The Winter Meetings are coming up this week, which is the hot stove for the MLB off-season. This is going to be the most important time in particular for the Indians.
The reason for that is this is the most likely time for trades to get done. The Cleveland Indians are the Cleveland Browns of the free agency market. They are a small market team that has been among the worst attendance for years in MLB, therefore they can’t afford to do a lot of spending in free agency.
The contracts in free agency are also getting out of hand with no salary cap. Already we have seen David Price get 7 years 217 million and Zack Greinke get 6 years 206 million. These contracts for just that one player are going to be greater than the payroll for the entire Indians roster for the next two seasons. The Indians simply just don’t have enough money to be major players in free agency where some of the few big names leak out to.
It’s unfortunate because it creates a huge disparity among teams unlike in other sports. A lot of these small market teams without the ability to afford huge payrolls are forced into almost one simple strategy. That strategy is drafting well and bringing up quality players in their farm system and making the proper trades on guys they can’t afford to resign to create more prospects and get some kind of return worth making the team better.
These teams also have to take chances and resign some guys while their value is cheap hoping they will pan out. The Indians have done a great job with most of these things. Although they never got the big return investments on the CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee trades, they have hit on some smaller ones. They were able to get guys like Yan Gomes, Carlos Santana, Trevor Bauer, and Michael Brantley through trading away a better player for a prospect. They have also had some success in the draft with guys like Jason Kipnis and Francisco Lindor.
They also have most of their core resigned. Lindor is under control through 2021, Salazar through 2020, Cory Kluber is signed through 2021, Gomes through 2021, Carrasco through 2020, Kipnis through 2020, and Brantley through 2018. The core of this team is going to remain here for years.
Now the Indians are stuck trying to find those other pieces to put around them to make them into the championship contender without being able to get the prize gems of free agency. Obviously they can add some smaller parts such as a few bullpen arms and maybe some veteran backups in free agency.
The biggest addition they want to make is a power hitter particularly in the outfield or corner infield. The best way this is going to happen is by a trade, and the Meetings are a perfect time for it to get done.
Luckily, the Indians have some really great starting pitchers. I think there are two of them in particular the Indians will explore trading. Those two are Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar.
Carrasco struggled for years and I was hoping they would release him before he somehow figured it out in the second half of 2014. The Indians took a chance, offering him a contract extension but after year one seems to be worth the investment.
That team friendly contract that keeps him through 2020 will appeal to a lot of teams. The other guy of interest is going to be Danny Salazar. Salazar has also had his inconsistencies going between the majors and AAA, but he has some really great strikeout stuff. If he can stay consistent and limit his bad outings and pitch count, he can be a number two pitcher on a team. At age 25, he is three years younger than Carrasco and has yet to hit arbitration.
He will come at a low salary cost to a team which means a team may be willing to eat some of a player’s contract to help match the differences if the Indians were to trade for somebody. The Indians could go either way with whoever they decide to trade but they are the two guys that are expendable that will bring in the most return for the team.
If the Indians want to take the next step and get that power bat that has plagued the team for years, one of these guys almost has to go this week.
There have been rumors galore linking the Indians to almost everybody out there. I’m curious to see who the Indians will go after. The only thing for certain is this is the biggest week for the Indians going forward. They need to find a trade partner to take on one of these guys and get the bat we lack or make some other small moves that will improve the team.
They have some promising youngsters in Bradley Zimmer and Clint Frazier that should probably arrive in 2017, but need some carry over before then. Here’s to hoping the Indians can be like the Royals and put the finishing touches this team needs to get them to the Promised Land because boy does Cleveland need it.
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