Pitcher acquired from Arizona for Josh Naylor to make Cleveland Guardians debut on Saturday vs Reds

The Cleveland Guardians made a handful of moves this past offseason, resulting in a much different look on the right side of their infield. Up until now, the Guardians have only gotten an in-game look at the return for one of their now-departed players, with Luis Ortiz being part of their starting rotation. Now, the player they acquired for the services of Josh Naylor will make his team debut on Saturday, as Slade Cecconi draws the start against the Reds down in Cincinnati.

Cecconi started this year on the injured list after a left oblique strain in late March resulted in missing the start of the season. The soon-to-be 26-year-old began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus on April 30th before being slated to start on Saturday. Cecconi allowed seven runs on 12 hits and two walks in three games (13 innings) for the Clippers.

The numbers from Cecconi during his rehab assignment are not great, but the Guardians are not really in a position to be picky right now when it comes to their starting rotation. Veteran Ben Lively was placed on the 15-day IL with a right flexor tendon strain earlier this week, creating a spot in their rotation that Cleveland had to address accordingly. Cecconi might not end up being the long-term solution they are looking for, but he might be able to be a short-term stopgap arm to lean on until a better option becomes available.

Cecconi made a handful of major league appearances while part of the Arizona Diamondbacks organization but was not particularly successful in those outings. In 27 games (17 starts), Cecconi pitched to a 6.06 ERA and 1.1346 WHIP while also posting a 7.3 K/9 ratio across 104 innings of work. The Guardians must have seen something in Cecconi they believe they can maximize, as it would have made zero sense to trade away an impact bat like Naylor if that was not the case. Hopefully, Cecconi can provide some level of value while in Cleveland and can make last offseason's trade look less like a salary dump than it did at the time and currently still does.