It's the morning after, here are some more thoughts

Great trade by the Indians.

As far as more trades I would still love to get Gyorko and Addrubal Cabrera.   Howeer, looking at the way the Indians lineup stacks up, here is what I think we have:

DH-  Reyes
C- Perez, Plaicki
1B - Santana, Bauers
2B - Kipnis
SS - Lindor
3B - Ramirez
LF - Naquin/Luplow
CF- Mercado, Allen
RF - Puig
Utility IF - Freeman

Right now I can only see two weaknesses:

• Santana full time at 1B as this might wear him down and make him more susceptible to injury.
• Utility infielder

Cabrera and Gyorko would be a luxury and, looking at the above lineup I would want someone who could replace Freeman and play some SS if necessary.   Now that I see the lineup and get that Reyes will probably be the DH,  and that Luplow and Naquin form a great two-headed monster, I can't see how I could give up Naquin or Luplow.   So I am left with Bauers.   That would get us Gyorko (along with Elledge) but I don't know how to get Cabrera and Gyorko.   

  

There is time left. Anybody for another trade or two?

As I mentioned in my previous article, the Indians could use help at various positions to round out a playoff-caliber position player part of their roster.   A couple of guys who come to mind are:

Jedd Gyorko - The signals are that the Cardinals would be willing to move him.   He is on the 60 day DL but appears to be coming off soon.  

Asdrubal Cabrera -He is versatile and could help us as he is also a switch hitter.

So, swallowing hard but thinking to the present, what about:

Jedd Gyorko and a minor leaguer (RHP Seth Elledge?) for Jake Bauers

Asdrubal Cabrera and a AZL prospect similar to Victor Nova for Tyler Naquin

These are young-for-older rental player trades but if we also got a young guy in each deal who has some upside but is years away, I would do these trades.

Just to be clear, I HATE these kind of trades because they sometimes come back to bite you in the butt and, in Bauers case, because we traded him for Yandy Diaz who is raking, but I think these types of veterans might help solidify the clubhouse. and make our ML roster more playoff-formidable.

Any thoughts?
 

Early analysis of the Trevor Bauer trade

Overall analysis -The Indians got better offensively and defensively in this trade.   They also obtained young ML-ready players and prospects, things that the Cleveland Indians always need to do, given that they can't make up for mistakes or injuries by signing expensive free agents or taking on a lot of ML salary.

Impact on the 25 man roster - This is where life gets interesting.  The Indians add 3 players (Logan Allen, Yasiel Puig and Franmil Reyes) to their 25 man roster and only lose one player, Trevor Bauer.

Looking at this extremely simply the Indians should subtract two outfielders, preferably right-handed hitting outfielders to offset the addition of righties Reyes and Puig.  That would mean that Jordan Luplow and Greg Allen would likely go to the minors, looking at it simply.

However, I don't think that is the way the Indians will go.   Allen is hitting now and too valuable as a pinch runner and as our only true backup centerfielder.

Instead, looking solely at production, Jake Bauers and Jordan Luplow would be the odd men out in this trade.

That would leave the Indians with 5 outfielders like they have now, but they would be Mercado, Reyes, Puig, Naquin and Allen being the outfielders.

As far as pitching, we have the addition of Allen.   Possibly, especially given his struggles so far, Allen is sent back to AAA to help get his act together.   On the other hand, if Salazar is used as an opener, Allen slots in nicely as the followup pitcher to help save the rest of the bullpen.  We also have Kluber coming back from the 60-day DL so that impacts the roster, as well.

Impact on the 40 man roster -

Currently this should not be a problem as, if Luplow and Bauers stay in the organization, we can remove guys like Jon Edwards, Josh Smith and Jordan Stephens to free up space.  One or more of these guys could also be thrown into an upcoming trade (see below).  We will need probably all three of these roster spaces when you think that we have to add Kluber and Salazar in the next few weeks.

This winter we will have to make room for Scott Moss and some of the following guys who will become Rule 5 eligible this winter: Triston McKenzie, Daniel Johnson, Jean Carlos Mejia and Oscar Gonzalez, among others.   This doesn't seem like it would hard to protect McKenzie and Johnson and it might be possible to protect one or two more, especially if they are relief prospects expected to be on the ML roster in 2020 but we should remember that we have a number of guys on the 60-day DL who will have to be rostered this winter (Anderson,  Zimmer, Rodriguez)

Impact on future trades:

This is where life could get really interesting.   There are still several hours before the trade deadline and we have guys like Bauers, Luplow, maybe Tyler Naquin, all of the aforementioned guys who are candidates to be removed from the 40-man roster and even some intriguing prospects like Mejia and Gonzalez who we could move now and not risk another Anthony Santander situation this winter.

Why do I mention this?   Well, we could really use help at a couple of positions: first base (if we trade Bauers) and utility infielder.   While I love guys like Mike Freeman I think some upgrade offensively would help.   A couple of guys you could target would be Asdrubal Cabrera and Jedd Gyorko, who is currently on the 60 day DL but is likely to come off soon.   If you could add both of these players at a reasonable cost this could really round out the roster and make us a post-seasons threat.

Thoughts for July 20th

Indians-Twins

This is a marathon and anything can happen but things are starting to break the Indians' way.   I still think Jose Ramirez has more in the tank to give us as he is still hitting a lot of line drives at people. But it makes each game exciting to watch....and it makes scoreboard watching fun.

Trading Trevor Bauer

I have to admit trading Bauer right now would be a huge risk...but like others it is a risk I would take.  So here are two trade proposals I think have merit:

Trevor Bauer and Jake Bauers to San Diego for Hunter Renfro, Luis Patino and Luis Capusano

or

Trevor Bauer to Yankees,  Whit Merrifield and Nick Nelson to Indians, Clint Frazier, Michael King and Argenis Angulo to Kansas City.

The goal is to be competitive now and in the future and these trades help us with both.   Realize that Renfro is not a world beater hitting only .236 against righties this year but he does have power.  

Indians 2019 Draftee hitter watch

I know I have been tracking this in a negative way because I don't like their draft this year but here it goes anyway:

Yordys Valdes  17-80, 1 2B, 10 BB 10 SB
Christian Cairo 12-67, 1 3B, 10 BB, 4 SB
Joe Naranjo 17-75, 1 2B, 10 BB, 0 SB
Will Bartlett 12-67, 5 2B, 11 BB, 1 SB
Jordan Brown 4-41, 2 2B, 12 BB, 2 SB

So, for all those picks in the first round we have, so far, 62-330 with 9 2B, 1 3B, O HR, 53 BB and 17 SB, 92 K.

I know its early but, as I have said before, these are historically bad numbers for Indians HS hitter draftees in the first 10 rounds of the draft.

Thoughts for a July 5th

First, the joke goes that it is always the darkest just before everything goes totally black.   For the Indians of this week, the expression reverts back to the original expression: its always darkest right before the dawn.   After two straight 13-0 losses to maybe the worst team in baseball the Indians won 4 straight...albeit while playing the likely two worst teams in baseball, the Orioles and the Royals.  Still, it puts the Indians 10 games over .500 and 6 games behind the Twins.  Now, this is sometimes where the team like the Indians, making a run to catch up to a team way in front of them, run out of steam and start to fall back.   Sometimes they hit a lull and then continue their climb back to the top and, very rarely, all the pieces keep coming together and they just steamroll by their competition.

We'll see what happens as the Twins are crushing the Rangers tonight.

Second, our 2019 HS hitter draftees are starting to hit.  We will keep watching that situation develop.

Third, I know this is early in the season but I can't remember a season where the Indians AZL team(s) have looked so devoid of talent.  Yeah, they are doing well but really, are ANY of these guys performing like stars in the making?  Last year we had a number of guys who looked like studs but, right now, there isn't anyone who is a true prospect and not just an overage player doing anything on the AZL teams.  Even their best hitter this year, Yainer Diaz, is just repeating the AZL league after hitting .355 there last year.   Even Aaron Bracho is looking like a suspect more than a prospect.  And none of their pitchers even look promising, let alone dominating, except, of course, for those overage college pitchers.

Fourth, Mahoning Valley, in contrast, has a lot of interesting players and pitchers.   I really like their hitters and, although some are having their ups and downs, it is easy to project about a half dozen or more of their young hitters turning into major league players down the road.  If the Indians do make July trades for veterans (I really hope not) look for a lot of the trade bait to come from this team.

Fifth, there are lots of interesting pitchers in the minors.   It is a shame that James Karinchak and Nick Sandlin are injured as they were both on the fast track to get to the majors.    It would have been refreshing to see those guys in the ML bullpen for years starting this month or in August.  Right now, however, it is hard to even imagine either of them making a significant contribution for anything but a small part of 2020, let alone this year.   Even with their bad luck, other guys are stepping forward and we may see them in the majors as early as the middle of next season.   Kyle Nelson, Adam Scott, and Eli Morgan may be the next wave of guys after Bieber, Civale and Plesac to make their impact in the majors for the Tribe.  And I WISH the Indians would just move Sam Hentges to the bullpen.   I think he gets to the majors next spring if they just make that change.  

Sixth, the international signing deadline is puzzling to me.   Baseball America doesn't even make top 20 lists for the Latin American league because it is so hard to predict what these players will turn out to be.   Still, the Indians best prospects from the last couple of years are getting in their reps and showing some glimpses of star power so we will see.   However, this year more than the last few we will have to count on the Indians' Latin scouts to have found gems that other teams has missed.    Why do I say that?   When your top international signee is the 24th best prospect in this year's crop it doesn't make it seem like there is any star power there.   Yeah, you can sign these guys in droves but when you are trading away international bonus money I fear that it means that we are going cheap internationally which bodes badly for an organization that isn't exactly killing it in the draft.   I hope I am wrong but initial reviews of the Indians 2019 international signees is not that good compared to the rest of the league.

Well, we have two more games against the dangerous Reds and then it's time to celebrate our first all-star game in while, our 3 all-stars and our HR derby contestant.   Go Tribe.  .