Cleveland Guardians: 3 players that could be traded at the deadline

Austin Hedges

Alright, here’s where some trust needs to come in with both the Guardians and whomever they choose to send Hedges to. Hedges is blatantly falling off the shelf this season, and at 29 years old, he’s doing himself no favors. But he’s never really hit for average, or for anywhere close to a good slash line for that matter. The Guardians acquired Hedges to be their backup catcher, falling in line behind Roberto Perez as someone with a talented glove who could fill in when needed.

These last two years with Cleveland demonstrate he’s nowhere near the level of an everyday catcher. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t have trade value, though. Teams yearn for good catchers, even if they’re backups, and are willing to trade terrible hitting for a gold glove. The catching market is slim, as it has been for years, and Cleveland should know that. Loop in a prospect or simply ask for a low-level organizational arm the Guardians feel could work out with some fine tuning.

One thing is for sure: Hedges has no long-term future with the Guardians. In a season when the team is trying to make moves setting themselves up to contend, he should probably be on his way out. Also, there’s Bryan Lavastida and Bo Naylor surging through the minors. Don’t hold their maturation process back.