Insider Drops Major Update on Guardians' Pitching Search

The Cleveland Guardians managed to win the AL Central and advance all the way to the ALCS last season in spite of having one of the worst starting rotations in baseball.

It was a fun ride for sure, but the chances of the Guardians replicating their success in 2025 with such brutal starting pitching seems very slim.

Cleveland has attempted to address the issue this offseason, re-signing Shane Bieber, swinging a trade for Luis Ortiz and adding some reclamation projects, but the fact remains that the Guardians' pitching staff is a significant question heading into the season.

Spring training started Tuesday, so Cleveland is running out of time to make some moves. However, MLB insider Robert Murray feels that the Guardians are still on the hunt for starting pitching, and he mentions former Boston Red Sox right-hander NIck Pivetta as a potential option for them.

"I know one team looking for starting pitchers, the Cleveland Guardians, and I think they're looking for multiple starting pitchers," Murray said on The Baseball Insiders podcast. "They need some insurance with a guy like Shane Bieber, who's not going to be ready for the start of the season, so they've got to have some innings. They're gonna find someone to eat some innings, I don't know if it's gonna be Pivetta, but they are looking for some starters."

Pivetta is somehow still available on the free-agent market in spite of putting together a solid season for the Red Sox in 2024, when he pitched to the tune of a 4.14 ERA while allowing 128 hits and registering 172 strikeouts over 145.2 innings of work.

The 31-year-old broke into the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2017 and spent three-and-a-half years there before being traded to Boston in 2020.

He definitely isn't a top-of-the-line starter, laying claim to a lifetime 4.76 ERA. However, he has solid peripherals, averaging 10 strikeouts per nine innings.

Pivetta would definitely represent a great pickup for Cleveland.

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