A Summer Slump May Have Sealed the Guardians’ Deadline Fate

What a difference two and a half weeks can make—just ask the Cleveland Guardians.

Back on June 25, the Guardians were riding high after an extra-inning win over the Blue Jays, evening their series with a 5–4 victory. That win brought Cleveland to 40–38, just half a game out of the final AL Wild Card spot and within striking distance of second place in the AL Central.

They weren’t quite where a 92-win team from a year ago might have expected to be, but the outlook still felt promising. A postseason push seemed well within reach.

Then, everything changed.

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The Slide That Shifted the Season

The Guardians dropped the finale against Toronto with a lifeless 6–0 shutout, and things spiraled from there. What followed was a brutal 10-game losing streak that included being swept by the Cardinals, Cubs, and Tigers. During that stretch, Cleveland was shut out four more times.

By the time the skid ended, the Guardians were eight games below .500, sitting in fourth place in the division, and the optimism that existed in late June had evaporated.

They’ve managed to steady the ship slightly heading into the All-Star break, sitting at 46–49. But after winning the AL Central in 2024 and reaching the ALCS, this season hasn’t come close to matching expectations.

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High Hopes, Harsh Reality

The Guardians entered 2025 with high hopes under second-year manager Stephen Vogt, coming off a 92–69 campaign and their deepest playoff run since 2016. But instead of building on that momentum, a quiet offseason—highlighted more by payroll cuts than major acquisitions—has come back to bite them.

Key contributors like Andrés Giménez and Josh Naylor were traded away, and while Cleveland still had a talented core in place, their margin for error shrank considerably.

That margin vanished during the losing streak, and now the Guardians find themselves 12 games back in the division and 4.5 games behind the final Wild Card spot—with four teams ahead of them.

While that’s not an insurmountable deficit, their recent performance raises a fair question: Is this team really built to make a second-half playoff push? Or is it time to shift focus toward 2026?

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Cleveland’s Trade Chips

If the Guardians decide to sell at the deadline, they’ve got some intriguing assets that contenders would covet:

• Carlos Santana remains the most obvious trade candidate. The 38-year-old is posting decent numbers (.235 AVG, .696 OPS, 11 HR, 41 RBI) and offers veteran experience and pop from both sides of the plate. He’s unlikely to net a huge return but could fill a bench role for a contender.

• Lane Thomas is a wild card. He’s struggled this year and is currently on the IL, but his name has floated in trade rumors since before the season. A team in need of outfield depth could take a flier on a rebound.

• Emmanuel Clase is the big name to watch. The Guardians’ closer and reigning AL Reliever of the Year hasn’t quite replicated his dominance from 2024 but is still effective with 20 saves and a 3.05 ERA. While it would take a bold move to part ways with him, the reasons are there: closers can be volatile, his value is high, and Cleveland might not want to pick up his $10 million team option in 2027.

For most teams, that contract is a bargain. If Clase is even rumored to be available, expect a bidding war.

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A Pivotal Decision Ahead

Trading Clase or other core players would signal that the Guardians are ready to retool, not reload. It wouldn’t be the plan they envisioned in April—but after a crushing 10-game slide, it might be the most realistic one.

Had that stretch gone differently, we might be talking about what the Guardians need to add at the deadline. Instead, they’re facing a crossroads: try to salvage the season or maximize value while they can.

Either way, the next two weeks will define the direction of Cleveland’s season—and perhaps their next few seasons, too.

The post A Summer Slump May Have Sealed the Guardians’ Deadline Fate appeared first on Just Baseball.