Arlington – This wasn’t how the Guardians were hoping to start the second half of their season.
On Friday, rookie Shane Bieber underwent an MRI on his right forearm. The team is waiting to hear the results. He is scheduled to see Dr. Keith Meister sometime on Saturday. For now, Cleveland knows Pepper won’t be making his start in Pittsburgh on Monday. Next, the club tries to figure out what the plan will be.
Over the past month or so, [Bieber’s] “He was a bit of an excitable crank,” said Guardians team manager Terry Francona. “But we felt he was heading in the right direction. L.L [a few] It starts there, I think we made him love 80 pitches. But the last couple [starts]He wasn’t comfortable with the way he bounced.”
It became apparent that the guards were being very careful with Bieber in his June 23 debut against the Brewers. Playing in the fifth inning only turned 75 pitches, Cleveland had a bullpen, which is off base when the team’s ace is on the rubber. When he returned in the sixth, he gave up three runs without recording an out.
Bieber’s previous two starts were similar to his exit against Milwaukee. His pitch count crept into the 90s, but the more pitches he threw, the easier it became to hit. In every outing, it took at least until the fifth for the running back to be put on the board because it was exhausting.
There are now two big questions to be answered: What does this mean for the value of Bieber’s trade? And what does this mean for the turnover going forward?
If Bieber were to miss that long, trade deadline rumors involving his name would begin to subside quickly. If the opposing team is hoping to bolster its rotation with a top-tier player before the playoffs, it likely won’t want to take a chance on a pitcher who’s been dealing with forearm problems for the past month.
Depending on the results of Bieber’s MRI, he may not be able to do enough starts to be impressive. It’s hard to know exactly what this means for his immediate future until results come in, but it certainly makes him stay in a Cleveland uniform the most likely scenario.
Let’s dive into what the rest of the spin will look like in the near future.
The Guardians needed a fifth player from the first-half start already, considering Cal Quantrill and Triston McKenzie are on the injured list. Logan Allen is expected to fill that vacancy on Tuesday. But now that Pepper is out of his start on Monday at least, Cleveland will have to figure out how he’s going to fill another opener.
If that’s a short-term problem, the Guardians will probably beat Monday’s bullpen. That’s a possibility, Francona said, assuming the bulls aren’t exhausted this weekend in Texas.
Hunter Gaddis could be an option, but he hasn’t thrown more than four innings in an outing — in the Majors or Triple-A Columbus — since May 22, serving as a starter and relief in that span. Zach Blissack started for Columbus on Friday, which could rule him out Monday if that’s in Cleveland’s plans.
It seems too early for 14th-ranked Joey Cantelo to get the promotion after having a 4.38 ERA in eight games (six starts) for Columbus, but the Guardians should keep their options open.
How long Pepper’s been away will determine how precarious Cleveland’s situation is initially. The rotation is down to a veteran only in Aaron Sival, relying on rookies Gavin Williams, Tanner Bibby and Allen to handle the massive workload.
The Guardians have already expressed their desire to monitor their innings totals more closely this season, bearing in mind that no more than 132 2/3 frames have ever been thrown in a season, but it would be difficult to do so if the team did not. We have veterans who can take turns when it’s their turn to take the ball.
So far, Cleveland has been fortunate with how successful the club’s youth reliance has been. The Guardians desperately need this to keep the case moving forward, while they wait to hear Bieber’s findings.
“[The young kids have] “They kept us in the games, because they competed,” Francona said. “Our office has done a very good job, because they gobbled up a lot of innings. It will be much more difficult if Bieber starts to make mistakes. Doesn’t mean you can’t win. It just means that your margin of error is less. “
