Guardians Trade Deadline Fallout: Breaking Down Cleveland's Moves

The Cleveland Guardians had a rather underwhelming MLB trade deadline, so let's dive into what they accomplished.

Jul 28, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan (38) and outfielder Jhonkensy Noel (43) celebrate win against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports / Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

The Cleveland Guardians entered the MLB trade deadline with two major needs: another starting pitcher and a bat.

A legitimate argument can be made that the Guardians needed multiple players on both fronts.

Cleveland settled for one each, landing outfielder Lane Thomas in a deal with the Washington Nationals and swinging a trade with the San Francisco Giants to acquire starting pitcher Alex Cobb (you can check out the grades for those moves here).

While both of these additions could be viewed as upgrades, there is also the chance that neither player really moves the needle much at all.

Thomas is definitely a better option than Will Brennan in the outfield, and with the emergence of youngsters Jhonkensy Noel and Angel Martinez, the Guardians' offense is suddenly considerably more interesting.

That being said, Thomas is probably best served as a platoon bat, given the fact that he is slashing .322/.406/.506 against left-handed pitching while hitting a meager .226/.299/.364 against righties.

Overall, Thomas lays claim to a .738 OPS on the year and has eight home runs and 40 RBI. He did smash 28 homers in 2023, but based on his career output (and what he has done thus far in 2024), it's looking like that was a one-off.

Thomas also isn't exactly the greatest defensive piece, as evidenced by his minus-8.1 UZR/150 and horrific minus-9 DRS this season.

Taking that into consideration, Alex Clemmey and two other infield prospects seems like a heck of a lot to give up.

That brings us to Cobb, who hasn't thrown a single pitch this year but ended up being the Guardians' prized pitching acquisition of the deadline.

This is a major failure on the part of Cleveland's front office, especially considering that the Detroit Tigers didn't really get that much in return from the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for Jack Flaherty. Would the Tigers have asked for more from the division-rival Guardians in a Flaherty deal? Perhaps, but it seems hard to imagine Detroit would have raked them over the coals.

Don't get me wrong: Cobb is a good pitcher when healthy. But he underwent hip surgery last offseason and then injured his shoulder during rehab. He was supposed to make his return to the mound recently, but suffered another setback due to a blister.

Had Cleveland landed Cobb and acquired another pitcher (like say, Flaherty, Erick Fedde or Yusei Kikuchi), then the Guardians would have been on to something. But only landing Cobb means that the team will be relying on two pitchers who have not yet taken the bump in 2024—Cobb and Matthew Boyd—to bolster its starting rotation.

And you expect Cleveland fans to be excited about this?

Look: I understand the Guardians are a very conservative franchise. It was a huge deal when they acquired Andrew Miller in 2016, and even bagging Thomas was a significant move for this team.

But Cleveland has the best record in the American League and is clearly in World Series contention. I just needed a clear upgrade in its starting pitching staff, which is one of the worst in baseball.

Maybe Gavin Williams will get into a groove and form a nice trio with Tanner Bibee and Ben Lively and one of Cobb or Boyd will ultimately pan out. But there are a lot of major question marks there, and this could all blow up in the Guardians' faces come October.

The cost for Cobb was minimal, which takes some of the sting out of it. But it just feels like Cleveland was playing the role of a vulture rather than an eagle. In other words, the Guardians were searching for scraps rather than aiming for the kill.

We can try to talk ourselves into Thomas and Cobb all we want, and you know what? They could end up being terrific pickups. Maybe Thomas will mash lefties into oblivion, and perhaps Cobb will get healthy, stay healthy and provide some much-needed consistency and veteran savvy to the rotation.

But the fact of the matter is that you were expecting something bigger at the trade deadline. Come on. Be serious. If I would have told you two weeks ago that the Guardians would have to settle for an essential platoon player and a guy who hasn't thrown a pitch all year, there is no way you would have signed for that.

Nevertheless, that is what Cleveland fans will have to settle for. To make matters worse, some of the Guardians' American League competitors made significant moves to buttress their own rosters.

It just feels like the Guardians are hanging on by a thread, and their lackluster trade deadline didn't exactly fortify their position as World Series contenders.