Five former players the Guardians should not attempt to bring back to Cleveland

5. Mike Clevinger

There was a time where it appeared that Mike Clevinger was going to be a mainstay in Cleveland's pitching rotation for the forseeable future. Unfortunately, it was a combination on injuries and bad decision making while on a road trip in Chicago during the 2020 season that ultimately led to his departure.

Clevinger would require Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career. Having Tommy John surgery twice is never a good thing, and it can become more of an issue if this occurs after the age of 30, which is when the second one took place. With that being said, Clevinger appears to have recovered just fine, as he has a 4.03 ERA and 1.213 WHIP over his past two seasons with the Padres and Chicago White Sox. As encouraging as these numbers are post-second Tommy John, it does not make much sense to bring him back into the fold.

The main reason is pretty simple, the Guardians already have a full major-league pitching rotation with Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Logan Allen. Even if Cleveland were to trade away Bieber and/or lose one of the others due to injury, it would still be very unlikely to see Clevinger come back to Cleveland. It is not just about the current state of the pitching staff, Clevinger's injury history, or the way he left the team. It is everything put together that makes it incredibly difficult to envision Clev ever putting on a Cleveland uniform again.