The Cleveland Guardians made some interesting moves at the trade deadline.
As expected, they were sellers, but as disappointing as that may have been, it actually made sense, given the context.
Nevertheless, they failed to add any sort of reinforcement for the remainder of the season.
To add insult to injury, they lost Emmanuel Clase for the foreseeable future, maybe for the year.
That’s why Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report doesn’t love their chances to go far in the playoffs, assuming they even make the playoffs:
“Quietly noisy. There was an awful lot of Guardians chatter, mostly surrounding Steven Kwan as a top trade candidate. The All-Star left fielder ended up not going anywhere, though, the lone trades Cleveland made involving injured pitchers Shane Bieber and Paul Sewald. They’re only 3.0 games back in the wild card picture, but they added nothing and also lost Emmanuel Clase through at least the end of August. They’re most likely toast,” Miller wrote.
That makes perfect sense.
Shane Bieber was projected to be their ace and Game 1 starter in the postseason after a ramp-up process in the regular season.
Then again, it’s not like losing him should impact their current chances, as they got this far without him and he hasn’t been a factor at all this season.
The same can be said of Paul Sewald, who’s also going to miss some time with an injury.
Sadly, that’s not the case with Clase.
While they have a star closer in the waiting in Cade Smith, and Hunter Gaddis could also give them a hand in that department, they just lost one of the best closers in all of baseball.
Clase was placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as a part of the same sports betting investigation that involves Luis L. Ortiz.
Some believe he might never play in Major League Baseball again.
As such, the Guardians might make the playoffs, but that might be the end of the line for them.
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