Taking stock of the Guards’ internal starting pitching options 

We touched on it a little bit already, but this is so critical for the Guardians to figure out that it deserves its own section.

This is a guy who the Guardians hoped would be the No. 2 starter last year. Well, actually, after Bieber was injured, they needed McKenzie to step up to be the rock of this rotation. He was the one with the most experience. His presence was desperately needed, and yet, he ended up spending the second half of the season in Triple-A.

McKenzie couldn’t find his command. It would also come and go in Columbus. He had to watch the Guardians’ playoff games from the stands instead of the dugout, and it was part of what left the team heavily depending on its bullpen rather than its rotation for the first time in a long time.

As we already said before, the Guardians don’t have a tremendous amount of starting depth, especially in the first half of the season before Bieber is ready to go. And with at least one question mark beside each starter’s name (aside from Bibee), it would be tremendously helpful for this team to be able to lean on an experienced starter like McKenzie every fifth day. If he looks like he did in 2022, this is a completely different rotation.