Guardians Sweep Padres in San Diego Two Years After Mike Clevinger Trade

Two years after the nine-player Mike Clevinger trade, the Cleveland Guardians shut the Padres out in San Diego Wednesday afternoon, winning 7-0, completing a two-game sweep. The Padres are now 8-12 since acquiring Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Brandon Drury and Josh Hader. The Guardians have won 12 of their last 16 and taken control of the American League Central.

Two years ago, the San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians made a seismic nine-player trade centered around pitcher Mike Clevinger before the trade deadline that altered the paths of both franchises.

Cleveland's baseball team — now known as the 'Guardians' — finished a two-game sweep in San Diego Wednesday afternoon, shutting out the Padres, 7-0.

The two small market teams have taken polar opposite approaches in roster construction.

The Clevinger trade signaled that the Padres' were in 'win-now' mode, just a couple of pieces away from winning a championship. Spoiler: they weren't. The Padres have yet to win 80 or more games in a single season since 2010, when Jed Hoyer was still the club's general manager.

Clevinger wasn't the lone missing piece from a championship club. The following offseason, the Padres traded for starting pitchers Yu Darvish, Blake Snell and Joe Musgrove, and didn't stop there. With a flurry of trades for Adam Frazier, Josh Hader, Juan Soto, Sean Manaea, Josh Bell and Brandon Drury, and a $219 million payroll, the Padres have entirely overhauled their roster. Now, they're on a similar trajectory to the one they were on last season when they entered the month of August fifteen games above .500 — with a 4.5 game-lead on the next-closest wild card team — and finished the season 79-83.

Conversely, the Indians were behaving the way you would expect a savvy small-market team to. They maxed out on a player's trade value at the right time and replaced him with a batch of promising young players.

In exchange for Clevinger, Greg Allen and Matt Waldron, the Indians scooped up Cal Quantrill, Josh Naylor, Austin Hedges, Gabriel Arias, Owen Miller and Joey Cantillo.

Quantrill blanked his former team Wednesday afternoon, tossing seven scoreless innings, allowing just five hits and one walk, and striking out six. Naylor and Miller combined for three hits in the Guardians' victory.

Quantrill has a 3.77 ERA and 1.4 WAR through 23 starts and 136 innings pitched in 2022. Clevinger has a 3.59 ERA and 1.0 WAR through 15 starts and 80.1 IP.

Clevinger, 31, will be owed $8 million in the final year of his contract in 2023, while Quantrill, 27, is making $2.5 million in 2022 and is under club control through 2025.

In other words, the Guardians got a younger and cheaper pitcher (on a friendlier contract) that has pitched 56 more innings this season than the guy he replaced, while posting a comparable ERA and a higher WAR.

It was Clevinger who was saddled with the loss on Tuesday, giving up a pair of home runs to outfielder Oscar Gonzalez and second baseman Andrés Giménez.

In addition to dealing Clevinger, the Indians also moved stars Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco and Francisco Lindor before they could hit free agency.

Through the Kluber trade, the Indians acquired relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase, now arguably the best closer in the American League. Cleveland flipped Lindor for a young pair of star middle infielders, Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez.

With Major League Baseball's 27th-highest payroll, the Guardians have taken control of the American League Central. The club has won 12-4 over its last 16 and has built a 4-game-lead over the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox.

The Padres now lead the final wild card spot by just 1.5 games, with the Milwaukee Brewers right on their tails.

The two-game series in San Diego could serve as a symbol for two small market teams — with wildly drastic approaches — moving in entirely opposite directions.