7 trade targets from the Cleveland Guardians for the Colorado Rockies

The Cleveland Guardians are a team that is very close to the Colorado Rockies in more ways than one.

Both teams are/were known for their bromance on Twitter, both have shared a lot of personnel in the last 20+ years (former GM Dan O’Dowd, current GM Bill Schmidt, former manager Buddy Bell, current manager Bud Black, former pitcher/front office executive Jerry Dipoto, broadcaster Jack Corrigan, former broadcaster Duane Kuiper, former reliever Bryan Shaw, former starter Ubaldo Jiménez, and former reliever Rafael Betancourt are just a few people that were with both teams in one capacity or another), and both have had their fair share of playoff misery.

Cleveland hasn’t won a World Series since 1948, marking the longest current streak in baseball. Colorado has never won it in their franchise history.

Entering 2022 and their first season as the “Guardians,” Cleveland is not going to be a good team. They have a team that is, largely, a Triple-A team on offense and a pitching staff that has been traded or injured in the last three or so seasons. They also lost their “pitching guru” (assistant pitching coach Rueben Niebla) to the San Diego Padres, where he will be their pitching coach this season.

With the Tigers, White Sox, and Royals all developing and/or making big free agent signings, Cleveland, who is seemingly unwilling to spend more than a nickel or dime for players. They will have roughly $43 million on the books in 2022. The Rockies, by comparison, have $46.8 million dedicated to Charlie Blackmon, Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela, and C.J. Cron alone.

In other words, essentially, everyone is or should be fair game for the Guardians to trade. Cleveland often tends to trade their players later than they should have (e.g. Francisco Lindor, Mike Clevinger, Corey Kluber, the list can go on forever) so they probably won’t trade most of these players this offseason but, frankly, they should.

Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez would provide the Colorado Rockies with a huge bat

If the Colorado Rockies could get Cleveland Guardians third baseman José Ramírez in a trade, it would be a huge deal for the Rockies as Ramirez is one of the best players in the entire American League.

In 2021, he played in 152 games and he hit .266/. 355/.538 with 36 homers, 103 RBI, and an OPS+ of 141. He was an All-Star and came in sixth in AL MVP voting. In 2020, he led the American League with 45 runs and he hit .292/.386/.607 with 17 homers, 46 RBIs, and an OPS plus of 167. He came in second and LMVP voting and won a silver slugger award. He had a down year in 2019 but in both 2017 and 2018, he finished third in AL MVP voting and won a Silver Slugger Award.

Ramírez can play third base, shortstop, or second base (and formerly, he played left field) for the Rockies but with Cleveland, he has requested that he just play one position per season (and not bounce around like a utilityman) so they have just had him play third base exclusively in the past three seasons.

He only has two years remaining on his contract, and that’s including a $13 million team option for 2023. He is owed $12 million in 2022, which makes him, by far, the highest-paid player with Cleveland. Ramírez is also only 29 years old, which means that he still has some good years ahead of him.

Cleveland should trade him this offseason but with the way they have operated, they will likely trade him next offseason.

Cleveland Guardians outfielder Franmil Reyes would also be a big bat for the Colorado Rockies

The Cleveland Guardians got Franmil Reyes in the three-team deal with the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds that sent Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati. Reyes was with the San Diego Padres and right now, after Ramírez, Reyes is their next best bat and, arguably, he’d be the best bat in the Colorado Rockies lineup.

In his three-plus seasons in the majors, Reyes has a 162-game average of 36 homers and 91 RBI with a slash line of .260/.325/.503 and an OPS+ of 121.

His best season was 2021, despite missing nearly 50 games due to an oblique strain. He only played in 115 games and he still hit 30 home runs with 85 RBI, a slash line of .254/.324/.522, and an OPS+ of 127. He was on pace for a 42 homer and 120 RBI season. For comparison, from 2015 through 2019, averaged 40 homers and 124 RBI per season with an OPS+ of 129.

Reyes can play the corner outfield positions but he is not a great defender so he would be best as a DH, if the DH comes to the NL in the new CBA.

Speaking of the CBA, Reyes is eligible for arbitration for the first time this offseason and is projected to make about $4.5 million but if the new CBA moves up the timeline for free agency, Cleveland could be looking to move him soon.

Cleveland Guardians ace Shane Bieber would provide the Colorado Rockies with a former Cy Young Award winner

One of the reasons why the Cleveland Guardians were the most-winningest team in the American League from 2013 through 2020 is because of their excellent drafting and development of pitchers. Case in point, for the next three pitchers on our list, they were all drafted in the 2016 Amateur Draft and none of the three were higher than the third round. All three would be great in the Colorado Rockies rotation.

For comparison, this is the draft where the Rockies draft was highlighted by Riley Pint, Robert Tyler, Ben Bowden, Garrett Hampson, Colton Welker, Brian Serven.

In the 4th round of that draft, the then-named Indians drafted Shane Bieber in the 4th round. Four years later, he won a Cy Young Award.

Bieber, 26, made his debut in 2018 and suffered from some bad luck (4.55 ERA but a 3.23 FIP in 20 games, 19 of which were starts). In 2019, he was one of the best starters in the AL as he had a 3.28 ERA in 34 games (33 starts) with 214 1/3 innings pitched, a 144 ERA+, a 3.32 FIP, a 1.054 WHIP, a league-leading 1.7 BB/9, and 10.9 K/9. He was an All-Star and came in 4th in Cy Young voting.

Cleveland Guardians starter Shane Bieber would be the ace for the Colorado Rockies

In 2020, Shane Bieber won the Cy Young Award and came in fourth in AL MVP voting after going 8-1 (eight wins led the AL) with a league-leading 1.63 ERA in 12 starts for Cleveland. He averaged more than six innings per start with a league-leading 273 ERA+, a league-leading FIP (2.07), a league-leading hit rate (5.4 H/9), 2.4 walks per nine innings, and a league-leading strikeout rate (14.2 K/9). He was the first AL pitcher to get the pitching triple crown (leading the league in wins, strikeouts, and ERA)

In 2021, he was injured as he only made 16 starts but he was still an All-Star despite not pitching in the majors from June 14 through September 23 due to a rotator cuff strain. He was still very good, though (139 ERA+).

For the Rockies, finding pitching that succeeds at elevation is often difficult but Bieber is more likely to succeed due to his high strikeout rate and his high groundball rate. Since 2019 among starters with at least 300 innings pitched, his 44.8 percent groundball rate is the 24th-highest. For comparison, Jon Gray, Antonio Senzatela, and Germán Márquez were all in the top 17 and all pitch/pitched better at Coors Field than on the road.

Bieber is just arbitration-eligible for the first time this offseason but since he’ll get roughly $5 million in arbitration, Cleveland will likely try to find a new home for him sometime either this offseason or next, depending on if the time until free agency is shortened from six years to five in the new CBA.

Cleveland Guardians starter Aaron Civale is another pick from the 2016 Draft that could help the Colorado Rockies rotation.

Aaron Civale is the second of the three pitchers that were drafted in 2016 by the Cleveland Guardians that could help the Colorado Rockies rotation.

Civale, 26, was drafted in the third round by Cleveland in 2016 and he made his debut in 2019. He had a great 2019 season as, in 10 starts, he had a 2.34 ERA with a 3.40 FIP, a good WHIP (1.04), and a good walk rate (2.5 BB/9).

He suffered from a sophomore slump in 2020 (4.74 ERA, 94 ERA+, home run rate doubled, hit rate nearly doubled) and he was injured in 2021 (21 starts). However, he still pitched fairly well in 2021 as in those 21 starts, he had an ERA of 3.84, an ERA+ of 114, a 1.118 WHIP, and a good walk rate (2.2 BB/9).

Civale has had a groundball rate of 43.8 percent since 2019, which is roughly league average.

Civale is still cheap as he isn’t arbitration-eligible under the current CBA but, again, if the CBA makes the path to arbitration and free agency a year sooner, then Cleveland could be shopping him soon as well.

Cleveland Guardians starter Zach Plesac would be a good addition to the Colorado Rockies rotation

Zach Plesac was also drafted in the 2016 Amateur Draft by Cleveland but he was even further down the list as Cleveland drafted him in the 11th round out of Ball State University in Indiana. Plesac, 26, is the nephew of former MLB All-Star and current MLB Network analyst Dan Plesac.

Plesac made his debut in 2019 and, like Civale, pitched well. In 21 starts, he had a 3.81 ERA (124 ERA+). He had a good season in 2020, though, as in eight starts, he had a 2.28 ERA (196 ERA+) but in 2021, he pitched poorly, partially due to injury in one of the more odd injuries in recent memory.

He also got no support from his offense (literally, no support in three starts as they were no-hit in three of his starts, marking both the first time a team was no-hit in three games in a season and the first time the same starting pitcher was opposing a pitcher who threw a no-hitter three times in a season). Cleveland was actually no-hit four times if you include no-hitters in seven-inning doubleheaders but Plesac was not on the mound for that one.

He had an ERA of 4.67 (FIP of 4.73) in his 25 starts in 2021 with a 1.199 WHIP.

Plesac does give up his fair share of homers (1.4 HR/9 in his career) and has a groundball rate below league average but he has shown that he still could be a good starting pitcher.

Under the current CBA, he is arbitration-eligible for the first time next offseason.

Cleveland Guardians starter Cal Quantrill would also be another good addition for the Colorado Rockies

Cal Quantrill, who turns 27 in February, was acquired by the Cleveland Guardians in their second big trade involving the San Diego Padres in as many seasons. He came from San Diego for Mike Clevinger in 2020. While Quantrill has been a reliever and starter, he prefers starting and he would slot in nicely in the Colorado Rockies rotation.

Quantrill, the son of former MLB reliever Paul Quantrill, had a rocky start to his career in 2019 (5.16 ERA in 21 games, 18 of which were starts) for San Diego but he pitched well in both 2020 and 2021.

In 2020, between San Diego and Cleveland, he appeared in 18 games (three starts) and had a 2.25 ERA (195 ERA+) with a 3.91 FIP, a 1.219 WHIP, and a good strikeout-to-walk ratio of 3.9:1.

In 2021, Quantrill was Cleveland’s most reliable pitcher as he led the team in innings (149 2/3 IP) with a 2.89 ERA in 40 games (22 starts).

Quantrill’s groundball rate since 2019 is 43.4 percent, which is about league average.

Under the current CBA, Quantrill is also pre-arbitration eligible as he has just under three years of service time but he could reach both arbitration and free agency sooner with the new CBA.