Reds, Indians, D'Backs Talking Shin-Soo Choo Trade

By Zach Links [December 11 at 6:48pm CST]

6:48pm: The three-team deal would see Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald going to the Reds, Didi Gregorius to the Diamondbacks, and Drew Stubbs plus an Arizona pitcher going to the Indians, a source tells Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Patrick Corbin or Trevor Bauer will likely be the Arizona pitcher going to Cleveland, Rosenthal tweets.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#t7Ry1o1BuRI0kgHD.99

Cleveland Indians acquire 4 players, trade Shin-Soo Choo and 3 others in 3-team, 9-player deal


Published: Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 5:34 PM Updated: Tuesday, December 11, 2012, 9:53 PM
By Paul Hoynes, The Plain Dealer




CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The Indians on Tuesday night received four players in a three-team, nine-player trade with Cincinnati and Arizona.
Here's how the deal breaks down:
-The Indians received outfielder Drew Stubbs from the Reds and three pitchers from Arizona: right-hander Trevor Bauer and relievers Matt Albers and Bryan Shaw.
-The Reds received Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Donald, Tony Sipp, Lars Anderson and cash from the Indians..
-Arizona shortstop Did Gregorius from the Reds and Anderson from the Indians. The Diamondbacks preferred Gregorius over Asdrubal Cabrera because they can control him for six years. Cabrera can be a free agent after 2014.
During last week's winter meetings in Nashville, Tenn., the Indians and Diamondbacks discussed various forms of a three and four-team deal. Texas, Seattle, Tampa Bay and Kansas City were involved at one time or another. Tuesday night they got the deal done.
Trevor Bauer, Arizona's No.1 pick in 2011, should immediately help the Indians tattered rotation. Bauer, 21, made his big league debut this year and went 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA in four starts.
Bauer started the season in the minors, going 12-2 with a 2.42 ERA in 22 starts at Class AA Mobile and Class AAA Reno.
Stubbs, 28, hit .213 (105-for-493) with 13 doubles, two triples, 14 homers and 40 RBI in 136 games last year. He stole 30 bases in 37 attempts and scored 75 runs.
He was the Reds' starting center fielder and had a big contact problem, striking out 166 times. Stubbs finished fifth in the National League in strikeouts.
The Indians reached agreement with Mark Reynolds on Sunday on a one-year $6 million deal. Reynolds struck out 159 times last season with Baltimore to finish seventh in the American League. If the Choo deal goes through, Stubbs and Reynolds should create quite a breeze at Progressive Field next season.
Stubbs' best season with the Reds was 2010 when he hit .255 (131-for-583) with 19 doubles, six triples, 22 homers and 77 RBI. He stole 30 bases in 36 attempts. Last season he spent most of his time hitting second.
The Reds drafted Stubbs, a right-handed hitter, with their first pick in 2006. He's eligible for arbitration this winter, but can't be a free agent until after the 2016 season.
Albers, 29, split the 2012 season between Boston and Arizona. He was 3-1 with a 2.39 ERA in 63 relief appearances. He posted an 1.80 over his last 11 appearances. Left-handers hit just .207 against him.
Shaw, 25, spent most of the 2012 season in the Arizona bullpen. He went 1-6 with two saves and a 3.49 ERA in 64 relief appearances.
Choo, 30, can be a free agent after the 2013 season. Scott Boras, Choo's agent, has turned down several contract extension offers over the last few years. The actions convinced the Indians long ago that Choo was headed elsewhere as soon as he filed for free agency.
The Reds plan to use Choo in the leadoff spot and in center field. Choo hit well in the leadoff spot for the Tribe, but has played little center field in the big leagues.
Choo hit .282 (169-for-598) with 88 runs, 43 doubles, two triples, 16 homers and 67 RBI last season. As a leadoff hitter, Choo hit .310 (124-for-400) with 33 doubles, 12 homers, 42 RBI and 68 runs in 99 starts.
In 24 games against the Reds, Choo is hitting .351 (33-for-94) with nine doubles, three triples, seven homers and 16 RBI.
Donald, who played several position for the Indians last season, hit .202 (25-for-124) with two homers and 11 RBI last season. He's 28.
Sipp, 29, has been a big part of the Indians bullpen for the last four years. The left-hander went 1-2 with a 4.42 ERA in 63 appearances last season. He struck out 51, walked 23, but allowed 27 earned runs on 47 hits in 55 innings.
The Indians acquired Anderson from Boston last season at the trading deadline. He did not get promoted to the big leagues.
Gregorius, 22, made his big league debut last season. He hit .300 (6-for-20) with two RBI. He hit a combined .265 (133-for-501) with 21 doubles, 11 triples, seven homers, and 54 RBI at Class AA and Class AAA.
He played in the Arizona Fall League and drew a lot of interest from Arizona's scouts.
Gregorius was born in the Netherlands.
Youk to Yankees: The Indians tried hard to sign Kevin Youkilis, but when talks slowed, they turned to Reynolds to play first base. Youkilis, who played for Tribe manager Terry Francona in Boston, accepted a one-year $12 million deal from the Yankees on Tuesday.

Someone go wake up Husker !

I guess Lars Anderson had a little value. Wish Donald had shown more. Sipp always made me nervous ever since I saw him walk the bases loaded on numerous occasions in the minors.

Oh, we still have Cabrera and Perez to trade too.

I don't know if Stubbs will amount to much--I'm slightly familiar with him from the days when I watched more Reds baseball, and I could scarcely believe he was as bad last year as he was---but if Bauer lives up to anything close to his billing, this will go down as an excellent trade. Of course, there's a big IF in the preceding sentence, since these last dozen years are littered with the wreckage of previous "can't miss" trade acquisitions. (What concerns me is that I can't understand what's in this trade for Arizona--unless they know something about Bauer that we don't.)

Plus, the Indians retain the excellent trade chip in Cabrera. If we contend next year, so much the better; if we don't and Cabrera plays well, he'll bring a lot back in a trade.

It's also inevitable that a lineup with both Stubbs and Reynolds in it will be very frustrating for a certain segment of the fanbase. Some folks get unnaturally worked up about strikeouts.

Oh, I missed the part about the Reds planning to use Choo in center field. THAT'S going to be interesting for them.

I'm glad to see that the Indians are making some moves. I watched Stubbs quite a bit the last few years. He is a fan favorite, but seems to have regressed last year. He saw his playing time reduced this year, as hit BA was just north of the Mendoza line.

Matt Underwood:
Tribe GM Chris Antonetti says RHP Trevor Bauer still has some development left to do but, expects him to pitch in big leagues this year, possibly at start of season.

Bauer, 21, was the third overall selection by Arizona in the 2011 Draft out of UCLA. Baseball America had Bauer as the ninth-best prospect in baseball entering 2012. The hurler spent most of 2012 between Double-A Mobile and Triple-A Reno where he had a combined 2.42 ERA with 10.8 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 in 22 starts. Bauer became the first member of the 2011 draft to appear in the big leagues when he made four starts for the Diamondbacks in July.

Albers, 29, spent 2012 with the Red Sox and D'Backs, posting a 2.39 ERA with 6.6 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 in 63 relief appearances. For his career, Albers owns a 4.68 ERA with 6.5 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 across seven big league seasons.

Shaw, 25, spent the bulk of last season in the Arizona bullpen where he had a 3.49 ERA with 6.2 K/9 and 3.6 BB/9 in 64 relief appearances. The right-hander was taken in the second-round of the 2008 draft by the Diamondbacks and has seen time in 97 big league games across the last two seasons.


Read more at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/#CIewPKP0YGEyfArk.99

Bauer will probably be kept in the minors until some time in June.

Indians threw in 3.5 million in this trade.

Trevor Bauer - impact starting pitcher - coming to Cleveland

Trevor Bauer (Photo: ESPN)
By Jim Piascik
December 11, 2012
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Many players changed hands tonight in the Cleveland-Arizona-Cincinnati mega-trade, but it is possible none will have more impact than starting pitcher Trevor Bauer.

Bauer, who turns 22 in January, is the sort of top-flight starting pitcher Cleveland has not had since the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades. It would be too much to assume Bauer will win Cy Young Awards like those two, but there is no doubt he has that sort of upside.

Before the 2012 season, Baseball America rated Bauer as a consensus top-10 prospect in all of baseball and gave him an overall grade of 70 on the 20-80 scale. The publication also noted that he has a 92-98 MPH fastball that sits at 94-95, an elite 12-to-6 curveball, a great slider, an above-average changeup, and a solid splitter, along with a slurve-type pitch called "The Bird" he likes to fool around with.

Needless to say, that is the repertoire of an elite starting pitcher. Bauer has his quirks (like his 400 foot long-toss sessions and obsession with advanced concepts like "biomechanics, effective velocity and pitch tunneling," per Baseball America), but if it works for him, it works for me.

Bauer had no issue carving up minor league batters, striking out 200 batters in 156.0 innings (mostly split between AA and AAA). That kind of dominance is absolutely crazy and a testament to Bauer's raw ability.

Of course, that raw ability did not translate all that well in Bauer's first taste of major league action. In four starts with the Diamondbacks, Bauer only made it through 16.1 innings, allowing 13 runs (11 earned), 13 walks, and two home runs. Though he struck out 16 batters in that timeframe, that was the first time Bauer, the first member of the 2011 Draft class to reach the majors, truly hit the wall in professional baseball.

After this season, reports of the Diamondbacks souring on Bauer's attitude surfaced, specifically about his reluctance to change the way he pitches to better adapt to the major league game. Scouting reports say that his fastball is too flat to leave up in the zone, something Bauer likes doing, and he cannot challenge major league hitters in that way.

I am hesitant to put too much faith in this grumbling, though. How many 21-year-old boys get defensive after being told things they have been doing that have worked beautifully for their entire life, are wrong. Most people at that age get defensive and stubborn and I think that people are making too much of a fuss over Bauer's reported reaction. All 21-year-olds are immature; they grow up.

It is possible that Bauer needs an attitude change and will not succeed in the majors without it. It is also possible that the Diamondbacks are trading him because they know something we do not. But from what we know, Cleveland just acquired a major league ready starting pitcher with ace potential for one year of Shin-Soo Choo and some other assorted pieces.

This is the kind of deal that can change the fortunes of a team. Bauer is under team control for the next six years and should anchor the rotation for most (if not all) of that time. He is the sort of impact talent this team has sorely missed in recent years and is a mammoth addition.

Who got the $3.5 M? I assume it was the Reds to pay Choo.

You can go back to bed Husker

Hope Bauer is as good as they say he is. I've never seen this guy play before.