Guardians Weekly Watch: Prospects, pitchers and playoff hopes

Coming off of a relatively quiet offseason, the Guardians will be entering 2023 with expectations to win the AL Central. Here’s what to watch for on Opening Day and beyond.

The Cleveland Guardians were lucky enough to not have too many roster holes to address in the 2022-2023 MLB offseason.

To date, first baseman Josh Bell (two years, $33M) and catcher Mike Zunino (one year, $6M) were the biggest splashes of the offseason. Each player is going to play a significant role in the upcoming season.

Bell, 30, will give the middle of the order some much-needed thump from both sides of the plate and will pair beautifully with José Ramírez. Zunino, 32, has light-tower-power and is commonly regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in the game today.

To kick off the 2023 season, the Guardians will travel to Seattle to take on the Mariners for a four-game series.

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Here’s what Guardians fans should be watching for this week:

Opening Day: Mar. 30 at Seattle Mariners

Projected pitching matchup: Shane Bieber vs. Luis Castillo

Bieber gave the Guardians everything he had last season. He went 13-8 in 31 starts, posting a 2.88 ERA and just-as-impressive 2.87 FIP. His 132 ERA+ was good enough to land him seventh in the AL Cy Young Award voting. Topping Castillo and the Mariners will not be an easy task for Bieber and the Guardians, however. Castillo’s tenure with Seattle in the second half of 2022 saw him make 11 starts with a 4-2 record and 3.17 ERA. He is going to be the ace of the staff this year and will be quite the roadblock for Cleveland in the first game of the year.

Mar. 31 at Seattle Mariners

Projected pitching matchup: Triston McKenzie vs. Logan Gilbert

McKenzie, 25, went 11-11 in 30 starts last year with a 2.96 ERA and 129 ERA+. He is a strikeout machine who needs to hone in his control a bit more moving forward but he’s still young and very much developing on the fly. He has the top-of-the-rotation potential for the Guardians and will be a key figure in this rotation. Gilbert, also 25, burst onto the scene last year and cemented himself into the conversation of top pitcher in the American League. He is an absolute workhorse on the mound and went 13-6 with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts last year for Seattle.

Apr. 1 at Seattle Mariners

Projected pitching matchup: Cal Quantrill vs. Robbie Ray

Quantrill, 27, has struggled in Spring Training and in the World Baseball Classic but the concern level should be low. Last year was his first full year of focusing on starting and he rewarded the Guardians with a 15-5 record and 3.38 ERA in 32 starts. He should bounce back nicely once the regular season ramps up. On the other side, there’s Robbie Ray, one of the game’s best strikeout artists. The 2021 Cy Young Award winner went 12-12 in 32 starts last year while topping 200 strikeouts for the fifth time in his nine-year career.

Apr. 2 at Seattle Mariners

Projected pitching matchup: Aaron Civale vs. George Kirby

The 27-year-old Civale looked lost for the vast majority of the 2022 campaign, but he has earned another look on the Opening Day starting rotation. While he limped to the finish line last year with a 4.92 ERA and 78 ERA+ in 20 starts, he went 12-5 with a 3.84 ERA and 112 ERA+ in 2021, so the talent is there, it’s just about how he capitalizes on it. His mound opponent is George Kirby, the sixth-place finisher in AL Rookie of the Year voting last season. He went 8-5 in 25 starts and excelled at limiting walks and home runs.