'He's a bonafide ace': Tanner Bibee's hot streak props up Guardians starting rotation

CLEVELAND — The Guardians believed Tanner Bibee was easily capable of a hot streak like this one. And it might have arrived at just the right time.

The Guardians' starting rotation was supposed to be the stable portion of the roster. They were supposed to be a locked-in group of five forming a young quintet that had few questions heading into 2024 aside, perhaps, surrounding the ace and if he might remain in Cleveland.

But as a group, they've been anything but secure since those optimistic times.

Five names were written in Sharpie — Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Gavin Williams, Bibee and Logan Allen — barring anything unforeseen happening. And then a whole bunch of unforeseen things happened one after the other, which is a good reason why teams plan in very light pencil instead of permanent marker.

Bieber? Out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery despite a promising start to his year. McKenzie? Currently in Triple-A searching for his command after temporarily leading the league in walks and home runs allowed. Williams? He's made only four starts after missing most of the season with injuries, and his return has featured a mixed-bag of results. Allen? He struggled to a 5.67 ERA and is now on the injured list.

Only one — Bibee — has offered the first-place Guardians any resemblance of consistency from that list. The lineup has been tremendously improved from a year ago. The bullpen has been baseball's best. And then there's Bibee and Ben Lively propping up the starting rotation essentially by themselves.

Adding a starting pitcher at the trade deadline is likely the Guardians' No. 1 priority, though just about every contender could use an extra arm, which might cause some bidding wars. But out of an original rotation of five, Bibee has emerged as their most reliable starter.

"We have our meetings with starters every series, and we talk about the starter and what they're doing good and how do we keep them going," said utility man David Fry. "Lately it's just like, 'All right, let's talk about Bibee. Yeah, he's been really, really good. OK, keep going, next guy.'"

"I mean, I think we've all known that he's a bonafide ace, and I think now the league's starting to see it and they're circling his name, and he's still putting up zeros ever outing. He's so much fun to play behind and watch pitch."

Tanner Bibee sets career high in strikeouts in a game during hot streak as trade deadline nears

Bibee has been on fire lately. In his last 12 starts, he has a 2.82 ERA with 82 strikeouts in 70 1/3 innings. That includes an outing in which he set a career high with 11 strikeouts and then beat that mark his next time out, putting away 12 batters. And in six of those 12 starts, he's pitched at least five innings with zero or one earned run allowed.

"I think the stuff has gotten better," said manager Stephen Vogt, who earlier this year challenged Bibee to remain in the game and get one more out rather than being taken out. "I think for Tanner, he's learning who he is constantly. He pitches like he's been doing it for a long time, but he's learning a lot of things."

The Guardians are one of the biggest teams to watch across baseball as the trade deadline approaches. They have a need to bolster the rotation (Cleveland is 29th out of 30 clubs in starting pitcher fWAR), the timing (the best record in the American League entering the All-Star break) and the prospect capital, which was helped by winning the No. 1 overall pick in the lottery and drafting Travis Bazzana.

Perhaps they'll view the returns of McKenzie (from Triple-A, eventually), Williams (from the IL, already in progress) and Allen (from the IL, eventually) as enough, but that's also relying on a lot of factors going their way in a short amount of time. For now, Bibee and Lively have at least maintained their spots in the rotation, and helped to hold together the other slots with string and tape.

But considering the Guardians weren't a team expected to make much noise in the playoff picture this season, the fact that the rotation can be viewed as such a potential issue is a testament to just how great the offense and bullpen have been to have the Guardians in this position in the first place.

To put it another way, even though the Guardians' situation with their rotation hasn't gone to plan, they're glad to be in a position to have such a sense of urgency as the deadline draws near.

"I think it's a nice combination of keep doing what we're doing, and kind of take it up a notch," Bibee said. "I mean, I think we're in a way different position last year than this year. We're in a major buy mode, I hope, and everyone really wants to win."

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis.