Guardians' Foster Griffin trade changes calculus on previous Chris Antonetti win

On Dec. 21, 2024, the Cleveland Guardians altered the future of their roster by trading Josh Naylor to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for pitcher Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B Draft pick that eventually became left-handed pitcher Will Hynes. 

It didn’t take long for that trade to look like an obvious Guardians win, as Naylor lasted a half-season in Arizona before being traded to the Mariners while Cecconi turned into an average (if inconsistent) member of the Guardians’ rotation. 

But the idea of that trade being a win took a big hit on Monday when the Guardians acquired pitcher Foster Griffin from the Nationals, which could bring about an end to Cecconi’s time in Cleveland's rotation (and the roster as a whole). 

Slade Cecconi is the odd man out in the Guardians’ rotation

The Guardians officially added Griffin to their roster in place of reliever Franco Aleman, but that was just so they had room to move Cecconi to the bullpen. Tanner Bibee will get the start for the Guardians today and Griffin will make his Cleveland debut on Thursday.

Cecconi has shown flashes in his time with the Guardians (4.51 ERA in 239 1/3 innings with Cleveland), but there have also been some frustrating lows. He showed how good he can be in July (1.88 ERA in 28 2/3 innings), but he’s allowed at least three runs in all four of his July starts (17 innings). 

He made his relief debut last night and allowed one run in 2 2/3 innings in Cleveland's 6-2 loss.

He was an obvious candidate to be the odd man out in place of Griffin. While he still has a minor league option remaining, the Guardians choose to keep him around in the bullpen.

The nuclear option would have been for the Guardians to shift toward a six-man rotation, which is what they did last September after Joey Cantillo got recalled from Triple-A. 

While that would have allowed for the Guardians to capitalize on their new rotation depth, it was a roundabout way to solve a problem that they fixed by moving Cecconi into a relief role.

Antonetti already showed some aggressiveness by demoting Kyle Manzardo and David Fry, and moving Cecconi to the bullpen fits into that.

And, like the Guardians’ decision to demote Manzardo in place of Nathaniel Lowe, any Cecconi demotion could be temporary given Griffin’s an impending free agent. 

But one latent benefit of the Guardians’ trade for Griffin is that they’re going to get a two month headstart on his free agency after the season.

Although Griffin and the Nationals never had any serious talks about an extension, the Guardians’ pitching lab has a way of winning players over. 

But all of that is a problem for after the season. Right now, the Guardians need to figure out how to make things work with six starters, and the early reaction was a predictable one.

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