Cleveland Guardians reportedly add pitching help by acquiring former San Diego Padres pitcher

The Cleveland Guardians pitching staff is in a state of flux at the moment. With losing Shane Bieber for the year, in addition to some obvious concerns regarding Triston McKenzie, something had to be done. That is why it is not exactly a surprise to see the Guardians go out and make a deal to add an additional arm at this time.

Coming very early Wednesday morning from El Extrabase's Daniel Álvarez-Montes was the report of the Guardians acquiring right-hander Pedro Avila from the San Diego Padres. Avila was designated for assignment by San Diego less than a week ago. Cleveland will have to make at least one corresponding move to accommodate this acquisition, as Avila is out of options and must be on the major league roster, in addition to clearing a spot for the soon-to-be-activated Ben Lively, who is starting Wednesday's game in Boston.

The 27-year-old Avila has made four appearances out of the bullpen for San Diego this season, and they have not gone particularly well. Three out of the four of his outings have resulted in two or more runs being scored, with a scoreless inning against the St. Louis Cardinals being the outlier. It appears that the final straw for Avila in San Diego was giving up four runs on three hits and three walks in 3 innings against the Chicago Cubs, as he was designated for assignment four days later.

Cleveland is hoping that they can find a way to cut down on free passes issued by Avila and increase his strikeouts. Avila's 10.1 strikeouts per nine early on this season would rank fifth on available Guardians arms currently, but his 6.8 walks per nine would rank as the most by non-starters. Perhaps new surroundings and being in an environment where pitchers have been able to be productive could lead to Avila's performance on the mound taking a turn for the better.