chris Antonetti and his front office are the envy of many teams, and recently, other organizations have targeted the Cleveland baseball people for high management roles.

You have to think the owners do step in when it comes time to pay the better players who were drafted and/or developed by the baseball people when the time comes.

Since the Dolans’ have controlled the purse strings, the franchise has traded C.C. Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, and Francisco Lindor because the team would not pay the going rate for talent like theirs.

Defenders point to the Jose Ramirez deal as proof the owners were willing to spend, but as we have said before, we can’t give the Dolans credit for Ramirez staying. They were lucky that one of the best players in the sport decided to leave a considerable amount of cash on the table to stay with the franchise.

No doubt the atmosphere, created by the folks the owner hired, was important to Ramirez, but if Ramirez had wanted to be paid like the superstar he is, he’d be wearing a different uniform today.

It isn’t just spending on players’ salaries that has been lacking by the current ownership. Hopefully Blitzer, who has been involved in professional sports for some time, talks to the controlling owners about doing a better job promoting and marketing the Guardians.

The Dolans have complained about attendance, but it has seemed for years that their belief seems to be winning is the only thing that matters. The local television ratings have been among the best in the sport, but it doesn’t translate to putting folks in the stands.

Has anyone ever bothered to find out why?

There are also reports that Blitzer has plans to develop the area around Progressive Field in order to bring in money from other areas. This is similar to what the St. Louis Cardinals’ ownership did.

Quite frankly, it seems like a great idea.

We would also like to see a more fun gameday experience at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Professional sports are entertainment and going to a game should be a fun time and affordable for families.

Get fans in the park, show them a good, fun time, and they will come back, particularly if the team in winning, that’s seems to have been ignored for some time with the Cleveland franchise.

So, forgive us if we aren’t holding a parade in honor of Larry and Paul Dolan. On the other hand, here’s hoping having a new minority owner means the pocketbook will open up more often.

At least, it is encouraging off the field news for the Cleveland baseball franchise. It’s been a while since that could be said.

In Praise Of Cookie Carrasco

Virtually every major league baseball team has one. That player who is identified with the franchise. They played in that town for their entire career, and they are that franchise’s Mr. ________.

And it’s not just restricted to large market cities. Kansas City has George Brett. Milwaukee has Robin Yount. Cincinnati has Johnny Bench and likely Joey Votto as well.

Minnesota has Joe Mauer and Kirby Puckett. Baltimore has Cal Ripken Jr. Atlanta? Chipper Jones.

Some cities have had these type of players, but unfortunately, they have passed away. We mentioned Puckett, and the Pirates had Roberto Clemente and Willie Stargell. The Cubs had Ernie Banks.

Currently, St. Louis has Yadier Molina and Washington has Ryan Zimmerman.

The Indians had Bob Feller, arguably the best Tribesman ever. However, what did those other players do that Feller didn’t? The all played within the last 50 years.

Feller retired in 1956. That’s 64 years ago.

Could the Indians have such a player on their roster right now? Well, as a matter of fact, they may. He may not be a superstar or a Hall of Famer, but they have a player who may play his entire career in northeast Ohio. It’s Carlos Carrasco.

Carrasco is beginning his 11th season with the organization, coming over in the trade that sent Cliff Lee to Philadelphia.

The other players who came with him were infielder Jason Donald, who was moved in the deal that brought Trevor Bauer to Cleveland after the 2012 season, Lou Marson, who left as a free agent in 2013, and never played in the bigs again, and Jason Knapp, who developed arm trouble.

Carrasco came up to the Tribe late in ’09 for five starts, and spent most of ’10 in the minors as well, making seven starts and finishing with a 3.83 ERA in 45 innings.

Cookie opened with the big club in 2011, and was a mainstay in the rotation, making 21 starts before he injured his elbow, necessitating Tommy John surgery, which kept him out through the 2012 season.

He made one April start in ’13, but spent much of the first half of that season in AAA, before coming up in July. He struggled in six starts after coming back and finished the year in the bullpen.

In 2014, he again struggled opening the year as a starter, allowing 17 runs in 19 innings in four starts, and was again moved to relief.

It was in the bullpen that he revitalized his career.

The right-hander made 26 appearances out of the bullpen, going 3-1 with a save and a 2.30 ERA, striking out 39 batters in 43 innings.

On August 10th of that year, the Indians needed a starter in a game at Yankee Stadium, and Terry Francona and then pitching coach Mickey Callaway went with Carrasco, telling him to use the same aggressiveness he used in the ‘pen.

Carrasco allowed two hits over five shutout innings, striking out four. He made nine more starts the rest of the season, pitching to a 1.30 ERA, and fanning 78 hitters. Included was a two hit shutout against Houston.

From there, Carrasco became one of the American League’s most reliable starting pitchers, going 60-36 with a 3.40 ERA from 2015 to 2019.

Last year, as everyone knows, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and missed three months before coming back to pitch in relief in September.

This season, he will be back in the starting rotation, and should be back to being one of the premier starters in the American League.

He’s also under contract with a club option through 2023, meaning he likely will finish his career here, and likely will wear just one team’s uniform, the Cleveland Indians.

He’s been underrated by fans here, mostly because he’s pitched on the same staff as Corey Kluber, but people around baseball know how good of a pitcher Carlos Carrasco is.

That’s one of the best in the game.

Overlooked When He Arrived, Cliff Lee Wound Up An Ace

When GM Mark Shapiro decided to deal Bartolo Colon to the Montreal Expos in the middle of the 2002 season, he had a quick rebuild on his mind.

That’s why the top target in the deal was infielder Brandon Phillips, the Expos’ top prospect, who was also the #20 minor league prospect in all of professional baseball.

He also got Grady Sizemore, who was Montreal’s third best minor leaguer.

That’s a good start, right? But Shapiro also got a left-handed pitcher who wasn’t ranked in the Expos’ top ten, but was 7-2 with a 3.23 ERA at Class AA Harrisburg, who coincidentally played in the same league as the Tribe’s AA affiliate in Akron.

You can make a pretty good argument that the pitcher became the best player in the deal. That southpaw was Cliff Lee.

Lee made three starts with Akron, before the Tribe bumped him up to AAA Buffalo for eight starts (3-2, 3.77 ERA) at age 23, before making his major league debut against the Twins on September 15th in a 5-0 loss. Lee pitched 5-1/3 innings allowing one run on two hits.

The lefty started the following year in AAA, going 6-1 with a 3.27 ERA before getting called up for good (he made a spot start on June 30th) on August 16th. He made nine starts in total, finishing at 3-3 with a 3.61 ERA and 44 strikeouts in 52.1 innings.

Lee opened 2004 in the rotation, and started well, going 7-1 with a 3.86 ERA through June, and was 10-1 with a 3.81 ERA when he beat Seattle on July 16th. He ran out of gas at that point, going 4-7 with a whopping 8.90 ERA over the rest of the season.

He finished at 14-8 and a 5.43 ERA with 161 strikeouts in 179 frames.

He was one of the Indians’ anchors to a pitching staff that just missed the post-season in 2005, going 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA, becoming more of a pitch to contact guy, his strikeout rate dropped from 8.1 to 6.4, but his walk rate also fell from 4.1 to 2.3 (both per nine innings)

Lee took a step backwards in ’06, going 14-11 and his ERA rose to 4.40, but finished strong with a 4-1 September, cementing him as a fixture for the following season.

One of the great regrets of the 2007 Central Division winning season, is the failure of Cliff Lee to be Cliff Lee. Think about if Eric Wedge had the Lee of 2005 to add to the Cy Young Award winning C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona (19-8, 3.06 ERA).

We might be talking about what a great parade fans experienced following that season.

The southpaw never got it going that year, going 5-8 with a 6.29 ERA and was left off the post-season roster. He didn’t make a start after July 26th, and was sent to AAA for the month of August.

Lee roared back in 2008, allowing just one run in his first four starts, and ended May at 8-1 with a 1.88 ERA, in route to winning his own Cy Young, with a 22-3, 2.84 ERA. He led the AL in wins, ERA, shutouts, ERA+, Fielding Independent Pitching, home runs/9 innings and walks per 9 innings.

The Indians got off to a slow start in ’09 after trading Sabathia the year before, and Lee entered the All Star break at 4-9, but with a 3.47 ERA. Unfortunately, the Indians were sitting in last place with a 35-54 record, and Shapiro pulled the trigger on moves involving cornerstones Victor Martinez, and Lee.

Both players were not eligible for free agency until after the 2010 season, meaning the GM punted on the following season.

Martinez brought Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Brian Price (only Masterson had any success in Cleveland), while Lee brought Jason Knapp, Lou Marson, Jason Donald, and a young right-hander named Carlos Carrasco from Philadelphia.

It took until 2014, five years later, before the Tribe saw a real return when Carrasco became one of the AL’s best pitchers after elbow surgery.

Lee pitched in the World Series later that year for the Phillies (they lost to New York), although he pitched well winning his two starts.

An impending free agent, Lee was dealt to Seattle over the winter, and was moved to Texas at the deadline, again pitching in the Fall Classic, but this time he went 0-2 as the Rangers lost to San Francisco.

He signed back with the Phillies as a free agent and had an excellent 2011 season (17-8, 2.40 ERA) and went 37-25 in his first three years with the Phils.

But the weight of eight 200 innings pitched years in a nine year span took their toll on his elbow and he finished his career in 2014 with a 4-5, 3.65 ERA in just 81 innings.

Cliff Lee’s career record in the bigs is 143-91, with 83 of those wins coming in a Cleveland Indians uniform.

He was kind of an afterthought when the Colon trade was made, but he might have been the best return.

2005 Tribe: A Missed Opportunity

In the wild card era of Major League Baseball, the Cleveland Indians have certainly had a great deal of success.

They’ve won three American League pennants (’95, ’97, and 2016). They advanced to the AL Championship Series twice more, losing in 1998 and 2007.

And they’ve went to the post-season more than any other American League team, save for the big market behemoths New York and Boston.

Of the team’s that didn’t make the post-season, the one team that kind of gets overlooked is the 2005 edition of the Indians, managed by Eric Wedge.

The Tribe finished the ’04 campaign at 80-82, and their biggest move of the off-season going into ’05 was probably inking Kevin Millwood as a free agent, although the veteran right-hander was coming off an injury plagued season with the Phillies, throwing only 145 innings.

GM Mark Shapiro also traded OF Matt Lawton to Pittsburgh to fortify the bullpen, getting LHP Arthur Rhodes.

It was the fourth year of a rebuild that started following the 2001 season, when Shapiro dealt Roberto Alomar to New York. By this time, the last remnants of the great 90’s teams were gone via free agency, Jim Thome to Philadelphia following 2002, and Omar Vizquel over the winter.

So, there weren’t big expectations on the Tribe coming into the 2005 season.

And that was confirmed early in the year, and the Indians closed April at 9-14, while the Chicago White Sox started red hot, opening at 17-7.

On May 8th, Cleveland was sitting at 12-18, 11-1/2 games behind the front running White Sox, and the defending champion Central Division champions in Minnesota were also playing well at 19-11.

Wedge’s squad started to play better at this point, going 35-23 to the All Star break, to sit at 47-41, still 11 games behind Chicago, who went through the first half on a torrid pace (57-29), but the Indians were clearly in the wild card race, just two games behind Minnesota.

At the point, Baltimore, Texas, New York, and the young Wahoos, who only had two players over 30 getting substantial playing time (Aaron Boone and Casey Blake), were very much in the race.

Cleveland was paced by their pitching, they wound up leading the AL in ERA, mostly a five man rotation that made all but four starts all season.

Millwood led the league in ERA at 2.86, but he, Jake Westbrook (15-15, 4.49 ERA), C.C. Sabathia (15-10, 4.03), Cliff Lee (18-5, 3.79), and Scott Elarton (11-9, 4.61) took the mound every fifth day.

The bullpen was strong too, led by closer Bob Wickman (45 saves) and set up men Bob Howry (2.47 ERA), Rafael Betancourt (2.79 ERA), David Riske (3.10 ERA).

The offense ranked 4th in runs scored, with big years from Travis Hafner (.305, 33 HR, 108 RBI, 1003 OPS), Jhonny Peralta (.292, 24, 78 885 OPS), Victor Martinez (.305, 20, 80, 853 OPS), and Grady Sizemore (.289, 22, 81, 832 OPS).

All of those guys were under 28, and Peralta was 23, while Sizemore was 22.

Cleveland struggled out of the break and finished July at 55-51, 14.5 behind the Pale Hose, and now four behind Oakland, who got hot and seized the wild card lead.

Then, it was the Tribe’s turn to get hot, going 19-8 in August, while the Sox came back to the pack. The lead was seven games heading into September, and the wild card deficit was down to 1.5 behind the Yankees, who were also scolding hot.

The Indians started September 18-4, and after games on 9/24, the Tribe was just a game and a half behind Chicago, and held a game and a half lead in the wild card standings. They had the second best record in the AL at 92-63.

Unfortunately, they would win just one more game the rest of the year.

On the 25th, with the score tied in the bottom of the ninth, and Kansas City had a runner on second with one out, when Paul Phillips hit a fly ball that Grady Sizemore lost in the sun, and the Royals won 5-4.

Chicago and Boston won, so Cleveland trailed Chicago by 2.5 and led the wild card by just a half game, with a three game set at home vs. lowly Tampa coming up.

The Tribe dropped the opener to Scott Kazmir, who was staked to an early 5-0 lead, before the Indians clawed back at trailed 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth with runners on 1st and 3rd with just one out. Ronnie Belliard hit into a double play.

Cleveland was shutout the next night by Seth McClung, 1-0, wasting a great pitching performance by Lee, before Sabathia and Betancourt blanked the Rays, 6-0.

Heading into the final weekend at home vs. Chicago, the Tribe was 3 behind the Sox, and tied with Boston for the wild card.

The Indians mustered just 6 runs against the Sox in the three games, losing by counts of 3-2 (in 13 innings), 4-3, and 3-1. The Tribe tied the first game in the bottom of the ninth, but another double play ball, this one off the bat of Boone, killed the rally.

Cleveland wound up missing the wild card by two games. The White Sox won the pennant and ultimately the World Series.

Another frustrating chapter of baseball in our city.