3 Trades Indians Should Make to Facilitate Fire Sale
By Parker White
The Cleveland Indians are a .500 team 60 games into the 2019 season and are currently 10.5 games back of the AL Central. This is not the start they expected, and it'll only be tougher now that one of their top arms, Carlos Carrasco, is out indefinitely with a non-baseball related health issue.
Cleveland has talent up and down the roster, but after a relatively quiet offseason and a slow start to the year, it may be time to blow it all up and hit the rebuild button. Barring a miraculous turnaround, it doesn't look like the Tribe will be able to salvage the season and make a playoff run.
With that in mind, here are three trades the Cleveland Indians should make to facilitate a fire sale and stock up on young talent.
3. Send Carlos Santana to Houston
The Houston Astros don't have a lot of weak spots on their roster, but they aren't getting anything from first base. They have a combined four home runs and rank 27th with a .675 OPS at the position. The addition of Carlos Santana would fix that, and he would be more than a rental for a club who is in contention for at least a couple more years.
Astros receive: 1B/DH Carlos Santana
Indians receive: OF Derek Fisher and RHP J.B. Bukauskas
2. Dodgers Beef Up Bullpen with Brad Hand
There's no point in keeping around a top-notch closer if you are tearing it down, so lefty reliever Brad Hand is on the market. The Los Angeles Dodgers could win the National League with what they have, but could you imagine what the back-end would look like with Kenley Jansen and Hand? That's pretty lethal.
Dodgers receive: LHP Brad Hand
Indians receive: C Will Smith, RHP Dennis Santana and INF Jeter Downs
1. Braves Augment Rotation with Trevor Bauer
The Atlanta Braves appear to be out on the Craig Kimbrel sweepstakes and the Yankees are the favorites to sign Dallas Keuchel. If they whiff on both, that still leaves a pitching need for the Braves, in the rotation and the bullpen. They could fix one of those weak areas by using their loaded farm system to acquire Trevor Bauer, who's been one of the best in the game over the last couple years.
Braves receive: RHP Trevor Bauer
Indians receive: RHP Bryse Wilson, C William Contreras and LHP Luiz Gohara