Guardians Add a 13th Pitcher for the ALCS and the Rays Call Up a Rookie: Both Roster Moves Explained
Both American League Championship Series rosters were filed on Monday, and each team made exactly one change. The changes say a lot about how differently these two clubs arrived here.
Cleveland added right-hander Slade Cecconi and dropped utility man Daniel Schneemann, moving to 13 pitchers and 13 hitters. Tampa Bay added rookie right-hander Brody Hopkins and dropped left-hander Garrett Cleavinger, staying at 12 pitchers and 14 hitters.
Cleveland Needed Arms, Not Bats
The Guardians went five games to get past the White Sox. That is the whole explanation for this move.
A five-game division series burns through a bullpen, and Cleveland arrived in Tampa with Parker Messick unavailable until Game 2 and Gavin Williams unavailable until Game 3. Carrying a 13th pitcher is what a team does when it is going to need length from somewhere it did not plan on.
Cecconi, 27, went 5-7 with a 4.91 ERA across 28 appearances this season, 21 of them starts. He moved to the bullpen in August and posted a 5.93 ERA over 13 2/3 relief innings. Career: 14-22 with a 5.02 ERA in 78 games between Arizona and Cleveland.
Those are not good numbers. He is also a pitcher who has started 61 big league games, which means he can give the Guardians three innings if a starter gets knocked out early. That is the job.
Schneemann Was the Odd Man Out
Schneemann, 29, hit .210 with seven home runs and 30 RBI in 91 games this season and started at five different positions. He made the ALDS roster and never appeared in a game.
A bench player who does not play is the cheapest thing to cut when you need a roster spot. Cleveland cut it.
Tampa Bay Did Not Have to Do Anything
The Rays swept the Yankees in three games, which is why their roster looks nothing like Cleveland’s. They are rested, their rotation is in order, and they had no structural hole to patch.
So they made the smallest possible move. Hopkins made his major league debut on Sept. 13 and has a 5.06 ERA with seven strikeouts and six walks across 5 1/3 innings over six appearances. Cleavinger had a 4.79 ERA in 41 1/3 innings across 51 appearances and did not pitch in the division series.
Swapping a reliever who did not pitch for a rookie with six big league appearances is a team telling you it does not expect to need either one.
The Contrast Is the Story
Tampa Bay held its pitcher-hitter split, kept 14 bats, and carried on. Cleveland reshaped its staff because it had to.
That is the real gap between these teams entering Game 1 at Tropicana Field. One of them swept and got a week off. The other won a Game 5 and showed up with a bullpen it is trying to protect. Roster filings do not usually tell you who is in better shape. These two do.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
