Guardians could take advantage of bizarre market with trade deadline stunner

There’s perhaps no player on the Guardians roster who personifies the team’s recent run of success better than Emmanuel Clase. 

Not only was Clase acquired from the Rangers in exchange for Corey Kluber (which has helped the franchise icon’s legacy live on), but he’s also been a tangible example of that success. It’s hard to think of the Guardians winning without thinking about Clase letting out a post-victory scream with his colorful dreadlocks spilling out from under his hat. 

Clase took over as Cleveland’s closer halfway through the 2021 season after beating out James Karinchak (remember him?) for the spot. 

That set off one of the best relief runs in recent baseball history, as Clase’s posted a 1.80 ERA in 279 1/3 innings since August 2021. 

He’s led MLB in saves in each of the past three seasons, and is in the fourth year of a five-year, $20 million extension that also features two more team option seasons. 

Could there be a chance that he plays out those years somewhere other than at the corner of Carnegie and Ontario?

Guardians could take advantage of bizarre market with trade deadline stunner

Over the weekend, MLB.com’s Thomas Harrigan put out a story highlighting potential trade candidates on bubble teams — one of whom was Clase. 

After acknowledging the Guardians’ offensive struggles this year, Harrigan went into why he thinks Clase could be dealt at the deadline. 

“Given their lack of enticing options on expiring deals, it would behoove the Guardians to gauge the trade value of their All-Star closer, Clase, who has rebounded from a rocky start to 2025. Parting with the righty would be difficult, but with setup man Cade Smith in the fold as a ready-made replacement, Clase might hold more value to the franchise as a trade asset than as its long-term closer. At 27 years old and with three years of control remaining (one guaranteed year and two club options) beyond this season, Clase should fetch a substantial return at a time when relievers are always in high demand,” he wrote. 

And all of those points are true. The Guardians have two strong potential closer options in Smith (2.36 ERA) and Hunter Gaddis (2.08 ERA), and also have a plethora of other young pitchers like Erik Sabrowski, Zak Kent and Nic Enright (Andrew Walters would have fit into that category too before he suffered a season-ending lat injury). 

While the thought of Clase being traded may be a bit jarring, it isn’t something new. The Guardians reportedly shopped Clase at the Winter Meetings in 2023 and were “open to dealing him” at the time. Although no deal materialized, it still showed how no player (sans José Ramírez) is untouchable in Cleveland. 

At this point, the Guardians could also have some interest in dealing Clase due to his recent struggles. Although he posted a 0.61 ERA in 74 1/3 innings in the regular season last year, he had a 9.00 ERA in last year’s postseason and posted a 6.75 ERA in the first month this season before turning things around as of late. He also became the team's all-time saves leader last August.

As Harrigan mentioned, it doesn’t look like there are going to be a ton of true sellers at this year’s deadline, so any bubble team that chooses to sell would likely be able to get even more of a return than they normally would. 

In 2023, the Guardians did just that when they traded Aaron Civale to the Rays in exchange for Kyle Manzardo. It’s a trade that gets better by the day.

While a trade for Clase wouldn’t be well-received by the team’s fan base and would hurt Cleveland’s roster, it could also set the Guardians up for years of success in the same way that their initial trade for Clase did.