Cleveland traded Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn (the Indians high priced free agent signings of the 2013 off season) to Atlanta for third baseman Chris Johnson.
Cleveland also added some extra cash to a trade that was more about salary relief for the 2016 off-season than about actual baseball improvement.
Swisher has suffered through injury issues over the last two seasons after having a pretty good first season of an expensive contract while Bourn has seen his batting average and stolen bases tumble in each of his Cleveland years and appears to be a player reliant on his legs while age slows his game down.
Both players had one year left on their contracts,but at sizable amounts (29 million for the two),but Chris Johnson has two years remaining on his deal at 7.5 and 9 million,so this saves the Tribe a little bit of dough.
The thirty year old Johnson was a .321 hitter just two years ago,so he could be a reclamation project or at least a fill-in at first and third,but could also be shipped elsewhere again in an attempt to trim the payroll a bit.
In the end,it shows the problems for small market teams signing big contracts for free agents-You just cannot miss on these signings.
A bigger market can make impact with signings and be able to eat the losses on players that do not work out.
Cleveland cannot.
Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn were brought in to Cleveland to help put a borderline team over the top into the playoffs and they helped.
For one season and one playoff game,ever since their contracts and statistics have been a drag on the franchise and just moving them on is a good thing-no matter the return...
Big weekend for me,so don't be surprised if I am not around for a few days.
If I am,it will most likely be about Altoona...
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