The Cleveland Guardians, sitting 9.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers, are in a prime position to become sellers at the MLB trade deadline. Barring a strong second half of June and July, the Guardians would likely be open to trading some of their players, especially those on expiring deals.
One of those players was mentioned by Zachary D. Rymer in Bleacher Report's article on predictions for every MLB team at the trade deadline. The Guardians were predicted to sell, and more specifically, were predicted to trade away outfielder Lane Thomas.
"Pending free agents such as Carlos Santana and Lane Thomas will be obvious trade chips," Rymer writes. "Though teams can at least ask about the guys on the top shelf."
The Guardians might not be moving their best players, but they could easily move on from Thomas, who's going to be a free agent after the 2025 season. Not only is his expiring deal a reason to move on from him, but his lackluster production for the team in 2025 is another reason why they could part ways.
In 2025, Thomas has accumulated negative 0.9 WAR in 74 at-bats. He has just 12 hits, four runs scored, one double, one home run, and six RBIs in his 23 games played. Thomas is batting .162 and has an OPS of .445, one of the lowest among all players in baseball in 2025.
Cleveland acquired the outfielder at the 2024 trade deadline, and he wasn't good for the team last year either. He batted .209 with a .657 OPS, and ended his 2024 Guardians campaign with negative 0.2 WAR.
But his 2024 postseason production gave some optimism. He hit .222, but had a .766 OPS in his first and only postseason appearance in his seven-year career. But, after his poor start to 2025, and with his second-half 2024 struggles in mind, the Guardians would do well to move on from the outfielder.
Assuming the Guardians are sellers, Thomas projects to be one of the most obvious trade pieces on the team that's likely to be moved. Even if it's not for much, a team could lead itself to believe that they could use his services as a backup bench bat at worst.