Brutal Casey Schmitt news puts even more pressure on Guardians to nail trade deadline 

Another day, another trade deadline target off the board for the Guardians. 

After the Reds’ Spencer Steer hit the injured list yesterday with a wrist injury that’s going to cause him to miss most of the season, the Giants’ Casey Schmitt suffered a knee injury last night against the Brewers that puts the rest of his season in jeopardy.

That injury all but takes Schmitt off the board for the Guardians, which means that Chris Antonetti and Co. are going to have their work cut out for them across the next five days ahead of Monday’s trade deadline. 

Casey Schmitt's injury could complicate the Guardians' trade deadline plans

Schmitt suffered the injury in the second inning of last night’s game when he came up lame after taking a hard turn around first base. After the game, manager Tony Vitello said that Schmitt is going “to miss some significant time” which is a huge blow to the Giants and Schmitt’s growing trade market. 

Although he wasn’t a lock to be traded given he still has plenty of team control left, he seems like the kind of player that the Guardians would be comfortable putting together a godfather offer for. 

Schmitt hits from the right-side, has some power (21 home runs) and can play all over the diamond. He also has the versatility that Stephen Vogt loves combined with the pop the Guardians’ lineup needs. Oh yeah, and he has three years of team control remaining after this season. 

Now, it’s worth noting that this injury doesn’t take Schmitt totally off the board. In fact, his injury would likely lower the Giants’  potential trade ask by a little bit since Schmitt wouldn’t be able to help the Guardians right away. 

It wouldn’t be the first time a team has traded for an injured player at the deadline, though usually those trades involve rental players, not guys who have yet to reach arbitration. 

Although Schmitt was the player on the Giants who would have been the best fit on the Guardians’ roster, they still have some promising prospects who could still fit into the Guardians’ plans. 

Jung Hoo Lee would be a great fit in center field for the Guardians, but he’s making far too much money and MLB insider Bob Nightengale recently reported that the Giants aren’t planning on moving him. 

One player Nightengale said the Giants are listening to offers on is outfielder Heliot Ramos, who is in the midst of his another season with an OPS+ above 100 and an OPS above .750. 

Ramos doesn’t have the kind of profile that the Guardians tend to put in their lineup (bad defender who doesn’t take a lot of walks), but he’s in the 93rd percentile in barrel rate and the 89th percentile in hard-hit rate.  

One Guardians trade target who the Giants could ask for in any deal is pitching prospect Justin Campebll, as The Athletic’s Grant Brisbee highlighted him as a potential prospect the Giants could covet. 

While the Guardians likely aren’t going to get a chance to use Campbell as the bait needed to get Schmitt, he could still help them nab a game-changing outfielder in Ramos.

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