Guardians reminded of unfortunate Emmanuel Clase reality after Cubs-Marlins trade

Take yourself back to last July. The Cleveland Guardians were hovering around .500, the Detroit Tigers looked unstoppable and Steven Kwan and Emmanuel Clase seemed as good as gone. 

But we’re about to enter the middle of January and both of them are still (technically) on Cleveland’s roster. 

While the Guardians seemed to seriously entertain offers around Kwan at the trade deadline, the front office elected to hold onto him, which helped give the clubhouse enough juice to go on their magical run to capture the American League Central crown. 

Clase being on the roster is a different story, as the Guardians seemed ready to capitalize on his production and team-friendly contract by dealing him away. But then he was placed on paid leave as a part of sports betting investigation — which meant the Guardians had to adjust to a post-Clase life without the tradeoff of getting anything in return for him in a trade. 

And although the loss of Clase would have stung regardless, it hurt even more in the day after he was placed on paid leave when the Giants netted three prospects in exchange for reliever Tyler Rogers.

We got another reminder of what a hypothetical trade package for Clase could have looked like on Wednesday when the Miami Marlins traded starting pitcher Edward Cabrera to the Chicago Cubs for a three-prospect return highlighted by outfielder Owen Caissie.

The Guardians’ inability to trade Emmanuel Clase could haunt them for years 

Although Cabrera has seen big league time in the past five seasons, you could argue the Cubs’ trade for him was as much about his potential as it was about what he can bring to the big league mound tomorrow. 

Cabrera is 27-year-old former top prospect who has a 4.07 ERA in 431 2/3 innings, though is coming off a season where he had a 3.53 ERA in 137 2/3 innings for Miami. 

He’s very clearly a talented pitcher, but he’s also struggled with injuries (he missed some time at the end of 2025 with an elbow injury) and has yet to author that signature season, but Miami was still able to use him to get Caissie, who was ranked as Chicago’s No. 1 prospect by MLB Pipeline. 

Although Clase had a 3.23 ERA at the time he went on paid leave, he had recorded 24 saves and was a year removed from his sparkling 2024 campaign where he had a 0.61 ERA in 74 1/3 innings. The sky was the limit when it came to his potential return. 

Instead he spent the rest of the season sitting on the restricted list getting paid. There’s a chance that could be the case again at the start of 2026, though the Guardians have already said they’re operating as if he’s never going to pitch for them again. 

While the Marlins may still be a year away from competing, they capitalized on a stagnant market and cashed in on a talent they deemed as expendable. The Guardians seemed prepared to do that last July up until they couldn’t. It’s one of the biggest “what if’s” in modern Guardians history.