Cleveland Guardians Sign Veteran Starting Pitcher to Minor League Deal

The Cleveland Guardians are making more additions.

On Thursday, Feb. 12, Zack Meisel of The Athletic announced another pickup for the Guardians. They are currently finalizing a two-year minor league contract with Ben Lively, a starting pitcher who's been with the team since 2024.

However, back in June of last season, he suffered an injury, which was initially expected to be a strained flexor tendon, but he ended up having to undergo Tommy John surgery. The injury was officially ruled to be damage to the ulnar collateral ligament.

This situation was expected to see him be unable to suit up for the team in 2026, but according to Meisel, he has a locker and everything at spring training.

The deal has not officially gone through yet, but for Lively to already be ready to go in Arizona suggests the two sides aren't far away on the negotiations.

Throughout his time in The Land, the 25-year-old right-handed pitcher has been a great talent for the team. He's amassed a 3.68 ERA across 38 games.

Primarily, he's been utilized as a starting pitcher, but there's a good chance the team could explore him as an inning-eating reliever. They already have five-to-six different guys competing for time as a starter. In 2025, his WHIP came in at 1.187, which, if he came out of the bullpen, could see that number drop even below 1.0 with how good his control is.

For now, though, it seems the Guardians are just focused on making sure he's healthy to compete at some point in 2026.

The Guardians are finalizing a two-year minor-league deal with Ben Lively. He underwent Tommy John surgery last June. He’s at camp, with a locker and everything.
— Zack Meisel (@ZackMeisel) February 12, 2026

Lively's Time In Cleveland

He first started with the navy blue and red back in 2024, appearing in 29 games for the organization, all of which were starts. During that time, he put up a respectable 3.81 ERA and 1.245 WHIP. He was giving up a good chunk of hits per nine innings at 8.3, while striking out just 7.0 batters, but his lack of giving up a lot of runs made him playable. He finished the year with a 1.5 WAR.

In 2025, the goal was to see his hits and batters allowed on base total drop, and that it did.

Before having to hang up the cleats early due to surgery, he started nine games, posting a 3.22 ERA and a good drop in his WHIP to 1.187. His hits per nine innings also dropped to 1.187, while his home runs per nine innings popped down 0.2.

Those aren't drastic, eye-grabbing declines in a positive way, but they are good enough to show that with a full season, Lively could've been one of the more reliable arms on the mound for the Guardians.

After all, Tanner Bibee and others experienced plenty more hiccups throughout the season.

Heading into this upcoming campaign, Lively will likely spend the early go abouts in the minor league system, more so for his improvement and comfort level following surgery. If the Guardians do opt to try to utilize his arm out of the bullpen, he could end up seeing a late-season call-up to the majors to try to help that area of the major league squad out.

His entire career in the big leagues, outside of seven games with the Cincinnati Reds back in 2023, has seen him play as a starter. A change in his role wouldn't be bad, but it would take him a little bit of time to adjust to.

The Guardians' first game of spring training will be on Saturday, Feb. 21, at 3:05 p.m. EST against the Cincinnati Reds. It's yet to be known if Lively will throw at all during this time, or if he's there to stay in the know and close with the clubhouse.