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.
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