2025 Trade Deadline Discussion

[zambonir]

Relievers

ESPN's Jeff Passan says Emmanuel Clase would be best trade deadline fit for...

The three-time All-Star had one of the most dominant seasons a closer has ever had in 2024, converting 47 of 50 save attempts while posting a minuscule 0.61 ERA over 74 games. As the headliner of one of the greatest bullpens in MLB history, Clase finished third in AL Cy Young Award voting, a pretty remarkable accomplishment for a reliever.

In the interests of presenting the entire picture, it's fair to point out that Clase hit a wall in the postseason, as evidenced by his 9.00 ERA in seven appearances. Part of that is the Guardians were overly reliant on their bullpen because they didn't have a very good starting rotation. But star closers have tended to hit walls more dramatically in the postseason than starting pitchers or position players, so that's something to consider.

This season, Clase got off to a slow start, posting an unsightly 6.75 ERA between March and April. However, since then he's been lights out, posting a 1.33 ERA over 27 innings of work.

[Callison]

Read elsewhere that this is one of the worst trade deadline markets ever. Not seeing a lot to hope for here either.

Two players that looked like sure-bet trade prospects last season: Luis Robert and Mason Miller. Both would have been costly and now look pretty average.

[andyb]

It would not be a match for the Phillies, but there is talk in DC of trading McKenzie Gore at the peak of his trade value.

[Jazzhead]

I think the answer to the Phillies outfield issues is Justin Crawford in CF. No need to trade valuable assets for an outfield bat. While acquiring another reliever (or two) would make sense, in general it would be a shame to trade our most valuable prospects for a reliever, especially a rental. Maybe Miller only because both Bohn and Kemp are relatively young and ahead of Miller developmentally. Maybe Abel because starting pitching is another area where we have depth.

Wonder if we could pry Raisel Iglesias from the Braves. He's having a down year and the Braves are going nowhere.

[Dirk41]

What we’re hearing about the Phillies’ trade deadline plans: Will they take a...

Kwan and Clase would be absolutely outrageous.

Have to think it would need to include Crawford.

[zambonir]

As I already posted above I find it hilarious that the big prize - and a truly great reliever! - would be a guy who had 9.00 ERA last post-season and a 6.75 ERA just this past March and April. He's been impeccable since then but that probably means another rough few weeks or month lies ahead at some point. It's all in the timing. Would you rather cast your lot with someone like that or hope for a bounce-back from an Iglesias?

If market/money/position/fit was no object I would just want one of the RHB DH types. Braves might trade Ozuna. I just don't think Crawford is going to make the OF better except defensively. Or if they were willing to sit Nick a bit against RHP. But run prevention really isn't this team's issue.

[bigegypt0417]

Clase has been hittable this year and isn't even missing that many bats...this guy SCREAMS regression.

[EDmuch]

I follow Clase closely from here in Columbus. I think Cleveland wants to dump him before he finally hits the wall that seems to be clearly in front of him. Now if you throw in Kwan, then there is a lot fo talk about.

[phillychuck]

Cleveland is a very smart organization. I don’t want our dumb management dealing with them.

[EDmuch]

They are kind of like Tampa where no matter what you do you wind up being fleased by them.

[zambonir]

Unless you get Christopher Sanchez.

Do we really think Dombrowski is dumb?

[Squire]

I do not think Dombrowski is dumb. Though I also think that I'm more likely to care about the 2030 Phillies than he is. But I think Dombrowski is the smartest President/GM we have had since Gillick. Perhaps that is not saying much but I think it is accurate.

[phillychuck]

I don’t agree 100%. I guess I don’t think he’s dumb, but I think his way of looking at ballplayers is ancient compared to Shapiro’s and Chernoff’s in Cleveland. And I think his view of organizational development strategy boils down to paying above-market deals to aging stars. You can win with that strategy if you have enough money and get lucky in the playoffs. But it’s not winning at a high success rate. And he clearly has really regressed over the past couple of years in talent acquisition through the draft and through LA. And a smart GM doesn’t sign Castellanos at the price he paid. Or at all.

And, to me, it still doesn’t look like he has hired people who are good at developing talent, especially hitting talent.

[zambonir]

When you really pick apart DD's tenure it is nothing special, but also similar to Gillick in that he was the right change at the right time. He inherited Nola, Wheeler, Hoskins, Harper, JT, Bohm, Stott and even Rojas. Didn't really take a genius to extend the guys he did, or buy Trea Turner. I'll give him a wash on Schwarber/Casty. He did not really give this team a Werth, but this year's angst aside, his bullpen building has been solid. He's playing the cards he had, and hasn't mortgaged the future the way the Gillick and Amaro did even if he's still not getting it right. And Barber wasn't his hire either, but he kept him, and it's certainly the DD/Fuld/Mattingly development regime by now.

But as far as this thread goes, I don't think he has lost a trade. Not even O'Hoppe/Marsh. And he wasn't fleeced in terms of giving up Ben Brown or the two guys for Estevez. Both teams agreed on everyone's value, there wasn't a smarter team who saw something in our guys that we didn't.

Gonna be an interesting deadline either way.

[BostonRoss]

If the Twins are sellers, 4 games back in the wild card with three teams in front of them, shouldn't Arizona be sellers, too? I'm still fantasizing over Eugenio Suarez...

[zambonir]

That's the problem, are any of them sellers? Still got 18 days to find out.

But if they're interested in a 3B they should be interested in the 1B/DH options too. Both require moving Harper and/or Schwarber around, unless you trade Bohm when getting a 3B, and if that's the case have you actually made the team that much better? I guess you demonstrably have, one-for one, but I'd rather have that big RHB in addition to Bohm and instead of Kepler.

[jimbomill]

I do not think Dombrowski is dumb

Well, his signing of Kepler and Romano didn't add to his IQ.

[andyb]

Well, his signing of Kepler and Romano didn't add to his IQ

That might be on our pro scouts more than DD. The concept of handing out $8-$10 million deals to avoid dealing prospects is sound when you are not heavily budget limited. DD may be doing the right thing while his scouts are giving out bad advice. Each of those contracts seemed like a good risk at the time we did them and that is part of the GM's job to assess that risk.

[zambonir]

Yeah they were both calculated risks based on opportunity cost. He'd look even dumber if he'd signed Santander, O'Neill, Profar or Conforto. And while neither of them have looked as bad as Romano, trading for Devon Williams or giving Jeff Hoffman three years doesn't look so smart either.

OFs who can both hit and field actually are just hard to come by right now. I'm still not sure there's really a good excuse for doubling down on a LHB and making a different version of the same OF mistakes for the third or fourth time, even if I don't think it was wrong to cut Hays loose either. But all GMs make mistakes.

[VoteForKalas]

That might be on our pro scouts more than DD.

But didn't DD bring in new scouting and player development leadership who hired new and retained previously hired scouts?

If they are giving bad advice, DD needs to figure out why and get the problems fixed or, at least, push the people he put in charge to get to the bottom of it.