Guardians 2023 Opening Day roster breakdown

The Guardians have to work out some shuffling of their pitching staff right on the doorstep of the 2023 season, as Triston McKenzie went down with a teres major muscle strain and will potentially be sidelined for two months.

The Guardians will also begin the regular season without lefty Sam Hentges in the bullpen. On the position player side, they will reach Opening Day without any major injuries, though they will begin the 2023 season with an uncommon roster construction in an effort to take it easy with free agent addition Mike Zunino, who's coming off surgery related to thoracic outlet syndrome.

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Guardians manager Terry Francona acknowledged that this setup likely won't last too long, but it's how the team will take the field on Opening Day.

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As the 2023 season gets underway, here's a look at the Guardians' Opening day roster.

Catchers: Mike Zunino, Cam Gallagher, Meibrys Viloria

Mike Zunino was signed to a one-year, $6 million deal to be the team's primary catcher. Bo Naylor, coming off a 20-homer, 20-steal season in the minors in 2022, will factor into this picture at some point in 2023 in a major way.

Early on, the Guardians plan to break camp with both Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Viloria, barring any last-minute roster moves. Zunino gives the Guardians a desired level of defensive ability while also the potential pop for a player who has a 30-homer season under his belt. But the team also wants to be cautious with his shoulder, and they'd like to be have the flexibility to pinch hit whenever he isn't in the lineup. Hence, for the time being, both Gallagher and Viloria will be on the MLB roster.

Infielders: Jose Ramirez, Andres Gimenez, Amed Rosario, Josh Bell, Josh Naylor, Gabriel Arias

A year ago, the club signed Jose Ramirez to the largest contract extension in club history ($141 million). This week, the Guardians reportedly inked Andres Gimenez to the second largest extension they've ever handed out, a seven-year, $106.5 million deal that includes a club option for 2031. That's two key pieces to the infield who won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Amed Rosario is in the last year of his deal but is another extension candidate. If he isn't signed beyond 2023, Gimenez could slide over to act as the team's shortstop in 2024, and a spot in the infield will open up for one of the many middle infield prospects already in the system or a free agent.

Josh Bell was brought in as the club's marquee free agent addition this winter as a switch hitter who should slide into the cleanup spot behind Ramirez. Josh Naylor is another year removed from extensive ankle surgery and will see time at both first base and in the outfield.

Gabriel Arias is the team's lone utility man and is expected to see plenty of work off the bench. The Guardians have noted an interest in not letting him simply act as a backup only needed in case of injury.

Outfielders: Steven Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Myles Straw, Will Brennan

Steven Kwan returns as the club's leadoff hitter after a stellar rookie season in which he finished third in American League Rookie of the Year voting and won a Gold Glove. Oscar Gonzalez and his SpongeBob SquarePants walk-up song will man right field. If he were to struggle, it could open up some more time for Naylor to be in right field. At some point, George Valera, a top-100 prospect, could be ready to make his mark on the majors in 2023 and could push for playing time as well.

Myles Straw will have a long leash to stay in the lineup thanks to his defense and base running ability, but if a repeat of 2022 were happen, Will Brennan could see even more time in center. As it is, Brennan, could often be in the lineup against right-handed starting pitchers. Like Arias, the Guardians have made it clear they intend to get Brennan some at-bats. Straw did finish the 2022 season on a high note at the plate.

Starting rotation: Shane Bieber, Cal Quantrill, Aaron Civale, Zach Plesac, Hunter Gaddis

The Guardians rotation was set entering this spring — barring an injury, of course. And they almost made it out of Arizona unscathed.

McKenzie will possibly be sidelined until late May. In the meantime, the Guardians will have to piece together one spot in the rotation. At least to start, that'll belong to Hunter Gaddis, who was going to open the year in the bullpen but was then moved to the rotation. He's in line to start the team's second game of the season Friday night in order to keep everyone else on his day.

Bullpen: Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak, Trevor Stephan, Nick Sandlin, Enyel De Los Santos, Eli Morgan, Tim Herrin, Xzavion Curry

The first seven spots in the bullpen were set in stone entering camp, but that became six after Sam Hentges was sidelined with shoulder inflammation. Hentges was originally the only lefty with a spot locked down. That'll now go to Tim Herrin to open the regular season.

And with Gaddis now in the rotation, that opened the door for Xzavion Curry to break camp with the big league club as a reliever.

Emmanuel Clase, James Karinchak and Trevor Stephan form one of the strongest back-ends to the bullpen in baseball, along with Nick Sandlin, Eli Morgan and Enyel De Los Santos also occasionally pitching in some high-leverage situations.

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

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Guardians 2023 Opening Day roster breakdown