Shawn Armstrong could save Guardians’ biggest offseason blunder with today’s “start” against Rays 

Last winter, the Guardians made their big “splash” by signing reliever Shawn Armstrong to a $5.5 million deal to fortify their bullpen. It may not have made a big splash in the general MLB landscape, but for the penny-pinching Guardians it may have been a wild spending spree. 

And they didn’t get much for that return on investment in the regular season, as Armstrong had a 4.58 ERA in just 35 1/3 innings thanks to a variety of lower body injuries. 

While Armstong’s struggles were an under-the-radar storyline for the Guardians for most of the season, he’s turned things around this postseason with 5 1/3 scoreless innings out of the Guardians’ vaunted bullpen while working ahead of the team’s big three of Erik Sabrowski, Hunter Gaddis and Cade Smith. 

But he’s going to get his biggest test of the postseason later today when he takes the ball as an opener in the Guardians’ Game 4 matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays. He may not help win the game for the Guardians, but he certainly can lose it for them. 

Shawn Armstrong's appearance with the Rays could dictate his tenure with the Guardians

The Guardians first announced Armstrong as their starter on Friday prior to when the deluge of rain hit Northeast Ohio, and manager Stepehn Vogt confirmed after Friday’s postponement that Armstrong will still get the ball later today, likely for an inning or two. 

Again, that’s not going to be enough time for him to become the reason the Guardians win. He could strike out all six of the batters he faces and Cleveland’s pitching staff would still need to pick up 21 outs behind him. 

And that plan for behind him is likely going to go through some combination of Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo, Slade Cecconi and (potentially) Foster Griffin. 

Griffin was on track to start Game 5 on normal rest, but the postponement means that Parker Messick could take the ball on normal rest tomorrow instead of having to wait for Monday’s Game 6. 

The Guardians likely won’t announce a starter until after today’s game since the plan will depend on whether they win or not, but things could get even more complicated over the next couple days. 

But before all that madness takes hold, Saturday’s game is going to be on Armstrong’s right arm. He may have put together a middling regular season, but he’s reached a new level in October with a 29.4% strikeout rate to go along with zero walks and just one hit allowed. 

He kept the Rays off balance in Game 2 with 1 2/3 scoreless innings thanks to his sweeper and cutter, but he’ll have his work cut out for him against the top of the Rays lineup.

Armstrong may be approaching his final days on the Guardians roster, but he can make sure he goes out on a high note with his “start” later today.

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