Dark horse candidate to make Guardians' Opening Day roster can further strengthen Cleveland's bullpen

The bullpen was the clear strength of the Cleveland Guardians last season, locking down games late and shutting down teams in dominant fashion throughout 2024. This is expected to continue in 2025, but there is someone who is currently considered a dark horse candidate to make Cleveland's Opening Day roster that could help further strengthen this group.

This offseason saw the Guardians sign 26-year-old reliever Luis Frias to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training. While Cleveland's bullpen is pretty full at the moment and other additions of note are ahead of him on the pecking order of who will make the team (Paul Sewald, Jakob Junis), this did not stop Frias from being mentioned as Cleveland's entry in a list of possible players to make a roster out of spring training.

"It’s a numbers game, of course, but the trouble with Spring Training – especially after a deep postseason run – is the possibility of injury issues cropping up, potentially opening an opportunity to someone like the experienced Frías." wrote Anthony Castrovince regarding Frias on MLB.com.

The possibility of year-over-year fatigue impacting Cleveland's pitching staff, specifically their relief corps, needs to be discussed more if we are being honest here. The Guardians' bullpen was called into action quite frequently last season due to a lack of consistent, quality outings from their starting staff. This can compound over the course of the season, and the postseason ERAs of Hunter Gaddis (4.91) and Emmanuel Clase (9.00), two of Cleveland's most frequently used relievers, are clear evidence of exactly that. Taking the proper steps to ease their workload in 2025 should be a priority for the Guardians if they are going to match or even exceed last season's success.

Frias spent last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Toronto Blue Jays, posting a 13.97 ERA and 2.690 WHIP in 9.2 major league innings. Neither of these numbers are encouraging, but it is worth mentioning that Frias had a very serviceable 4.06 ERA and 1.516 WHIP for the Diamondbacks in 2023. The Guardians may be able to work their pitching magic once again and make Frias their latest bullpen success story.