A little bit of everything happened at this year’s MLB Winter Meetings, unless you ask a Cleveland Indians fan. There was some scandal around flamethrower Aroldis Chapman in a trade between the Cincinnati Reds and the LA Dodgers with a now pending investigation and possible suspension. Deals were made that were expected to break the dam and create a flood of trades and talks, like Ben Zobrist going to Chicago Cubs, but only set off little waves of rumors and talks. Some prospects were traded like the Diamondbacks’ Aaron Blair and Dansby Swanson to the Atlanta Braves with outfielder Ender Inciarte in return for RHP Shelby Miller. A lot of people were excited by this deal, hoping again it was cause a tsunami of talks turned trades to commence but for the most part things stayed quiet.
From day one the rumors have been whispered and posted, creating fear and excitement across the world of baseball. Some fans nervously began to get used to the idea to trade away a favorite player, while others happily hoped for trades to be done in order to make their team that much better. It’s not a game for the faint of heart, and yet it’s something we crave once the final out of the world series is called. The Indians are as far into these trade rumors as anyone this year, leaving the winter meetings without a right-handed power bat, a bullpen arm but created a bit of noise with who they have on the block.
Going into the off season they’d said that their pitchers are not on the trade block, BUT because as we know nobody is really safe in the off season, it seems they’re more on the trade table than anyone else on the roster.
It seemed like the Indians went into this week ready to dangle their pitching in front of all the arm-hungry teams but with little drive to actually make a deal where the return was less than the universe. In their defense, the starting rotation of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson (and Trevor Bauer?) is a collection of pitchers that’s almost impossible to come by. Everyone knows that a team can never have enough good pitching, so it’s understandable that the Indians would hold on tight, but with the needs of the team being presented before them throughout the week (and probably before this week) one would hope that something would have been done.
Sources: #Cubs talked with #Indians about trading for Carrasco or Salazar, with package to Cleveland including Soler; no momentum now.
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) December 10, 2015
After the news came out that leftfielder Michael Brantley might miss the first two months of the regular season, things ramped up to find an outfielder who can fill his cleats and hold down the fort. They did sign Collin Cowgill from the Angels in exchange for cash a few weeks ago which gives a good buffer to use while Brantley is on the DL, but still many questions remain for the rest of the outfield positions. They also claimed OF Joey Butler off of waivers from the Tampa Bay Rays in hopes to keep him as a fourth outfielder behind Abraham Amonte and Lonnie Chisenhall.
Doesn’t sound like Todd Frazier coming to Indians, but teams have talked about more than Frazier. Tribe thinks price on Frazier is high.
— paul hoynes (@hoynsie) December 9, 2015
#Marlins have aimed high in their Marcell Ozuna trade talks — i.e., Yordano Ventura, Taijuan Walker, Danny Salazar. Serious asks. — Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) December 10, 2015
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Would you put Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco in a deal for Reds 1B/3B Todd Frazier? What about Danny Salazar in a deal for Miami Marlins CF Marcel Ozuna? Both two deals that had the Indians interested but not enough to shake hands and trade players over, leaving twitter to hope and speculate at what the team is trying to get done.
That’s the fun of this time of year though. Nobody ever really knows what to expect when going into the meetings, and no player is really off limits (we see you, Jose Fernandez) if the right price comes up. And for the teams like the Indians who stayed under the radar, there is still a ton of time left for deals to be made. For all we know this was their time to sit and watch what the rest of baseball’s moves were, so now we as fans curiously wait and hope that there is a big move on the horizon of Lake Erie.
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