4 Guardians who'll survive on the roster past the trade deadline, but shouldn't

While the Guardians haven’t picked a lane for this year’s trade deadline, there’s still a good chance their roster could look a lot different at the end of the week. But that doesn’t mean that all the changes will be the right ones.

 In fact, here’s a look at five players who should end the week somewhere else but won't. 

4 Guardians who'll survive on the roster past the trade deadline, but shouldn't

RHP Matt Festa
2-2, 4.99 ERA in 30 2/3 innings 

Festa’s in a bit of an interesting spot. It’s clear the team trusts him (he’s appeared in a team-high 35 games since the start of May), but that trust hasn’t resulted in a ton of success. While July has been his best month (3.72 ERA), he’s still allowed an earned run in four of his last nine appearances. 

The thing that may save him are his peripherals. Although he doesn’t have enough innings to qualify for the Baseball Savant leaderboards, he has an above-average chase rate (31.8%) and does a good job of limiting hard contact (5.5%). 

His sweeper has been solid (.140 batting average against), but his cutter hasn’t (.375), which is likely making things tough for him since he’s a three-pitch pitcher. 

Festa has filled in admirably in a bullpen hampered by injuries to Paul Sewald and Andrew Walters, but we’re at a point where his time on the roster should come to an end. 

OF Lane Thomas
.160/.246/.272, 4 HR, 11 RBI in 39 games

There’s bad walk years and then there’s the year Thomas is having. After having a rough regular season last year after being acquired by the Guardians at the deadline, he’s only managed to hit .160 this year around his three different stints on the injured list. 

Thomas’ name has been in trade rumors for most of the year, but his value has plummeted as of late. He’s currently on the injured list with plantar fasciitis and isn’t expected back any time soon. 

That lack of true sellers at this year’s deadline means that Thomas would have likely been a lock to get traded if he was healthy, but it’s hard to imagine the Guardians trading him at this year’s deadline when his value is at his lowest. It’s clear that Cleveland needs some help in the outfield; could a healthy Thomas fix those problems? 

1B Carlos Santana
.223/.317/.339, 11 HR, 44 RBI in 99 games

Santana’s strengths are still there, as he’s a great defender (97th percentile in Outs Above Average) and has a great eye (81st percentile in walk rate). The only problem is that everything else in his game is a bit of a weakness. 

He ranks in the eighth percentile in expected batting average, and his .339 slugging is tied with Luis Robert Jr. for the eighth-worst mark in baseball among qualified hitters (and the worst among first baseman). 

Santana has also been a mainstay in trade rumors all year, but, like Thomas, his value has plummeted as of late. Some team may end up rolling the dice on Santana because of the weird trade market (and getting rid of him would free up more playing time for Kyle Manzardo), but there could also be the chance the team holds on to him at the deadline. 

OF Johnathan Rodríguez
.169/.217/.308, 1 HR, 6 RBI in 27 games 

Every time Rodríguez seems to take a step forward, he takes two steps back. The latest evidence came this weekend when he had a two-RBI single on Saturday before misplaying a Bobby Witt Jr. double in the first inning on Sunday’s loss. While it wasn’t as egregious as some of his other misplays this year, it was more evidence that he doesn’t have the range to be an everyday major league outfielder. 

And it would be one thing if his bat made up for that, but he has a wRC+ of just 44 this year and a ground-ball rate of 61%. He has a strong minor league résumé, but his first stints in MLB have left a lot to be desired. But, thanks to Chase DeLauter’s newest injury, it seems like the only way the Guardians will move on from Rodríguez is if they add some pieces to their outfield at the deadline.