CLEVELAND -- The Guardians have found themselves in a much trickier situation than they intended.

Prior to Monday night’s 6-0 loss to the Rockies at Progressive Field, manager Terry Francona sat with president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti and general manager Mike Chernoff, explaining that his plan would be to stay away from using Xzavion Curry in relief.

If Cleveland could go through the first two contests of this three-game set without running Curry to the mound, it would save a lot of headaches. The Guardians are short a starter because of Saturday’s doubleheader. The club knew it had a day off on Thursday and figured Curry could start in the series finale on Wednesday, eat up a few innings, turn the ball over to the bullpen to finish it out, and everyone could get some rest the following day.

Instead, Curry had to be deployed on Monday as the Guardians were limited with their options. Cal Quantrill gave up five runs on eight hits through just 3 1/3 innings. Francona turned to Nick Sandlin and Tim Herrin for a combined 2 1/3 frames, but it was Curry who had to take the final 3 1/3 innings. The right-hander performed admirably, allowing no hits while recording one strikeout and one walk while throwing 52 pitches.

“I said I will try to stay away from this kid because I don’t want to force anybody’s hand,” Francona said. “That’s not why we’re here. But I didn’t know where else to go.”

So, where do the Guardians go from here? It’s not as simple as declaring Tanner Bibee, the club’s No. 5 prospect per MLB Pipeline, as Wednesday’s starter and moving forward. Cleveland has to figure out its roster composition and what will make the most sense moving forward.

Let’s try to think through the scenarios.

Even with Thursday’s off-day, the Guardians probably won’t have enough rested arms to get through a bullpen day on Wednesday, especially with Peyton Battenfield, who has just two big league starts under his belt, on the rubber on Tuesday. This means the team will have to call someone up from the Minors to make the start.

A spot on the 26-man roster (and possibly the 40-man, depending who gets the call) will need to be opened up. But something else to keep in mind is the fact that the Guardians cannot carry more than 13 pitchers. Right now, the club already has 13, which means a hurler would have to be optioned in order to get a starter on the active roster.

The Guardians wouldn’t give up on one of their regular starters this early in the season. If the team feels that a young guy like Battenfield, who pitched well in his first two big league starts, could benefit from more time in Triple-A Columbus, maybe he could be sent back down. But because he’s earned the right to be in the rotation up to this point, it could be a bullpen arm that’s optioned, leaving just seven relievers on the roster.

Maybe the Guardians are hopeful that lefty reliever Sam Hentges could return to the bullpen by the end of the week. That would mean making it through Wednesday’s contest wouldn’t be too difficult with just seven relievers. But that would mean someone would have to be optioned again on Friday (likely whoever comes up on Wednesday) to clear space for Hentges’ return.

If Cleveland needs to call upon a Minor League starter, the top three names that come to mind are Bibee, Gavin Williams and Konnor Pilkington.

Pilkington, who's already on the 40-man, would be working on short rest, considering he started for Columbus on Saturday, but he threw just 51 pitches in his three-inning outing. And as dominant as Williams has been with Akron -- throwing five hitless frames last time out -- it still seems unlikely he’d make the jump from Double-A to the Majors.

But it’s not off the table, especially since Guardians assistant general manager James Harris explained that Williams was in the discussion to start for the Major League club on Sunday.

This leads to Bibee seeming like the probable candidate. He’s slated to pitch on Tuesday for Columbus and he could easily be pushed back a day to start for the Guardians. He’s gotten off to a hot start, owning a 1.76 ERA in his first three outings.

Maybe Bibee wouldn’t be able to find a permanent spot on Cleveland’s roster just yet, but he could get the chance to make a strong first impression. Now, the Guardians just need to determine if this move would make the most sense.