The Indians have been looking to bolster their outfield by any means possible ever since the trade deadline and things appear to be heating up again. Jon Morosi has been on top of these rumors from the beginning and he stirred the pot again yesterday with these two tweets:
#BlueJays, #Dodgers, #Yankees among the teams to have at least preliminary trade talks with #Indians, sources say. (1/2)
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 18, 2015
For each of 3 teams mentioned, #Indians would obtain everyday OF and part with a starting pitcher. Many scenarios in play for CLE. (2/2) — Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 18, 2015
By being vague, Morosi provides a more accurate view of the situation than most Hot Stove trade rumors. The Indians have a ton of quality starters, even beyond the three that most know and they are in desparate need of outfield help. While the biggest deal could involve names like Carlos Carrasco and Yasiel Puig, there is a higher probability that it is the lesser quality players that will be involved. The Indians top three of Corey Kluber, Carrasco and Danny Salazar are as good as any top three in baseball and behind them, Cody Anderson, Trevor Bauer, T.J. House, and Josh Tomlin have all shown promise at the Major League level with Michael Clevinger, Adam Plutko, and Ryan Merritt all possibly being Major League ready by early 2016.
This glut of starting pitching talent should allow the Indians to be flexible and deal from either the top or the bottom. Tomlin is one interesting option in particular as he made ten starts at the end of the season posting a 3.02 ERA and a 7.8 K/9, considerably better numbers than he had ever produced prior to his 2012 Tommy John surgery. While Tomlin has very little value on the trade market, he is out of options and in his last year of arbitration, meaning it is time to use or lose him for the Indians. If one of the big three were traded, it is likely Tomlin who would step in to fill the five spot as he did in the second half of the 2015 season.
The outfield is a completely different situation. If nothing changes before the next season starts, it would be made of Tyler Naquin, Abraham Almonte, and Lonnie Chisenhall (Michael Brantley is expected to miss at least most of April with shoulder surgery) with a fourth outfielder of Zach Walters or possibly James Ramsey. The opposite of the rotation, this would be one of the weakest in the league and a large part of the Indians offensive problems. All three are fair defenders, but Naquin is yet to make his MLB debut and neither of the other two have shown the ability to have sustained offensive success at the MLB level.
While the Indians offense isn’t terrible, it is the worst aspect of the team, followed by the bullpen. According to fWAR, the Indians pitching was the 8th best in baseball last year and their defense third behind the Royals and Giants, a year removed from coming in second to last. Offensively, they came in tenth and because they won just 81 games, that is the most obvious place to fix. The defense was fixed largely by the addition of Francisco Lindor at short and Giovanny Urshela at third, so offensive upgrades at these positions wouldn’t be as worthwhile as ones in the outfield or DH would be.
Outfielders that have been repeatedly mentioned in these rumors are Brett Gardner of New York, Puig, and Kevin Pillar of Toronto, although much of this is just fans and writers trying to find the best fit. After a three year experiment with Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher, the Indians should be looking for young, top defensive options who can also hit, but of course the price of that quality of talent would be high.
A newer unconfirmed rumor coming from a minor league source within the Indians organization has postulated the Indians sending Carrasco and a AAA level prospect to the Blue Jays for Edwin Encarnacion. While this doesn’t fit the outfield mold, it would solve much of the offensive issues without displacing someone already on the roster. The question here for the Indians is whether they believe so much in the 2016 team that they are willing to give up an asset under control through 2020 for less than $10M per year for one year of a prolific, yet aging, slugger.
While this is just in the talking stages and unlikely to actually happen as stated, it does show the desperation of the Indians to add any offense at all. Of course, if the Indians did make such a deal, they would still be looking for one to two outfielders as only Chisenhall is possibly deserving of a starting job out of Spring Training and if the Indians learned anything this year, it is that games in April and May do matter.
