Guardians seem set to use September roster expansion to add much-needed bullpen reinforcement

Last September the Guardians took advantage of their additional September roster spots by adding Joey Cantillo to their rotation. That decision set up one of the best months of Cantillo’s career that coincided with Cleveland’s incredible comeback to win the American League Central. 

That history won’t be repeating itself this year, as both manager Stephen Vogt and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said on the record that it’s “unlikely” the Guardians would  go to a six-man rotation this September when they get two additional roster spots. 

While it would have been easy for the Guardians to just follow the same blueprint as last year, it seems like they’re not letting last year’s September success cloud their current situation. 

All signs point toward the Guardians adding to their bullpen when rosters expand

One factor that likely played into the Guardians' decision to want to add to their bullpen is a September schedule that includes three off-days. After opening the month by playing 10 games in nine days, they don’t have a stretch where they play more than six games in a row for the rest of the season. 

Adding another reliever who could factor into the middle innings is more important than adding a pitcher who would take starts away from Parker Messick, Gavin Williams and Foster Griffin. 

It also doesn’t hurt that the Guardians have no shortage of relievers to choose from. 

Daniel Espino, Franco Aleman, Yorman Gómez and Austin Peterson are all in Triple-A and on the 40-man roster. Slade Cecconi is also an option as he works his way back from the injured list (he made his second rehab start today and went 2 2/3 innings).

Of that group, Espino and Aleman make the most sense given they’ve already pitched for the Guardians this year and are true relievers, whereas Gómez and Peterson have been working as starters in the minors and have yet to pitch in MLB. 

Espino’s racked up 12 strikeouts in six innings with the Guardians this season, but they’ve been a bit hesitant to overwork him due to his injury history. On the other hand, Aleman racked up 18 2/3 innings with the Guardians, but had a 7.71 ERA in 4 2/3 innings in August before being sent down to Triple-A. 

They’re both familiar faces and have the inside track to take one of those roster spots in the same way Daniel Schneemann and Kyle Manzardo have the inside track to get the open position player spot. 

Cecconi is the wild card since he spent most of the season working in the rotation before moving to the bullpen at the start of the month when the Guardians acquired Foster Griffin. He made two appearances out of the bullpen before suffering an arm injury.

The Guardians could get the best of both worlds and add one of Espino or Aleman to the roster and have Cecconi take Logan Allen’s spot as the longman in Cleveland’s bullpen. 

No matter what the actual decision they make is, it seems like it's not going to be a surprising one.

Even if the Guardians’ bullpen doesn’t have the same kind of star power that it’s had in years prior, it’s been a quietly steady unit that would obviously benefit from a reinforcement.

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