Guardians could go bargain-bin hunting via trade for former ALCS MVP outfielder

Earlier today, ESPN insider Jeff Passan published a new trade insider story with a ton of intel about every MLB team’s offseason plans. 

One of his entries applied to the Texas Rangers, who are reportedly shopping catcher Jonah Heim and outfielder Adolis García ahead of Friday’s non-tender deadline. Both players could be non-tendered if the Rangers don’t end up trading them ahead of the deadline. 

While García is coming off the worst season of his big league career, he would still provide some upside for the Guardians — especially as a budget option. 

García’s ensuing removal from the Rangers’ roster is a stunning fall from grace for an outfielder who at one point looked like a key piece of Rangers’ long-term core. 

In 2023, García had the best season of his career when he hit .245/.328/.508 with 39 home runs and 107 RBI in the regular season before adding eight home runs and 22 RBI in the postseason. 

His eight longballs is tied for the second-most in a single postseason, while his 22 RBI still stands as the record for a single October. 

Adolis García would provide the Guardians with some much-needed pop

But he’s followed that up with two subpar seasons. In 2024, García hit just .224 (albeit with 25 home runs) before hitting .227 with 19 home runs last season, marking the first time he failed to hit 20 home runs in a full season. 

Although finished last season in the 89th percentile in average exit velocity (92.1 miles per hour), he also had a strikeout rate of 24.7%, which was the fourth-most among right fielders. 

Even if the variance in those stats is whiplash inducing, his 19 home runs would have been the third-most on the Guardians last season behind José Ramírez and Kyle Manzardo, so easy to see how he could add some power to the Guardians’ lineup. 

But getting him to Cleveland likely wouldn’t be cheap, as he’s projected to make $12.1 million this offseason in arbitration, which is one of the biggest reasons why the Rangers are considering non-tendering him (especially since they’re reportedly cutting payroll).  

He may need to take a little less money if he’s non-tendered, but he’s not going to be the cheapest option out there. 

García stayed in Texas over the summer despite his name being floated in trade rumors, but it seems like he’s played his last game with the Rangers. 

The Guardians have two solid young options for the outfield in Chase DeLauter and George Valera, but adding García to the fold would give them some veteran insurance with a bat full of power. 

Cleveland's front office has provided some frustrating olive branches to washed-up veteran hitters (Carlos González and Domingo Santana, to name a few), but giving García a shot would fall into a different category, especially since he'd have a short leash given the presence of DeLauter and Valera.