The Cleveland Indians made two deals before the trading deadline, and we have no problem with either of them.
We do have a problem with the trade or trades that they didn’t make.
Dealing Justin Masterson, who was suffering through a terrible season and can’t put together two solid seasons in row is fine here. He’s a free agent at the end of the season, and the Tribe wasn’t going to make the qualifying offer, so to get a solid prospect in James Ramsey, a top ten guy in a solid farm system like the Cardinals, is a good move.
Moving SS Asdrubal Cabrera, a player who has declined at the plate and in the field, and is also a free agent at the end of the year also makes sense.
The player coming back from Washington, INF Zach Walters, is a switch-hitting power hitter who strikes out a lot. He’s listed as a shortstop, but with Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Erik Gonzalez in the system, his future is likely at third.
Power hitters are worth a gamble, and again, the Tribe wasn’t going to keep Cabrera anyway, why not take a look at someone with a little pop in his bat.
The problem is GM Chris Antonetti didn’t address the problem areas on his squad, even though the Indians sit just five games out of a playoff spot.
They didn’t address their pitching problems.
Now, we understand the Indians didn’t have the prospects to go out and get a Jon Lester or David Price, and though it would be nice to do that, they really didn’t need to.
They needed to get someone better than Zack McAllister, Josh Tomlin, or T. J. House, and they failed in doing that.
The Twins traded Sam Fuld, SAM FULD!, to get Tommy Milone out of Oakland. Milone is a better pitcher than any of the three players we mentioned. But he won’t be coming to Cleveland.
Currently, the Indians are in a race for the second wild card spot, or at least on paper they are, even though the front office obviously doesn’t think so.
Three of the other four teams in the race, the Mariners, Yankees, Royals, made moves to strengthen their teams. The Indians chose to sit this one out.
Antonetti needed to go out and get someone to bolster his pitching staff, and he failed. Again.
That’s the profile of this organization. They rarely go out and make a bold move, either in the off-season or at the trading deadline. We guess based on that we shouldn’t be all that disappointed.
However, the Indians seem mystified that the fans in Cleveland aren’t drawn to them. It’s because of the lack of faith in the organization, and they can’t figure that out.
Earlier in the week, we tweeted that an organization that is 3-1/2 games out (which the Tribe was at the time) and didn’t make a move deserves the ire of their fan base.
And if they did want to create some buzz, they would bring up Lindor and let him play shortstop the rest of the season. Of course, they won’t do that either.
When you have a chance to make the playoffs, even a one game wild card contest, you have to take the chance because you don’t know when you will get another shot.
Instead, the Tribe will go with their usual strategy of wishing and hoping for guys like House and/or McAllister to come through.
Maybe they should also hope fans will show up at Progressive Field.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 