The Cleveland Guardians are at the beginning of a very important offseason. After making it all the way to the ALCS last season, they are just a couple of pieces away from potentiallying winning a championship.
Over the years, the Guardians have been one of the least aggressive teams in baseball when it comes to free agency. They usually are not interested in spending big money.
Could that change this offseason? It’s possible, but it’s much more likely that they’ll look to find some bargains. Perhaps, they could even look at the trade market for an improvement.
With that in mind, there is one suggestion that has come up as a potential trade route Cleveland could take.
Rowan Kavner of Fox Sports has suggested one intriguing trade that the Guardians could consider for starting pitching help. He has thrown out the idea of Cleveland pulling off another trade with the Chicago Cubs, this time to acquire Jameson Taillon.
Taillon would be a very intriguing target for the Guardians. He would be a major upgrade for their rotation and could help fill a major weakness from last season.
Of course, these two teams have already pulled off one trade together this offseason. Cleveland sent relief pitcher Eli Morgan to the Cubs. Now, they could try to acquire a win now piece from Chicago.
During the 2024 MLB season with the Cubs, Taillon ended up making 28 starts. He compiled a 12-8 record to go along with a 3.27 ERA, a 1.13 WHIP, a 3.8 K/BB ratio, and 165.1 innings pitched.
Those numbers are exactly what the Guardians could use. If they could find a way to re-sign Shane Bieber and acquire a talent like Taillon, they would come away with a big win from the offseason.
All of that being said, this is not a report that Cleveland is discussing a trade with Chicago for Taillon. It’s simply an idea that would make a lot of sense.
Expect to continue hearing rumors and speculation surrounding the Guardians. They aren’t far away from the World Series and it will be interesting to see what they end up choosing to do to improve.