Did Guardians do enough at Trade Deadline for postseason push? (2024)

Sitting 23 games above .500 at the time the 6 p.m. ET Trade Deadline hit, the Guardians decided to add to their roster this time, rather than take away. There’s no questions about the team’s mission this year. It added a bat in outfielder Lane Thomas. It added to its starting pitching depth with Alex Cobb.

Was it enough? Well, we’ll have to wait to see. But we can look at three positive and three negative thoughts about the state of Cleveland’s roster post-Deadline:

Three up

Thomas is a “Guards ball” type of player
The Guardians have dubbed their style of play as “Guards ball,” and when manager Stephen Vogt talked to Thomas on the phone on Monday -- when he was all the way in Arizona and his new team was playing in Detroit -- and he insisted he be in Cleveland’s lineup for a day game on Tuesday after taking a red-eye the night before, it was clear that he has the same “Guards ball” mentality.

His chase rate is low. His hustle is off the charts. His speed is top of the line. He has more contact ability than slug, but he demonstrated last year that he can hit 20-plus homers in a season. Adding this type of threat to the lineup may prove to be beneficial.

Experience
Not only did Cleveland add 36-year-old Cobb on Tuesday, but a month prior, the team also signed 33-year-old free agent Matthew Boyd to add to the starting pitching depth. The Guardians are hopeful that both of these arms will be staples in their rotation and can eat up innings down the stretch, but the team knows the effect a veteran presence can have around the young pitchers in this rotation and bullpen. Let’s not forget, the Guardians are still the youngest team in the Majors.

The bullpen is intact
If you would’ve told me a month ago that the Guardians would add a starter and a bat at the Deadline without moving a reliever, I’m not sure I would’ve believed you. This ‘pen has been the best in baseball all season long and given the surplus of reliable, back-end arms that the team had, it seemed like that would be the best way to entice an opponent to be willing to send an impact player to Cleveland. Instead, the Guardians got away with keeping all of their players on the active roster. And with Hunter Gaddis, Cade Smith, Scott Barlow and Emmanuel Clase all still able to work the late innings of games, this group should be set to remain electric all season long.

Three down

Medical history
The Guardians were pleased to have two starters added into their organization in Boyd and Cobb, especially in such a demanding starting pitching market, but both of them are recovering from major injuries and have yet to pitch in 2024. So, it’s impossible to predict what may happen next.

This raises the same question that’s plagued them all season: Do the Guardians have enough starting pitching depth? If Boyd and Cobb both pan out, then they may be in decent shape alongside Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams and Ben Lively. But still, the team only has Carlos Carrasco, Triston McKenzie (who’s still struggling in Triple-A), Logan Allen (who is also working in Triple-A), Xzavion Curry and Joey Cantillo as other legitimate options -- none of whom have proven that they can be reliable this season.

Is the offense enough?
Everything about this lineup is better than last year’s. They’re hitting more home runs, scoring more runs per game and still maintaining that patient approach at the plate. However, they’ve hit some rough patches this month that showed how quickly the lineup can go silent if a couple guys are struggling. Thomas’ bat may make an impact. Will it take the whole lineup to the next level? Probably not. The Guardians have struggled to get much offense from the shortstop position this year, but maybe the club looks internally to solve that issue.

Not the blockbuster
The Guardians haven’t been the center of the Deadline, making blockbuster additions in a while. It’s not surprising that this year wasn’t any different. But Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti did address not landing a bigger name:

“We traded for the players we did. I think you can infer from that how we felt about other deals,” Antonetti said. “Some of that comes down to how other teams value particular players with us and how we value them. Not all players have universally the same value among all teams. You’d have to find a trade partner in which you can align on player values and that’s a really challenging thing to do.”