The Cleveland Indians have held dominion over the American League Central for the last three seasons. With former AL Central champs like the Kansas City Royals and Detroit Tigers finally selling out to rebuild and the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins seemingly years away from reaching their full potential, the Indians ran the Central behind a lethal starting rotation and their dynamic duo of Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez.
But things were different heading into this season. While the division as a whole was stacking up to be the worst in the bigs, the Twins retooled in the hopes of making a surprise run at the Indians' crown.
Things grew more ominous when both Ramirez and Lindor went down with early injuries, and only worsened when rising star pitcher Mike Clevinger joined them on the Injured List.
The Twins, however, were never going to wait around for Cleveland to heal. Instead, Minnesota jumped out an eight-game lead over the Indians with a 32-16 record entering play on May 22.
Cleveland, meanwhile, has adhered to their preseason storyline of “not enough hitting.” The Indians had scored just 188 runs, which is third-worst in the American League. To make matters worse, Ramirez was hitting below .200 with a mere .303 slugging percentage.
Although the season is still young, and the Indians will do everything in their power to win their fourth consecutive AL Central title, the writing feels like it is on the wall. The Twins are the more well-balanced team, and their young nucleus is now fully emerged.
With that notion in mind, here are three reasons that the Indians should be sellers at the July deadline:
1. They have the assets… and the depth
You have probably heard Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer's names in trade rumors on numerous occasions. And perhaps you thought “That's crazy, they are the 1-2 guys in Cleveland's starting rotation.”
All of that may be true, but the bigger picture is crucial in assessing how the Indians should move forward with both Kluber and Bauer.
For example, earlier this winter Cleveland locked up Carlos Carrasco through 2022. Second-year starter Shane Bieber is just 24 and leads the team with a 3.22 ERA. Jefry Rodriguez has shown some promise through his first five starts, and the Indians also will have Clevinger back in the mix. The last three all have multiple arbitration years remaining, so there is some leverage in terms of team control and depth.
Meanwhile, Kluber has an extremely appealing deal to potential contenders. He has two years remaining after this season, but both at around $18 million, and both years have club options attached. For his part, Bauer still has another year of arbitration in 2020 before he can hit the open market as an unrestricted free agent.
The combination of deadline demand for premium starters in addition to the fairly team-friendly contracts that Cleveland's top two starters possess make them extremely valuable.
Remember how high the Pittsburgh Pirates sold on Chris Archer last season? They gave up Tyler Glasnow and Austin Meadows, both of whom are already major contributors for a Rays team that could contend in the AL East for years to come.
The Indians could sell high on Kluber and Bauer and still have a tremendously productive staff capable of keeping the team in every single game. That is a luxury that not many teams have, especially when it comes to starting pitching. Cleveland should capitalize on that luxury.
2. Distinct need for outfield talent
It seems like the Indians are always in need of quality outfielders. This became a more glaring need once Michael Brantley left the team to sign with the Houston Astros in free agency. Coincidentally, Brantley is having one of the best seasons of his career.
According to Baseball-Reference, the Indians rank 23rd in the league in terms of outfield WAR. Aside from a lack of quality at the major league level, Cleveland has just five outfield prospects in their top 30, according to MLB Pipeline.
Jake Bauers is not an outfielder by trade, and Carlos Gonzalez is likely on his way out of the league. And is Leonys Martin really an everyday player in center field?
The Indians need to address this need immediately and commit to stocking their farm system with young outfielders that could be in the big leagues within a year or two. There are plenty of teams with tremendous outfield depth (just ask the Dodgers), and they could likely find a proper trade partner to give them the right return in this regard.
3. Preparing for Lindor
This might actually be the most evident reason for why the Indians remained so cheap while the other contenders in the league seemed to improve this offseason.
Ramirez is practically locked up through 2022 (the Indians have a team option that year), but Lindor will be a free agent after the 2021 season, and the Indians probably would be far better off extending him as soon as possible rather than seeing him hit the open market.
Lindor is unquestionably a top three shortstop in baseball, and he has only gotten better since his rookie season.
While the Indians would love to remain a competitive team as they try to build around their superstar, but that simply has not happened due in part to low payroll and a lack of farm talent from a position player perspective. Heck, the Indians brought back Carlos Santana mostly as a filler and he has been the team's best hitter so far this season.
But Cleveland has an opportunity to salvage their future by dumping committed salaries while simultaneously acquiring prospects that could develop into a promising young core alongside Lindor.
In fact, a commitment to getting younger and acquiring new pieces could actually be something that entices Lindor into extending, rather than standing pat and relying on the current roster to drag this Indians team to a potential playoff appearance.
The Twins may indeed have the upper-hand in 2019, and there is no reason for the Indians to continue to gamble with their future merely to reach the postseason. Instead, they would be better off selling now while they still have ample assets.
Follow Us
Subscribe