Cleveland Guardians Named Best Trade Fit For Top AL Pitcher

The Cleveland Guardians have been dubbed the best landing spot for Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty in the event of a trade.

Jul 19, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Jack Flaherty (9) pitches to the Toronto Blue Jays during the first inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports / John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians need starting pitching more than perhaps any contender in the MLB right now, so you should fully expect them to be in the market for an arm or two between now and the July 30 trade deadline.

While Garrett Crochet may be nothing more than a pipe dream, the Guardians do seem to stand a chance of landing one of the other top pitchers available: Detroit Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty.

Bleacher Report's Zachary D. Rymer has named Cleveland the best fit for Flaherty, who many expect to be dealt before the end of the month.

Flaherty has been brilliant for the Tigers this season, going 7-5 with a 3.13 ERA while allowing just 80 hits and registering 127 strikeouts over 100.2 innings of work. What's more, he boasts a 3.15 FIP and 0.964 WHIP, putting him in genuinely elite company this year.

While injuries have sapped Flaherty throughout his big-league tenure, there was a time when the 28-year-old was one of the most highly-regarded hurlers in baseball, like in 2018 when he finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Flaherty has appeared to gain some of his swagger back in 2024 after a tumultuous last several seasons, and he will absolutely be in demand over the next week as a result.

The question is whether or not the Guardians will be able to swing a deal with the Tigers, who are an AL Central rival.

It's not even so much whether or not Detroit will be open to trading with Cleveland. It's a question of how much the Tigers will demand from the Guardians in return.

Surely, Detroit does not want to help a divisional foe, so Cleveland may have to pay an AL Central tax to the Tigers in any potential deal for Flaherty.

Luckily, the Guardians now have an incredibly deep farm system after an impressive MLB Draft haul, so they can afford to send out multiple prospects if it means landing themselves a capable arm.

Cleveland appears to be in the hunt for a World Series title this year, so it may just have to bite the bullet and cough up some extra pieces for a valuable pitcher like Flaherty.