Cleveland Guardians Land Brutal Take For This Trade Deadline Decision

This Cleveland Guardians trade has not exactly yielded great returns.

Aug 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Guardians center fielder Lane Thomas (8) reacts after striking out during the eighth inning against the Texas Rangers at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports / Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians went into the July 30 MLB trade deadline with a couple of major areas of need: starting pitching and another bat, particularly in the outfield.

Well, the Guardians made moves to address both of those fronts, acquiring outfielder Lane Thomas in a deal with the Washington Nationals and swinging a trade for San Francisco Giants right-hander Alex Cobb.

While the jury is still out on Cobb, who made two rather pedestrian starts, went on the 15-day injured list, and then returned with a pretty strong showing this past Sunday, the early returns on the Thomas trade have been rather awful.

Mike Axisa of CBS Sports placed Cleveland's decision to trade for Thomas in his "ouch" section of the best and worst MLB trade deadline moves, and it's hard to argue with his take.

Thomas has shown some signs of life lately, as he collected three hits in a win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday and is actually hitting a respectable .281 over the last 14 days.

But overall, the 29-year-old has been a massive disappointment for the Guardians.

Thomas is slashing just .176/.260/.224 since coming over in the trade, and he is still without a home run in Cleveland. He wasn't exactly lighting it up in Washington, either, posting a .738 OPS with eight home runs over 341 plate appearances.

To be fair, Thomas smashed 28 homers last season. But over the course of his career, he has largely been an average hitter, at best.

The Guardians probably should have acquired another bat before the deadline, but luckily, rookie outfielder Jhonkensy Noel has been raking to compensate for Thomas' struggles thus far.