Guardians miss chance to improve starting rotation

The Cleveland Guardians let a perfect chance to add to their starting rotation slip through their fingers. Veteran free agent pitcher Michael Lorenzen has agreed to return to the Kansas City Royals on a one-year $7 million deal.

Lorenzen returning to Kansas City is not all that surprising, considering he was able to pitch lights about after being acquired from the Texas Rangers last season. Compiling a 1.57 ERA and 1.081 WHIP in seven games (six starts), Lorenzen was able to be a key contributor for the Royals down the stretch, making this new deal somewhat expected.

With that being said, this would have been very easy for the Guardians to match or even exceed if they really wanted to, as it is only half the financial commitment given to Shane Bieber for next year, and he is expected to miss a considerable amount of the season. Allocating $7 million to someone who would be available on Opening Day and would help them immediately is not asking too much.

Would signing Lorenzen be a move that would have taken the Guardians over the top? Not at all, but bringing an arm of Lorenzen's caliber would have helped stabilize their starting rotation and that is something Cleveland really needs at this point. There are too many moving parts currently and that could make it more difficult to find consistent success next season.

Once you go past Tanner Bibee, the Guardians' rotation gets very shaky rather quickly. Gavin Williams, Ben Lively, Triston McKenzie, Logan Allen, Luis Ortiz, and Joey Cantillo are the possible options to follow Bibee and this is not the most encouraging group for a team looking to win the American League Central division for the second straight season. There are a lot of question marks in this group and that could definitely pose a problem when it comes to their chances of being competitive in 2025.