The Cleveland Guardians have a strong case to stand pat and not make a single move at the trade deadline.
They have one of the easiest remaining schedules in the entire league, and they’re not that far behind in the race for the final wild card spot in the American League.
Nevertheless, everybody has a price, especially in this line of business.
The Guardians have reportedly let everybody know that they have no intention to trade Emmanuel Clase.
Still, Mike Axisa of CBS Sports believes they could change that stance if the Boston Red Sox come knocking with an offer they can’t refuse.
In his latest article, he predicted that the Red Sox would get their hands on Clase thanks to a trade centered around Jarren Duran:
“The Guardians and Red Sox will swap Emmanuel Clase for Jarren Duran. Boston has more good outfielders than outfield spots and the Guardians can spare an end-of-game reliever. I will not predict a one-for-one trade — I’ll say there will be more pieces involved to even things out — but Clase for Duran will be the meat of it. Cleveland won’t give Clase away. To trade him, they’ll need to get multiple years of an all-around impact player, and that’s Duran. The Red Sox would upgrade the bullpen, which takes on increased important in October, which is where they’re headed,” Axisa wrote.
The Guardians have no valid reasons to part ways with one of the best closers in all of baseball.
He’s under club control for years and at quite a reasonable price.
Then again, they’re also in desperate need of a productive outfielder who’s not going to cost them a lot of money, and Duran certainly fits that bill.
The Guardians could still figure out what to do to close out games, just like they did when they gave Clase some time off to get back to full strength and get it together after a slow start to the season.
Duran, on the other hand, could provide them with the type of offensive boost they’ve been desperately craving since the start of the season.
NEXT: MLB Insider Reveals Reason To 'Stand Pat' For Guardians
