Every MLB contender wants to improve its bullpen at the trade deadline, but how about going a step further and trading for arguably the best closer in baseball in Cleveland Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase?
Cleveland is 51-51, 8.5 games out of first place in the American League Central as of July 24’s loss and reportedly listening to trade offers for several of its best players, including Clase. Of course, they’re also just three games out of an American League wild-card seed.
Prying the two-time Reliever of the Year away from Cleveland will be difficult, as the 27-year-old Clase is under team control through 2028. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. All it takes is one team who feels their time is now to make a pennant run to make the trade offer deemed acceptable.
Here are the three best trade destinations for Clase.
Emmanuel Clase is a three-time All-Star. (Photo by Griffin Quinn/Getty Images)
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The idea of the Dodgers, of all teams, making a blockbuster move to shore up a loose end sounds laughable. But removing the context of their historic two-year spending spree, L.A. needs help in its bullpen.
The Dodgers entered Thursday with a 3.87 ERA, good for 23rd in MLB. Tanner Scott, who Los Angeles signed to a four-year, $72 million deal last offseason, leads MLB with seven blown saves and has a 4.14 ERA this season, and fellow free-agent signing Kirby Yates has underwhelmed (4.45 ERA). Clase would immediately become the Dodgers’ new closer, moving Scott, who recently went on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation, into a set-up role when healthy.
The right-handed Clase, who primarily throws a cutter and mixes in a slider, hits triple-digits on the radar, has pitched in the postseason and is as difficult to hit as any reliever in baseball. Clase would add a pitcher who induces weak contact and keeps runners off the basepaths to a Dodgers’ bullpen that’s currently surrendering 1.13 home runs per nine innings (27th in MLB); he would provide late-game clarity for manager Dave Roberts.
Los Angeles could base a trade offer to Cleveland for Clase around right-handers Ben Casparius and Edgardo Henriquez and one of outfield prospects Eduardo Quintero and Mike Sirota.
What could stop the Dodgers from pursuing Clase, though, is their potentially feeling that they could acquire one, if not two, other quality relievers for a lower price and bank on one of Scott and Yates pitching better late in the season.
Emmanuel Clase posted an 0.61 ERA and 0.66 WHIP in 2024. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
Yes, making a divisional trade, let alone one involving a player of Clase’s caliber, is challenging. That said, the Tigers making a move with the AL Central-rival Guardians for Clase would pay major dividends.
Will Vest has pitched well as the Tigers’ full-time closer this season, posting a 2.23 ERA over 41 appearances. At the same time, Detroit entered Thursday with a 3.83 bullpen ERA, good for 22nd in the sport. Vest could move back to a set-up role, which he previously found success in from 2023-24, while Detroit forms one of the best one-two reliever punches in the sport with Clase and the 30-year-old right-hander.
Clase would also improve a Tigers’ bullpen that’s averaging 8.1 strikeouts per nine innings (24th in MLB). Detroit has an improved offense that’s sixth in MLB in runs (491) and an electric starting rotation headlined by 2024 AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal, Reese Olson and Casey Mize.
The one part of this team that could use improvement is its bullpen, and acquiring Clase takes the pressure off Vest and Co. to seal the deal in the late innings. Detroit could base a trade offer for Clase around catcher/first baseman Thayron Liranzo and right-hander Troy Melton.
All that said, the Tigers may refrain from trading for Clase under the impression that getting more efficiency in the middle-to-long relief roles would be more impactful than throwing a haymaker at improving the ninth inning, which has been fine as is.
Emmanuel Clase has led the American League in saves in each of the past three complete seasons. (Photo by Scott Marshall/Getty Images)
The Phillies need help in the bullpen, and Clase offers an emphatic solution.
Free agent signee Jordan Romano (6.69 ERA) has been unable to return to All-Star form in Philadelphia and veteran reliever Jose Alvarado is ineligible to pitch in the postseason due to the use of a performance-enhancing substance. Whether it’s because of somebody struggling or a pitcher being unable to pitch down the road, the Phillies need answers in the back end of the bullpen.
Ironically, Clase boasts a career-high WHIP this season. But that figure comes out at a 1.20 WHIP, while he still has a 2.74 ERA. That’s considered a “bad year” for Clase, who posted an absurd 0.61 ERA and 0.66 WHIP in 2024. The right-hander is an intimidating force who would provide stability to a Philadelphia bullpen that entered Thursday 19th in MLB with a 3.64 ERA and one that’s surrendering 1.12 home runs per nine innings (tied for 25th).
Philadelphia could base a Clase trade package around infield prospect Aroon Escobar and outfielder and 2022 third-round draft pick Gabriel Rincones Jr., among others. It’s a move that would be a long-term fix, as the Phillies would have Clase through 2028.
With Clase holding down the ninth, manager Rob Thomson could lean into Orion Kerkering and Tanner Banks continuing to improve and be set in the late innings moving forward. And if Romano gets back on track, their bullpen is that much deeper.
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