Guardians' latest trade deadline rumors hint endless quest will continue

Death, taxes and the Guardians needing help in right field. 

On Thursday, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden published a huge trade deadline primer (subscription required), where he confirmed the Guardians are going to be going down the same trade deadline path they’ve gone down in years prior. 

Will it work this year? Who knows.

The Guardians are in need of right field help yet again

At the bottom of his story, Bowden wrote the following:

Similar to recent years, the Guardians have been asking around about the availability of possible right-field upgrade options, hoping to improve the production in the middle of their lineup.

Sound familiar? 

In 2019, the Guardians traded for Yasiel Puig in the hopes that he could fill their hole in the outfield. He was gone less than a year later. 

Since then, right field has been a graveyard filled with the tombstones of guys like Oscar González, Tyler Naquin, Will Brennan and (briefly) Josh Naylor. 

Cleveland right fielders have combined for a wRC+ of 86 since 2020, which is tied for the fourth-worst mark in baseball.  It hasn’t been much better this year either, as Cleveland right fielders have combined for a wRC+ of just 42, which is the lowest mark in MLB. 

Jhonkensy Noel looked lost at the plate before the Guardians sent him down to Triple-A, and Nolan Jones hasn’t had his production match up with his flashy peripherals. 

While the return of Lane Thomas may fix some of those problems, it’s clear the Guardians need corner outfield help. 

Where could it come from? 

The one team that Bowden mentioned in his articles is the Miami Marlins, who have two trade candidates in Kyles Stowers and Jesús Sánchez.

Sánchez has big power (he was in the 99th percentile in exit velocity last year) but also strikes out a ton and isn’t a very good defender. He’ll be arbitration-eligible after the season. 

Stowers is in the midst of a breakout season after the Orioles traded him to Miami at last year’s deadline in the Trevor Rogers deal. He’s slashing .272/.339/.465 with 10 home runs and 33 RBI, though he has cooled off since he hit .323 in March/April. He won’t be eligible for free agency until 2030.

Are they both solid players and likely better than what the Guardians have been putting out there so far this season? Yes. But, as Bowden pointed out, teams will likely have to overpay for them. 

And it’s not like the Guardians will be the only team looking to dip into the outfield pool. 

The Royals are 30th in outfield production this year (the Guardians are 27th), so it’s safe to assume that the Royals will be doing their due diligence on every outfield bat available.

And, per Bowden, they seem ready to deal from their surplus of catching prospects (Blake Mitchell, Carter Jensen or Ramon Ramirez) to make a deal happen. 

While the Tigers don’t need outfield help, Bowden writes that they’re going to be in the market for an impact third baseman. Could a reunion with Eugenio Suárez be in the cards? 

In short, the rest of the division is going to be looking to make moves to help their lineup. The Guardians will likely need to do the same.