Insider Connects Guardians to Baffling MLB Trade Deadline Move

The Cleveland Guardians will be one of the most intriguing teams to monitor between now and the MLB trade deadline. While they have been playing subpar baseball for several weeks now, they remain in Wild Card contention with ample time remaining in the regular season.

So, will the Guardians buy, or will they sell? Or will they do a little bit of both?

Jim Bowden of The Athletic has pitched a very strange idea for Cleveland, suggesting that the team trades closer Emmanuel Clase for another bat.

"The Guardians, who rank 26th in runs, need more offense. Perhaps they’d be willing to make a buyer-to-buyer type of trade to give up a lockdown leverage reliever (Clase) for a middle-of-the-order impact bat to address this weakness," Bowden wrote.

Bowden surveyed executives around baseball and came to the conclusion that Clase is one of the most likely big-name players to be dealt before July 31, but the idea of proposing a trade that would send Clase elsewhere for an established bat is pretty strange.

If the Guardians are going to try and solidify their lineup for a playoff run, there is almost no way they would move Clase, who has been a lynchpin in their bullpen for years.

Yes, Clase struggled mightily during the first month of the 2025 campaign, but he has since righted the ship. While he hasn't been quite as good as he was last year, he has remained a reliable relief arm for Cleveland, and if the club wants to have any chance of making the postseason, it almost certainly needs to keep him around.

The Guardians may ultimately pursue another hitter, but they almost certainly won't be shipping out Clase in any deal for a veteran. Any trade involving Clase would likely feature Cleveland receiving prospects in return.

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