Evaluating the best and worst Indians trades of the decade


By Zack Meisel Nov 26, 2019 28
CLEVELAND — The deadline was one week away, and the Indians sorely needed a reinforcement for their 2012 AL Central title pursuit.

Chris Antonetti called former office mate Ben Cherington and the Indians and Red Sox struck a deal.

Jose De La Torre for Brent Lillibridge.

(Oh, Lillibridge was the one relocating from Boston to Cleveland. Sorry, thought that was common knowledge.)

OK, so that wasn’t exactly a headline-grabbing exchange. The Indians have made a handful of those in the past decade, though. Many have worked wonders. Really, since Mark Shapiro’s days as the chief decision-maker in the Progressive Field war room, the Indians have largely excelled on the trade front.

Antonetti and company have developed a reputation across the league for refusing to cave to other teams’ demands, for standing their ground when they have specific trade parameters in mind. If you find yourself on the other end of one of their calls, you think twice. Then you delete your number and toss your phone into the ocean.

Not every trade has panned out in the Indians’ favor, of course. Before trade season really heats up – and the Indians seem poised to execute another swap or two – let’s revisit some of the Indians’ best and worst deals of the decade, plus one that didn’t happen and several that remain up for debate.

The one trade they didn’t make
July 31, 2016: Francisco Mejía, Greg Allen, Yu Chang and Shawn Armstrong for Jonathan Lucroy

Everyone went to sleep on July 30 thinking the Indians had dealt a quartet of prospects to the Brewers for their new catcher. When everyone woke up the next morning, the Indians had instead landed Andrew Miller … but not Lucroy, who vetoed the trade and remained with Milwaukee. Who knows if Lucroy would have made enough of a difference to swing the World Series in the Indians’ favor? The Brewers instead sent him to the Rangers on Aug. 1, and Lucroy has since bounced around to the Rockies, Athletics, Angels and Cubs.

The one huge trade that resulted in a bunch of … meh
July 31, 2011: Alex White, Drew Pomeranz, Matt McBride and Joe Gardner for Ubaldo Jimenez

The night of July 30, with speculation running rampant following Jimenez’s awkward, abridged outing for the Rockies, reporters returned to the press box after postgame interviews to find a news release printed out at each seat. Ah, yes. The final terms of the Jimenez trade.

Not so fast. That would come the following day. Instead, the Indians had quietly dealt Orlando Cabrera to the Giants for Thomas Neal, a trade that meant little other than signifying Jason Kipnis owned second base in Cleveland. For Jimenez, the Indians yielded their previous two first-round picks, as they gambled that the 2010 All-Star would anchor the club’s rotation for 2 1/2 years.

Well, he didn’t, other than during the team’s late-season push in 2013. But White never amounted to much, and Pomeranz wound up touring the league in a variety of roles. The Indians at least had a 2013 wild-card game appearance to show for Jimenez’s tenure, so that’s … something.

Five small-ish trades that don’t look overly favorable
Jan. 20, 2012: Zach Putnam for Kevin Slowey

Typically, the Indians are the team unearthing relief gems on other rosters. In this case, Putnam bounced around before ultimately producing a 2.71 ERA for the White Sox from 2014-17. Slowey made only eight appearances with the Indians — all for Class AAA Columbus.

July 31, 2012: Steven Wright for Lars Anderson

Wright reinvented himself as a knuckleballer and registered a 3.86 ERA for the Red Sox from 2013-19. Anderson played 18 games at Columbus and then moved on.

Jan. 9, 2013: Jeanmar Gomez for Quincy Latimore

Gomez has pitched for five teams in the majors, while Latimore never advanced past Double A.

Dec. 8, 2014: Joey Wendle for Brandon Moss

Wendle finished fourth in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting in 2018, as a member of the Rays. Moss, meanwhile, posted a .695 OPS for the Indians in 2015 before they jettisoned him to St. Louis at the trade deadline. He played his final professional game in 2017.

July 31, 2018: Willi Castro for Leonys Martín and Kyle Dowdy

No one knows what Castro will develop into for Detroit — he debuted in 2019 — but Martín didn’t work out in Cleveland. It’s not all his fault, of course. He spent much of his 2018 tenure with the Indians in a hospital bed. After he had a rough showing in 2019, though, the club severed ties with him and he relocated to Japan.

Seven small-ish trades that produced nice results
July 30, 2010: Austin Kearns for Zach McAllister

The Indians re-signed Kearns after the season, and McAllister spent eight seasons on the team’s pitching staff.

July 30, 2013: Juan Herrera for Marc Rzepczynski

“Scrabble” posted a 2.62 ERA in 150 appearances with the Indians to make this trade worth a Q or a Z.

Aug. 1, 2016: Nathan Lukes and Jhonleider Salinas for Brandon Guyer

Guyer batted .333 with a .907 OPS for the Indians, as he feasted on lefties in August, September and October. That alone was worth the price of Lukes (.613 OPS at Triple A last year) and Salinas (3.27 ERA as a reliever at High A and Double A last year) — and, well, that’s a good thing, because Guyer didn’t provide much in 2017 or ’18.

Aug. 31, 2016: Colt Hynes for Coco Crisp

The Indians actually twice traded Hynes. The first time, in 2014, they received pitcher Duke von Schamann, who spent two years in their system before spending the last four years on the independent circuit. In 2016, they fared a bit better, as Crisp hit a home run in the Indians’ division-clinching win, their ALDS-clinching win and their ALCS-clinching win.

Dec. 20, 2016: Yoiber Marquina for Nick Goody

Goody was on the beach in St. Lucia, enjoying his honeymoon, when he learned of the trade. The Yankees had a roster crunch, and the Indians were the beneficiary. Goody produced a 3.53 ERA over three seasons for Cleveland, while Marquina last pitched professionally in 2018.

Aug. 9, 2017: Ryder Ryan for Jay Bruce

It’s possible Ryan winds up a useful big-league reliever someday, but when Michael Brantley suffered an ankle injury in 2017, the Indians moved quickly to acquire a more-than-capable replacement. The Indians went 34-9 when Bruce appeared in a game, as his arrival coincided with their 22-game win streak. He recorded the walk-off hit for win No. 22, and helped propel the Indians to World Series favorites … until the team stubbed its toe against the Yankees in the ALDS.

Feb. 4, 2019: Jordan Milbrath for Nick Wittgren

Milbrath is 28 and has yet to pitch in the majors. Wittgren might have been the Indians’ most consistent reliever last year. Come to think of it, he was pretty solid with Miami the previous few years, too. Oh, Marlins.


(Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)
Give it time, but early returns are encouraging
July 19, 2018: Francisco Mejía for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber

As long as his second-half slide isn’t the new norm — and the Indians are confident it’s not — Brad Hand should remain one of the league’s most imposing relievers. Mejía, meanwhile, is only 24, but is he a catcher? Is he a left fielder? Is he going to post a wRC+ better than 96?

July 31, 2018: Jhon Torres and Conner Capel for Oscar Mercado

In a deal few even noticed, the Indians acquired a guy who figures to be their center fielder for the next six years.

Nov. 14, 2018: Erik González, Tahnaj Thomas and Dante Mendoza for Jordan Luplow and Max Moroff

Luplow bullied southpaws in 2019 and, at the least, should fill the Ryan Raburn/Brandon Guyer role. He’s out to prove he can hit righties, too. González was a disaster in his first season in Pittsburgh. Thomas has potential, but he’s only 20 and spent last season in rookie ball.

Nov. 30, 2018: Yan Gomes for Daniel Johnson, Jefry Rodriguez and Andruw Monasterio

Had anyone known Roberto Pérez would slug 24 home runs and win the Gold Glove Award in a leading role in 2019, Cleveland’s reaction to this trade would have been much more favorable at the time of its completion. Johnson has worked himself into an intriguing prospect, and Rodriguez could play a role on the 2020 pitching staff, too. Gomes did win a ring with the Nationals, though they declined his 2020 team option.

July 30, 2019: Trevor Bauer for Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, Logan Allen, Scott Moss and Victor Nova

There’s a ton of information missing from the eventual final assessment of this deal, but the Indians should enjoy watching Reyes pepper the Progressive Field seats with home run balls for the next five seasons, Allen was a top-100 prospect, Moss is intriguing and all it cost the Indians was 1 1/2 seasons of a(n admittedly talented) player from a position of surplus. What’s more perplexing is why the Reds bailed on their top prospect for 14 months of Bauer, especially since they were out of contention in 2019.

Inside the Indians’ clubhouse during the Bauer trade

Two big trades that are tricky to evaluate
July 31, 2016: Justus Sheffield, Clint Frazier, J.P. Feyereisen and Ben Heller for Andrew Miller

It’s fair to say that no matter what happens, this trade was worth it for the Indians. Then again, that argument would be ironclad had the Indians not tripped up at the end of their war with the Cubs in 2016. Without Miller, Terry Francona couldn’t have adopted the playoff formula that powered the Indians to the World Series. But we still don’t know what any of the four prospects will accomplish, even though Sheffield now plays for the Mariners and Feyereisen is about to start his big-league career with the Brewers.

Dec. 13, 2018: Edwin Encarnacion, Yandy Díaz and Cole Sulser for Carlos Santana and Jake Bauers

Santana’s homecoming couldn’t have gone better, but Bauers’ first season in Cleveland was far from encouraging, especially considering Díaz discovered a power stroke at the plate. Money played a prominent role in this three-team collaboration.


RIP, Brohio, 2013-15. (Jason Miller / Getty Images)
The five best trades of the decade
5. Aug. 7, 2015: Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn for Chris Johnson

You know how when you pop a pimple, sure, there’s still an unsightly pink mark in the spot, but it’s a small price to pay for the overwhelming sense of relief the popping process provides?

4. Nov. 3, 2012: Esmil Rogers for Yan Gomes and Mike Aviles

Rogers finished his seven-year big-league career with a 5.59 ERA, an uninspiring hit rate and an unremarkable strikeout rate. So how did the Indians turn him into an All-Star catcher and a dependable utility player? Rogers logged a 3.06 ERA with the Indians in 2012, and the Blue Jays took the bait.

3. Dec. 11, 2012: Shin-Soo Choo, Jason Donald, Tony Sipp and Lars Anderson for Trevor Bauer, Bryan Shaw, Drew Stubbs and Matt Albers

For just one year of Choo — who was bound for free agency no matter what — plus Donald (a part-time infielder), Sipp (a solid reliever) and Anderson (a guy named Lars), the Indians squeezed out 6 1/2 years of Bauer (before flipping him for Reyes, Puig and three prospects), five years of Shaw and a year each of Stubbs and Albers. Antonetti preyed on Arizona’s desperation to move Bauer and Cincinnati’s hope that Choo could help them advance past the NLDS (spoiler alert: he didn’t).

2. Aug. 7, 2014: Vinnie Pestano for Mike Clevinger

This isn’t to pick on Pestano, once a core member of the Cleveland bullpen who authored a few elite seasons as the club’s chief setup man. It’s to pick on the Angels, who bailed on Clevinger far too early.

Even Jason Kipnis, one of Pestano’s closest friends and former teammates, said: “That’s a fantastic trade.”

Pestano logged only 21 innings for the Angels before toiling away in the minors and in independent ball. He’s now a realtor in the Columbus, Ohio, area. Clevinger, meanwhile, recovered from Tommy John surgery, overhauled his delivery and fixated on throwing harder. Five years after the trade, he’s arguably the Indians’ ace and figures to be a trendy Cy Young pick next spring.

1. July 31, 2010: Jake Westbrook for Corey Kluber

The Indians couldn’t find Kluber’s name on any Padres top prospects list, so they assigned two scouts to watch his outings with Class AA San Antonio before they agreed to the three-team trade that also landed Ryan Ludwick in San Diego. The Indians appreciated Kluber’s gaudy strikeout totals, but they couldn’t help but notice his less-than-stellar hit and walk rates in the minors. They certainly didn’t anticipate they were parting with Westbrook’s final couple months of contractual control for a future winner of multiple Cy Young Awards.

It’s better to be lucky than good. When making trades, it’s best to be both.

The Pitching Whisperers: The inner workings of the Indians’ starting pitching development factory

Zack Meisel 6h ago 24
CLEVELAND — Sometime between the lunchtime bowl of spaghetti and meatballs with his Alaska-dwelling twin brother and the anxious pedals on the exercise bike during a pregame rain delay, Zach Plesac received a text from a familiar number.

Plesac was preparing to make his major-league debut, a 24-year-old standing atop the lonely mound at Fenway Park, opposing a Cy Young Award winner and facing a vaunted Boston lineup topped by four hitters whose names ultimately landed on AL MVP ballots.

Just remember that I’m more nervous than you are right now. Let me be nervous for both of us.

“He didn’t get nervous,” said Ruben Niebla, the author of that text. “Or, it didn’t seem like it.”

The Indians didn’t intend on relying on so many experience-deficient starting pitchers in 2019. As Niebla bounced around to the team’s minor-league affiliates in his role as pitching coordinator, he’d occasionally lose track of who was starting for the Indians each night. Then he’d remind himself: “It doesn’t matter. One of our kids is gonna be pitching.”

More often than not, one of those “kids” was dealing. Mike Clevinger quipped that the veterans would check Aaron Civale’s pulse and tease Plesac about sidestepping customary big-league growing pains.

“Tough road, huh?” Clevinger would joke.

“We knew it would work like that,” said GM Mike Chernoff, barely able to finish the sentence without cracking a sarcasm-signaling smile.

No one would have surmised that the Indians’ pitching staff could survive extended absences from three of its rotation pillars last season, and then also absorb the departure of Trevor Bauer. The organization prides itself on pitching development for such occasions — just, not ones so dire.

The Indians have constructed a pitching factory that churns out capable hurlers as if they’re the most coveted toy of the holiday season. It’s one way a team with a modest payroll can piece together an extended period of contention, and it requires input from a lot of people in a lot of departments, buy-in from players and an expert blend of innovation and instruction.

“We want to make players better than they’ve ever been,” said bullpen coach Brian Sweeney, “better than they’ve ever dreamed.”

Matt Blake was conflicted. Shane Bieber’s minor-league numbers glistened. But it’s often how a pitcher records outs in the minors and not the surface-level statistics that forecast how he will fare at a higher level.

Bieber’s microscopic ERA resulted from a bevy of two-seam fastballs and sliders, which limited his effectiveness against lefties and during his third trip through the order. The Indians had reservations about how his repertoire would play in the majors. They figured a changeup would provide him with an out pitch that would complement his fastball as it plunged away from left-handed hitters.

Blake, then the Indians’ assistant director of player development, can remember the report following one of Bieber’s starts at Class AA Akron.

Bieber threw two changeups last night. What are we doing?

So, Blake visited with Bieber and told him: “Shane, this could move really quick for you. I’m just trying to protect you a little bit. There’s a changeup we need to develop. I would hate for you to have to develop that in the American League. I’d rather have you develop that in the Eastern League and take our lumps here. So let’s try our best to get this in the mix, even if it doesn’t make sense in some instances. We probably have to put the performance a little bit on the back burner in spots so you can get some game reps with it.”

Bieber understood, and he gradually built it into his repertoire. He spent last winter tweaking it until he felt comfortable enough to throw it in games without hesitation.

“It’s still probably his fourth pitch,” Blake said, “but it’s much further along than it had been, and he’s changed his four-seam profile to help some of that, too.”

There’s a delicate balance involved, because pitchers aren’t always eager to commit to an assignment that might taint their results when their livelihood might depend on their ascent to the next level. It helped that Bieber and Blake had history in the Cape Cod League, and Blake had developed a knack for interpreting data and translating it to players in simple terms. Bieber, who finished fourth in the AL Cy Young balloting this season, said Blake “really opened my eyes to analytics.”

“Our information might say you have a really good curveball or a plus changeup,” Blake said, “but the fact that you can’t throw it in the strike zone or you don’t have feel for it makes it really hard for us to ask you to throw it in the game. There’s definitely a balance to the psychological aspect in asking guys to go out of their comfort zone in a game setting for long-term development when they’re like, ‘Yeah, but I’m not gonna get to Double A or Triple A unless I perform here. They’re not gonna promote me with a 7.00 ERA if I’m trying to learn new pitches.

“It’s a balancing act, knowing where the player is and how to approach them with the information and make it valuable for them and get them to own the process, more than us saying, ‘If you don’t throw 25 curveballs tonight, you’re getting taken out of the rotation.’ It just doesn’t work that way for us.”

The Indians stress tailoring information to the individual. Pitching coaches at each level converse with coordinators and front-office members to devise a plan for each pitcher. If there’s a new wrinkle or idea — and everyone’s voice is valued, a core principle of the organization — the coaches, coordinators and analysts in the baseball operations department collaborate to determine the proper message to present the player, “the ‘why’ behind the plan,” as assistant GM Carter Hawkins described it.

“We can come up with really, really good commands in our heads,” Niebla said, “or think we have some massive breakthrough in development, but if it doesn’t get through to the player, it’s irrelevant.”
(Carrie Giordano / Getty Images)
Plesac and Civale had barely learned their way around the Columbus clubhouse before the Indians summoned them to the majors. That saddled Carl Willis and company with some extra homework.

The Indians’ coordinators are tasked with filling in any information gaps. Prior to his promotion to the big-league staff this offseason, Niebla would connect with Willis or front-office members Eric Binder and Alex Merberg — who regularly travel with the club — to keep everyone apprised of pitchers’ developmental plans as they transitioned to the majors.

Chernoff dubbed it “the smoothness of the handoff” and it proved critical last season, and in 2018, when Bieber jumped from Akron to Columbus to Cleveland in a span of five weeks.

“Every pitching coach who had him that year was on the same page as to what his development was, what we were attacking,” Niebla said. “That communication is vitally important to us, that we make sure we have continuity and the same message as he goes through. There’s no confusion. It’s clear.”

Next season will be Niebla’s 20th with the organization, and his first as the Indians’ assistant pitching coach. The club didn’t want to lose him; it almost did a year earlier, to the Rangers. During the final week of the regular season, Niebla met with Terry Francona and Chris Antonetti, who vowed to demonstrate how much they valued his influence.

Ask any starting pitcher to name a staffer who aided their development and nearly every one will cite Niebla. He stood against the dugout railing at Progressive Field one afternoon in September and every pitcher who walked past either said hello, hugged him or slapped him on the backside. Antonetti has known Niebla since both were with the Expos in the late ’90s. Niebla has assisted pitchers and coaches with drills, mechanical repairs, game plans and mental approaches. Plus, he’s bilingual.

“His contributions over the years couldn’t be overstated,” Antonetti said. “He’s impacted pitchers everywhere from the Dominican Republic to the major leagues.”

After the Indians acquired Clevinger in 2014, he worked with Niebla and Julio Rangel (now the Rangers’ pitching coach) in Arizona. They revamped his delivery and illustrated how he would benefit from each tweak. Some of the ideas flourished. Others flopped. But they knew what they were striving for and they ultimately transformed a lost soul into the ace of the Indians’ staff.

“It’s about, ‘Here, I can show you these numbers,’” Clevinger said. “‘I can show you why you should throw like this. I can show you why these guys get in these positions and how they get in these positions and what the science behind it is saying.’ When you can put it in front of your face, it’s really hard to deny stuff like that. When you see that, you start trusting it more.”

And now Clevinger, with some guidance from Bauer, has reached the point in which he knows precisely what he’s seeking when he studies video or data.

During a start in September, Clevinger was wielding a faulty slider. He visited the video room outside of the Indians’ dugout between innings and consulted a graph that illustrated his release point relative to his previous two starts. He also studied how far the pitch was turning left and how far it was tumbling downward. The metrics all checked out as normal, which suggested the issue resided with his mechanics.

“You don’t want to push a lot of data onto them if they’re not ready for it,” Niebla said. “When they start seeing they’re able to take the next step in development, then they’ll start digging into it themselves or asking more questions. Our job is to be prepared when they’re ready for those conversations, to say, like, ‘OK, your breaking ball can get better. This is the angle we’re looking for. This is the spin rate, the spin efficiency we’re looking for. You should throw more four-seam fastballs, not two-seam fastballs.’ We can give them that information when the player is ready.”

Of course, the process wasn’t so detailed years ago. Sweeney, who spent 18 years pitching around the globe at every level in every league imaginable, wishes he had the bounty of data that’s now available to players and coaches.

“How did they even fucking play back then?” Clevinger quipped.

“Part of development is, as an organization, you’re not afraid to fail,” Niebla said. “You’re not afraid to have players fail to be able to learn from that. When we first inherited Clevinger, what I saw was an athlete that was going to be capable of doing some things. But, God, that was a rigid athlete at that point. And so you start finding out more about the player and actually looking at his body, what his body is capable of doing, how much strength he’s adding from year to year and then how much aptitude and drive he has.

“You start putting this puzzle together. Players will always try to find ways to get better. We allow that to happen, so that they can self-discover and then become their own product.”

That puzzle starts at the beginning, long before a player even enters the Indians’ system. For the Indians’ emphasis on collaboration and innovation to prosper, they had to eliminate the divide between the scouting and development departments. As they started to incorporate new data and scouting tools into the process a few years ago, new methods to gauge players’ makeup, work ethic and openness to instruction, they also involved the development team.

The setup initially created some tension between the scouts and the front office, but once the results started to stack up, the discord disappeared. Brad Grant, who operated the Indians’ amateur drafting process for a decade before receiving a promotion two years ago to vice president of strategy and administration, said the Indians “put a huge emphasis on starting to get ahead on pitching.” Blake said he and Binder have been “heavily invested” in the scouting process in recent years. Blake attended player showcases that attracted scouts from every organization.

The structure rewards the development team with a head start on learning about the system’s newest players. The result, Grant said, is “a better understanding of what we’re targeting in the draft, but also how we’re developing them once we get them.”

“We had a lot of people open their minds and embrace the collaboration and really use their teammates to help make players better,” Chernoff said.

The Yankees hired a new major-league pitching coach last month who never pitched professionally. Four years ago, the guy was instructing high schoolers outside of Boston. But just ask the Indians how painful of a loss Matt Blake is.

Two days before Blake landed his new gig, the Indians had promoted him to director of pitching development. Now, they must replace both him and Niebla, two key cogs in their pitching development machine.

Teams no longer require decades of experience when filling positions. Blake had scouted for the Yankees when the Indians hired him a few years ago as a lower-level pitching coordinator. He excelled at obtaining information and “funneling it down to specific cues and ideas that might help a pitcher,” Hawkins said.

“(Pitchers) are all different,” Sweeney said. “And how we coach that up, how we work with them, how we communicate that, that’s the fun part. Not every guy is going to take to the data the same way. It being relatively new, you have to pick your spots. You have to build your plan tailored to that guy’s personality.”

Civale, for instance, said he finds analytics “interesting,” but uses it mostly as reassurance that he’s prioritizing the right cues.

“It can be overwhelming if you let it be,” he said, “but if you know what you’re looking for, you can reach out to the right people.”

And that’s why the coaching element remains critical.

“You still need eyes, coaches to tell you, ‘Yep, that was it,’ or, ‘Nope, that was not it,’” Adam Plutko said. “The numbers might say it’s fine, but the eyes will tell you something, too. A team might say, ‘Hey, you have a great fastball in the way it rides.’ ‘OK, I don’t know what that means.’ But then we take it a step further: ‘You have a great fastball in the way it rides. This is who you’re like. We want you to do this, to pitch like this. These are the results from that pitcher now that he’s doing that and we think you can be just like him.’”

During Mickey Callaway’s tenure as Cleveland pitching coach, the Indians’ starters hatched the routine of monitoring each other’s bullpen sessions. Every day, those in the rotation, the catchers and the pitching coaches trek to the bullpen to watch someone throw. The more perspectives, the better. Willis has continued the tradition and he, Niebla and others have made a point to complement decades of coaching experience with knowledge of the technological and biomechanical advances that have become so prevalent in the game.

Plutko said the coaching staff convinced him this year to throw more fastballs up in the zone than he “ever felt comfortable with,” but the tweak coincided with a two-month stretch in which he posted a 3.53 ERA over 12 starts and provided stability to the Indians’ limping rotation.

“Teams are evaluating everybody generally the same and now all the information for everybody is generally the same,” Plutko said, “so how do you translate that information? Whoever translates that information in coaching is going to produce the best players. And not just using tools — whoever can coach those tools as well is going to produce the best players. I think we have the tools, we have the knowledge, we have the information, but now we’re translating it better than anybody else.

“I can sit down and tell you you have 20 inches of vertical ride and most people are going to tell you, ‘Yeah, you should throw that up in the zone.’ But that doesn’t mean the player is comfortable with it, and it doesn’t tell the player anything at all. You go back to the coaching side of it, the ‘Why is this good? Why are you going to be successful up there? Here are pitchers like you who are successful by doing the exact same thing.’

“Everybody has this info. All 30 teams now value information. So, if we all value the same information, what’s going to separate a good team from a bad team? There’s only one thing: the coaches within the system translating it to the players. Why do Baltimore’s young guys not perform like Cleveland’s young guys? Is it because we’re more talented than their young guys? Yeah, there’s a chance, but more than likely, we’re probably translating it better than they are.”
(Kirk Irwin / Getty Images)
Corey Kluber was never a highly touted prospect. Niebla was his pitching coach at Triple-A Columbus and remembers Kluber routinely struggling to complete five innings en route to a 5.56 ERA in 2011.

“And to see him three years later win a Cy Young,” Niebla said, “I was like, ‘Whooo. I wasn’t predicting that, but God, I’m glad he did.’”

Innovation and instruction can pay dividends, but everything still falls on the pitcher’s shoulders. And, many tales of triumph require patience and a dose of luck. The Indians acquired Kluber, Clevinger, Bauer and Carlos Carrasco via trade. All four endured growing pains, mechanical overhauls and two-hour treks to Columbus before they found their big-league footing.

One day last summer, Niebla stood in the Indians’ dugout, beside Civale, Plesac and Bieber. He looked at the three and said: “I don’t even know who you guys are anymore.”

They all laughed and asked him to elaborate.

You guys are these confident beasts right now that just aren’t backing down.

“We all laughed,” Niebla said. “It’s like, you can’t predict that. You really can’t.”

No, but the Indians can at least bet on themselves to draft the right players and develop them with the right methods.

“If you had asked me at the beginning of the year if Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale would be pitching in major-league games at Yankee Stadium,” Chernoff said one day in August in New York, “I would have said, ‘No shot.’ Or, ‘I have no idea.’”

How about, “What the hell happened this season?”

“Yeah. Or even Shane Bieber last year,” Chernoff said. “I think we see indicators and attributes in so many of our guys, but you don’t ever know which one is going to take the jump or get the opportunity. We just want to be prepared for any time there is an opportunity, to have a player that has a chance to take advantage of it.

“You get lucky in some ways that we have the right guys and hopefully we’re providing them the right level of support, but at the same time, we’re constantly panicked that we’re not gonna have enough depth. You suffer three big injuries like we did this year, to be able to infuse enough young talent to not have the team crumble, it gives us a lot of optimism, but it also shows that things can come crashing down quickly and you have to have the next wave of guys ready.”

This season provided the blueprint for disaster relief.

“When Plesac and Civale came up,” Sweeney said, “we weren’t like, ‘Oh, fuck, what are we gonna do?’ The goal is always the same: We want to make this guy better than he’s ever been, better than he ever dreamed. When we keep that goal in mind, I think they do get better. The results will take care of themselves. If our process is right, if we’re helping them get better every day, then we can put our heads on the pillow at night and sleep really well.”

It helps that they could point to Kluber as an example for Bieber, and Bieber and Clevinger for Plesac and Civale. There’s another wave of pitching talent on the way — nine of the Indians’ top 20 prospects are starting pitchers, and that doesn’t include those already familiar with Progressive Field.

To those prospects, Niebla cites Bieber or Civale as proof of what’s possible. Niebla called it “the best teaching moment you can have,” and it reassures those in the organization that this pitching factory is humming along.

“We continue searching for perfection, which we will never attain,” Niebla said. “But we have to shoot for that.”

Nice read, TFIR

Too bad we lost Blake to the Skanks.

Glad to see Neibla get promoted. 20 years with the Tribe.

I don't remember him from spring training in Winterhaven but I do remember Tony Arnold who has been with the Tribe for about the same amount of time. He seems to bounce around all the minor league teams but never mentioned for a higher job.

from Jim Ingraham posted at BA:

In recent years the Indians have consistently and successfully transitioned at least one minor league pitching prospect to the big league rotation.
These pitchers have been more than just spot starters up for a cup of coffee. They have been contributing members to the rotation of a postseason contender.

In 2017 it was Mike Clevinger. In 2018 it was Shane Bieber. In 2019 it was Zach Plesac, Aaron Civale, and Adam Plutko.

Who could it be in 2020? One name to keep in mind is 25-year-old lefthander Scott Moss, who was added to the Indians’ 40-man roster. The 6-foot-6, 225-pound southpaw was selected by the Reds in the fourth round of the 2016 draft out of Florida.

The Indians acquired Moss as part of a midseason three-team trade also involving the Reds and Padres. Cleveland also acquired outfielders Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig and sent Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in the transaction. For the season overall, Moss made 26 total starts at the Double-A and Triple-A level. He went 10-6, 2.96 and held opposing batters to a .211 average, while striking out 159 batters in 130.2 innings. His 15 percent swinging-strike rate ranked just outside the top 10 among qualified minor league starters.

"We were excited to acquire Scott, and he continued to impress as he transitioned to our organization,” vice president of player development James Harris said. "Physically he has a strong frame, and we feel there’s more strength and power to tap into.”

Moss’ best work last year came after the trade. In a combined six starts at Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, he went 4-1 1.26 with 36 strikeouts in 28.2 innings.

"He’s improved his fastball velocity year over year, with increased swing and miss,” Harris said. "He throws a quality changeup and his slider shows some plus shapes that he can continue to refine.” Moss could be an option for the Cleveland rotation should injuries and/or trades create an opening.

"He’s shown the ability to compete and perform at a high level across 400-plus minor league innings," Harris said. "So we’re excited to see how his continued development will transition to success on the mound."

The Indians, Francisco Lindor and capitalizing on the present

Zack Meisel Dec 11, 2019 75
SAN DIEGO — Chris Antonetti pointed to a blank whiteboard in the Indians’ suite on Monday afternoon.

“That’s what we got done today,” quipped the Indians’ president of baseball operations.

Granted, an eraser rested beside a few markers on the ledge beneath the board. The Indians employ three assistant general managers; surely, one of them could have removed the evidence of their plotting and scheming.

The front office typically operates at a deliberate pace during the winter. They need to fill their vacancy at second base. They need to determine whether they should convert one of their starting pitchers, via trade, into a helpful position player.

While they sketch out their roster-building blueprint, conversation regarding the Indians will orbit around the availability of their All-Star shortstop. The storyline has already grown tiresome, but as free agency unfolds and front offices seek alternative means of improving their clubs, the subtle posturing will continue.

“There’s nothing we need to do with any player,” Antonetti said. “Frankie has established himself as one of the best players in baseball and we’re fortunate to have him. Because he’s such a good player, a lot of teams call with interest.”

Teams have inquired about Francisco Lindor since the end of the season, but it’s easy to see how challenging it would be for Cleveland to swing a deal.

A trade partner would need to check at least some of the following boxes:

• Has loads of young talent to surrender

• Plans to contend for the next two years

• Could use a shortstop

• Could either sign him to a long-term extension or is desperate enough not to care about losing him after the 2021 season since the Earth might be engulfed by the sun by then anyway

The bottom line: It’s not impossible, but it’s going to be awfully difficult to pinpoint the proper match. Teams have grown an aversion to parting with top prospects. The Dodgers, for example, could just sign Anthony Rendon or plug in Gavin Lux. Not to mention, Corey Seager has proven to be a perfectly capable player when healthy.

Here’s the issue for the Indians, though: It will make even less sense to trade Lindor a year from now, when his value diminishes as he gains the unwelcome “rental” label.

“There are plenty of times when players have played out their entire contracts with us,” Antonetti said. “There are times we’ve traded them with a year left. There are times players have been traded with a half-season left. It’s really dependent upon not only the specifics of that particular player, but our team in general.”

If the Indians sputter into next summer, they should certainly entertain offers for Lindor. But their primary aim is to reclaim the top spot in the AL Central.

So if they follow that script, the Indians could very well keep Lindor for the next two seasons before bidding farewell to him after the 2021 campaign. And if that’s the case, ownership needs to grant the front office the authority to surround Lindor with the best possible roster. No one’s pleading with ownership to boost the payroll to $200 million… or $175 million… or even $150 million. But it’s time to be reasonable, to stop trimming costs and eliminating the front office’s margin for error. Otherwise, the Indians risk wasting the Cleveland tenure of one of the premier players in franchise history and one of the most dynamic players in the league.

Come 2022, the salaries for Lindor, Carlos Santana, Corey Kluber and Brad Hand — four of the club’s five highest-paid players — will be off the books. Even if the Indians strike long-term agreements with Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber (something they’ll likely entertain later this winter), the payroll will be much lower. That can be the time for ownership to exercise more stringent financial policies. Not now, with Lindor aboard and the payroll sitting about $20 million lower than its Opening Day 2019 figure, which sat about $15 million lower than its Opening Day 2018 figure.

If the Indians won’t leverage Lindor’s presence into a full-on effort to snap the league’s longest title drought, then what’s the point to any of this?

Lindor will likely earn $25 million or so in arbitration a year from now, and that can’t be treated as a debilitating burden. The Indians landed Jay Bruce in 2017 because ownership agreed to pay his pricy tab. And if the Indians are positioned to acquire some help in the infield or outfield or in the bullpen for a few million bucks, the monetary element can’t be an impediment.

“Ownership is always involved,” Antonetti said. “Our job is to provide the best recommendations we can to ownership, especially deals of consequence, and then, ultimately, it’s their final decision to make. Far more often than not, Paul (Dolan) has gone with our recommendations.”

Antonetti also noted that “some of our least popular trades in the past have been some of our best trades.” The Indians’ front office has a sterling track record in the trade department, but a Lindor deal would have ramifications that spill into the areas of public relations, ticket sales and marketing. There’s a lot to consider, enough to fill a whiteboard.

“We have to think about any impact on fans and brand,” Antonetti said, “but in the end, our responsibility is to try to build the best team we can that’s capable of winning the World Series, because ultimately, that’s what we feel our fans want and that’s the context within which we make every decision.”

Cleveland Indians leave winter meetings with Francisco Lindor, Corey Kluber. . .for now
Today 4:33 PM

By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
SAN DIEGO -- It was a good week for Scott Boras and clients Stephen Strasburg, Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rendon. The former free agents signed for a total of $814 million -- $324 million for Cole and $245 million each for Strasburg and Rendon.

Depending on which side of the fence you come down on, those three signings revitalized the offseason and showed that MLB is back in fighting trim. Or it continued to highlight the difference between the haves, the have-nots and the teams riding the ragged edge of going all in or all out.


The Indians, meanwhile, left the winter meetings on Thursday morning with their two main trade chips -- Francisco Lindor and Corey Kluber -- still in tow. For now.

The Dodgers are still pursuing Lindor. In fact, they may have talked to the Indians again about the switch-hitting shortstop just before they left the meetings. The deal could look like this: Lindor and a starting pitcher, perhaps Kluber, for infielder Gavin Lux, right-hander Dustin May and another prospect. The Indians, in place of Kluber, could send a younger starter such as Aaron Civale or Zach Plesac to the Dodgers.

The Angels, one of those ragged-edgers, have shown interest in Kluber. The Angels and Indians have yet to find common ground on a deal for the two-time Cy Young winner. That’s caused talks to cool, but they have not gone cold.


The Indians, like most teams, know what they want when they contemplate trading franchise players such as Lindor or Kluber. GM Mike Chernoff talked about what goes into putting a value on such a player.

“It’s a process,” said Chernoff. “Once we have a player in our system we are solely focused on developing that player. At the same point we have these decision points where teams come at us asking for our players. We have a ton of information that we have gathered. We have scouts out in the field. We have the analytics. And we’re trying to piece together that player’s fit on our major league team or his prospect value. How you do that is really a complex process to put all those pieces together.”

This winter is one of those decision points for Lindor and Kluber. They control Lindor for two more years and have almost no chance at re-signing him. That was apparent before it started raining money this week in San Diego.

The Indians exercised Kluber’s $17.5 million club for 2020. They say he’s ahead of schedule in his off-season workouts after making just seven starts last season because of a broken bone in his right forearm. His salary, compared to far less accomplished (and available) pitchers, makes him a prime target for contenders such as the Angels, who need starting pitching because they missed on Strasburg and Cole.


If the Indians trade a starting pitching along with Lindor, they will be working from a position of strength. Right now they have Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, Adam Plukto, Civale, Plesac as potential members of the rotation.

“At those decision points we get our group together and try to come at it from a lot of different angles,” said Chernoff, “and make a determination the player return we need back in order for us to make sense to trade a player. We like all of our guys so it’s not like we want to trade anybody. It’s more a matter of what would compel us -- either a major league fit or future value -- to potentially move a guy.”

Meanwhile, the Indians are still looking for a second baseman to replace departed free agent Jason Kipnis. They have a long list to chose from and can probably wait on that market for a while.

Rule 5 Draft: The Indians didn’t lose a player in the major league phase of Thursday’s Rule 5 Draft. In the Triple-A phase, they selected two players and lost three.


The Indians took left-hander Daniel Young from Toronto’s Class AA roster and right-hander Jhon Peluffo from Baltimore’s Class AA roster. That cost them $48,000 -- $24,000 per player.

Two of the three players they lost came from their loaded Arizona Rookie League roster -- outfielder Chris Cespedes and catcher Jose Colina. Baltimore selected Cespedes and the A’s took Colina. Baltimore also selected utility infielder Wilbis Santiago from the Tribe’s Class A Lynchburg roster.


Money-wise, the Indians came out $24,000 ahead.

Young, 25, was Toronto’s eighth round pick in 2015. He went 1-2 with a 2.76 ERA at Class AAA Buffalo and Class AA Hampshire. Left-handers hit .203 against him.

Peluffo, 22, was a combined 1-4 with a 2.49 ERA at Class A Delmarva and Frederick. He made 33 relief appearances, striking out 67 and walked 31 in 68 2/3 innings.

James Harris, Indians farm director, was glad the Indians didn’t lose anyone in major league phase of the draft, but hated to see Colina, Cespedes and Santiago go. “Those are my guys,” said Harris.

Cespedes hit .326 (60-for-184) with six homers and 33 RBI for the Tribe’s AZL Blue team. Colina, a promising catcher, hit .372 (32-for-86) with eight homers and 20 RBI for the same team. Santiago hit .310 (74-for-239) with 21 RBI at Class A Lynchburg.

Red Sox To Sign Jose Peraza
By Steve Adams | December 12, 2019 at 2:58pm CDT

The Red Sox are in agreement with free-agent infielder Jose Peraza on a contract for the 2020 season, Robert Murray reports (via Twitter). The ISE Baseball client will take home a one-year deal worth close to $3MM, MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets. He can boost his salary via incentives.

Peraza, still just 25, was once considered to be among the game’s premier prospects but struggled considerably in two of his three full Major League seasons before being non-tendered by the Reds earlier this month. That includes a 2019 season in which he managed only a bleak .239/.285/.346 batting line through 376 trips to the plate while seeing time at second base, shortstop, third base, left field and center field.

While the 2019 and 2017 seasons weren’t kind to Peraza, he posted solid seasons with the bat in a half-season effort in 2016 (.324/.352/.411) and a full season in 2018 (.288/.326/.416). He’s an above-average runner although perhaps not to the extent some may expect from his prospect days; Peraza posted a 28.8 ft/sec average sprint speed each year from 2016-18, per Statcast, but saw that mark drop to 28.0 this past season. And while that might not sound like a notable drop, it’s enough to drop him from the 92nd percentile to the 75th percentile in the game. Peraza’s stolen-base efficiency, perhaps correspondingly, took a hit. He was caught six times in 13 attempts last year after going 70-for-94 in seasons prior.

In Peraza, the Red Sox now have a potential replacement for free agent Swiss army knife Brock Holt, who remains unsigned to this point in the offseason. Peraza can play virtually any position on the diamond outside of pitcher or catcher, and at roughly $3MM and 25 years of age, he’s both a younger and more affordable alternative — if he can round back into form, that is.

Regardless of the outcome, it’s a fairly sensible low-cost flier for Boston — one that could pay dividends across multiple years. Peraza has three years, 141 days of Major League service time, meaning if he does indeed bounce back, he’ll be controllable via arbitration all the way through the 2022 season

Yardbarker

Matt Johnson, Sportsnaut

One of five trades he'd like to see.

Deal: SS Francisco Lindor, SP Mike Clevinger for SS Gavin Lux, RHP Dustin May, C Keibert Ruiz, RHP Tony Gonsolin and IF Omar Estevez
It would be the magnitude of deal that baseball fans remember for years to come. Los Angeles badly wants Lindor and views a front-line pitcher as an need. There are few organizations that could pursue a deal of this magnitude, but the Dodgers can.
Clevinger, who is arbitration-eligible for three seasons, would give the Dodgers three aces at the front of their rotation. Meanwhile, it would add the best leadoff hitter in baseball and a Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop. This is exactly the deal that skyrockets the Dodgers to become favorites for the World Series.
Lux is a top-two prospect in all of baseball who can step in and start at shortstop immediately. May can step into Cleveland’s rotation in 2020 and be an impact starter for years to come with Ruiz starring at catcher. Meanwhile, Gonsolin is also ready to slide into the rotation, and Estevez could become the team’s future at second base. A win-win deal for both sides.

seagull wrote:Yardbarker

Matt Johnson, Sportsnaut

One of five trades he'd like to see.

Deal: SS Francisco Lindor, SP Mike Clevinger for SS Gavin Lux, RHP Dustin May, C Keibert Ruiz, RHP Tony Gonsolin and IF Omar Estevez
It would be the magnitude of deal that baseball fans remember for years to come. Los Angeles badly wants Lindor and views a front-line pitcher as an need. There are few organizations that could pursue a deal of this magnitude, but the Dodgers can.
Clevinger, who is arbitration-eligible for three seasons, would give the Dodgers three aces at the front of their rotation. Meanwhile, it would add the best leadoff hitter in baseball and a Gold Glove Award winner at shortstop. This is exactly the deal that skyrockets the Dodgers to become favorites for the World Series.
Lux is a top-two prospect in all of baseball who can step in and start at shortstop immediately. May can step into Cleveland’s rotation in 2020 and be an impact starter for years to come with Ruiz starring at catcher. Meanwhile, Gonsolin is also ready to slide into the rotation, and Estevez could become the team’s future at second base. A win-win deal for both sides.

I'll save HB the trouble.

Clevinger going along with Lindor wouldn't be even a starter for the Indians. No way, nor should there be any way.

This guy is a Dodgers guy, has to be.

(BTW, I realize catcher Ruiz (haven't heard of Estevez but Ruiz is close to the big leagues) is a legit prospect - but the point is the 2nd the Dodgers would mention Clevinger and Lindor the Indians would hang up.

If they package Lindor with somebody else, I expect a multi- team deal.

Roundtable reaction: The Indians send Corey Kluber to Texas for DeShields, Clase


By The Athletic Staff 2h ago 34
Cleveland ace and two-time Cy Young award winner Corey Kluber has been traded to the Texas Rangers. Over nine years with the Indians, the three-time All-Star went 98-58 with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.086 WHIP. Last season, the 33-year-old struggled with injuries, pitching just 35 2/3 innings over seven starts before suffering a fractured right ulna.

The Indians will receive outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. and right-handed reliever Emmanuel Clase from Texas in the deal. DeShields, a second-generation big leaguer, came in seventh in AL Rookie of the Year voting in 2015 thanks to his elite speed, and has since become an above-average defender but has struggled at the plate, slashing .246/.326/.342 over the last five seasons. The Athletic DFW’s Levi Weaver wrote about Clase and his triple-digit cutter earlier this year.

The Athletic’s MLB, Cleveland and DFW writers offer their initial thoughts on the deal.

Ken Rosenthal, The Athletic MLB
Someone flipped the script: Corey Kluber should have been an Angel and Anthony Rendon a Ranger, right?

Ah, but as yet another wacky offseason continues, that’s not how it worked out.

The Angels, in dire need of starting pitching, signed Rendon to play third base for $245 million, then backed off a possible trade for Kluber.

The Rangers, in dire need of a third baseman and signature piece as they open their new ballpark, made Kluber the third risky addition to their rotation on Sunday, acquiring him from the Indians for outfielder Delino DeShields and right-handed reliever Emmanuel Clase.

Not that there is anything wrong with the perennially pitching-starved Rangers picking up one more starter, particularly one who won the American League Cy Young award in 2014 and ’17. The acquisition cost, too, was appealing, with one rival executive reacting to the DeShields-Clase package by saying, with some bafflement, “There has to be more.”

There wasn’t more, which seemingly was a reflection of A) the Indians’ desire to move Kluber’s $17.5 million salary and drop their payroll to approximately $92 million with the addition of the arbitration-eligible DeShields; B) an infatuation with Clase, who throws a 101-mph cutter but was only the Rangers’ No. 30 prospect, according to MLBPipeline.com; and C) the team’s apparent fear that Kluber would not have rebuilt his value if they had kept him until the trade deadline.

Kluber, who will pitch next season at 34, suffered a season-ending fractured right forearm last May 1. Yet even before that, he was struggling, with a 5.80 ERA in seven starts, the highest hit and walk rates of his career and an average fastball velocity of 92.4 mph, down for the fifth straight year.

The Rangers are betting on Kluber’s savvy and makeup, as well as their highly regarded medical staff if he needs assistance. Free-agent right-handers Kyle Gibson (three years, $28 million) and Jordan Lyles (two years, $16 million) probably are bigger gambles, but the Rangers hit on recent free-agent deals with lefty Mike Minor and righty Lance Lynn, so they warrant some benefit of the doubt.

Third base, though, remains a glaring void — the Rangers seem to have faded in the Josh Donaldson sweepstakes, uncomfortable with where the price was heading.

It might be time to reconsider, or trade for the Cubs’ Kris Bryant or Mariners’ Kyle Seager.

The Rangers should not stop now.

Marc Carig, The Athletic MLB
Emmanuel Clase is 21 years old, with a 101 mph cutter and good enough command to be stingy with walks despite his elite stuff. “He’s a freak,” said one AL executive. “Not sure anyone else really has his pitch.” Another rival exec called Clase “one of the most valuable relief assets in the game.” It is for this reason that Clase’s inclusion in the trade must be weighed properly. This guy is not just some reliever. He’s a back-end caliber arm who could contribute immediately, and for the next several years, he could be a very cheap but very impactful bullpen arm. So, the Indians didn’t just give away a two-time Cy Young Award winner in Corey Kluber.

However, fully evaluating the trade means seeing what the Indians intend to do with their newfound financial flexibility. I’m curious to see how they used that money to improve their chances in a division that features the Twins and the improving White Sox. The Indians seemed to have believed they’d find a taker for Kluber. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have picked up his option at season’s end. They turned out to be right. Clearly, they highly valued Clase and now they’ve got him. But they’ll likely need to do more to challenge the Twins for the division. They’ve got to spend that money on something.

I probably jumped the gun on Twitter when I saw Kluber’s departure as a sign that the Indians aren’t serious about winning in 2020. Yet, these rumors of dealing shortstop Francisco Lindor seem to be getting more persistent, and ownership’s track record when it comes to spending isn’t exactly a mark in the Indians’ favor.

The Rangers took on all of the $17.5 million that Kluber was owed in 2020. He slots into the top of their rotation — assuming that he can move past injury (an arm fracture that limited him to seven starts) and questions about his age (34). Sure, there’s risk there. But given the price tag and context — Texas has a new ballpark, you might have heard — this feels like a good gamble on Kluber.

Levi Weaver, The Athletic DFW
The Rangers needed a win after losing Anthony Rendon, and this is absolutely that. When Kluber’s name first came up, there was some hesitation among fans, hoping the front office wasn’t going to overpay for that win. Instead, they pulled off a heist.

Clase, he of the 100+mph cutter, has the ability to be special, sure. But he’s also a reliever, and one the Rangers got for Brett Nicholas. Likewise, DeShields’ speed is elite, but he hasn’t ever fully figured it out at the plate. That’s the entire cost? What didn’t the Dodgers and Angels offer?

Zack Meisel, The Athletic Cleveland
The Indians had a pretty good idea they would be trading Corey Kluber the moment they exercised his $17.5 million club option at the end of October. The only question was whether they could fetch more for the two-time Cy Young Award winner this winter or next summer. We still won’t know the answer to that question until we see how Kluber fares in 2020 in the Rangers’ new ballpark. Did a lost 2019 season rejuvenate the league’s busiest arm from 2014-18? Or were his early 2019 struggles a harbinger for a future decline in ability?

Emmanuel Clase and his 101-mph fastball/cutter/dart are a perfect fit for an Indians bullpen that ranked last in MLB in average fastball velocity in 2019. But relievers are volatile, and Delino DeShields doesn’t make much sense for an outfield already full of platooners and part-timers. And this package emerging as the winning bid for Kluber’s services makes you wonder if the Indians were operating with a payroll-related deadline, or if they’re just infatuated with Clase, who one league source surmised could eventually be a top-five reliever.

Acquiring Clase is certainly better than just declining Kluber’s option and receiving nothing, but this is quite the unceremonious ending to the Cleveland career of perhaps the second-best pitcher in franchise history.

Jason Lloyd, The Athletic Cleveland
One of the Indians’ offseason priorities was remaking their bullpen, and acquiring Emmanuel Clase is a powerful start. Clase and James Karinchak could combine to give them the type of young power arms in the back of the bullpen this franchise has lacked for years.

The return feels a little light for a two-time Cy Young winner (it’s hard to view DeShields as anything more than a fourth outfielder/pinch-runner), but Kluber’s injuries last year and poor showing in April certainly flattened his value. The Indians have a track record of maximizing value in trades, and given the number of teams that were involved in the Kluber rumors, it’s hard to dispute that this was the best return they could fetch.

Clase’s filthy cutter has already drawn comparisons to Mariano Rivera, as blasphemous as that may seem. Cleveland would gladly take a reliever 70 percent as good. The Indians were certainly dealing from a position of strength, and by moving Trevor Bauer and now Kluber in the last five months, they have traded their two most expensive starters. As is always the case with the cost-conscious Indians, the question is whether they will be able to reinvest the $17 million Kluber will make.

Remember, the Indians recently exercised Kluber’s option for 2020. They could’ve just let him walk as a free agent. By picking up the option and flipping him, they created value and assets rather than losing him for nothing.

Andy McCullough, The Athletic MLB
It is funny how certain moments slide into the dustbin of history. We remember Rajai Davis’s homer off Aroldis Chapman in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. We remember the rain, the speech by Jason Heyward and the subsequent triumph of the Cubs in the 10th. But we rarely dwell on the moment in between, the ninth inning of the final game of the baseball season, when Chapman subsisted on fumes and Cleveland appeared on the verge of ending a 67-year championship drought.

I thought about the ninth inning on Sunday morning when the Indians traded Corey Kluber to Texas. Kluber started Game 7, on three days rest, for Cleveland. He pitched 217 games in the regular season and the postseason during his nine years as one of the franchise’s stone-faced pillars. Game 7 was not his best; he gave up four runs in four innings, which swelled his ERA that postseason to a still-terrific 1.83. He was a crucial member of the team that could have snapped the streak.

Instead, Kluber watched with the rest of the Indians and the fans at Progressive Field as Chapman survived the ninth. Go back and watch that inning some time. It is fascinating. Chapman threw 14 pitches. Only four were fastballs — his velocity was dipping, and Davis had just taken him out of the park on what was, for Chapman, a relatively tepid heater. Chapman was facing the heart of Cleveland’s lineup: Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor.

One swing could have ended the game. But Santana flied out on a hanging, full-count slider. Kipnis swung through a full-count fastball. And Lindor popped up a first-pitch fastball. Then came the rain, the speech and the victory by the Cubs. Cleveland won their division in 2017 and 2018, but failed to advance past the first round. They ceded control of the Central to Minnesota in 2019, and have spent most of the winter listening to offers on their stars.

So a chapter came to a conclusion on Sunday, with Kluber bound for Texas. Lindor could soon follow him, possibly in a trade to the Dodgers. The duo was part of one of the most successful eras in franchise history, a four-year span in which the team averaged 95 victories. But they never came closer to that elusive championship than they were in the ninth inning of Game 7.

The Indians bid farewell to their only two-time Cy Young Award winner, Corey Kluber

Zack Meisel 5h ago 116
CLEVELAND — On Corey Kluber’s upper back sits a tattoo of a baseball wrapped in a Texas state flag. Kluber attended high school in Coppell, Texas, about 25 minutes from where the Rangers play.

And now, perhaps the second-best pitcher in Indians history is headed back to the Lone Star State, the headliner in a three-player trade with the Rangers.

Kluber is the only two-time Cy Young Award winner in team history, which makes for quite the unceremonious departure. And that sentiment is compounded by a rather underwhelming return for a guy one year removed from a third-place finish in the balloting for the American League’s top pitcher. The Indians will receive right-handed reliever Emmanuel Clase and outfielder Delino DeShields Jr., sources told The Athletic. There will be no cash involved in the deal, other than the two sides splitting Kluber’s $1 million assignment bonus. To create space on the 40-man roster, the Indians designated infielder Mike Freeman for assignment.

Brian Anderson’s line drive in Miami on May 1 altered the course of Kluber’s tenure in Cleveland. The baseball that ricocheted off Kluber’s right arm left him with a fractured ulna and cast a dark cloud over his future with the Indians.

In his absence, Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber blossomed into front-line starters. Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac filled in admirably, the organization’s pitching development pipeline finding another gear. And Kluber’s extended absence left everyone to wonder if his early-season struggles and declining velocity were more than just a mirage.

The Indians exercised Kluber’s $17.5 million option because they knew he would either have trade value this winter or have an opportunity to reestablish his trade value next summer. If all else failed, they could decline his 2021 club option worth $18 million (which now converts into a vesting option because of the trade).

One way or another, he would be moved. The Indians have enough pitching depth to survive his exit, which should have given them leverage in any negotiation. And acquiring Clase is better than just declining his option two months ago.

But could they have waited until midseason to pull the trigger on a deal like that in the same fashion as their Trevor Bauer trade? A bidding war for Kluber’s services wound up with an intriguing reliever and a backup outfielder as the winning package?

Clase’s fastball/cutter sits in the 99-101 mph range and he ranked in the 97th percentile in fastball spin. The Indians’ bullpen, which ranked third in the majors in ERA last year, ranked last in average fastball velocity. Clase and James Karinchak should fix that.

Clase, 21, made his major-league debut in 2019 and posted a 2.31 ERA in 23 1/3 innings with 21 strikeouts. He averaged about a strikeout per inning in the minors, perhaps a tad underwhelming for a pitcher with his high-octane repertoire.

“(Not only are there not) many 22-year-old relievers in the majors having success,” Chris Antonetti said, “but there aren’t that many guys that average 100 mph with their fastball and not only have the great velocity but have the great life to it with the cut he has to his fastball. And as a matter of act, we’ve received a couple of trade inquiries on him already.”

DeShields’ inclusion is perplexing, unless the Rangers just wanted to offset some of the financial burden in the deal, as the Indians are not sending any cash to Texas.

The Indians already field a deep cast of part-timers in the outfield. DeShields is a plus defender in center, but so is Óscar Mercado. And DeShields’ offense, unless you covet sacrifice bunting acumen — looking at you, Terry Francona — leaves much to be desired.

The Indians will save Kluber’s $17.5 million salary, which means they’ll need to spend in free agency or via trade just to return to the $100 million mark, which would be a decrease from the 2019 payroll, which suffered a decrease from the 2018 payroll.

“With the way the finances in this deal work,” Antonetti said, “we will have more resources available to reinvest in our team and that’s our expectation here as we head on into the rest of the winter is that we will continue to look for avenues to improve our major league team both in trades and in free agency.”

The front office waited until teams missed out on Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg, and then it engaged, attempting to drive up competition for Kluber’s services. The Angels and Dodgers were involved. The Padres were reportedly in the mix.

They dangled Kluber and Bauer on the trade market last winter, too. Nothing materialized until the summer, when the Indians jettisoned Bauer to Cincinnati for some pieces to plug into Francona’s lineup.

Kluber likely could have fetched more on the market a year ago. Maybe he would have fetched more six months from now. Instead, the Indians opted to move now, as they settled on a talented reliever and a glove-first outfielder in exchange for one of the best hurlers to ever don their uniform.

“With the way the finances in this deal work,” Antonetti said, “we will have more resources available to reinvest in our team and that’s our expectation here as we head on into the rest of the winter

Of course this deal looks bleak in a vacuum - but trades are never in a vacuum - you only see that in retrospect.

So this one depends on:

1. How Clase turns out. If he is Josh Hader II then...
2. How (see above) the team plans to reinvest the savings later this winter. To me, if they address their weaknesses then this trade makes much more sense. After all, even with this trade the rotation of Clev, Bieber, Carrasco, Plesac and Civale still puts Pluko at #6 like last season.

So fine - as long as you now move on and address the offense to make this deal pay off.

Again I think the Indians ownership is planning to take an expensive vacation with the money they saved on the Kluber deal. Team really should be dropped to a second division like they do in football in England. Interestingly I was reading a book for free at Barnes and Noble last evening about the origins of the NFL. They did that kind of stuff at the beginning of organized professional American football too. I guess it could be worse for the Indians. They could be the Browns. They should just be eliminated. Cleveland can reapply for a franchise if it chooses. Fans should not be forced to sitting through season after season of incompetence. Only reason CAVS wont be eliminated is that they won a ship in last 5 years and it would look bad.