Guardians’ Stephen Vogt, Tanner Bibee walk and talk their way through playoff snub

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Before Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Monday night, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt and right-hander Tanner Bibee went for a walk.They talked for 40 minutes about why Bibee pitched just one-third of an inning in two rounds of playoff baseball that ended with the Guardians being eliminated by the Rays, 7-3, in Game 6 at Tropicana Field.Bibee was Cleveland’s Opening Day starter. He went 7-15 in the regular season but led the rotation with 33 starts and 188 innings pitched. While Bibee pitched just once in Cleveland’s 11 postseason games, the Guardians started openers Daniel Espino in Game 3 of the ALDS and Shawn Armstrong in Games 4 and 6 of the ALCS.Guardians appear willing to let clubhouse leader Austin Hedges test free agencyGuardians send clear message about Stephen Vogt’s future amid Seattle rumorsHow are the Browns 4-2? The Tanner Bibee Mystery; why national media have forgotten about the Cavs: Terry’s Talkin’ podcastThe Guardians’ front office of Chris Antonetti, Mike Chernoff and Matt Foreman, along with Vogt, met with reporters on Thursday to discuss the 2026 season that saw them win the AL Central and advance to the ALCS.“We went for a walk,” said Vogt. “I just normally do that with players from time to time and allowed him to ask any questions he may have and allowed him to have the space to tell me how he’s feeling. “Obviously, he was upset and I empathized with that and I gave him the reasoning for what was going on.”Vogt said Bibee was an option to start Game 3 against the White Sox, but when the Guardians lost the first two games, Game 3 became an elimination game in the best-of-five series.“You’re faced with an elimination game,” said Vogt. “So now you put your heads together and you talk as a group and the way we felt to navigate that game against the White Sox lineup, we knew we wanted to rely on our left-handed pitching in that series as well.”Espino opened the game but recorded only two outs. Lefty Foster Griffin relieved and set a franchise postseason record for a reliever with seven strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings. The Guardians won the game, 9-5. Four of the five starts in the ALDS went to right-hander Gavin Williams and left-hander Parker Messick. They were able to do that because of the days off after Games 1 and 2.“It just didn’t line up for Tanner to start one of those games in the first round,” said Vogt. “Then going into the ALCS, it was kind of a similar path. We knew we wanted to lean on our left-handed pitching.”Interpretation: Bibee, take a seat.Griffin started Game 1 of the ALCS, a 7-3 Cleveland win. Messick started Game 2, a 3-1 loss to the Rays before the series moved to Progressive Field for Games 3, 4 and 5.Williams started Game 3 to give the Guardians a 2-1 lead in the series with a 3-2 win. After Game 4 was rained out Friday night, the Guardians and Rays were forced to play four games in four days. Armstrong started Game 4 and 6, while Messick started Game 5. The Guardians lost all three games to end their season.Why didn’t Bibee start in Games 4 or 6?“Foster started Game 1, and then with the rainout, and we had had to play four in a row,” said Vogt. “It just presented a different schedule that we had never really encountered. “When we mapped out the pitching, Tanner starting a game in the first two rounds just didn’t become an option. And when we decided to go with Foster as our third starter, that kind of pushed that fourth starter to that bulk roll like we had talked about throughout the postseason.“It wasn’t our intent for Tanner to throw to three hitters throughout the postseason. It’s just kind of the way it played out.”In preparing a pitching plan against the Rays in Games 4 and 6, the Guardians agreed that Armstrong, not Bibee, was the best way to start those games.“When we talked about that, he was definitely an option that we talked through,” said Vogt. “With the length that Bibee had, we didn’t want to go into a game only getting three to six outs from him. That was where it kind of took him off of the starter plan.”Vogt said at the point of the ALCS, Bibee was more valuable to them late in games because he could give them length if a game went into extra innings.“The threat of a tie game where we’ve run through the majority of our bullpen, we felt like we needed to have a length option,” said Vogt. “It unfortunately led to Tanner not pitching much during the postseason.”Antonetti said if the Guardians had advanced to the World Series, Bibee would have started Games 1 or 2 against Milwaukee. But they never made it.Vogt said Bibee and he reached a “good place” after their walk and talk.“We ended up talking about a lot more than just baseball and had a similar conversation in his exit interview,” said Vogt. “It was very candid. It was very open.“He spoke his mind and we gave him our reasoning. Tanner’s going to be a huge part of this team for a long time, and I’m really excited about that. I can’t wait till he takes the ball every five days next year.”Bibee is signed through 2029 with a club option for 2030.