Guardians Should Target Josh Bell And Trey Mancini At The Deadline
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It seems that the Guardians are pretty set on the future at all positions except first base. Owen Miller and Josh Naylor have held it down so far this season. However, Miller has been shaky at times and has made a few bad errors and even though Naylor has looked good, his future seems to be more as a DH with him still recovering from his gruesome ankle injury from last season.
Two first basemen that would fit great on the roster and could be available to trade for are Trey Mancini and Josh Bell.
Trey Mancini
The Orioles are getting back to relevancy after years of miserable baseball in Baltimore. That doesn't mean they wouldn't want to capitalize on some of the veteran talents that they still have on the roster. One of those players they could look to move is Trey Mancini.
Mancini is having a great year and is slashing .277/.352./.417 and that's with him playing in arguably the best division in baseball.
The one advantage of trading for Mancini would be his versatility, which has been key with this Guardians roster. He has started 26 games at first base, 11 in the outfield, and 46 at DH. This would still allow Naylor to play first at times, or even give an outfielder a day off every once in a while.
Mancini would fit right into the Guardians mold!
His contract has a mutual option for next season. If the Guardians did acquire Mancini, they would probably feel confident he would be willing to accept the option so it did not turn into a rental situation.
Josh Bell
The other first base option is the current National, Josh Bell. One could argue the Orioles could hold and not make many moves at the deadline, but the Nationals on the other hand are likely to be massive sellers. Especially with the recent Juan Soto news.
One thing that the Guardians have been missing this season is a true and consistent power bat outside of Naylor. Josh Bell would fill that role well. He is batting .311 this season and had 13 home runs and 50 RBI. He also ranks in the 84th percentile in max exit velocity.
Imagine a middle of the order going Naylor, Bell, and Gimenez. That would be a lot of trouble for opposing pitchers!
Bell's contract only runs through the rest of the year, so if the Guardians did get him he may be a rental unless the two sides could work out an extension.
I could never see the Guardians trading significant prospects for a rental.
The trade deadline is rapidly approaching and it will be interesting to see how the Guardians approach it!
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