Guardians Trade Target: Heliot Ramos

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - JULY 22: Heliot Ramos #17 of the San Francisco Giants loses his bat while swinging during the ninth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium on July 22, 2026 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jay Biggerstaff/Getty Images) | Getty Images The Guardians’ playo

What is the story about?

The Guardians’ playoff aspirations could use some Helium so why not try some Heliot?

You can view our larger trade deadline piece here as we discuss a wider pool of options the Guardians may consider. To make my position clear, I expect the Guardians to make smaller moves, like trading Bo Naylor and getting a castoff/undervalued reliever. But, in the interest of exploring potential larger moves, we are doing a series looking at some of those bigger names. So far, we have discussed Spencer Steer , Luis

Arraez, Shea Langeliers and Taylor Ward.

I will write up some pitchers in this series, I promise, but there is no denying that this team’s biggest need is a slugger. Ramos is one of the few players potentially available who might POTENTIALLY fit that bill. Ramos is a 26 year-old outfielder with a 107 wRC+, a career 25/7 K/BB%, career .258/.316/.425 slashline. He has a career 135 wRC+ against LHP (96 vs RHP). He has a career average.exit velo of 91.7 mph and a 12% barrel rate and a 47.7% hard-hit rate. Unlike most right-handed hitters, his career home run total would be projected to be +1 more at Progressive Field.

And that is the rub. Ramos plays in a terrible hitters park in San Francisco. The goal would be to get him out of there and let him really unleash his pop in Progressive Field. His 25% opposite-field hit rate could actually help him sneak a few out in left field, but, generally speaking, not having to play in a cavern on a constantly chilly bay should help.

Ramos is under control through 2029. Although he is only a slightly above average hitter overall and a poor defender who should be confined to a corner outfield spot, he will be valued pretty highly by the Giants who don’t have to trade him yet, as there are so few true lefty mashers available and Heliot is that, for certain. I suspect the Giants are going to demand a headliner for this deal. Maybe the Guardians could snag Ramos with quantity over quality but I think it probably takes an Angel Genao to shake Ramos free right now.

I don’t think the Guardians would be wise to make that trade. But, also… sometimes you gotta take a risk to find power. The team desperately needs power. I would not trade Genao for Ramos… unless I was convinced that he can become a 30 homer a seasoj player here… and I do think that is at least a slim possibility. But, man… it would be a gamble.

If the Guardians somehow pluck Ramos from old trading partner Buster Posey, their lineup could look like: