If the team continues to slump, whom should they deal?
The Guardians might just be bad in 2025. If so, what can they do at the July trade deadline to be a good team in 2026?
If the next month doesn’t bring some drastic changes, the Guardians really need to switch to a “seller” mindset by the trade deadline with the goal of shoring up their roster for 2026 and beyond. If that happens, which players should they move, and which players will they move?
Must Be Traded:
Paul Sewald (if healthy), RHRP – Sewald should probably replace Matt Festa on the active roster soon, but I’m not sure that will be an upgrade. IF Sewald looks solid, he is the number one candidate who should be moved to a contender in need of bullpen help. The return will be minimal. That’s ok. There are plenty of other bullpen options in Cleveland (Nic Enright, Trevor Stephan, Franco Aleman) who need a further look at Sewald’s expense.
Lane Thomas, RHH CF/RF – Thomas isn’t part of the long-term future in Cleveland. The Guardians can give longer looks to Nolan Jones and Angel Martinez as a centerfield platoon and find out if there is any value there. Alternately, the Guardians added Petey Halpin to the 40-man in November, and, while I am quite skeptical of his value as a big-leaguer, trading Thomas and giving Halpin a look in centerfield would be a reasonable way to make use of the rest of what appears – right now – to be a lost season.
Jakob Junis, RHRP – Junis has not been good. However, he does have the sort of “veteran long-man” experience that contending teams love. I can see a scenario in which Junis has a decent July and the Guardians trade him at the deadline for essentially cash considerations or a player-to-be-named-later. I think every Guardians’ fan would cheer for that. If, on the other hand, Junis doesn’t show signs of improvement, he should be DFA’d by the deadline to make room for younger arms.
Conditionally Should Be Traded:
Carlos Santana, SH 1B: The ONLY reason Santana isn’t on the above portion of the list is because if it means something to Jose Ramirez to have Santana finish the season on the team, then I would advocate holding on to ‘Los and reducing his playing time. I want to make Jose happy and want to avoid ever making him consider asking for a trade, almost above everything else. If, however, Jose is fine with the pivot to focusing on 2026, Santana has a chance to provide himself a market if he can pull himself out of a recent slide and make himself a trade target for a team in need of solid but unspectacular first base production. The Marlins, Astros, Red Sox and Reds come to mind. Again, the return won’t be much, but freeing up AB’s for Manzardo, Kayfus and even Fry is key to making good use of the remaining 60 or so games the team will have to work with.
Shane Bieber: IF Bieber can get himself into Alex Cobb shape (performing well in minor-league starts and getting close to the big leagues), he should probably be traded for something better than an Alex Cobb return, given Bieber’s ceiling. So, a 50 FV prospect doesn’t seem out of the question. Will that make any Cleveland fan buy World Series tickets for 2026? No. The reason this is conditional is because the organization really needs to lean on their good relationship with Bieber to see if there is a chance he will pick up his player option to remain with the club for 2026. If they can discover that this is his preference, they should not trade him. If, however, he seems likely to decline the option and test free agency, they should trade him. I’d prefer the Guardians try to sign him to an extension, but I know they won’t.
Probably Should Be Traded:
Steven Kwan, LHH LF: This is where things get very risky. Kwan is one of the few solid offensive performers on the Guardians. Yes, he is clearly dealing with something that has dramatically reduced his speed. In an ideal world, the team would find a way to extend him at a reasonable contract and secure a solid floor in at least one outfield position. But, Kwan very well may not be open to any kind of discount that would accompany a deal at this juncture and want to test free agency. The team may have (probably legitimate!) concerns about his ability to stay healthy. In the case that no extension can be reached, I will freely admit that now is probably the time to maximize Kwan’s value (under team control through 2027). The Braves, the Padres, the Blue Jays, the Dodgers, the Reds, the Phillies and the Astros all make sense here and the return should be something fairly significant.
Again, though, I do want to be mindful of Jose’s feelings on this. The front office probably doesn’t care as much about this as I do, but if Jose feels that having Kwan for one more season is crucial to making a run, I’d be very reticent to take the only reliable supporting cast member from him until at least the 2026 trade deadline.
Trade Should Be Explored:
Emmanuel Clase, RHRP: I would greatly prefer not to trade Clase yet. I think he likely has another good year in him before you have to be too concerned about a decline. But, I also realize that relievers are good until they suddenly aren’t, and now is probably the ideal time to cash in for what should be a monstrous return. If there is a sweetheart deal that returns a player the Guardians believe is a surefire middle-of-the-order hitter under longterm team control for Clase, you probably make that deal. I don’t believe that deal will exist, and I don’t know that I trust the Guardians to make that evaluation. So, I’d hold on to Clase.
Austin Hedges, RHH C: Obviously, it’s fine to move on from Hedges. There may end up being a contender who needs a backup catcher, in which case, welcome back Dom Nunez, until Cooper Ingle is ready for a September run. But, in all, probably better to have Hedges finish the year working with Bo and the young pitching staff.
Logan Allen, LHSP: I do not believe in Allen, but he has shown backend of the rotation potential. In these desparate times for starting pitching, if he is attractive to a team willing to offer a decent prospect back, I 100% do that move. Not sure that kind of deal will materialize, however, and I suspect the Guardians may set too high a price on his ability to simply pitch and be healthy and not terrible.
I hope we see the Guardians have a great three weeks or so of baseball so we can go back to thinking like buyers about the deadline. If not, however, there will be some tough conversations to be had and we may have to say goodbye to some favorite players, as well as some not-so favorites, in hopes of finding new players we can love and root for in the future.