The Cleveland Indians were involved in a blockbuster trade Tuesday night, trading starter Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in the three team deal that netted the Tribe slugging outfielders Yasiel Puig, Franmil Reyes, left handed prospect Logan Allen, and two lower level prospects.
Certainly, president Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff addressed the club’s offensive issues, the Indians rank 10th in the AL in runs scored. It was needed to keep the team in the playoff race.
The question is did they damage the club’s biggest strength, the starting rotation.
During the winter, we advocated for trading a starting pitcher because of the rotation depth, but at that time, Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco were healthy, and you had five above average starters.
While we understand Bauer wasn’t having the same success he had a year ago, he still is one of the league’s better pitchers, and there was a certain comfort of knowing when he went to the mound, and the same can be said about Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber, Cleveland has a pretty good chance of winning.
Now, instead of three nights out of five with that feeling, you are down to two.
This isn’t to denigrate Zach Plesac, who has made just 12 big league starts, and has pitched pretty well, but he doesn’t have the experience or the track record to garner that confidence.
As for the other two spots, right now they are being filled by Adam Plutko, who is a really a hit or miss proposition at this point, and Danny Salazar, who hasn’t pitched in a big league game since 2017.
And as for the return of Corey Kluber from his broken arm, remember, he wasn’t pitching well when he got hurt, and he will have missed three and a half months by the time he returns.
If anyone knows how he will perform when he gets back, please send us the winning numbers for the next Mega Millions drawing.
Yes, the Indians will score more runs, but the fear is instead of losing 2-0 against good teams, they will now lose 7-5.
Could the Tribe have updated the offense without giving up Bauer, possibly by getting a couple of rentals, which by the way, Puig is? We will never now.
Allen is a top 100 prospect in the game, but he has struggled in the majors with San Diego and at AAA this season, so it is doubtful he will help the big league club in 2019.
We are all for trading from a strength, but we didn’t feel the Indians had an excess of starting pitchers, not with the injury to Kluber and Carlos Carrasco’s illness.
Perhaps we’d feel differently if the Indians’ upgraded the bullpen, but they didn’t, so we don’t think Terry Francona can lean on his relievers to make up for the absence of Bauer.
Remember, Bauer’s ability to throw around 120 pitches per start helped protect the bullpen, and there is no one who will take over in the rotation who is capable of that.
Did this trade make the Indians a better team than they were on Monday? We can’t be certain.
The Tribe is better offensively, but their rotation isn’t as deep, and their bullpen isn’t any better, and that’s a big factor.
For the Indians to overtake Minnesota or win a wild card berth, the key will be how well the starting pitching is. If Plesac can continue his strong rookie season, if Salazar can show a glimpse of the pitcher he was in 2013-mid 2016, if Kluber can return to his Cy Young form.
As we well now, that word, “if” might be the biggest word there is.
MW
Cleveland Sports Perspective 