Ben

Lively

Lively was removed from the team’s 40-man roster back in November and the veteran right-hander elected free agency. He’s in the process of recovering from Tommy John surgery and is expected to miss most of the 2026 season. He has already reported to the Guardians’ spring training facility and will continue his rehab in a familiar setting.

All six players have elected free agency instead of sticking around with the Guardians. No real surprises here as Cleveland clears some space on its 40-man roster heading into the offseason. Lively is the most prominent name by a considerable margin, but he’s going to miss a significant portion of next season recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Lively won’t potentially return to Cleveland’s rotation until the second half of next season and there’s a chance he won’t make it back until the 2027 campaign. He would be 35 years old at that point. He suffered the right elbow injury back on May 12 and was transferred to the 60-day injured list last week.

Lively is set to undergo season-ending UCL surgery and will miss the remainder of the season, so it was only a matter of time before the Guardians utilized that roster spot. Matt Krook was claimed off of waivers and optioned to Triple-A Columbus in a corresponding move on Thursday.

The surgery will not only cause Lively to miss the rest of this season, but the 12-16 month recovery time suggests he’ll miss a large portion of 2026 as well. The 33-year-old was a big part of the Guardians’ pitching staff, and now likely won’t be available for Cleveland — or possibly a new organization — until around the All-Star break next season.

No word yet on how much time Lively is going to miss, but it figures to be an extended absence given the nature of the injury, which can offer be a precursor to more significant elbow issues. The 33-year-old made an early exit from Monday’s start against the Brewers after three scoreless innings. It’ll be Zak Kent coming up to take his spot on Cleveland’s active roster as extra relief depth. No word on how the Guardians plan to fill his rotation spot.

It’s definitely not what you want to hear. Lively left with a trainer following a handful of warmup pitches at the outset of the fourth inning after tossing three scoreless frames to open the contest. It certainly sounds like a potential injured list situation, which could lead to an opportunity for a younger arm like Doug Nikhazy at the highest level.

Lively was removed from the contest after throwing a couple warmup tosses at the outset of the fourth inning. The 33-year-old righty scattered one hit and a pair of walks over three frames to open Monday’s game at Progressive Field. There should be an update on his status following the game.

He struck out three. Aided by an easy schedule that’s included two starts against the Royals and one each against the White Sox and Pirates, Lively has a fine 3.46 ERA through eight starts. He’ll get another little assist next week when he misses the Phillies series and instead faces the Brewers.

Lively left with a 2-0 lead, but it didn’t hold up, leaving him stuck on one victory for the season. It’s the third time he’s pitched at least five innings and allowed no runs, but he’s missed out on getting much run support. He’ll bring a 3.72 ERA into his next start in Washington, and he’ll make some sense as a streaming option in deep leagues then.