Nationals trade target would give Guardians right-handed pop they desperately need

On Tuesday, the Cleveland Guardians lost to the Minnesota Twins because they didn’t do enough on offense and played some pretty abysmal defense. 

While the Guardians have an obvious fix for those problems with José Ramírez’s eventual return, that loss showed the Guardians need another player who can provide some pop while holding their own on defense. 

Enter Washington’s Curtis Mead, who is in the midst of a career year for the Washington Nationals and could be available at the right price at the trade deadline. 

Curtis Mead would be a good fit on the Guardians' roster

The Guardians got a first-hand look at Mead’s talents on May 25 when he recorded a multi-homer game in Washington’s 10-2 win over the Guardians at Progressive Field. 

That game was another strong showing in what’s been a season full of them for Mead, who has a .243/.335/.486 slashline with 15 home runs and 42 RBI. He also gained some buzz as a trade candidate earlier this week when The Athletic’s Jim Bowden included him on this trade deadline rundown while also writing that he’d be a great fit for the Guardians. 

And his under the hood numbers line up with that production, as he’s in the 74th percentile or better in xwOBA, expected slugging, barrel rate, chase rate and whiff rate. 

The biggest red flag on Mead’s profile is his defense, which has been worth -9 Outs Above Average this season. Now it’s worth pointing out that most of his struggles have come at third base and first base, which are two positions the Guardians clearly have handled. 

That said, he’s not as perfect of a fit on defense as some other utility options, given he’s been worth -9 Outs Above Average on defense while playing mostly at first base and third base.

But the Guardians wouldn’t need him to be an everyday player on defense since they could put him at designated hitter while giving him a start or two at first or third.

The Guardians are no stranger to having a utility player on their roster, but Mead would be a bit of a different flavor. Right now Gabriel Arias and Daniel Schneemann are Cleveland’s utility options, but both of them are defense-first options. Mead would be the exact opposite. 

Normally that kind of addition isn’t the Guardians’ M.O., but the right-handed hitting Mead would help add some pop (and balance to Clevleand’s organization). He’s also under team control until 2030, so it’s not like the Guardians would be giving up a ton of assets for a rental. 

As we mentioned yesterday, the Guardians have an ace in the hole in any trade in the form of prospect Angel Genao, though including him a trade for Mead would probably be overkill (he was traded for minor league reliever Boston Smith in the offseason). 

Two years ago, the Guardians traded three prospects to the Washington Nationals in exchange for Lane Thomas. While the Nationals have a new leadership group, it’s time for Chris Antonetti and Co. to head to our nation’s capital to upgrade their roster.

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