Taking a way too early look at potential Guardians trade chips

The Cleveland Guardians have underperformed so far this season and while it is only May, it is never too early to look into some potential players the team could decide to trade later this season.

Amed Rosario

Cue the shocked faces at this one. Amed Rosario is a perfectly fine player, but this is about looking at who is and who is not part of the future of this team. While Jose Ramirez has done his best in regards to the team signing Rosario to an extension, it does not appear to be coming any time soon. Barring any sort of mid-season extension, Rosario is as good as gone at or before the deadline.

It would not be wise to expect much in the return department for Rosario as he is set to be an unrestricted free agent after the season. That is unless Rosario is part of a larger deal involving more than one player leaving Cleveland.

Aaron Civale

Contractually this does not necessarily mesh with how the Guardians like to do things. Aaron Civale has two more arbitration eligible years remaining after 2023. But if Cleveland were to move Civale, it would be about clearing space for the young up and coming arms such as Tanner Bibee, Logan T. Allen, and Gavin Williams. Bibee and Allen have already made their debuts while Williams is likely to make his later this season. It is clear who the future rotation staples are in Cleveland and Civale looks like one of the odd men out.

Performance-wise Civale has been up and down throughout his career, seemingly alternating between good and bad years. 2023 was looking to follow that pattern as his 2.84 ERA and 1.026 WHIP was following the aforementioned pattern. While it was only 12.2 innings, the fact that the pattern appeared to be true yet again cannot be understated.

James Karinchak

Numbers wise this could not be a less ideal time for James Karinchak. Karinchak is having the worst season of his young career and has already given up a new career-high five home runs this season. This is in addition to being negatively impacted by the new pace of play rules. Karinchak has not looked comfortable with the new rules in effect and his numbers have shown that.

The inconsistency of Karinchak may make it hard to get anything worthwhile via trade, but with three arbitration years remaining could be enticing enough to the right team.

Viewing Karinchak as potential trade piece is more than just about not living up to expectations. It is about Cleveland having their actual closer Emmanuel Clase under contract until through potentially 2028. It is also about playoff contenders looking to add bullpen pieces to beef up their relief arms for their postseason run. All it takes is a team looking to add or maybe a team losing a key bullpen arm and suddenly Karinchak looks much more attractive on the trade market.

Shane Bieber

Last, but not least is Shane Bieber. If the team continues to be offensively challenged and fall back in the standings, the calls for Bieber will only increase as each day passes.

Bieber is still a really good pitcher who can be one of, if not the best pitcher on any given staff. This is just a very similar path that the Guardians have taken with pitchers before Bieber. With one arbitration eligible year remaining and an extension nowhere in sight, it is more about when and not if when it comes to a trade of Bieber.

From the perspective of Cleveland's front office, it is incredibly hard to justify a large extension to a player who has seen his velocity and his strikeout numbers decrease at a rate that is quite alarming. Even with those numbers dropping, Bieber has still proven to be a really good pitcher who will get paid when he hits free agency. It is possible for Bieber to live at the lower velocity and and get less outs via strikeout, but paying a large dollar figure to a pitcher like this seems to go against the still relatively risk averse nature of this front office.