The Cleveland Guardians have been extremely quiet heading into the 2024 MLB Trade Deadline and they finally have struck as they have agreed to a trade to acquire outfielder Lane Thomas from the Washington Nationals in exchange for three prospects, including left-handed pitcher Alex Clemmey. This move is going to be interesting to see how things work but the team with the best record in the American League right now has continued to bolster their roster. Let’s take a deeper dive into exactly why the Cleveland Guardians decided to trade for Lane Thomas.
What does Lane Thomas bring to the Cleveland Guardians?
Lane Thomas has been one of the better hitters for the Washington Nationals this season and it was very intriguing to see The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal report that this trade was in the works. He has done well offensively with a .738 OPS with eight home runs, 40 RBIs and 42 runs scored. However, his 28 stolen bases on the season are going to fit right in with the Cleveland Guardians, who entered Monday’s slate of games eighth in Major League Baseball with 88 stolen bases. Thomas is going to likely be replacing Will Brennan in the lineup and with an outfield of Steven Kwan and Angel Martinez, this team is going to be a lot of fun defensively.
Thomas is not a true rental, as he has one more year of arbitration after being paid $5.45 million this season as he and the Washington Nationals avoided arbitration. This MLB trade deadline has seen a lot of All-Star players and players with multiple years on their contract remaining be moved so this move is not surprising. Pairing Thomas with guys like Kwan, third baseman Jose Ramirez and first baseman Josh Naylor is going to be a lot of fun for the future.
What he also brings to the table is hope as this is the first move that the Cleveland Guardians have made this trade deadline so the optimism that seeing a guy get added will certainly help the team’s mentality for the remaining two months of the regular season and the playoffs. The team still has needs but their outfield situation certainly just got a lot better and they figured out their right fielder for the 2025 season as well.
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