Will Guardians Regret Big Trade Deadline if They Miss the Playoffs?

The Cleveland Guardians made a splash at the trade deadline acquiring four players: outfielder Jo Adell, reliever Craig Yoho, starter Foster Griffin, and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe. Many pundits thought the Guardians greatly improved their roster and were ready to make a run for the American League Central division title.

However, they are just 1-5 since the trade deadline and their playoff hopes are fading as they fell to fourth in their division.

If the Guardians do not make the playoffs, were the trade deadline acquisitions worth it?

Jo Adell

Adell was brought in to provide some power in the lineup. He has hit .136 with zero home runs in his limited time in Cleveland. He has had 10 strikeouts in 22 at bats. Adell comes in with a one-year contract and a payroll salary of about 1.5 million dollars for this season. The Los Angeles Angels retained around 3.5 million. Next season he is arbitration eligible and the Guardians are good at avoiding arbitration with players. Should he continue to play below his standards, then the Guardians will have a relatively cheap outfielder next season with a high upside.

The Guardians traded catcher Jacob Cozart to the Angels for Adell. Cozart was playing for the Akron RubberDucks and hitting .239. He was behind two highly-regarded catchers in the minor leagues, Cooper Ingle and Kody Huff. The Guardians also traded for Patrick Bailey earlier this season and he has multiple seasons of control. Cozart had a difficult path to take to make it to the big leagues in the near future.

Craig Yoho

Yoho has pitched 3.1 innings with the Guardians amassing an 18.90 earned run average. He has not been good in Cleveland after having a solid season in Milwaukee. Yoho has two more years of control and he is in pre-arbitration, based on his service time. Meaning, he will make around league minimum the next two years. There is low risk in Yoho in future seasons and if he can return to his Milwaukee form then his salary will be worth keeping him on the roster.

The Guardians traded catcher Bo Naylor and pitcher Cody Heuer for Yoho. They have already given up on Naylor as he was designated for assignment earlier in the year and traded for Patrick Bailey. Heuer has pitched for nine teams since 2020. He has been a journeyman that did not have a future in Cleveland.

Foster Griffin

The Guardians traded for the all-star pitcher to add a lefty to their rotation. Griffin has only made one start and was not good, giving up five runs in four innings. He is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Pitchers Will Dion, Josh Hartle, Kendeglys Virguez, and outfielder Nick Mitchell were traded to the Washington Nationals for Griffin. Dion was with the major league club, but was a middle-innings reliever. He did not pitch high-leverage situations. Hartle was in Akron and was having a solid season. Hartle was at least a season away from contributing to the Guardians. Virguez only pitched in two games for the RubberDucks this season. Mitchell did not stick out in the RubberDucks outfield and there were more intriguing outfielding prospects in the minors.

Nathaniel Lowe

Lowe has batted in six runs and is hitting .289 in his six games with the Guardians. He has been a solid pick up to add a professional bat in the lineup. Lowe is an unrestricted free agent after the season.

Pitcher Alejandro Rivera was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Lowe. He was a low minor league level pitcher and would not have been in the Guardians near-future plans.

The Guardians made a lot of risk adverse moves while injecting the lineup and rotation with an upgrade. Although the wins have not followed, the Guardians did not mortgage their future on these trades and all their top prospects remain in the organization.

The Guardians should have no regrets with these trades should they miss the playoffs.

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