Stephen Vogt's attempted explanation for Tanner Bibee's Guardians roster spot said it all while saying nothing

The Guardians’ loss to the Rays in the American League Championship Series featured plenty of pitching madness from Cleveland’s side. Foster Griffin pitched in two games and averaged more than a strikeout an inning. Shawn Armstrong recorded four appearances (and two starts). And Tanner Bibee was nowhere to be found. 

While Bibee led the Guardians in starts (33) and innings pitched (188) in the regular season, he was nowhere to be found in the ALCS and was missing in action for almost all of the postseason outside of a single relief appearance against the White Sox in the ALDS. 

It’s clearly a complicated situation, but it got even more complicated after the series when he said after the series the “spot never presented itself” for Bibee to get into a game. That may be a fair excuse for a matchup-based reliever, but the Guardians trusted Bibee enough in the regular season that they let him lead the team in pitching. 

Postseason pitching is obviously a much different animal than regular season pitching, but keeping Bibee on the roster was a waste of space when the Guardians could have benefited from having another position player on their roster. 

Bibee was a valuable part of the Guardians’ pitching plans in the regular season, but his confusing postseason usage has made it fair to wonder if he’s pitching his final game for the Guardians. 

Tanner Bibee's inactive postseason could lead to the Guardians trading him this offseason

At certain points throughout the series, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt mentioned Bibee as a possible option to eat innings in a blowout or as a “break glass of emergency” option if a game went into extra innings. 

The perfect opportunity for that arose in Game 4 when Matt Festa couldn't get out of the ninth inning, but Vogt asked Joey Cantillo to pick up the final two outs of a four-run game. 

Cantillo made a return to the mound two days later as a bulk guy out of the bullpen, while Bibee continued to gather dust in the bullpen. 

The Guardians made the right decision to leave Bibee out of their postseason rotation since he was coming off the worst season of his career while finishing the year with a 7.36 ERA in September. Something needs to change and, to his credit, he seems willing to get into the lab and try to make it work. 

“I think this year and last year made me realize that I need to make some changes, and I’m willing to do that, and I’m ready to do it. Especially these past three weeks, it made me realize that I’m willing to do whatever, honestly, at this point,” he said, per The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel. 

Bibee still has three years and $38.8 million left on the five-year deal he signed prior to last season, which is a great deal for a No. 2 starter. But, at this point, he’s going to open 2027 as the Guardians’ No. 3 starter — if he’s on the team at all. 

A trade for Bibee would be a double-edged sword since the Guardians don’t have an abundance of pitching depth in their system, but we’ve gotten to a point where the front office is likely considering it given how disastrous his postseason went.

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