The Indians added two power-hitting outfielders for the stretch run in adding Franmil Reyes from San Diego and Yasiel Puig from Cincinnati, two pitching prospects in Logan Allen from the Padres and Scott Moss from the Reds and a young infielder that played in the Arizona Rookie League for the San Diego team entry in Victor Nova.
The cost of this haul?
Trevor Bauer (to the Reds, while the Padres portion saw them add minor league outfield prospect Taylor Trammell) from the starting rotation.
That's all, but it's huge "that's all" for a team trying to contend for the AL Central title and that now has their top three starters entering the season currently either traded or injured (Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco).
Bauer was under control of the Indians for only the 2020 season but could have once again taken the team to arbitration where Bauer was the winner in last winter's case and would have been a free agent following the 2020 season.
Bauer notched a record of 9-8 this season for Cleveland with an ERA of 3.79 in 24 starts and was considered to be the best-righthanded starter available at the trade deadline.
Bauer's incident in his last start that saw him fire the ball from the mound over the outfield batters eye after being removed from the game might have been the difference in listening to offers and feeling that the Indians had to make a deal.
Bauer is a talented pitcher, with temperamental quirks that might make him a player that is best suited to a team in small doses of a few years before he wears out his welcome and that seems to be the case in Cleveland.
The Indians return was vast and interesting on a few different levels.
The biggest name is the mercurial Yasiel Puig, who was hitting .252 with 22 homers, 61 RBI and 14 steals for the Reds in 2019.
The right-handed hitting outfielder is a free agent at the end of the season and is more than likely a rental player for the remainder of 2019.
Puig will play right field for the Indians but may miss a few of his initial games with Cleveland as in his last night with the Reds, Puig was involved in a brawl with the Pirates and could be facing a suspension.
At 28 years old, Puig will be likely on his best behavior and will be motivated for his first swing at free agency, so Puig is more than capable of a strong performance down the stretch.
The main piece of the trade is someone that I have thought for quite a while would be an excellent fit with the Indians as outfielder Franmil Reyes will slot in as the Indians DH for the remainder of the season.
I have written (and tweeted) about my desire for the Indians (or Giants) to acquire or re-acquire Clint Frazier at the trade deadline with both teams need for a young outfielder with plus power that would be under the team's control for several years, but Franmil Reyes was my clear second choice to fill that need.
The 24-year-old has already hit 27 homers this season, hitting. 255 on a San Diego team that had a surplus of young outfielders with power.
Reyes is going to provide power and with the juiced ball in play, Reyes has the type of pop that could see him slam forty homers and his power for a righthanded hitter plays well to all fields, which should see him have success in Jacobs Field.
Reyes is under the Indians control through 2024 and therefore affordable, but he does have some flaws.
Reyes is a below-average runner at 24, he won't get faster as ages and he's below-average defensively so that won't improve very much either, although hard work and positioning could help him a little.
Still, young yet somewhat proven power bats like Reyes aren't often swapped in trades with that amount of years to be used by their new team and Franmil Reyes is exactly what the Indians lack with their current young players.
The Indians also added two lefthanded pitchers with intrigue in Logan Allen and Scott Moss.
Allen, who was assigned to AAA Columbus, was regarded as a top 100 level prospect entering the season and posted a 2-3 record with a 6.75 ERA in eight games with San Diego, starting four of them.
Allen pitched very well in his first two starts, but was hammered in his following two and had been returned to AAA El Paso where he was 4-3 with a surprisingly high ERA of 5.15 in 13 starts in the West Texas town.
Allen is not an exceptionally gifted thrower and gets by with guile and deception more than throwing pure gas.
Allen just turned 22, so it did seem like the Padres were moving him a bit prematurely to the bigs after not having really conquered AAA yet, but he still should eventually be a solid 4th or 5th starter type for the Indians.
The 6'5 Moss, a 4th rounder from 2016 and the University of Florida, was 6-5 with a 3.44 ERA in twenty starts this year for Cincinnati's AA affiliate, the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Moss struck out 127 batters and walked 57 in 102 innings and was rated as the 12th best prospect in the Reds system before the trade by MLB Pipeline.
Moss has been projected as a 4th or 5th starter or a long reliever capable of filling in as a starter.
Moss was assigned to AA Akron.
The final player was the proverbial lottery ticket in Victor Nova, a 19-year-old infielder, who was playing for the AZL Padres.
Nova was mainly playing third base, but also spent time in the outfield in his AZL season, where he was hitting.330 with a homer in 91 at-bats.
Nova is just 5'9 and at that size, Nova may be tried eventually at second.
Nova stayed in the AZL, moving to the Indians squad there.
Here's my take: The Indians gained several players here, yet didn't fall into the total quantity over quality department such as when the Orioles last year traded Manny Machado to the Dodgers for one prospect in the Dodgers top ten (but not top five) and four players from 15-30.
Whereas the Indians didn't land one of the Padres top five prospects from a loaded San Diego program, Franmil Reyes more than counts as equal to that level considering his age and MLB time, they still landed Reyes, Logan Allen (top ten Padres), Scott Moss (top 15 Reds), a lottery ticket that they must have seen something worthwhile in Victor Nova and the veteran bat for a postseason run in Yasiel Puig.
I don't think that this could have been topped, especially considering that Trevor Bauer might have been a player that, for all his ability, Cleveland could not keep, and even though the minor leaguers involved might not be elite prospects, Chris Antonelli and the Indians have made what seems to be an excellent deal for deals of these types.
Well, that took longer than I expected and I still have to work on the final day's trades, where the Giants finished a few deals, importing a few players and exported a few as well, while the Pirates made one minor transaction.
I'll be working on those trades in the next post.
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