Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been mentioned in trade rumors quite frequently over the past year. According to a recent report from Jon Heyman of The New York Post, Clase isn’t the only Guardians reliever rumored to be traded before the 2025 deadline, however.
“Guardians are listening on relievers, including stars Smith and Clasé. Prices are understandably high. They are seen as not too likely to trade either top pen guy, and with MLB’s easiest closing schedule, they aren’t even a certain seller,” Heyman wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The Guardians are in an interesting position. They could realistically enter a rebuild by trading stars such as Clase and Steven Kwan. One could also argue that Cleveland should buy ahead of the deadline, though.
The Guardians are 11 games back of the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central standings. At 47-49, however, Cleveland currently sits just 4.5 games behind the Boston Red Sox for the final American League Wild Card spot.
Clase, 27, has pitched fairly well in 2025. An All-Star from 2022-2024, he has endured a down year by his standards, but plenty of teams around baseball would not mind adding a star reliever with a 2.86 ERA and 21 saves. Meanwhile, Cade Smith has emerged as one of the better relievers in the sport. The 26-year-old right-handed hurler has pitched to a 3.07 ERA through 43 games in 2025 after turning in a stellar 1.91 ERA across 74 appearances during the ’24 campaign.
Cleveland would certainly receive no shortage of prospect capital by trading Emmanuel Clase and/or Cade Smith. As mentioned, All-Star outfielder Steven Kwan is also a candidate to be moved.
With that said, the Guardians may end up holding onto their stars in hopes of competing in 2025 and beyond. None of the aforementioned players will enter free agency during the upcoming offseason, so there is no urgency to trade them.