Say it ain't so, Joe!

 OK, the last couple of days have been really interesting...and concerning.

So, Oliver Perez said he would opt out if Clevinger and Plesac were reinstated to the active roster.

Was that right away or if they are reinstated at all this season?

If that is true how can Oliver Perez and Plesac and Clevinger ever be on the same roster ever again?

Perez is a smart guy, I am sure.   If he truly threw down the gauntlet like that I would be surprised.   Hey, do your due diligence by keeping the guys at Lake County until their 10 day minimum in the minors is done.  I get that.   

However, you keep them in the minors any longer than that and all the conspiracy theorists will come out of the woodwork and say it is just the owners being cheap and finding ways to hold onto players on the cheap longer  

So here is the dilemma:  Do you keep Clevinger and Plesac or do you keep the 38 year old Perez?  Or, do you trade Clevinger and/or Plesac and probably not get good value, likely injure your chances at competing this year and not help your chances in future years.  

So, the Indians had a dilemma.   If Oliver Perez threw down a demand that he would opt out if Clevinger and Perez were brought back this season, then Perez needs to be talked to.

Hey, I get that this is serious.   I also get that this is about their attitude as well as their actions.  I get that these guys are throwing gasoline on the fire and that Perez is adding his own accelerant.  However, this is also a business.   

You can dump these guys and get an unfairly low return on prinicple.  But that makes no business sense unless they are unsalvageable.

From a purely business standpoint, purely business, mind you, if you have to choose between two young starters under team control for several years and a 38-year old yearly deal guy like Perez, if Perez REALLY did make a demand to keep them out for an extended period of time, you have to trade Perez.  Again, all emotion aside, Perez can't put his team in this situation...if he truly did present that ultimatum, 

Plus, the Indians can't be seen as trying to leverage the pandemic and MLB rules on it to gain a financial advantage of keeping these players for longer or cheaper than they should be kept.