The Cleveland Guardians are currently 32-26 in the 2025 campaign.
They are 6.5 games behind the AL Central leaders, the Detroit Tigers, and are currently leading the AL Wild Card race.
That race, however, has multiple horses in contention: the Guardians, the Houston Astros, the Minnesota Twins, the Toronto Blue Jays, the Kansas City Royals, and the Tampa Bay Rays are all separated by just two games.
Things could potentially take a turn for the worse for the Guardians.
Granted, they are expected to contend, and they will get a marquee pitcher back within the next few weeks in Shane Bieber.
But they could conceivably lose ground and fall out of the race from this point until the trade deadline.
ESPN reporter and top news breaker Jeff Passan speculated that two current members of the Guardians could potentially be traded away for prospects if Cleveland isn’t in contention come the deadline.
“Carlos Santana and Lane Thomas are two trade candidates for the Guardians if they become sellers, per @JeffPassan,” ESPN Cleveland posted on X.
Carlos Santana and Lane Thomas are two trade candidates for the Guardians if they become sellers, per @JeffPassan.
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/yfa8UMpQ9c
— ESPN Cleveland (@ESPNCleveland) June 3, 2025
At this point, the Guards should be looking at ways to improve the roster: possibly a top starter or shortstop, or even an outfielder if they want to give Chase DeLauter more development time.
However, baseball is wildly unpredictable and they should also be prepared to sell should it come to it.
Santana and Thomas are both free agents after the season but could fetch a prospect or two.
Santana in particular is red-hot, posting a cool 124 wRC+ and a 1.0 fWAR.
Thomas has had a nightmarish season with a -16 wRC+ and -0.9 fWAR and is currently nursing a case of plantar fasciitis.
If Thomas manages to get healthy and Cleveland falls out of contention, he is a lock to be flipped.
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