Guardians’ offseason decision emphasizes Matt Festa problem as Cardinals benefit greatly

There are few Guardians players who have been as divisive as Matt Festa. 

While there are few in Northeast Ohio who feel good about the Guardians’ chances whenever Festa enters a game, he does hold some value as a pitcher who is able to take the ball almost every day. 

But Festa’s not the only pitcher in baseball who holds that value. Case in point Cardinals reliever Justin Bruihl, who was on the Guardians’ roster for three days around Christmas before Cleveland designated him for assignment. 

The Cardinals scooped him up after the sport’s dead period around Christmas, and Bruihl has rewarded St. Louis’ faith in him by turning into their version of Festa — albeit a more successful version of him. 

After his scoreless appearance against the Phillies on Wednesday, Bruhil now has a 3.32 ERA in 54 appearances (59 2/3 innings) for St. Louis this season. 

That’s never going to jump off the page, but it’s the kind of production the Guardians would love to get from Festa, who has a 4.22 ERA in 51 appearances (49 innings). 

Justin Bruihl would have been an obvious Matt Festa replacement for the Guardians 

Although Bruihl and Festa’s respective appearances aren’t near the top of the leaderboard (there are 40 relievers who have appeared in 50+ games this season), they both fill the same need for their respective clubs: Pitch whenever their number is called. 

Bruihl has pitched in high leverage a little more than Festa, but they’ve both done everything from get a single out when needed to pitch multiple innings. 

The biggest difference between the two is that Festa is a right-handed pitcher compared to Bruihl being a southpaw, but both of them have pretty equal usage against hitters from both sides of the plate without posting a huge platoon advantage. 

The Guardians going after Bruihl in the offseason made sense considering his funky arm angle made him a natural fit in the Guardians’ bullpen, but he ended up being the roster casualty so the Guardians could make room for Shawn Armstrong.

And, just to add a little more insult to injury, Armstrong posted a 4.91 ERA in 33 innings before suffering a calf injury that could keep him out for the foreseeable future. 

Guardians fans are no stranger to a pitcher who can take the ball everyday (we’ll never forget you, Bryan Shaw), but it’s hard for Festa’s appearances to not seem like Stephen Vogt throwing in the towel on whatever game the Guardians are playing in. 

While Bruihl’s worked plenty of mop up innings for the Cardinals, manager Oli Marmol feels comfortable calling on him to get a big out when needed. The same can’t be said for Festa.

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