Guardians Get Major Lineup Upgrade in Trade With Reds
The Cleveland Guardians reportedly made a trade with the Cincinnati Reds to acquire Nathaniel Lowe.
Video Transcript
The Cleveland Guardians knew that they needed to upgrade their lineup coming into the MLB trade deadline, and they did just that by acquiring two different bats on Monday.
The second one coming just minutes before the six o'clock Eastern Standard Time deadline, as Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that the Guardians are acquiring Nathaniel Lowe from the Cincinnati Reds.
And taking away the buzzer beater aspect of this trade, the Guardians are truly upgrading their lineup with this move, as Lowe has an OPS of eight twenty-one this season, which is now the highest on the Guardians, only behind Chase DeLaughter, who has a seven ninety-one OPS.
In total, Lowe also has a slash line of two sixty-six, three forty-one, four eighty, including twelve home runs too.
He's going to make an immediate impact to this Guardians lineup that desperately needs it.
And he has some very encouraging advanced numbers too.
His average exit velocity of about eighty-nine miles an hour is above average, and he also doesn't strike out as much or whiff and chase as much as you would think for a player who prioritizes power.
Now, looking beyond this trade, there certainly is going to be some more moves the Guardians need to make because Lowe is not the type of player who provides a lot of defensive versatility.
In fact, the vast majority of his appearances have come as designated hitter for the Reds this season, forty-seven of those games coming at DH and only twenty-seven coming at first base.
Looking at the Guardians' current roster, that first base platoon of Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Manzardo has dramatically underachieved this season.
One of those players is gonna be the odd man out most likely.
And now does that mean that Manzardo gets optioned or will Hoskins get designated for assignment?
Those moves are still to be determined and the Guardians still need to announce the trade itself, but that feels like the most likely outcome from this trade moving forward.
Now, all in all, like I said, the Guardians knew they needed to upgrade the offense, and even though Lowe is a left-handed hitter and the Guardians have a lot of left-handed hitters on the lineup, Chris Antonetti said over the weekend they would not limit themselves to just acquiring right-handed bats.
They are looking for ways to improve the lineup as a whole.
They did that with this trade.
Now the Guardians can hopefully say they have a lineup they feel comfortable with competing for a spot in the two thousand and twenty-six MLB playoffs.
