Guardians looking to repeat as MLB's top bullpen

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We are less than one week away from pitchers and catchers reporting to camp, which means it’s time to wrap up our offseason Around the Horn series.

We’ve dissected the infield, the outfield and the starting rotation. All that’s left is to take a deeper look at Major League Baseball’s reigning best bullpen.

Projected 'pen: Emmanuel Clase, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis, Tim Herrin, Paul Sewald, Andrew Walters, Erik Sabrowski, Slade Cecconi
Clase, Smith, Gaddis, Herrin and Sewald are all locks, assuming they stay healthy this spring. Clase will be back to try to repeat his historic season. Smith will be Cleveland’s ultimate weapon yet again, but with a year of experience under his belt. Gaddis can reclaim his eighth-inning role. Herrin will be another high-leverage arm. And Sewald will find his place while also providing much-needed leadership among the group.

The final three spots are up for grabs. Given the way that both Walters and Sabrowski came up in September at the most critical time of the Guardians’ season and thrived, it seems easy to guess that they will be the first to fill these vacancies. Walters has the ability to hit triple digits on the radar gun. Sabrowski gives Cleveland a left-handed option out of the 'pen who struck out 19 batters in 12 2/3 regular-season innings.

For now, we’ll say Cecconi will be the one to round out the bullpen. Although the plan is for the Guardians to stretch him out as a starter during Spring Training to have as many rotation options as possible, it still seems like they have at least five starting pitchers ahead of him in the pecking order. That means Cecconi could end up in the bullpen as a long reliever or used in shorter outings.

Other candidates: Franco Aleman, Nic Enright, Joey Cantillo, Kolby Allard
Aleman is an exciting arm. He impressed everyone in the organization during Spring Training last year, and he went on to own a 1.99 ERA in 24 appearances with Triple-A Columbus. The problem was that the righty suffered a right lat strain early in the season and missed roughly three months of the season. When he’s healthy, though, the Guardians know the potential Aleman has. Maybe he needs a little more time in Triple-A, considering he missed so much last year, but he will likely get his chance in the Majors at some point this year.

Enright is in a similar boat as Aleman. He, too, missed most of the season due to injury and will likely need to play catch up before he gets into the big league 'pen. But in his limited time on the rubber, he looked great, posting a 1.06 ERA with a whopping 31 strikeouts in 17 innings. It took until his 14th outing of the season for him to give up an earned run. If he can stay healthy, he will be another intriguing option for Cleveland.

Cantillo will likely remain in the starting pitching mix since the Guardians’ starting depth is so thin. If he doesn’t make the rotation, it may make more sense to move him to Triple-A to keep him stretched out as a starter instead of moving him into the bullpen. But he does have the ability to pitch in relief, if needed.

Allard was added to the organization on a Minor League deal on Monday and has experience as both a starter and reliever. Again, the Guardians need as many starters as possible, however he could move into the relief mix.

Question to answer: Will last year trickle into 2025?
This can mean two different things.

In one way, the Guardians will hope that last year carries right over to this season. Why wouldn’t they? This was the best bullpen in the Majors, and they’re returning their biggest assets. Gaddis has a year of experience working in relief. Smith is no longer a rookie. Trevor Stephan will be back in the mix at some point before the All-Star break, assuming his recovery stays on track. They can only hope this group will be just as dominant again in ’25.

However, there’s a negative way that ’24 could trickle into this season, too. Because the rotation was stretched so thin, the bullpen was overtaxed last year and basically everyone took on more innings than they ever had in the past. Will anyone experience any lingering effects of those efforts going into this season? Cleveland will have to hope not, because there is still plenty of uncertainty regarding the rotation.

Who else is in the Pipeline?
? Unranked lefty Andrew Misiaszek (Triple-A Columbus)
? Unranked righty Mason Hickman (Triple-A Columbus)
? Unranked righty Bradley Hanner (Double-A Akron)