Cleveland Guardians Linked to Trade for Expensive Two-Time All-Star

The Cleveland Guardians are continuing to struggle, as they have now lost five straight games to fall to 40-43 on the season as their playoff hopes slip away.

Is there really anything the Guardians can do to save their season at this point? Well, the MLB trade deadline is still several weeks away, so if Cleveland wants to make some tweaks, it has time.

The Guardians' most obvious need is in their outfield, where Steven Kwan has represented the only consistent offensive contributor. Both center field and right field have been complete disasters for the club, so if Cleveland is going to swing a trade anywhere, it would probably be there.

Cade Cracas of Away Back Gone has pitched a rather unorthodox trade idea for the Guardians, suggesting that they pursue Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

"He's in the third year of an eight-year, $106.5 million extension he signed in April 2023. He'll be owed $75.25 million across the next five seasons along with a club option for 2031. That's a solid contract for a team that's a contender, which the Pirates obviously aren't," Cracas wrote.

Reynolds is under team control through 2031, with the last year of his deal being a club option. It doesn't seem all that likely that Cleveland — a notoriously frugal organization — would want to pay an aging player for that long.

What's more, Cracas names top outfield prospect Chase DeLauter as someone who would probably have to go in the deal, which would probably comprise a nonstarter for the Guardians.

Reynolds is a two-time All-Star, but this season, he is slashing .240/.305/.397 with 10 home runs and 45 RBI over 351 plate appearances. He hasn't registered an OPS of .800 or better since his last All-Star appearance in 2022, and his defense has slipped rather considerably over the last several years.

This simply does not seem like a typical trade Cleveland would make, so it seems hard to imagine the Guardians actually making a serious play for the 30-year-old Reynolds.

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