And if the Salazar news doesn’t wet your whistle here is more ...
Kluber Continues to Progress
Corey Kluber continues to battle back from a broken forearm. The 33-year-old will throw a simulated game for the Indians on Saturday. If things go well, the next step could be a rehab start.
“It’ll either be hitters from either Lake County or Mahoning [Valley],” Francona said. “We’re trying to set that up. [We] Just would prefer him not to face our guys. I think it’s a little better for him and I think actually the young kids enjoy it anyway. So we’re putting that together.”
Kluber has impressed his teammates and coaches with his workouts and rehab sessions. He’s doing everything he can to return to the mound after suffering a broken ulna bone in his right forearm on May 1.
The two-time Cy Young Award winner returning is one of the many reasons why the Indians are optimistic they can make a postseason run this season.
Other Injury Updates
Dan Otero was at Progressive Field on Tuesday. He’s going to start throwing his normal sessions. The Indians want to make sure he's back to normal before he returns to the mound. Otero was placed in the injured list in June with a sore shoulder.
Outfielder Bradley Zimmer continues to rehab in Arizona. He’s hitting and throwing like normal, but isn’t playing in games.
“Getting into a game is still yet to be determined,” Francona said. “It sounded like it was fairly soon, but it was still TBD.”
The Indians also sent newly acquired Christian Arroyo to Arizona so he can continue to rehab his right forearm. Arroyo is on the 60-day injured list and isn’t expected to make it to the big leagues this season.
Re: Articles
7052Joel Sherman
@Joelsherman1
·
1h
Have spoken to multiple execs who say the believe it is now much more likely than not that #Indians trade Bauer
@Joelsherman1
·
1h
Have spoken to multiple execs who say the believe it is now much more likely than not that #Indians trade Bauer
Re: Articles
7053Ken Rosenthal
@Ken_Rosenthal
·
In addition to talks on Bauer, #Indians actively pursuing a bat. Had multiple conversations today with #Mariners about Domingo Santana, but no deal close. Also talking to #BlueJays about Justin Smoak, as
@JonHeyman
reported earlier.
@Ken_Rosenthal
·
In addition to talks on Bauer, #Indians actively pursuing a bat. Had multiple conversations today with #Mariners about Domingo Santana, but no deal close. Also talking to #BlueJays about Justin Smoak, as
@JonHeyman
reported earlier.
Re: Articles
7054The trade market is finally beginning to unclog. Trevor Bauer is very much in play, and the Cleveland Indians, rival executives tell ESPN, seem motivated to move him soon. Madison Bumgarner remains available, according to sources. And interest in Robbie Ray has picked up as well.
7:44 PM · Jul 30, 2019
7:44 PM · Jul 30, 2019
Re: Articles
7055Lloyd: The Indians traded their best pitcher and still got better
By Jason Lloyd 6h ago 19
CLEVELAND — The Indians are better today without Trevor Bauer. Period.
They traded away their most talented pitcher, someone who could’ve won a Cy Young last year, and somehow they’re better now than they were yesterday — and they’ll be significantly better for the next five years, too.
They did not take a step back. They did not sell low. They knocked it out of the park. They hit it farther than Bauer’s final pitch sailed in Kansas City on Sunday.
The Indians did what they always do: They set a high price and they waited for someone to meet it. And they waited. And waited. And waited. They waited through Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Then New Year’s. Then spring training. Then Opening Day. Then the All-Star break. Then, finally, the Reds and Padres — two of the unlikeliest teams in all of this — joined forces Tuesday night. Now Bauer is gone to the National League and the Indians don’t even have to worry about facing him at any point in this postseason. It was an overwhelming victory all the way around.
An Indians lineup that desperately needed some thunder — they were shut out Tuesday on two hits by Justin Verlander and the Astros — has suddenly been injected with a hurricane of muscle. Franmil Reyes’ 27 home runs would instantly make him the team leader if National League stats carried over. Yasiel Puig’s 22 homers tie him with Carlos Santana, who was the clubhouse leader until Smash and Bash get here. The Indians are the first team, according to Elias, to obtain multiple players with 20-plus home runs in a midseason trade.
Reyes is only 24 and he’s already hit 43 home runs while playing his home games in a pitchers’ park. He is under team control through 2024 and his wRC+ of 116 is third among everyday players behind only Santana and Francisco Lindor. He is a butcher in the outfield, but he can club home runs as a designated hitter for the next 5 1/2 years.
Puig might be crazy, but he can mash. He could be like throwing a lit firecracker into a tightknit clubhouse, but he was well on his way to setting a career high in home runs before this trade. He won’t be here long; he’s a rental playing out the final year of his deal. But if the Indians can get three months of thump out of him before he burns down the dugout, they’ll happily pack a fire extinguisher for the World Series.
That’s why I’ve remained adamant for months the Indians had to consider dealing Bauer to fix this lineup. Even with José Ramírez’s summer resurgence, they still had four deficits: both corner outfield spots, second base and DH. Take Jason Kipnis out of the equation. Kipnis’ overall numbers are bad. He has a lower OPS than Jake Bauers. But he’s a veteran and, given his contract, isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be playing second base from now until the end of the season.
But the Indians needed to dramatically upgrade at least two of the other three spots in the lineup if they wanted to realistically compete with the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers in the postseason. They did that.
A lineup of Lindor, Oscar Mercado, Santana, Reyes, Puig, Ramírez, Kipnis, Roberto Pérez and Jordan Luplow/Tyler Naquin still isn’t on par with any of those other teams, but it’s significantly better than it was 24 hours ago. Now with a postseason rotation of Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber and Corey Kluber, they at least give themselves a legitimate chance. If they need to extend to four starters in the playoffs, the combination of Zach Plesac, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar provides enough possibilities to hopefully figure it out.
Is it ideal? No. Is it plausible? Yes.
If Reyes and Puig were all the Indians received, it would’ve been enough to justify moving him. It would’ve been two bats for now and one that extends for later. But add in Logan Allen, a consensus top-100 prospect before the season who projects to a third or fourth starter, and it’s a certifiable haul — particularly with the way the Indians can develop pitching.
Include 19-year-old Victor Nova and Double-A pitcher Scott Moss, then compare it with the return the Blue Jays received for Marcus Stroman, and the Indians will need to borrow the Brink’s truck Jalen Ramsey drove to training camp to bring home all of their shiny new pieces.
I thought Clint Frazier was probably the best hitter the Indians could get at the deadline, but that would require sending Bauer to one of the teams they’d have to get through in the playoffs. This is better. Significantly better.
It’s also more proof why the Indians operate with arguably the best front office in baseball. They find talent on the margins and create value in a vacuum. They dealt away a pair of low minor leaguers for Mercado last year at the deadline, then duplicated the feat this year when they got Christian Arroyo and Hunter Wood from the Rays for Ruben Cardenas, a Class-A prospect whom they essentially already replaced by adding Nova.
Don’t stop now. By removing the remainder of Bauer’s $13 million from the books and adding what’s left of Puig’s $9 million this season, ownership should save a couple of million on the deal — something that always pleases the Dolans. If there truly was money in the budget to increase payroll at the deadline, that should still be the case.
This team could use another starter now to bridge the gap until Kluber returns at the end of the month. It would also provide them another October option. Another bullpen arm would be helpful.
The Indians are legitimate contenders today to win the World Series, something they weren’t 24 hours ago. Depending on what happens between now and 4 p.m., they’re also the favorites to overtake the Twins and win the Central. They improved their short-term and long-term outlooks despite losing one of the brightest and most talented pitchers in the game.
Trevor Bauer is gone. It wasn’t easy to do. And yet somehow, the Indians are better for it.
By Jason Lloyd 6h ago 19
CLEVELAND — The Indians are better today without Trevor Bauer. Period.
They traded away their most talented pitcher, someone who could’ve won a Cy Young last year, and somehow they’re better now than they were yesterday — and they’ll be significantly better for the next five years, too.
They did not take a step back. They did not sell low. They knocked it out of the park. They hit it farther than Bauer’s final pitch sailed in Kansas City on Sunday.
The Indians did what they always do: They set a high price and they waited for someone to meet it. And they waited. And waited. And waited. They waited through Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Then New Year’s. Then spring training. Then Opening Day. Then the All-Star break. Then, finally, the Reds and Padres — two of the unlikeliest teams in all of this — joined forces Tuesday night. Now Bauer is gone to the National League and the Indians don’t even have to worry about facing him at any point in this postseason. It was an overwhelming victory all the way around.
An Indians lineup that desperately needed some thunder — they were shut out Tuesday on two hits by Justin Verlander and the Astros — has suddenly been injected with a hurricane of muscle. Franmil Reyes’ 27 home runs would instantly make him the team leader if National League stats carried over. Yasiel Puig’s 22 homers tie him with Carlos Santana, who was the clubhouse leader until Smash and Bash get here. The Indians are the first team, according to Elias, to obtain multiple players with 20-plus home runs in a midseason trade.
Reyes is only 24 and he’s already hit 43 home runs while playing his home games in a pitchers’ park. He is under team control through 2024 and his wRC+ of 116 is third among everyday players behind only Santana and Francisco Lindor. He is a butcher in the outfield, but he can club home runs as a designated hitter for the next 5 1/2 years.
Puig might be crazy, but he can mash. He could be like throwing a lit firecracker into a tightknit clubhouse, but he was well on his way to setting a career high in home runs before this trade. He won’t be here long; he’s a rental playing out the final year of his deal. But if the Indians can get three months of thump out of him before he burns down the dugout, they’ll happily pack a fire extinguisher for the World Series.
That’s why I’ve remained adamant for months the Indians had to consider dealing Bauer to fix this lineup. Even with José Ramírez’s summer resurgence, they still had four deficits: both corner outfield spots, second base and DH. Take Jason Kipnis out of the equation. Kipnis’ overall numbers are bad. He has a lower OPS than Jake Bauers. But he’s a veteran and, given his contract, isn’t going anywhere. He’ll be playing second base from now until the end of the season.
But the Indians needed to dramatically upgrade at least two of the other three spots in the lineup if they wanted to realistically compete with the Yankees, Astros and Dodgers in the postseason. They did that.
A lineup of Lindor, Oscar Mercado, Santana, Reyes, Puig, Ramírez, Kipnis, Roberto Pérez and Jordan Luplow/Tyler Naquin still isn’t on par with any of those other teams, but it’s significantly better than it was 24 hours ago. Now with a postseason rotation of Mike Clevinger, Shane Bieber and Corey Kluber, they at least give themselves a legitimate chance. If they need to extend to four starters in the playoffs, the combination of Zach Plesac, Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar provides enough possibilities to hopefully figure it out.
Is it ideal? No. Is it plausible? Yes.
If Reyes and Puig were all the Indians received, it would’ve been enough to justify moving him. It would’ve been two bats for now and one that extends for later. But add in Logan Allen, a consensus top-100 prospect before the season who projects to a third or fourth starter, and it’s a certifiable haul — particularly with the way the Indians can develop pitching.
Include 19-year-old Victor Nova and Double-A pitcher Scott Moss, then compare it with the return the Blue Jays received for Marcus Stroman, and the Indians will need to borrow the Brink’s truck Jalen Ramsey drove to training camp to bring home all of their shiny new pieces.
I thought Clint Frazier was probably the best hitter the Indians could get at the deadline, but that would require sending Bauer to one of the teams they’d have to get through in the playoffs. This is better. Significantly better.
It’s also more proof why the Indians operate with arguably the best front office in baseball. They find talent on the margins and create value in a vacuum. They dealt away a pair of low minor leaguers for Mercado last year at the deadline, then duplicated the feat this year when they got Christian Arroyo and Hunter Wood from the Rays for Ruben Cardenas, a Class-A prospect whom they essentially already replaced by adding Nova.
Don’t stop now. By removing the remainder of Bauer’s $13 million from the books and adding what’s left of Puig’s $9 million this season, ownership should save a couple of million on the deal — something that always pleases the Dolans. If there truly was money in the budget to increase payroll at the deadline, that should still be the case.
This team could use another starter now to bridge the gap until Kluber returns at the end of the month. It would also provide them another October option. Another bullpen arm would be helpful.
The Indians are legitimate contenders today to win the World Series, something they weren’t 24 hours ago. Depending on what happens between now and 4 p.m., they’re also the favorites to overtake the Twins and win the Central. They improved their short-term and long-term outlooks despite losing one of the brightest and most talented pitchers in the game.
Trevor Bauer is gone. It wasn’t easy to do. And yet somehow, the Indians are better for it.
Re: Articles
7056Bowden: Grading the blockbuster deadline deal between the Reds, Indians and Padres
By Jim Bowden 7h ago 49
The Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres completed a monster seven-player, three-team blockbuster trade Tuesday night to kick off what should be an exciting trade deadline day. The Indians added the power they needed for their lineup, the Reds bolstered their starting rotation while the Padres landed the best overall prospect in the transaction.
This deal makes sense for all three teams. Here is the breakdown:
Reds perspective
The Reds acquired the best player in the deal, landing ace Trevor Bauer from the Indians. Bauer, 28, is 9-8 this year with a 3.79 ERA, 4.17 FIP and 2.7 WAR, with a 10.63 strikeout-per-9 ratio in 156.2 innings pitched. He joins a Reds pitching staff that is second in the National League in ERA behind only the league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds will control Bauer through 2020. In return, the Reds send outfielder Yasiel Puig and left-handed pitching prospect Scott Moss to the Tribe and ship top minor-league outfield prospect Taylor Trammell to the Padres.
Puig is a free agent at the end of the season, and the Reds had no plans to extend him. Trammell, 21, is one of their top prospects and has a career minor league on-base percentage of .367. He has the potential to develop into a 20 home run/30 stolen base type talent with above-average defense in center field. Moss, 24, was the Reds’ fourth-round pick in the June 2016 MLB draft. He was pitching at Double-A Chattanooga, where he went 6-5 with a 3.44 ERA in 20 starts with a high walk rate of 5 per 9 but a strikeout rate of 10 per 9.
The Reds are only 6.5 games out of both the division and wild card races. Bauer certainly should improve their chances of contending the rest of the season and sets them up nicely for 2020.
With that said, I won’t be surprised if the Yankees now call the Reds and offer them Deivi Garcia and Clint Frazier for Trevor Bauer. And if they were to make that offer, I think it would be hard for the Reds not to make the deal. It will be interesting to see if Cincinnati is willing to spin their newest addition.
Padres perspective
Padres GM A.J. Preller continues to follow his blueprint of always trading for quality over quantity and lands the best overall prospect in the deal in Trammell. The Padres love his tools, his ability to get on base and his potential to be an exciting table-setter and long-term answer in center field. This trade follows the same philosophy Preller used when he acquired Fernando Tatis Jr. from the White Sox and Chris Paddack from the Marlins.
The Padres could give up Reyes because they had the same type of player in Hunter Renfroe, who they liked more than Reyes. Logan Allen is a quality left-handed starting prospect, but profiles out as more of a back-end starter or reliever type. Victor Nova, 19, can really hit, but his power is questionable, and he’s a high risk as a prospect who may well be 4-5 years away. With Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the left side of the infield for years to come, it made it much easier to throw Nova in the trade.
Indians perspective
The Indians had to add offense to their lineup, and they did just that, adding outfielder Reyes and his 27 home runs along with Puig and his 22 homers. The Indians realized they had a real power shortage compared to the division rival Twins and other top AL teams, including the Astros, Yankees and Red Sox. Nobody will argue the power of Reyes and Puig, but both do have holes at the plate and are susceptible to elite pitching.
Bauer was controllable for only one more season and the team felt that Corey Kluber, who us expected to come off the injured list shortly, could take Bauer’s spot in the rotation. With the emergence and continued rise of both Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger to go along with Kluber, and the hopes that Carlos Carrasco will return sometime in the future, the Tribe thought they had enough starting pitching going forward to make this trade.
The Indians will control Reyes through 2024, while Puig is a free agent at season’s end. The Indians also got quantity in the deal in the left-handed Allen, who profiles out to be a back-of-the-rotation type starter, and southpaw Moss, who they got from Cincinnati with the hopes that if his command and control can improve, he too could be part of their rotation or bullpen in the next couple of years. The sleeper in this trade could be third baseman Nova, who comes over from the Padres, but it will be several years before we find out if he’ll actually develop into his potential.
The Indians got the power they needed for this year, and the number of prospects to significantly improve their depth going forward. However, they didn’t get the best prospect of the trade — Trammell — and in time that could end up being their regret for this deal.
Trade grades
Team Grade Acquired
Reds A RHP Trevor Bauer
Padres A- OF Taylor Trammell
Indians B+ LHP Logan Allen
LHP Scott Moss
3B Victor Nova
OF Yasiel Puig
OF Franmil Reyes
By Jim Bowden 7h ago 49
The Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres completed a monster seven-player, three-team blockbuster trade Tuesday night to kick off what should be an exciting trade deadline day. The Indians added the power they needed for their lineup, the Reds bolstered their starting rotation while the Padres landed the best overall prospect in the transaction.
This deal makes sense for all three teams. Here is the breakdown:
Reds perspective
The Reds acquired the best player in the deal, landing ace Trevor Bauer from the Indians. Bauer, 28, is 9-8 this year with a 3.79 ERA, 4.17 FIP and 2.7 WAR, with a 10.63 strikeout-per-9 ratio in 156.2 innings pitched. He joins a Reds pitching staff that is second in the National League in ERA behind only the league-leading Los Angeles Dodgers. The Reds will control Bauer through 2020. In return, the Reds send outfielder Yasiel Puig and left-handed pitching prospect Scott Moss to the Tribe and ship top minor-league outfield prospect Taylor Trammell to the Padres.
Puig is a free agent at the end of the season, and the Reds had no plans to extend him. Trammell, 21, is one of their top prospects and has a career minor league on-base percentage of .367. He has the potential to develop into a 20 home run/30 stolen base type talent with above-average defense in center field. Moss, 24, was the Reds’ fourth-round pick in the June 2016 MLB draft. He was pitching at Double-A Chattanooga, where he went 6-5 with a 3.44 ERA in 20 starts with a high walk rate of 5 per 9 but a strikeout rate of 10 per 9.
The Reds are only 6.5 games out of both the division and wild card races. Bauer certainly should improve their chances of contending the rest of the season and sets them up nicely for 2020.
With that said, I won’t be surprised if the Yankees now call the Reds and offer them Deivi Garcia and Clint Frazier for Trevor Bauer. And if they were to make that offer, I think it would be hard for the Reds not to make the deal. It will be interesting to see if Cincinnati is willing to spin their newest addition.
Padres perspective
Padres GM A.J. Preller continues to follow his blueprint of always trading for quality over quantity and lands the best overall prospect in the deal in Trammell. The Padres love his tools, his ability to get on base and his potential to be an exciting table-setter and long-term answer in center field. This trade follows the same philosophy Preller used when he acquired Fernando Tatis Jr. from the White Sox and Chris Paddack from the Marlins.
The Padres could give up Reyes because they had the same type of player in Hunter Renfroe, who they liked more than Reyes. Logan Allen is a quality left-handed starting prospect, but profiles out as more of a back-end starter or reliever type. Victor Nova, 19, can really hit, but his power is questionable, and he’s a high risk as a prospect who may well be 4-5 years away. With Manny Machado and Fernando Tatis Jr. on the left side of the infield for years to come, it made it much easier to throw Nova in the trade.
Indians perspective
The Indians had to add offense to their lineup, and they did just that, adding outfielder Reyes and his 27 home runs along with Puig and his 22 homers. The Indians realized they had a real power shortage compared to the division rival Twins and other top AL teams, including the Astros, Yankees and Red Sox. Nobody will argue the power of Reyes and Puig, but both do have holes at the plate and are susceptible to elite pitching.
Bauer was controllable for only one more season and the team felt that Corey Kluber, who us expected to come off the injured list shortly, could take Bauer’s spot in the rotation. With the emergence and continued rise of both Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger to go along with Kluber, and the hopes that Carlos Carrasco will return sometime in the future, the Tribe thought they had enough starting pitching going forward to make this trade.
The Indians will control Reyes through 2024, while Puig is a free agent at season’s end. The Indians also got quantity in the deal in the left-handed Allen, who profiles out to be a back-of-the-rotation type starter, and southpaw Moss, who they got from Cincinnati with the hopes that if his command and control can improve, he too could be part of their rotation or bullpen in the next couple of years. The sleeper in this trade could be third baseman Nova, who comes over from the Padres, but it will be several years before we find out if he’ll actually develop into his potential.
The Indians got the power they needed for this year, and the number of prospects to significantly improve their depth going forward. However, they didn’t get the best prospect of the trade — Trammell — and in time that could end up being their regret for this deal.
Trade grades
Team Grade Acquired
Reds A RHP Trevor Bauer
Padres A- OF Taylor Trammell
Indians B+ LHP Logan Allen
LHP Scott Moss
3B Victor Nova
OF Yasiel Puig
OF Franmil Reyes
Re: Articles
7057Inside the Indians’ clubhouse during the Trevor Bauer trade
Zack Meisel 7h ago 31
CLEVELAND — His face red and his eyes watering, Trevor Bauer leaned back in his black leather chair and then popped up to his feet. He spread his arms and hugged Mike Clevinger.
Moments earlier, Bauer received word from his agent that he was on the move. Word slowly trickled through the Indians’ clubhouse after their 2-0 loss to the Astros on Tuesday night. As Clevinger retreated to his locker on the other side of the room, a teammate approached him and asked if Bauer had been traded.
As the news spread, teammates visited Bauer’s locker to share parting words and shake hands. When Shane Bieber wrapped up his postgame interview session with reporters, he met with his locker mate. Nick Goody followed. Bauer told them he would return Wednesday to clear out his locker and officially bid farewell.
But the will-they-or-won’t-they debate hounding the Indians since November has finally reached a conclusion. Chris Antonetti uttered the phrase “thread the needle” more often than a seamstress in the past eight months. It required three teams to pull it off — and the Indians are the only one of the three pursuing realistic playoff plans this season — but those in the front office executed precisely the sort of trade they have daydreamed about since Cleveland was blanketed in snow.
Franmil Reyes should pepper the left-field bleachers with home-run balls for the next 5 1/2 seasons. Yasiel Puig — with some stern encouragement from the manager and veteran players to not disrupt the clubhouse chemistry and to use his impending free-agent value as a source of motivation — should provide some additional, sorely needed right-handed pop. Logan Allen entered this season as a top-100 prospect, though he has sputtered a bit this year. The Indians also obtained prospects Victor Nova from San Diego and Scott Moss from Cincinnati.
The return fits the profile for what the Indians coveted, with the Reds, Padres, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies and Astros all being linked to a potential Bauer deal since the end of last season. They didn’t have to deal the workhorse to a potential playoff foe, such as Houston or New York.
Bauer likely wouldn’t have suited up for the Indians in 2020, regardless of how this trade deadline unfolded. He stands to earn $18 million-$20 million in arbitration next season, and he’ll begin his parade of one-year contracts after that.
So, the Indians wanted to capitalize on his trade value, but without sacrificing the promise the club’s resurgence has provided. They held some leverage, since they could have simply re-engaged with teams a few months from now.
At least one player started to make out the possible lineup in his head as he sorted through the pieces of the trade Tuesday night. Jason Kipnis’ days as the cleanup hitter have probably come to an end. Jake Bauers might have to claw his way to some playing time. A revitalized José Ramírez — who trains with Reyes in the Dominican Republic during the offseason — is now surrounded by other power threats.
Now, the rotation will also require some maintenance to absorb the loss of Bauer, especially in the interim. Danny Salazar will dust off his glove and start for the Indians on Thursday, with Adam Plutko following in a piggyback role if necessary. The onus now falls upon Clevinger and Bieber, and the team is banking on Corey Kluber returning to some sort of prominence. He could begin a minor-league rehab assignment next week.
But those are puzzle pieces to arrange once the deadline passes and the full roster comes into focus. Two industry sources marveled at the Indians’ haul, noting that Reyes is under team control through the 2024 season and isn’t even eligible for arbitration until 2022. Puig is strictly a rental, but Allen and the two prospects, obviously, are not.
“The front office has earned our trust enough not to completely second-guess any moves they make,” Kipnis said, “and it’s tough, where if you consider him (our) No. 1 (starter), I guarantee someone else considers Bieber our No. 1, someone else considers Clev our No. 1. That’s the value in having that much starting pitching depth, where you might be able to take a shot to fill in some other spots. They knew that was our strong point and that’d probably give us the biggest return, our starting depth. So I’m guessing that’s what’s happened here. It sucks, because you’ll miss him pitching for you every fifth day because he’s a damn good pitcher, but at the same time, we’ve always gone along the motto of next guy up, and I think some guy will take the ball every fifth day and do a good job.”
Bauer recently told The Athletic he preferred to remain in Cleveland, to see things through with a group that has made a summer charge at the first-place Twins. But he said he also understood why his name had been tossed into trade rumors.
“Obviously, we all want to stick together,” Clevinger told The Athletic. “We’ve been together through everything from the World Series to when I came over here. He’s been instrumental in not just my development, but everyone you’ve seen on the mound after me has been hands-on with him. There’s not one person who goes out there who hasn’t been hands-on with him, one-on-one time for hours, with him looking at video of them on the mound. So I think a lot of the stuff you’re seeing right now is the organization, everything they look into, but also what he’s been doing to help change the culture here.”
And now those pupils — Clevinger, Bieber, Zach Plesac — will play an integral part of the Indians’ postseason push.
“Regardless of what’s happened the last couple days with Trevor,” Kipnis said, “he was pulling on the same rope that we were and he was fighting to get back into this division race the whole time with us. Like I said, he’s a damn good pitcher.”
Bauer packed a book bag and walked out the clubhouse Tuesday night, a green Gatorade cup in his left hand. As he reached the door, Carlos Santana stopped him and the two — teammates for all but one of the past seven seasons — embraced.
And then, he headed for the exit.
Zack Meisel 7h ago 31
CLEVELAND — His face red and his eyes watering, Trevor Bauer leaned back in his black leather chair and then popped up to his feet. He spread his arms and hugged Mike Clevinger.
Moments earlier, Bauer received word from his agent that he was on the move. Word slowly trickled through the Indians’ clubhouse after their 2-0 loss to the Astros on Tuesday night. As Clevinger retreated to his locker on the other side of the room, a teammate approached him and asked if Bauer had been traded.
As the news spread, teammates visited Bauer’s locker to share parting words and shake hands. When Shane Bieber wrapped up his postgame interview session with reporters, he met with his locker mate. Nick Goody followed. Bauer told them he would return Wednesday to clear out his locker and officially bid farewell.
But the will-they-or-won’t-they debate hounding the Indians since November has finally reached a conclusion. Chris Antonetti uttered the phrase “thread the needle” more often than a seamstress in the past eight months. It required three teams to pull it off — and the Indians are the only one of the three pursuing realistic playoff plans this season — but those in the front office executed precisely the sort of trade they have daydreamed about since Cleveland was blanketed in snow.
Franmil Reyes should pepper the left-field bleachers with home-run balls for the next 5 1/2 seasons. Yasiel Puig — with some stern encouragement from the manager and veteran players to not disrupt the clubhouse chemistry and to use his impending free-agent value as a source of motivation — should provide some additional, sorely needed right-handed pop. Logan Allen entered this season as a top-100 prospect, though he has sputtered a bit this year. The Indians also obtained prospects Victor Nova from San Diego and Scott Moss from Cincinnati.
The return fits the profile for what the Indians coveted, with the Reds, Padres, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies and Astros all being linked to a potential Bauer deal since the end of last season. They didn’t have to deal the workhorse to a potential playoff foe, such as Houston or New York.
Bauer likely wouldn’t have suited up for the Indians in 2020, regardless of how this trade deadline unfolded. He stands to earn $18 million-$20 million in arbitration next season, and he’ll begin his parade of one-year contracts after that.
So, the Indians wanted to capitalize on his trade value, but without sacrificing the promise the club’s resurgence has provided. They held some leverage, since they could have simply re-engaged with teams a few months from now.
At least one player started to make out the possible lineup in his head as he sorted through the pieces of the trade Tuesday night. Jason Kipnis’ days as the cleanup hitter have probably come to an end. Jake Bauers might have to claw his way to some playing time. A revitalized José Ramírez — who trains with Reyes in the Dominican Republic during the offseason — is now surrounded by other power threats.
Now, the rotation will also require some maintenance to absorb the loss of Bauer, especially in the interim. Danny Salazar will dust off his glove and start for the Indians on Thursday, with Adam Plutko following in a piggyback role if necessary. The onus now falls upon Clevinger and Bieber, and the team is banking on Corey Kluber returning to some sort of prominence. He could begin a minor-league rehab assignment next week.
But those are puzzle pieces to arrange once the deadline passes and the full roster comes into focus. Two industry sources marveled at the Indians’ haul, noting that Reyes is under team control through the 2024 season and isn’t even eligible for arbitration until 2022. Puig is strictly a rental, but Allen and the two prospects, obviously, are not.
“The front office has earned our trust enough not to completely second-guess any moves they make,” Kipnis said, “and it’s tough, where if you consider him (our) No. 1 (starter), I guarantee someone else considers Bieber our No. 1, someone else considers Clev our No. 1. That’s the value in having that much starting pitching depth, where you might be able to take a shot to fill in some other spots. They knew that was our strong point and that’d probably give us the biggest return, our starting depth. So I’m guessing that’s what’s happened here. It sucks, because you’ll miss him pitching for you every fifth day because he’s a damn good pitcher, but at the same time, we’ve always gone along the motto of next guy up, and I think some guy will take the ball every fifth day and do a good job.”
Bauer recently told The Athletic he preferred to remain in Cleveland, to see things through with a group that has made a summer charge at the first-place Twins. But he said he also understood why his name had been tossed into trade rumors.
“Obviously, we all want to stick together,” Clevinger told The Athletic. “We’ve been together through everything from the World Series to when I came over here. He’s been instrumental in not just my development, but everyone you’ve seen on the mound after me has been hands-on with him. There’s not one person who goes out there who hasn’t been hands-on with him, one-on-one time for hours, with him looking at video of them on the mound. So I think a lot of the stuff you’re seeing right now is the organization, everything they look into, but also what he’s been doing to help change the culture here.”
And now those pupils — Clevinger, Bieber, Zach Plesac — will play an integral part of the Indians’ postseason push.
“Regardless of what’s happened the last couple days with Trevor,” Kipnis said, “he was pulling on the same rope that we were and he was fighting to get back into this division race the whole time with us. Like I said, he’s a damn good pitcher.”
Bauer packed a book bag and walked out the clubhouse Tuesday night, a green Gatorade cup in his left hand. As he reached the door, Carlos Santana stopped him and the two — teammates for all but one of the past seven seasons — embraced.
And then, he headed for the exit.
Re: Articles
7058Roundtable reaction: Trevor Bauer, Yasiel Puig and more on the move in three-team trade
By The Athletic Staff 7h ago 25
After a slow penultimate day before the trade deadline, we finally saw some major action on Tuesday night when the Cincinnati Reds sent Taylor Trammell to the San Diego Padres and Yasiel Puig to the Cleveland Indians as part of a three-team deal, receiving All-Star ace Trevor Bauer in return. San Diego sent Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen and Victor Nova to Cleveland.
Bauer has been one of the most talked-about names at the trade deadline (for reasons good and bad), and whether the Indians should move one of their best pitchers while just a handful of games out of first place in the AL Central was the topic of much debate. With this deal, they attempted to do so without hurting their postseason chances. Meanwhile, San Diego received a top prospect and possible future star in Trammell, and the Reds bolstered their rotation. As if that weren’t enough excitement, Puig spent his last night as a Red involved in an epic brawl with the Pirates.
Here are initial thoughts from The Athletic’s MLB writers, as well as our Reds, Padres and Indians reporters.
Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic MLB
Wow, where to begin?
First off, the Indians’ return for one-plus years of Bauer (two months of Puig, five years of Reyes, six of Allen, plus two prospects) stands out as much better than the Blue Jays’ return for one-plus years of Marcus Stroman (pitching prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson).
That haul should encourage the Diamondbacks as they enter the final day trying to move one-plus years of Robbie Ray. Maybe Ray will end up with the Twins, who are under significant pressure to add pitching. If the Indians are worse without Bauer, they’re not appreciably worse, and they still figure to get back Corey Kluber and maybe even Carlos Carrasco before the end of the season.
My other initial reaction was: “Is that all there was for the Padres?” Trammell, 21, might be the game’s No. 30 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, but he’s batting .236 with a .688 OPS at Double A this season. However, a rival executive put the Pads’ return in perspective, saying, “Trammell has a chance to be a star despite the down year. Would trade a DH (Reyes) and a back-end starter (Allen) any day for that chance, especially when they aren’t contenders yet.”
As for the Reds … oh yeah, they get Bauer! And while the move probably will be criticized by some in this ever-cautious, value-obsessed industry, the Reds are at least trying, just as they were trying last offseason when they added one-year players such as Puig, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. They will need to add more offense around their front three of Bauer, Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray next season, but they at least will be interesting again.
Jayson Stark, The Athletic MLB
The last baseball Trevor Bauer threw for the Indians landed over the center-field fence. And nobody even hit it!
The last “hit” by Yasiel Puig for the Reds was a haymaker.
A team that would host a playoff game if the postseason started today traded away the best pitcher on the market. (That would be Cleveland, with Bauer.)
And the team that traded for Bauer is a club that was six games under .500 and 6 1/2 games out of any playoff spot at the time.
Oh, and meanwhile, another team that was eight games under .500 (the Padres) traded away a guy on his way to whomping 40 homers (Reyes) while playing half his games at Petco Park.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the state of the modern trading deadline — 2019 edition. There is no such thing as “buyers.” There is no such thing as “sellers.” There are only “shoppers.” And they are turning this always-unpredictable July shopping center upside down.
Dennis Lin, The Athletic San Diego
A year ago, the Padres traded Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to Cleveland for Francisco Mejía, foreshadowing the type of quantity-for-quality trade general manager A.J. Preller would continue to pursue. With a surplus in the outfield and a glut of prospects in the system, Preller has opted to target another prized prospect in Trammell. The move carries both significant upside and sizable risk.
Mejía has provided mixed returns so far, with scouts continuing to doubt whether he will remain behind the plate. Similarly, Trammell faces some questions about his defensive future — this season, he has made one start in center field and played almost exclusively in left — and he was hitting .236/.350/.338 for Double-A Chattanooga. While his size limits his range, Reyes has hit 43 home runs in 186 major-league games. Allen, a rookie this season, offers mid-rotation upside as a durable and highly competitive lefty. Nova could be an interesting prospect, though some evaluators see the rookie-ball player as a mere throw-in.
For the Padres, Trammell’s ceiling as an athletic left-handed bat prevailed in the end. Rival evaluators have long raved about his ability to grow into a first-division outfielder. Time will tell whether surrendering two promising and especially well-liked major leaguers will haunt the Padres. In the meantime, they believe Trammell will provide rare impact at Petco Park beginning in 2020.
Zack Meisel, The Athletic Cleveland
Dating back to last winter, the Indians established a price for their available starting pitchers: some form of young, controllable currency — with a position player the preferred centerpiece — who didn’t diminish their postseason chances in 2019 and boosted their postseason chances in 2020 and beyond.
Huh? How is that possible?
Well, we now know precisely how. Chris Antonetti uttered the phrase “thread the needle” more often than a seamstress over the past eight months. It required three teams to pull it off, with the Indians the only one of the three pursuing realistic playoff plans this season.
The benefits for the Indians are obvious. They have plenty of pitching depth, though they’re admittedly banking on a triumphant return for either Kluber (who could make a minor-league rehab start next week) or Danny Salazar (who will return to the major-league mound Thursday).
They needed bats, though. Puig gives them some immediate thump before he rides off into the sunset on a wild horse this winter. Reyes should swat pitches from the middle of the order for the next five and a half seasons. Not to mention, Allen was a top-100 prospect entering the season, and the strength of the Indians organization is priming pitchers for big-league success, which was a significant reason they could dangle Bauer in the first place.
C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic Cincinnati
The thought made several Reds players chuckle following Tuesday’s game — Castillo, Bauer, Gray. That’s the Reds’ top three in the rotation this year and next. That makes them a tough matchup.
It also is a statement that their prospect-hoarding days are over. The team gave up its top prospect, Trammell, whose star had fallen for some; he had a declining OPS in each of the past two seasons, and there were questions about where he could line up defensively. And if Bauer is a headache waiting to happen, the team moved a different potential headache waiting to happen in Puig. Bauer is under contract for 2020, and the team can make a qualifying offer after next season that could net it an extra draft pick, equivalent to the one it used to draft Trammell in 2016.
The idea coming into spring training was that the Reds were at least interesting this year. They are still interesting — just in a different way.
Marc Carig, The Athletic MLB
Contending teams generally shouldn’t be trading rotation stalwarts in the middle of a pennant race for the sake of shedding payroll. It’s a bad look. But at least the Indians maximized their haul for Bauer. They got prospects and an immediate offensive infusion in Reyes and Puig. Make no mistake: Adding Puig’s personality to the clubhouse mix feels like a risk. But power is power, and the Indians need some. Reyes has team control beyond this year, though the Padres already had plenty of Franmil Reyes types, thus making the actual Franmil Reyes expendable.
“Unless I’m missing something, I don’t really understand it at all for San Diego,” one rival executive said. Indeed, the Padres gave up useful big-league pieces in Allen and Reyes for Reds top prospect Trammell, a speedy outfielder who should be in the big leagues by next season. It seems like a lot of trouble for one prospect (albeit a highly regarded one). Of course, this is the time of year for imaginations to run wild. As the same executive noted, perhaps Trammell is the final piece required in an upcoming trade for the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard. In that case, the Padres’ motivation would be clearer.
The Reds get Bauer, who is clearly talented. He’s also complicated. And as his impromptu long-toss session Sunday afternoon demonstrated, his act is not for everybody. It feels like of all the parties involved, the Reds are taking on the biggest risk. And it will be costly, with Bauer set to make big money next year. The Reds went for it this season, and despite an encouraging run differential for much of the season, it hasn’t come together. Generally, they pitched fine but didn’t hit. Go figure. So, the retooling begins with the addition of Bauer, who joins a rotation fronted by a young ace in Castillo and a resurgent Gray.
Come to think of it, the Yankees could use a guy like that, especially now that the Reds and Mets have raided the pitching bin. You know, just as everyone had figured.
Eno Sarris, The Athletic MLB
Bauer is really good at pitching, y’all.
His curveball has the second-most drop in baseball, and it’s complemented by a fastball with above-average ride and top-10 velocity (minimum 750 thrown). He designed a new slider that has the fourth-best whiff rate this year among starters, and then he added a credible changeup. It’s a wide mix that the free-thinking righty has worked to improve.
Even if you factor in the command, which is bottom-shelf by at least one advanced metric, Bauer is 23rd in baseball by strikeouts minus walks and a really good No. 2 for any team. His new team has only a 4 percent chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs, though, so the trade seems like a strange one.
But the Reds aren’t as bad as they might seem. They have scored 33 more runs than they’ve allowed, and that’s usually what an 85-win team would look like right now. The Reds added nearly 3,000 spectators this year whom they want to keep happy — they might end the year at .500 and be better next year. And it looked likely that Bauer wouldn’t be available by the offseason, so they pounced.
The Padres sold a fan favorite in Reyes, a hitter with the 15th-best exit velocity in the big leagues and a singing voice with just as much impact (and threw in lefty Allen to boot) to get a single prospect some feel has taken a step back this year.
But Trammell is a lefty-swinging center fielder with middling strikeout rates, really good walk rates and even groundball-to-fly-ball rates. Because of that combination of discipline and contact, he’s somewhere between 50 and 75 percent likely to be a productive big-leaguer, and because of the fly-ball rates, it is easy to dream on his ability to find power and be a five-tool center fielder for a team that has had a much easier time finding corner outfielders. Kudos to the Padres for targeting one prospect they wanted and letting it ride.
By The Athletic Staff 7h ago 25
After a slow penultimate day before the trade deadline, we finally saw some major action on Tuesday night when the Cincinnati Reds sent Taylor Trammell to the San Diego Padres and Yasiel Puig to the Cleveland Indians as part of a three-team deal, receiving All-Star ace Trevor Bauer in return. San Diego sent Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen and Victor Nova to Cleveland.
Bauer has been one of the most talked-about names at the trade deadline (for reasons good and bad), and whether the Indians should move one of their best pitchers while just a handful of games out of first place in the AL Central was the topic of much debate. With this deal, they attempted to do so without hurting their postseason chances. Meanwhile, San Diego received a top prospect and possible future star in Trammell, and the Reds bolstered their rotation. As if that weren’t enough excitement, Puig spent his last night as a Red involved in an epic brawl with the Pirates.
Here are initial thoughts from The Athletic’s MLB writers, as well as our Reds, Padres and Indians reporters.
Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic MLB
Wow, where to begin?
First off, the Indians’ return for one-plus years of Bauer (two months of Puig, five years of Reyes, six of Allen, plus two prospects) stands out as much better than the Blue Jays’ return for one-plus years of Marcus Stroman (pitching prospects Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson).
That haul should encourage the Diamondbacks as they enter the final day trying to move one-plus years of Robbie Ray. Maybe Ray will end up with the Twins, who are under significant pressure to add pitching. If the Indians are worse without Bauer, they’re not appreciably worse, and they still figure to get back Corey Kluber and maybe even Carlos Carrasco before the end of the season.
My other initial reaction was: “Is that all there was for the Padres?” Trammell, 21, might be the game’s No. 30 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, but he’s batting .236 with a .688 OPS at Double A this season. However, a rival executive put the Pads’ return in perspective, saying, “Trammell has a chance to be a star despite the down year. Would trade a DH (Reyes) and a back-end starter (Allen) any day for that chance, especially when they aren’t contenders yet.”
As for the Reds … oh yeah, they get Bauer! And while the move probably will be criticized by some in this ever-cautious, value-obsessed industry, the Reds are at least trying, just as they were trying last offseason when they added one-year players such as Puig, Tanner Roark and Alex Wood. They will need to add more offense around their front three of Bauer, Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray next season, but they at least will be interesting again.
Jayson Stark, The Athletic MLB
The last baseball Trevor Bauer threw for the Indians landed over the center-field fence. And nobody even hit it!
The last “hit” by Yasiel Puig for the Reds was a haymaker.
A team that would host a playoff game if the postseason started today traded away the best pitcher on the market. (That would be Cleveland, with Bauer.)
And the team that traded for Bauer is a club that was six games under .500 and 6 1/2 games out of any playoff spot at the time.
Oh, and meanwhile, another team that was eight games under .500 (the Padres) traded away a guy on his way to whomping 40 homers (Reyes) while playing half his games at Petco Park.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is the state of the modern trading deadline — 2019 edition. There is no such thing as “buyers.” There is no such thing as “sellers.” There are only “shoppers.” And they are turning this always-unpredictable July shopping center upside down.
Dennis Lin, The Athletic San Diego
A year ago, the Padres traded Brad Hand and Adam Cimber to Cleveland for Francisco Mejía, foreshadowing the type of quantity-for-quality trade general manager A.J. Preller would continue to pursue. With a surplus in the outfield and a glut of prospects in the system, Preller has opted to target another prized prospect in Trammell. The move carries both significant upside and sizable risk.
Mejía has provided mixed returns so far, with scouts continuing to doubt whether he will remain behind the plate. Similarly, Trammell faces some questions about his defensive future — this season, he has made one start in center field and played almost exclusively in left — and he was hitting .236/.350/.338 for Double-A Chattanooga. While his size limits his range, Reyes has hit 43 home runs in 186 major-league games. Allen, a rookie this season, offers mid-rotation upside as a durable and highly competitive lefty. Nova could be an interesting prospect, though some evaluators see the rookie-ball player as a mere throw-in.
For the Padres, Trammell’s ceiling as an athletic left-handed bat prevailed in the end. Rival evaluators have long raved about his ability to grow into a first-division outfielder. Time will tell whether surrendering two promising and especially well-liked major leaguers will haunt the Padres. In the meantime, they believe Trammell will provide rare impact at Petco Park beginning in 2020.
Zack Meisel, The Athletic Cleveland
Dating back to last winter, the Indians established a price for their available starting pitchers: some form of young, controllable currency — with a position player the preferred centerpiece — who didn’t diminish their postseason chances in 2019 and boosted their postseason chances in 2020 and beyond.
Huh? How is that possible?
Well, we now know precisely how. Chris Antonetti uttered the phrase “thread the needle” more often than a seamstress over the past eight months. It required three teams to pull it off, with the Indians the only one of the three pursuing realistic playoff plans this season.
The benefits for the Indians are obvious. They have plenty of pitching depth, though they’re admittedly banking on a triumphant return for either Kluber (who could make a minor-league rehab start next week) or Danny Salazar (who will return to the major-league mound Thursday).
They needed bats, though. Puig gives them some immediate thump before he rides off into the sunset on a wild horse this winter. Reyes should swat pitches from the middle of the order for the next five and a half seasons. Not to mention, Allen was a top-100 prospect entering the season, and the strength of the Indians organization is priming pitchers for big-league success, which was a significant reason they could dangle Bauer in the first place.
C. Trent Rosecrans, The Athletic Cincinnati
The thought made several Reds players chuckle following Tuesday’s game — Castillo, Bauer, Gray. That’s the Reds’ top three in the rotation this year and next. That makes them a tough matchup.
It also is a statement that their prospect-hoarding days are over. The team gave up its top prospect, Trammell, whose star had fallen for some; he had a declining OPS in each of the past two seasons, and there were questions about where he could line up defensively. And if Bauer is a headache waiting to happen, the team moved a different potential headache waiting to happen in Puig. Bauer is under contract for 2020, and the team can make a qualifying offer after next season that could net it an extra draft pick, equivalent to the one it used to draft Trammell in 2016.
The idea coming into spring training was that the Reds were at least interesting this year. They are still interesting — just in a different way.
Marc Carig, The Athletic MLB
Contending teams generally shouldn’t be trading rotation stalwarts in the middle of a pennant race for the sake of shedding payroll. It’s a bad look. But at least the Indians maximized their haul for Bauer. They got prospects and an immediate offensive infusion in Reyes and Puig. Make no mistake: Adding Puig’s personality to the clubhouse mix feels like a risk. But power is power, and the Indians need some. Reyes has team control beyond this year, though the Padres already had plenty of Franmil Reyes types, thus making the actual Franmil Reyes expendable.
“Unless I’m missing something, I don’t really understand it at all for San Diego,” one rival executive said. Indeed, the Padres gave up useful big-league pieces in Allen and Reyes for Reds top prospect Trammell, a speedy outfielder who should be in the big leagues by next season. It seems like a lot of trouble for one prospect (albeit a highly regarded one). Of course, this is the time of year for imaginations to run wild. As the same executive noted, perhaps Trammell is the final piece required in an upcoming trade for the Mets’ Noah Syndergaard. In that case, the Padres’ motivation would be clearer.
The Reds get Bauer, who is clearly talented. He’s also complicated. And as his impromptu long-toss session Sunday afternoon demonstrated, his act is not for everybody. It feels like of all the parties involved, the Reds are taking on the biggest risk. And it will be costly, with Bauer set to make big money next year. The Reds went for it this season, and despite an encouraging run differential for much of the season, it hasn’t come together. Generally, they pitched fine but didn’t hit. Go figure. So, the retooling begins with the addition of Bauer, who joins a rotation fronted by a young ace in Castillo and a resurgent Gray.
Come to think of it, the Yankees could use a guy like that, especially now that the Reds and Mets have raided the pitching bin. You know, just as everyone had figured.
Eno Sarris, The Athletic MLB
Bauer is really good at pitching, y’all.
His curveball has the second-most drop in baseball, and it’s complemented by a fastball with above-average ride and top-10 velocity (minimum 750 thrown). He designed a new slider that has the fourth-best whiff rate this year among starters, and then he added a credible changeup. It’s a wide mix that the free-thinking righty has worked to improve.
Even if you factor in the command, which is bottom-shelf by at least one advanced metric, Bauer is 23rd in baseball by strikeouts minus walks and a really good No. 2 for any team. His new team has only a 4 percent chance of making the playoffs according to FanGraphs, though, so the trade seems like a strange one.
But the Reds aren’t as bad as they might seem. They have scored 33 more runs than they’ve allowed, and that’s usually what an 85-win team would look like right now. The Reds added nearly 3,000 spectators this year whom they want to keep happy — they might end the year at .500 and be better next year. And it looked likely that Bauer wouldn’t be available by the offseason, so they pounced.
The Padres sold a fan favorite in Reyes, a hitter with the 15th-best exit velocity in the big leagues and a singing voice with just as much impact (and threw in lefty Allen to boot) to get a single prospect some feel has taken a step back this year.
But Trammell is a lefty-swinging center fielder with middling strikeout rates, really good walk rates and even groundball-to-fly-ball rates. Because of that combination of discipline and contact, he’s somewhere between 50 and 75 percent likely to be a productive big-leaguer, and because of the fly-ball rates, it is easy to dream on his ability to find power and be a five-tool center fielder for a team that has had a much easier time finding corner outfielders. Kudos to the Padres for targeting one prospect they wanted and letting it ride.
Re: Articles
7059Buster Olney
@Buster_ESPN
·
Even after the Indians’ big trade last night, they are working on other possible deals
@Buster_ESPN
·
Even after the Indians’ big trade last night, they are working on other possible deals
Re: Articles
7060They netted a few bucks from last nights deals. Music to Dolan's ears.
Look for a little more salary dump by 4 pm today. Flip Puig? Kip?
Look for a little more salary dump by 4 pm today. Flip Puig? Kip?
Re: Articles
7061No, I think the Tribe will swing another deal to get better. We now find ourselves with a glut of upper level starting pitching and outfielders. I think we could trade 2 or 3 guys like McKenzie, Civale, Allen, Moss, Plesac and Zimmer, Allen, Bauers, Naquin. Sure up the back end of the pen.
I’m sure this is pie in the sky, but I keep remembering that there were rumors of the Indians trying to acquire Noah Syndergard last winter at same time we were shopping Kluber/Bauer. Who’s to say we don’t swing a deal for a starter to replace Bauer, who is signed a bit longer.
I’m sure this is pie in the sky, but I keep remembering that there were rumors of the Indians trying to acquire Noah Syndergard last winter at same time we were shopping Kluber/Bauer. Who’s to say we don’t swing a deal for a starter to replace Bauer, who is signed a bit longer.
Re: Articles
7062No one can say the front office does not make serious efforts each and every season to strengthen the team for the stretch.
We now can expect way more strikeouts by our offense as well as way more homeruns. Some question if Reyes can hit the best pitchers which would mean some doubt about him in the playoffs. I've never seen him play but it's kind of hard to imagine him being a decent outfielder with all that bulk. DH spot could be good fit.
Sorry for Jake Bauers and Greg Allen who I guess will both spend August in Columbus.
Interesting to see if we can develop Logan Allen the way we have plenty of AA or AAA pitchers acquired over the years; read an article about him having real trouble dealing with newly home-run ready baseballs introduced in 2019.
We now can expect way more strikeouts by our offense as well as way more homeruns. Some question if Reyes can hit the best pitchers which would mean some doubt about him in the playoffs. I've never seen him play but it's kind of hard to imagine him being a decent outfielder with all that bulk. DH spot could be good fit.
Sorry for Jake Bauers and Greg Allen who I guess will both spend August in Columbus.
Interesting to see if we can develop Logan Allen the way we have plenty of AA or AAA pitchers acquired over the years; read an article about him having real trouble dealing with newly home-run ready baseballs introduced in 2019.
Re: Articles
7063Seems to me that with Reyes locked in for 5 years and Santana at least through next year, Bradley is the odd man out. Perhaps a trade of Bauers/Bradley for relief is in the works?
UD
Re: Articles
7064Yes, very good point, UD. Bradley could very well be on the block now too. I do believe Reyes will be DH. If not now, eventually.
Re: Articles
7065Agree with you guys on Reyes. Probably a JD Martinez type role.
RH hitter, mostly DH, with some limited starts in the outfield.
Another way the teams in this deal maximized their return. Franmil is more valuable to an American League team.
RH hitter, mostly DH, with some limited starts in the outfield.
Another way the teams in this deal maximized their return. Franmil is more valuable to an American League team.
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