Thoughts

• You realize teams were actually making trades today to help themselves win this year, right?
• The really depressing thing about today is what Terry Pluto has written about already:

The Indians traded Clevinger away, in part, so they wouldn't have to pay him the $4-5 million raise he was going to get in arbitration this year.  I laughed when I read that in Pluto's column because what team in their right mind would trade away a quality starting pitcher when they were primed to go to the World Series over a $4 million, chump change level raise?   Hmmm, I think we know.

• The major problem is not the trade but what it signals: That the Indians will do whatever they can to cut cost.   Hand is gone because we have Karinchak.   Lindor is gone because he makes too much money.   Santana is gone because they won't put up his $17.5 million option and now they have Naylor to play first base.  If we don't get a lot for Lindor then this team will be too weak to compete next year because Santana and Hand will walk for free.
• I wonder if Oliver Perez feels good about all this.   His chances of winning the WS this year just took a big hit.  Plus just when he thought he could stick out his tongue and sing nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah hey-hey-hey goodbye, Clevinger is replaced on the roster by Plesac.
• The guy who should be with the Indians, Whit Merrifield, will be playing against them this evening.  I would really like to know what the Royals were asking the Indians for so we could get Merrifield.  
• If we still had Anthony Santander this trade today would have made more sense.  40-man roster management is key for a team like the Indians.
• It's not hard to figure out which contender was the bigger loser for 2020 at this deadline.   Remember, contender and loser in the current season!  That would be the Cleveland Indians.   
• Supporters of the trade say that we should wait for a few years to see how it turns out.    By the time we know what these prospects will be the current team will be long gone and outside of these trades, there are no dominant hitters or pitchers in the relatively weak Indians' system.   Today's trade didn't change that at all.

Today was depressing, not because Clevinger was traded.  It was depressing because we didn't get anything back that will alter the downward spiral that the Indians are about to experience.