The Cleveland Guardians are dangerously close to .500 ball after a five-game losing streak took their record to a disappointing 54-53. They went from controlling the AL Central to being 2.0 games behind the leaders, the Chicago White Sox.
If the Guardians don’t want to lose everything that took so long to build, they need to turn to the trade market and bring in some upgrades. The first base situation is worrisome; a right-handed-hitting outfielder is definitely needed, and the team is also missing at least a couple of top relievers.
Historically speaking, however, the Guardians have been reluctant to flip their very best prospects for deadline upgrades. The last time they did it aggressively was probably in 2016, when they dealt four young minor leaguers to the New York Yankees in exchange for top lefty Andrew Miller.
Two of those players, outfielder Clint Frazier (2nd) and pitcher Justus Sheffield (5th), were top five organizational prospects. As much as the Guardians need upgrades this time around, they are unlikely to surrender their top pieces.
ESPN’s lead prospect analyst Kiley McDaniel says that while everyone in the organization might be available at the right price, they have a group of prospects who are close to untouchable.
“I don’t think anyone is truly off-limits, but Cleveland rarely makes huge deals giving up top prospects, so functionally a number of these guys likely won’t be seriously discussed. SS Angel Genao, 1B Ralphy Velazquez, RHP Braylon Doughty, C Cooper Ingle and RF Juneiker Caceres headline that group,” McDaniel wrote.
Those are, according to MLB Pipeline, all top six prospects, with only outfielder Jaison Chourio (5th) missing from the list.
The only way the Guardians trade Genao, their No. 1 prospect, is that he is part of the return for a controllable star. That’s not a particularly likely scenario. The 22-year-old infielder is sporting a 129 wRC+ in Triple-A.
Ingle has 14 home runs and a 156 wRC+ in Triple-A Columbus, and while his MLB cameo didn’t go well, he remains a big piece of the future for Cleveland. Velazquez could be an option to play first base for the Guardians as soon as August, and Doughty and Caceres are extremely talented players with tons of upside.
We are not saying that they will 100 percent remain in Cleveland past the deadline, but it would take a small miracle for President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti to trade them.
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