5 Guardians who aren't as safe as they think with 2025 trade deadline approaching

This year's trade deadline is a bit odd. Some teams, like the Dodgers, Yankees and Mariners, are clear buyers looking to amass as much major league talent as possible. Others, like the Twins and Pirates, are clear sellers who are already turning their heads to 2026.

And there's the Cleveland Guardians. While it looked like they'd initially straddle the line between buyer and seller, they appear to have drawn their line in the sand as pure sellers after Emmanuel Clase's surprise suspension as a part of MLB's sports betting investigation.

With all that in mind, here are five Guardians who may not be as safe as we think heading into the trade deadline.

5 Guardians who aren't as safe as they think with 2025 trade deadline approaching

OF Steven Kwan
.287/.351/.411, 9 HR, 37 RBI in 100 games 

Coming into the season, the Guardians trading Kwan would have seemed blasphemous considering his production, team-friendly salary and overall value to the Guardians. But now it’s beginning to look more and more like a reality thanks to a July swoon and Emmanuel Clase’s suspension. 

If the Guardians do trade Kwan, it will likely be for a king’s ransom of prospects given all of the factors above, but it will likely still be a trade that will shake every Guardians fan to their core. Kwan’s been an integral part of Cleveland’s success since he earned his first call-up in 2022, and he’s the kind of player that winning teams add and the deadline instead of subtract. 

Trading Kwan may be a shrewd baseball move in the present (especially after Clase’s suspension), but it would still be a crippling gut punch. 

RHP Shane Bieber
Has yet to pitch in 2025

Bieber exists in the same boat as Kwan. He has a track record of success and claimed a Cy Young win in the truncated 2020 system, but that may not be enough to keep him on the roster after Clase’s suspension. 

While he hasn’t appeared in a major league game since April 2024, he had a rehab start for Double-A Akron earlier today and allowed one run on three hits with seven strikeouts across four innings of work. 

After having his earlier rehab stint stopped due to elbow soreness, Bieber (who has a player option for next season) looks healthy and ready to contribute at the big league level. There’s a chance that may not be for the Guardians. 

Last year, the Guardians traded up two prospects to the San Francisco Giants in exchange for Alex Cobb despite the fact that Cobb hadn’t thrown an inning for the Giants. 

If some team blows Cleveland away from Bieber, it’s hard to imagine the front office not pulling the trigger. 

RHP Paul Sewald
1-1, 4.70 ERA, 18 K, 2 SV in 15 1/3 innings 

What a disaster of a year for Sewald. He inked a one-year, $7 million deal with the Guardians in the offseason in the hopes of being one of the team’s main high-leverage arms, but that just hasn’t been the case. 

He picked up the save in extra innings on Opening Day but had a 6.75 ERA across his next 10 2/3 innings before going on the injured list with a right shoulder strain that kept him out until July. 

He returned at the beginning of the month and only appeared in four games before undergoing an MRI that revealed a moderate teres major strain that’s kept him on the shelf since. 

The Guardians need plenty of help in the back of their bullpen, but at this point it’s time for Cleveland to pull the plug on the Sewald experiment. 

His injury complicates things (a teres strain is the injury that changed the trajectory of Trison McKenzie’s career), but if the Guardians can show another team that there’s a chance he could return this year then it wouldn’t be surprising to see them packaged in another deal. 

Or, if his injury is serious enough, then it also wouldn’t be surprising to see him go on the 60-day injured list and fall into purgatory for the rest of the season. 

RHP Jakob Junis
2-1, 3.35 ERA, 32 K in 43 innings 

Like Sewald, the Guardians signed Junis to a one-year contract to bring some reinforcement to the middle of their bullpen. And, outside of one month, Junis has held up his end of the bargain. 

Junis looked like a relief ace in April (1.93 ERA in 14 innings) before falling off a cliff in May (7.11 ERA in 12 2/3 innings), which dropped him down a rung in Cleveland’s relief hierarchy. 

That said, he’s quietly turned things around over the past two months (1.65 ERA over his last 16 1/3 innings) and hasn’t allowed an earned run since the end of June. 

Every team is looking for relief help at the deadline, so Junis should have no shortage of suitors. Expect him to get a lottery ticket prospect in return. 

LHP Logan Allen
6-9, 4.16 ERA, 78 K in 101 2/3 innings 

Although Allen has turned things around after his rough showing last year, he still may not be long for Cleveland’s roster. The Guardians have plenty of pitching reinforcements on the way in the form of Bieber (if he isn’t traded), John Means and Trevor Stephan. 

That, coupled with left-handed starters Doug Nikhazy and Parker Messick waiting in the wings at Triple-A, could lead to Allen being on borrowed time. 

He doesn’t miss many bats (21st percentile in strikeout rate), but could still be an intriguing option for another team as No. 4 or 5 starter or bullpen option.