The Guardians can fix their outfield problem with this former All-Star

It is time for the Cleveland Guardians to make a change, and they must do it quickly.

The Guardians have gone 5-10 over their last 15 games, and now sit at 40-42 on the year despite having some incredible young talent in the minor league systems, and their rock at third base in Jose Ramirez.

The biggest problem has been their underperforming outfield. The once hopeful lineup has been plagued by inconsistency, where a revolving door of “next up” keeps producing little hope.

All of that inconsistency leads to one question: Is it time for the team to look elsewhere? And, if so, who should the front office call?

The Cleveland Guardians outfield is officially a problem

While the Guardians are under .500, they're only 2 1/2 games out of the Wild Card, which means the season isn't doomed just yet. But, with the Tigers more than 10 games ahead of them and the Royals and Twins breathing down their neck, the Guardians needs to start heating up.

However, unless the front office can make a major move to gain more consistency alongside left fielder Steven Kwan, the ceiling for this team is going to be low.

Kwan is once again off to an All-Star pace for the Guardians, as he's slashing .295/.358/.419 with six home runs, 25 RBI and a team-high 18 doubles

Ángel Martínez has spent most of the season next to him in center field thanks to Lane Thomas' injuries, but he's only managed a .234 batting average and has been worth -0.6 bWAR. He needs a little bit more time before he can become a legit option in the outfield.

His streakiness has carried over to the rest of the outfield.

Right fielder Nolan Jones is batting just .219 with 53 strikeouts. while Thomas is hitting just .168 after missing more than two months of the season.

Not much else has gone right for them. Will Brennan was ineffective in his MLB cameo and is out for the rest of the year, while Johnkensy Noel and Johnathan Rodríguez didn't do much with their playing time.

Noel was swinging for Lake Erie this season in an attempt to replicate his majestic postseason home run from last year, but he only has a slashline of .146/.168/.223 to show for it. He was sent to Triple-A at the beginning of June.

Although hope seems bleak, there may be an answer for the Guardians’ struggles in the outfield.

Those answers start in Pittsbrugh, where the Pirates have limped to a 35-50 season. It's another lost season in Pittsburgh, which could lead to them sending out some veteran players — one of whom is outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

Reynolds, 30, is in his seventh season in the major leagues and has strong consistency in the outfield. While he's hitting just .239 this season, he's also mashed 10 home runs and driven in 45 runs.

He's also been one of the unluckiest hitters in all of baseball, as evidenced by him being in the 84th percentile in expected batting average.

The switch-hitting Reynolds posted a slashline of .276/.352/.472 from 2021 to '24, and was All-Star in two of those seasons.

He's in the third year of an eight-year, $106.5 million extension he signed in April 2023. He'll be owed $75.25 million across the next five seasons along with a club option for 2031. That's a solid contract for a team that's a contender, which the Pirates obviously aren't.

The Pirates will also need to pay Oneil Cruz and Paul Skenes soon, so they should be doing everything in their power to get rid of Reynolds' contract.

So who could Cleveland move?

While Cleveland's minor league system is filled with intriguing prospects, it's fair to assume that most conversations about Reynolds would likely start with Chase DeLauter.

While DeLauter has battled a handful of injuries throughout his career, he's a strong hitter who has raked at every minor league level. He's hit .305 in 26 games with Triple-A Columbus this year, and seems to be getting close to being MLB-ready.

It remains to be seen if Cleveland would be willing to part with DeLauer in any trade. While they need to capitalize on the window of Ramirez still being an All-World player, the front office may not want to pull the trigger on a negative bWAR player, even if he has some team control left.

Maybe the Guardians would be able to convince Pittsburgh to take another surging prospect like CJ Kayfus, Ralphy Velazquez or the recently activated Erik Sabrowski.

The Guardians need to make a splash to save their season, and Reynolds can be that guy. While they might need to overpay, it could be worth it in the grand scheme of things.