MLB Trade Rumors: Are The Cleveland Indians Sellers Now?

by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 9:39 AM EDT in Baseball

Wow! Cleveland Indians catcher Victor Martinez is going to have to wait until August to get the chance to hit his first home run of the 2008 season. Maybe more amazing is last year's AL Central winner may now find its hand forced into playing for next season. Injuries to Travis Hafner, Fausto Carmona and Jake Westbrook compound the Martinez injury. If the hints about Grady Sizemore from Will Carroll's Under The Knife column contain truth, then Grady Sizemore may be dealing with some unannounced injury, too.

All of this makes free-gent-to-be C.C. Sabathia the in-season equivalent of Johan Santana last winter. Every potential trade and/or trade rumor will be contingent on what the Indians do with Sabathia and which team acquires him.

Will the Red Sox deal their top prospects for a lesser a pitcher or will they wait for the resolution of Sabathia trade talks? The Chicago Cubs? The New York Yankees? The Los Angeles Dodgers? Those four clubs have the prospects to deal to get C.C. Sabathia, and the means to keep him from free agency with a $100+ MM contract extension.

At this point, speculating who will acquire Sabathia puts the cart ahead of the horse. The initial focus needs to be on what the Indians need to fill organizationally and then work from that point towards which team can meet those needs.

The Indians need hitting at the outfield corners and in the infield. Dave Dellucci, Ben Francisco, Franklin Guitierrez, Shin Soo Choo are great 4th outfielders. Andy Marte and Asdrubal Cabrera have youth on their side, but nothing else.

If the Indians decide to use Sabathia to address hitting, the Los Angeles Dodgers have the best fits. 3B Andy LaRoche has the plate discipline the Indians like, and he doesn't appear to be a favorite in LA. He easily fills 3B. Juan Pierre has proven he is what he is, and Joe Torre likes him as a result. Including Matt Kemp would improve upon the Indians current crop of younger outfielders. Andre Ethier doesn't do it to the same extent as he is close to what the Indians currnently have.

Would an offer of 3B Andy LaRoche and Andre Ethier get a deal done? I'm not sure. Including Matt Kemp would, but I'd expect the Dodgers to try and improve another area by getting the Indians to include another piece. Some obvious players would be those Indians whose contracts expire at season's end or the year after. Could the Dodgers use a veteran reliever like Joe Borowski? Maybe they like a veteran outfielder and left-handed bat like Dave Dellucci?

Poll

Would 3B Andy LaRoche and OF Andre Ethier be enough to get C.C. Sabathia?

Yes. Both players becomes immediate starters who the Indians can control for several years.

25 votes

No. The market for top starting pitchers was set by Dan Haren and Johan Santana. At least one more prospect will need to be added.

75 votes

100 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 12 comments

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Stark on Yankees

Dan (Buffalo, NY): Jayson, don’t you think the Yankees will be more desperate for Sabathia come July and therefore overspend for him? What are your thoughts on a Sabathia/Peralta for Cano and two mid level hitting prospects deal? Jayson Stark: (1:05 PM ET ) Brian Cashman would have to completely change philosophies to make that deal. For one thing, Robinson Cano and two “mid-level” prospects wouldn’t do it. It’s going to take three high-level young players. And if the Yankees wouldn’t make that trade for Johan Santana, whom they at least would have had around for years, why would they make it for a rent-a-player? And while the obvious response is, they could negotiate and sign him, what would Sabathia want to give up free agency? He’d want (ta-taa) the Santana contract. So if he gets traded, how can it be to the Yankees?

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by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 1:11 PM EDT 0 recs

More Stark

I think LaRoche and Ethier top two 1st round picks, don’t you?

Dan (Buffalo, NY): Jayson, ok so I guess he’s not going to the Yankees. But he will get traded, right? Especially now that Martinez will be out two months they have no choice but to move him, dont they? Jayson Stark: This is a Sabathia question, for those who weren’t sure. And no, I don’t think it’s accurate to say the Indians have “no choice” here. They do have a choice. They can keep him, hope they get it going and take the two draft picks when he leaves. And they’re telling teams that in order to justify trading him, they would have to do better than two No. 1 picks (which is the best-case compensation package). That’s a very, very tough price tag for a midseason deal in this day and age, especially for a rent-a-player.

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by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 1:39 PM EDT up 0 recs

+1

I am shocked at the poll results. Ethier and Laroche are MAJOR leaguers. The Twins and A’s got MINOR leaguers in their trades for Johan and Haren. Maybe LA throws in a A type player like Baez-a guy BA rated as their 10th best prospect-but nothing else. Baez is expendable with Bell hitting well in AA and they just drafted Martin who can play 3b or pitch…not sure what their plans are for him.
LA needs an ace…Lowe and Penny cannot win big games vs the likes of Johan, Zambrano, Webb, Peavy. MAybe in the next year or two Billingsley or Kershaw can get to that level, but they are not there yet.

raygu

by raygu on Jun 13, 2008 3:10 PM EDT up 0 recs

For the sake of argument

LaRoche hasn’t proved himself at the major-league level (yet? Maybe he will, maybe not.). Ethier just hasn’t shown much power or speed. They’re not the greatest trade pieces for Cleveland. If I’m trading Sabathia, I want more.

by Xavier. on Jun 14, 2008 2:42 AM EDT up 0 recs

You know

I wish I could be the one to take the credit for this, but what about the Rays? Milo’s in McMahon floated this idea to me today, If they are still in contention come July 1st, they could put together an incredible package based around Brignac, Wade Davis and a lower tiered prospect that would have to have CLE salivating….and with that, based on the Beckham pick, they would still have an amazing farm system….

WOW, another player in the game, come on down Tampa Bay!

by thomasps3 on Jun 13, 2008 1:17 PM EDT 0 recs

that's an incredible package??

seriously? I know Davis is pitching well….but Brignac?? tell me how it is better than Ethier and Laroche??

raygu

by raygu on Jun 13, 2008 3:11 PM EDT up 0 recs

TB

Maybe, but I’d think the Rays would save their bullets for next season. Doing it after three months of relative success smakcs a little of the Greg Vaughn/Fred McGriff/Vinny Castilla/Wilson Alvarez days.

Another would be the willingness of the Rays to sign Sabathia to an extension. If they won’t, that would lower the price they’d be willing to pay – not that Brignac, Davis and a lesser prospect wouldn’t rival the Humber/Delois/Mulvey portion of the Santana trade.

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by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 1:36 PM EDT 0 recs

TB

Well, Tampa may realize that although a team seems poised for long term success you still have to take a shot at winning the World Series when the opportunity arises. They play in the same division as two of the smartest and richest teams in baseball so it’s not like they will ever have a cakewalk to the playoffs. Their system is deep enough now that they can afford to trade some of their prospects for CC and really not lose much. Then when he walks as a FA they get 2 more draft picks.

by DB11 on Jun 13, 2008 1:48 PM EDT 0 recs

World Series?

Unless the Rays are leading the Wild Card in a month, I don’t think they roll the dice. Maybe if attendence skyrockets, they’d do differently, but apathetic fans bases (apathy measured by attendence) won’t get it done.

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by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 1:58 PM EDT up 0 recs

Apathetic Fans

Well, we don’t know if they would be apathetic towards a winning team…and the fact that they are playing well now and fans aren’t showing up doesn’t count. You have to wait until August/September to judge.

by DB11 on Jun 13, 2008 4:09 PM EDT 0 recs

Too late

If the Rays acquire Sabathia and are chasing the Wild Card, why would the fans show up then when they don’t show up now?

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by faketeams on Jun 13, 2008 4:20 PM EDT up 0 recs

Never Too Late

Because the general public does not believe the team is for real. If they were to trade for CC and be in the race there would be an excitement around the team that has never existed before. There is certainly a chance that the team will not draw. But I don’t think the point has been reached that the Rays are a winning team, where are the fans?

by DB11 on Jun 13, 2008 4:37 PM EDT 0 recs