Guardians ace scratched from Opening Day start

The Guardians announced Thursday that right-hander Tanner Bibee has been scratched from his scheduled Opening Day start due to acute gastroenteritis (or, the stomach flu), reports Tim Stebbins of MLB.com. Cleveland will give the nod to fellow right-hander Ben Lively in his place.

It’s an unfortunate development for the recently extended Bibee, who is just days removed from signing a five-year, $48M contract extension. It’s unlikely he’ll miss significant time with the illness, but Opening Day starts are a cherished occasion for pitchers. Bibee figures to have opportunities in the future, but this would’ve been his first Opening Day nod. Shane Bieber started for Cleveland in each of the past two seasons — Bibee’s only two years in the majors.

On the flip side, it’s an unexpected chance for Lively to also get his first career Opening Day nod. The notion of Lively as an Opening Day starter would’ve been beyond far-fetched just a few short years ago. The now-33-year-old righty pitched only one big league inning in 2019 and didn’t pitch in the majors at all from 2020-22. Lively spent the 2020-21 season with the Samsung Lions of the Korea Baseball Organization, returned to North America on a minor league deal with the Reds, and didn’t make it back to the majors until 2023. He pitched 88 2/3 innings for Cincinnati that year and logged a 5.38 ERA.

The Guardians still brought Lively in on a major league contract last year, guaranteeing him a $750K salary. He crushed any and all expectations, rattling off 151 innings with a 3.81 earned run average, an 18.7 percent strikeout rate, a 7.2 percent walk rate and a 41.9 percent ground-ball rate. Lively misses bats at a well below-average level, but he has sharp command and managed to strand runners at a much higher rate than average (78.4 percent compared to league-average 72.1 percent). He and the Guardians settled on a one-year, $2.25M contract this offseason to avoid an arbitration hearing.

Bibee and Lively will be joined in Cleveland’s rotation by righties Luis Ortiz and Gavin Williams, as well as southpaw Logan Allen.