<p>The Cleveland Guardians&#8217; bullpen is home to one of the better relievers in MLB, who also happens to be Canadian.</p>
<p>Cade Smith, an Abbotsford native who is in just his second big league season, has posted some great numbers through his young career as a right-hander with devastating swing-and-miss pitches.</p>
<p>With the Guardians hovering around the .500 mark on the year, trade rumours have swirled around a lot of their better pieces. With the Toronto Blue Jays likely still <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/injuries-plague-blue-jays-relievers-after-long-outings-in-the-first-half">in need of more bullpen arms</a> even after <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-acquire-seranthony-dominguez-orioles-juaron-watts-brown">acquiring Seranthony Dominguez</a>, here&#8217;s the scouting report on Smith in case they decide to go that direction.</p>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="330" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="“web-content-promocard&quot;"></div>
<h3><strong>Scouting Report</strong></h3>
<p>The asking price for Smith would be fairly high&#8230; the hurler has made a significant impact for the Guardians in the short time he&#8217;s played for them. In his first year in 2024, he posted a 1.91 ERA in 75 1/3 innings. He finished the year fifth in Rookie of the Year voting, after accumulating 2.4 WAR.</p>
<p>Standing at 6-foot-5, he&#8217;s an imposing figure on the mound. Despite a decent (albeit somewhat expected) fall off from last year, he&#8217;s still posted a solid 3.20 ERA in his 45 innings pitched to this point in 2025.</p>
<p>His pitch arsenal has remained nasty, with an average fastball velocity of 96.4 mph, and a devastating splitter/sweeper mix that has both contributed to his 95th percentile whiff rate and 96th percentile K%.</p>
<p>Despite the higher ERA this year, his total numbers remain at a 2.39 ERA with 12.6 strikeouts/9IP. They&#8217;re numbers that any team, not just the Blue Jays, would be happy to have in the back-half of their reliever corps.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">Cade Smith entered the game with no outs and the bases loaded.</p>
<p>He struck out the next three batters to escape the jam 🔥 <a href="https://t.co/bBQbrZCbGb">pic.twitter.com/bBQbrZCbGb</a></p>
<p>&mdash; MLB (@MLB) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1925720025685475758?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h3><strong>Contract Status</strong></h3>
<p>With Smith still being a new presence in the league, his contract remains very friendly to whichever team controls it. It&#8217;s one of the biggest reasons why the Guardians may not be ready to move him as of yet (along with Emmanuel Clase&#8217;s current suspension).</p>
<p>Come 2026, Smith will enter his final year of pre-arbitration, meaning that he&#8217;ll still earn close to the league minimum. As of 2025, he&#8217;s making $785,100, and that number shouldn&#8217;t increase by much next season.</p>
<p>2027 is when his contract becomes interesting, as that&#8217;s his first year of arbitration. Depending on how he finishes this season and the next, he could earn a fairly large amount for a reliever, which may dissuade some teams who don&#8217;t like to spend much on their relievers.</p>
<p>Still, a year and a half of control without arbitration is a considerable savings. If, and it&#8217;s a pretty big if, any team can acquire Smith from the Guardians, their wallets won&#8217;t hurt too much for it &#8212; especially for the value that he brings.</p>
<h3><strong>How does Smith help the Blue Jays?</strong></h3>
<p>As mentioned earlier, the Jays&#8217; bullpen has been running on fumes for the better part of the year.</p>
<p>With names like Yimi Garcia and Nick Sandlin still injured, even more depth beyond the addition of Seranthony Dominguez will go a long way. High-leverage depth, such as Smith, especially helps, with Jeff Hoffman having a down year (4.76 ERA).</p>
<p>Whether this depth comes from Smith or a different reliever, the fact remains that the team would benefit greatly from Smith playing North of the border. It&#8217;s a longshot he gets traded as well as the Jays likely wanting to give up that much prospect capital for his services, but anything can happen at the trade deadline.</p>
<hr />
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="324" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>


The Cleveland Guardians' bullpen is home to one of the better relievers in MLB, who also happens to be Canadian.

Cade Smith, an Abbotsford native who is in just his second big league season, has posted some great numbers through his young career as a right-hander with devastating swing-and-miss pitches.

With the Guardians hovering around the .500 mark on the year, trade rumours have swirled around a lot of their better pieces. With the Toronto Blue Jays likely still <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/injuries-plague-blue-jays-relievers-after-long-outings-in-the-first-half">in need of more bullpen arms</a> even after <a href="https://bluejaysnation.com/news/toronto-blue-jays-acquire-seranthony-dominguez-orioles-juaron-watts-brown">acquiring Seranthony Dominguez</a>, here's the scouting report on Smith in case they decide to go that direction.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="330" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="“web-content-promocard&quot;"></div>
<h3><strong>Scouting Report</strong></h3>
The asking price for Smith would be fairly high... the hurler has made a significant impact for the Guardians in the short time he's played for them. In his first year in 2024, he posted a 1.91 ERA in 75 1/3 innings. He finished the year fifth in Rookie of the Year voting, after accumulating 2.4 WAR.

Standing at 6-foot-5, he's an imposing figure on the mound. Despite a decent (albeit somewhat expected) fall off from last year, he's still posted a solid 3.20 ERA in his 45 innings pitched to this point in 2025.

His pitch arsenal has remained nasty, with an average fastball velocity of 96.4 mph, and a devastating splitter/sweeper mix that has both contributed to his 95th percentile whiff rate and 96th percentile K%.

Despite the higher ERA this year, his total numbers remain at a 2.39 ERA with 12.6 strikeouts/9IP. They're numbers that any team, not just the Blue Jays, would be happy to have in the back-half of their reliever corps.

https://twitter.com/MLB/status/1925720025685475758
<h3><strong>Contract Status</strong></h3>
With Smith still being a new presence in the league, his contract remains very friendly to whichever team controls it. It's one of the biggest reasons why the Guardians may not be ready to move him as of yet (along with Emmanuel Clase's current suspension).

Come 2026, Smith will enter his final year of pre-arbitration, meaning that he'll still earn close to the league minimum. As of 2025, he's making $785,100, and that number shouldn't increase by much next season.

2027 is when his contract becomes interesting, as that's his first year of arbitration. Depending on how he finishes this season and the next, he could earn a fairly large amount for a reliever, which may dissuade some teams who don't like to spend much on their relievers.

Still, a year and a half of control without arbitration is a considerable savings. If, and it's a pretty big if, any team can acquire Smith from the Guardians, their wallets won't hurt too much for it -- especially for the value that he brings.
<h3><strong>How does Smith help the Blue Jays?</strong></h3>
As mentioned earlier, the Jays' bullpen has been running on fumes for the better part of the year.

With names like Yimi Garcia and Nick Sandlin still injured, even more depth beyond the addition of Seranthony Dominguez will go a long way. High-leverage depth, such as Smith, especially helps, with Jeff Hoffman having a down year (4.76 ERA).

Whether this depth comes from Smith or a different reliever, the fact remains that the team would benefit greatly from Smith playing North of the border. It's a longshot he gets traded as well as the Jays likely wanting to give up that much prospect capital for his services, but anything can happen at the trade deadline.

<hr />

<div class="bam-inline-promotion" data-property-id="324" data-promotion-id="18983" data-context="web-content-promocard"></div>

Blue Jays trade deadline target: Cade Smith

Recent articles from Trevor Fitzpatrick

Breaking News