The Cleveland Guardians’ starting rotation could provide future offense

The Cleveland Guardians need help with their offense and help may come from their starting rotation.

The Cleveland Guardians are not hitting the ball well as a team. Sure, some players are starting to come back around, like Jose Ramirez and Steven Kwan, but the lineup as a whole remains lackluster. Sure, there are five months of baseball left, so it’s not time to freak out. But getting things corrected earlier is always the way to go.

The team can call up as many prospects as they would like, and that is on the table in some cases, but the problem with that falls on the expectations of prospects versus their reliability of them. Sure, some come up with a big bat, but they don’t always deliver.

So sometimes trades are needed to be made, and with the Guardians growing rotation of exceptional starters (and Zach Plesac), the team would be wise to consider moving some pieces for a bit of offensive help.

With the emergence of Logan Allen and Tanner Bibee, as well as the steady performances of Peyton Battenfield, there is significant traction to the idea the team can help bolster the offense by trading some frontline pitching.

In an ideal world, you’d have Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, Cal Quantrill, Allen, and Bibee as your starting five, with the likes of Battenfield, Plesac, and Aaron Civale being on the trade market. You could seemingly do Civale, Plesac, and Amed Rosario for a big bobber. You’re probably not getting a future Hall of Famer in the prime of his career for a trade like that, but you may get a borderline All-Star.

Cal Quantrill’s return to form will help the Cleveland Guardians move on from other starting pitchers

Quantrill is a name that’s been off to a slow start, but after a few solid outings, including a pretty good showing against the Minnesota Twins, Quantrill is back under a 4.00 ERA. The plan to trade pitchers for some bats is always an option for any team, but considering how the Guardians stockpile arms, it’s a scenario the Guardians do see play out too often.

Usually, you see the Guards trade some guys away for some developmental pieces. This time around, you may see a bit more happen.

Quantrill’s return to form makes this possible. If he was continuing to struggle, this wouldn’t be a realistic possibility for the team to pursue. But if Quantrill can keep improving with each start and return to his prior form, then all bets are off about what the team does in future trades this season.