CLEVELAND -- When Slade Cecconi learned Monday the Guardians acquired starter Foster Griffin from the Nationals before the 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline, he had a pretty good idea of what it would mean for him personally.
Later in the evening, manager Stephen Vogt called Cecconi to confirm his intuition. Vogt told the 27-year-old he was moving from the rotation to the bullpen to accommodate Griffin’s arrival.
“I knew it was going to be me, and that's fine,” Cecconi told MLB.com. “We're here to compete to win a World Series. We're not here to play favorites or worry about somebody's feelings. Whatever I’ve got to do to help this team win ballgames, I'm going to do it.”
The Guardians’ starting staff has been their backbone all season. Cleveland entered Tuesday sixth in the Majors in rotation ERA (3.68), behind a group that has been extremely durable. The Guardians’ Opening Day rotation of Cecconi, Tanner Bibee, Joey Cantillo, Parker Messick and Gavin Williams started all but one of the club’s first 113 games.
Nonetheless, the Guardians’ brass explored all avenues to improve before the Deadline. Landing outfielder Jo Adell and Nathaniel Lowe bolstered an offense that has struggled mightily. Griffin improves what already was a rock-solid starting staff.
Over 22 starts with the Nationals, Griffin logged a 3.06 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP, with 116 strikeouts and 30 walks over 129 1/3 innings. The 31-year-old earned his first All-Star nod this season. Cecconi, meanwhile, has a 4.78 ERA (highest among Cleveland’s starters) and a 1.47 WHIP with 84 strikeouts and 35 walks in 107 1/3 innings over 21 starts.
“Obviously, it's never fun to have your role change, but Slade is such a great teammate,” Vogt said. “He's just excited that he's here to help us win ballgames, however that looks. He's willing to take the ball whenever we ask him. It's going to be a change to his routine. It's going to be a change to some things. So it might take him a little time to settle into what the new day to day looks like. But he took the news really well because he just wants to help us win games.”
Griffin is set to make his Guardians debut against the Mets on Thursday, in the finale of a three-game series at Progressive Field. He will be on five days’ rest. Bibee will start Wednesday, when Cecconi was scheduled to start. Bibee (who last started on Friday) will be on normal rest. He was scheduled to start Thursday, but threw a bullpen Sunday just in case this scenario played out.
This is a change for Cecconi, but not new territory. In his first two big league seasons, from 2023-24 with the D-backs, 10 of his 27 appearances came in relief. Cecconi acknowledged the change will be a “slight adjustment” to his workload and mentality, but he’s confident he can handle it given his experience.
The Guardians had a few potential avenues after landing Griffin. They could have gone with a six-man rotation, which was a massive success for them last September, to mitigate workloads. They could have optioned Cecconi to Triple-A Columbus to keep him stretched out. Cleveland is thin on big league-ready rotation depth in the Minors beyond lefty Logan Allen. It would be interesting to see what the Guardians would do if they needed someone to make a start in a pinch.
Cecconi is taking things as they come.
“I'm taking it day by day,” he said. “I'm going to go out there and give the team whatever they need whenever they ask me to do it, and see where that leads us.”