They weren't one of those, but they did make two small trades that they hope will improve themselves defensively/
In the first trade, the Indians acquired veteran centerfielder Leonys Martin along with minor league pitcher Kyle Dowdy from the Detroit Tigers in exchange for minor league shortstop Willi Castro.
Martin is the centerpiece of the deal, as he will be expected to shore up a flagging Indian defense in the outfield.
The 30 year old Martin will play against righties in a platoon with Rajai Davis, who will start against southpaws.
Martin was hitting .252 with the Tigers with nine homers, so he's not without his occasional helpful spots with the stick, but he's never hit higher than .274 or hit more than 15 homers, so counting on him for more than the defensive help is likely to be looking for Fool's Gold,
Minor league right-hander Kyle Dowdy was thrown into the deal.
Dowdy split the season with the Tigers AA (Erie) and AAA (Toledo) affiliates and didn't post even interesting numbers, so he seems to be a toss-in by any standards.
Dowdy was used as a starter for Toledo and a reliever for Erie, so maybe the Indians see something in him as a reliever and assigned him to AA Akron.
The Indians gave up a nice prospect in shortstop Willi Castro, who was hitting .246 with 5 homers and 13 steals for the AA Akron Rubber Ducks.
The Indians did have the depth to move Castro, as he might have repeated AA anyway with the Indians being stocked at the middle infield positions.
I don't mind trading Castro because of the depth chart, using the minors to add talent is part of a strong system, but I always hate losing talented players.
In the other smaller deal, the Indians traded for toolsy centerfielder (see where this is going?) Oscar Mercado from the St.Louis Cardinals.
Considering the position now and for next year with Bradley Zimmer missing some of the 2019 season, the Indians must think Mercado can contend for playing time next season.
Mercado was assigned to AAA Columbus after hitting. 285 with 8 homers and 31 steals for AAA Memphis and turns 24 in December.
This might be a deal that looks much larger down the road as Mercado could be a contributor for the 2019 Indians.
Conner Capel is the more known of the two players going to the Redbirds as the son of former big league pitcher Mike Capel.
Capel hit .261 with 6 homers and 15 steals for High A Lynchburg, but I'm not sure has long-term prospect type status.
The other player was a lottery ticket in Columbian outfielder Jhon Torres, who at 18 was playing for the AZL Indians at the time of the trade, hitting. 273 with 4 homers in 99 at bats in Tucson.
Hoping to find time tonight for the Pirates trades and the boxing challenge.
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