The Owen Miller trade makes little sense today but it may pay off huge for the Cleveland Guardians

The Cleveland Guardians have dealt Owen Miller in a trade.

The tenure of versatile infielder Owen Miller has come to a close with the Cleveland Guardians. Once thought of as a vital piece of the Mike Clevinger trade that also saw Josh Naylor and Cal Quantrill arrive in Cleveland, Miller had a lot of potential as a high-average hitter with modest power.

For a time in Triple-A Columbus, he was hitting .400 over about a month. Yet, when he got called up to the Guards in 2021, he struggled and was sent back down. He had a better outing in 2022 but his lack of consistent contact, or any real power to speak of, made him expendable apparently.

While he wasn’t a great player, his versatility defensively should’ve been an asset for him but his defense, especially at first, failed him. Coupled that with the arrival of Josh Bell and it was clear Miller may be on thin ice.

While his potential still remains, as I’ve always said, potentially gets you fired. He could finally put it all together in his new home of Milwaukee, but the decision to trade him makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is what they traded him for; a player to be named later.

In time, the trade may be a great one for the Cleveland Guardians

I like Owen Miller, but I’ve always been a “name on the front” type of guy. That doesn’t mean I burn jerseys, I cheered for Jim Thome when he left. I was happy Michael Brantley and CC Sabathia got their rings. And I’ll pull for Miller just like I did with other ex-Guardos.

That said, the decision to trade him for an add-on is not exactly striking confidence within me. Miller was never going to fetch a Top 20 guy at this point in his career, but you’d like to know what you got back in any trade.

Yet, I’m reminded of the most famous add-on in a trade in the last 20 years for the club; Brantley.

The CC Sabathia deal to the Milwaukee Bucks was almost a disaster in hindsight. The trade was built around top prospect Matt LaPorta but also included pitchers Zack Jackson and Rob Bryson and the player-to-be-named later in Brantley.

If history repeats, maybe the Guardians throw-in guy this time around can also turn into another Brantley-like player.