Trade Winds: Hypothetical Trade for the…

In the interest of providing some offseason discussion, I am proposing four trades the Guardians could pursue for starting pitching.

I hate making mock trades because they inevitably make people come out of the woodwork to say “You don’t know ball.” There is no way to know exactly how front offices value each player, so everything is very subjective. For me, I think a good trade should make people from both sides protest, saying “This cost us too much!” I have tried to abide by that general principle below. If you feel I’m way off, that’s ok. Mentally add pieces to these trades until it matches up fairly in your mind and just know that I agree with you, that makes perfect sense.

Ok, on to our mock trades:

The Blockbuster Trade:

Guardians trade Chase DeLauter, OF, Joey Cantillo, LHP, and Cade Smith RHP to the Cubs for Justin Steele, LHP

Analysis: I guarantee that both Guardians fans and Cubs fans will despise this trade. so it’s probably about right in value exchanged. The Cubs are not looking to rebuild, so why would they trade a pitcher who has the 8th best FIP at 3.11 in MLB over the past two years among starters with 200 or more innings? Well, the simple answer is, maybe they wouldn’t. But, maybe, just maybe, they’d be interested in a hitter who has dominated every level he has seen so far, a rookie pitcher who looks to be a solid bet to be a good 4th starter, and a player who was very possibly the most dominant relief pitcher in baseball as a rookie in 2024. The Guardians get a frontline starter, the Cubs get needed lineup thump, rotation depth and fix the back end of a bad bullpen. I think with Steele going into his age 29 season, given his fastball average under 92 mph and three years left of arbitrated team control… there is a possibility he could be available in the right deal. Is this the right one? It’s certainly a deal that gets Cleveland a front of the rotation starter at a high return but without requiring them to go commit a lot of money to one.

The Potentially Distressed Asset Trade:

Guardians trade Juan Brito, IF/OF and Braylon Doughty, RHP to the Marlins for Edward Cabrera, RHP

Analysis: MLB pipeline has Dooughty as the 7th best Guardians’ prospect and Brito as their 8th best. I think I have a little higher opinion of Brito as a hitter, but feel free to susbsitute Jaison Chourio for Brito in this deal if it makes more sense to you. Cabrera has struggled to find consistency in Miami and dealt with shoulder impingement and a knee tweak last year, but he’s only 26 years old and under team control through 2028. His fastball sits at 96 mph and he’s a groundball machine (getting close to 50% groundballs for his career), so I’d love to see Cabrera blossom under the tender care of Carl Willis and company. I think the Marlins make out well here with pieces that better fit their competitive window than Cabrera. I’d also be interested in Jesus Luzardo and Sandy Alcantara from the Marlins but Cabrera just feels like a Guardians’ type to me given his groundball abilities.

The Change of Scenery Guys Trade:

Guardians trade C.J. Kayfus, IF/OF and Triston McKenzie, RHP to the Angels for Reid Detmers, LHP

Analysis: No one knows what the Angels are doing but I think this kind of deal would make sense for them. They get a guy who put up a 139 wRC+ at Double-A in a breakout year as a 22 year old who looks viable at a corner outfield spot, and a fallen starting pitcher who has looked dominant in the past in a way that Detmers has not. The Guardians get a formerly highly touted pitching prospect whose potential has failed to materialize to try to fix. For Cleveland, this is betting on the pitching factory. For the Angels, it’s a good hitting prospect and betting on a guy the Cleveland pitching factory has already produced rediscovering his value.

The Take Your Medicine Trade:

Guardians trade Josh Naylor, 1B to the Yankees for Nestor Cortes, LHP

Analysis: I want to be clear – I hate this trade. Naylor playing for the Yankees makes me want to barf. Cortes whose on-mound behavior annoys the heck out of me on the Guardians makes me sick, also. But, with both players having one year of team control left and both coming off good years with depth available for both on their respective teams (Kyle Manzardo, David Fry and Jhonkensy Noel on the Guardians, and an abundance of free agent pitchers in the market for the Yankees as well as some decent internal options)… I can see why this may make sense. The Yankees have got nothing from first base for a couple years; Naylor solves that. The Guardians desperately need mid-rotation arms; Cortes solves that. I don’t expect this deal to happen, thankfully, but on paper something like this makes sense to me.

I don’t necessarily expect the Guardians to make a deal for a pitcher this offseason, but they do have the depth in their farm system to do it, if a starter falls into their preferred range of value. I think they may actually prefer seeking out values in a deep, free agent starting pitcher market. If they seek a solution via trade, however, you can come back to this article later and tell me how poorly I projected these. Trades are complex, and that’s part of why they’re so much fun to analyze. Let’s hope we get at least one Cleveland trade to talk about in the months of offseason ahead!