The Blockbuster Trade of All Blockbuster Trades

So, let me begin by saying that I am all about the statues.  I don't think we have enough of them in Cleveland.  I spent a lot of my adult life in St. Louis and anyone who has been to Busch Stadium knows this is a team that has statues, 12 of them, to be exact.  Statues of Stan Musial, Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, etc., with the 121 including representation from the Negro Leagues, coaching ranks and broadcaster ranks in addition to other star players.  Anyone who has been to that stadium and looked around before the game knows what a rallying point that is for fans and how it breeds baseball tradition in St. Louis.

With these things being said it is hard for me to talk about trading someone who has the chance to be revered above all other Cleveland baseball players, and spoken in the same breath as the immortal Bob Feller.  That player, of course, if Jose Ramirez who, if he stays healthy and productive, will own every important hitting record in Cleveland history and is a likely future member of the Baseball HOF.  

However, this post talks about trading him.  In fact, it talks about the Guardians trading:

• A future HOFer (Ramirez)
• A former Cy Young award winner (Bieber)
• The 2022 Gold Glove CFer (Straw)
• The 2023 Platinum Glove winner and 22/23 Gold Glove award winner (Gimene)

I know this will require Ramirez to waive his no-trade clause...and me to forget about any chance he would get that statue in Cleveland, unless he bounces around the rest of his career like Thome did, not staying in any one place long enough to wear another cap into the HOF.

I am actually proposing two trades:

We trade Ramrez, Bieber, Straw Gimenez to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers trade us: Bobby Miller, Emmett Sheehan, Michael Busch, James Outman, Max Muncy and Joendry Vargas.

Now, if we substituted Dalton Rushing and Justin Wrobleski for Muncy, we could be done there.  But my thought was to go for it, so I took the aging Muncy knowing he would have value to other teams and spun him.  So, if we do that, here is my second trade:

We trade Muncy, Sheehan (or Logan Allen) and Angel Martinez to the Cubs for Christopher Morel

Here are the reasons I think this would work:

Dodgers

• The Dodgers could use improved offense and defense at 3B and Ramirez is a perennial all-star and a recent Gold Glove finalist AND he is a favorite of Ohtani.
• The Dodgers could use offensive and defensive help at SS and putting Gimenez there to replace the aging Miguel Rojas will help
• Straw's bat is less of an issue with a lineup that has Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, Ramirez, Smith and others
• Beiber is an ace who, being a California boy, is likely very willing to sign long-term with LA.
• It will hurt to give up Miller and Outman but Busch has no clear position, Sheehan is already expendable and Muncy would be made expendable by this trade. Even saying this Miller and Outman are replaced in this trade by Bieber and Straw and Ramirez replaces Muncy.

Cleveland

• The Guardians get younger AND less expensive with this deal
• Miller joins Bibee and Williams as 3 bona fide future aces on one staff with control for the next 5 seasons, 2 of which are pre-arbitration seasons
• Trading Gimenez frees a spot for one of our MIF prospects so now could think about having all of Rocchio, Arias and Freeman on the roster
• Likely Muncy replaces Ramirez unless we trade him and then Busch replaces Ramirez.  He is then backed up by Freeman or maybe Brito with Rocchio or Arias sliding over to 3rd.
• Sheehan slots in as our 5th starter if McKenzie isn't ready to go during ST or as trade bait (for Morel) if we think we are good with our current starters plus Miller.  Or, he could be the first man up from AAA if we want to stash him there for insurance.  He could always use a little extra work with our pitching development people.
• Joendry Vargas is the wildcard in this deal.  Even if everything else in this deal falls apart for the Guardians, Vargas should be in Cleveland for long after the entire rest of our haul reaches free agency.  It may take several years but, in this case, that is a great thing for Cleveland

So, if this is all we did, this would be a great Cleveland trade where you turn veterans into prospects and extend the window of contention where, instead of skipping 2024, we might now be competitive in our division in 2024.

But if we add the trade with the Cubs, we get even better.  Here are the reasons I think the Cubs deal makes sense for both teams:

Cubs

• In my opinion, Morel's trade value will never be higher.  I see him as defensively challenged at any position whose best position is DH, a position he was used at most frequently in Chicago in 2023.  The longer he plays defense, the more exposed he is and he is pushing up against that DH glass ceiling.
• Muncy replaces Morel's production and he is under contract for 2 more years at a reasonable cost, plus he can play 3B and 1B effectively.
• The inclusion of a young, controllable ML SP in Sheehan or Logan Allen takes a lot of the sting away from the loss of a controllable power hitter like Morel
• The inclusion of Martinez gives the Cubs a very good prospect they can fall back on if the careers of Muncy and Sheehan or Allen go south.

Cleveland

• This deal makes sense for Cleveland as it completes the restructuring of their lineup to give them more power.  
• Without Ramirez in the lineup the DH position can become a stable one where you don't have to give Jose more days off from fielding as his career goes on while keeping his bat in the lineup
• Cleveland has to gamble that they are in a good position to only have 5 starting pitchers ready but any Bieber trade that doesn't bring back a young, controllable, ML starting pitcher was going to do that.
• The loss of Martinez is significant but does clear at least a little of the AAA MIF logjam of Brito,  Tena and Martinez
• We position ourselves for adding payroll at the trade deadline and still having one of the youngest, cheapest rosters in the majors. where now EVERY player in that lineup has the potential to be an all-star except, of course, in the Bermuda triangle that has formed in RF.
• With the cheap roster we could use money to sign Josh Naylor to an extension.  He is the glue that holds this thing in place and we need him here, especially if we are giving up Ramirez.

SUMMARY

After these trades here is our likely lineup (not batting order) for 2024

LF - Kwan

CF - Outman

RF - JRod

3B - Busch

SS - Arias

2B - Rocchio

1B - Josh Naylor

C - Bo Naylor

DH - Morel

UIFer - Freeman

Utility - Fry

Backup C - Hedges

Backup OF -Laureano or Brennan (loser, likely Brennan, goes to AAA)

For the rest of our 40 man here is what it does

•  Manzardo, Brito and Tena get more of a chance to develop and gain positional versatility
• We create a situation where our next men up in terms of position players are really close to league-best in both talent, control and star power.
• We put ourselves in great position to trade at the deadline or next off-season once we sort out which prospects, including guys like Valera, Noel and DeLauter in addition to Manzardo, Brito and Tena that we don't need.
• We open, with these two trades, a net 2 spots on our roster to have flexibility to bring up Manzardo or any minor league signee we need to at or near the start of the season without having to DFA anyone.

Mega-trades like this are almost unheard of in basebal history but this makes sense for the Dodgers and Cleveland and allows the Cubs to hedge their bets on competing now or pivoting to competing in 2025.  

So that's it.  Let 2024 begin!