MLB Rumors: Cleveland Indians Dark Horse to Trade For Yankees Reliever

According the MLB insider Buster Olney, the Cleveland Indians and General Manager Mike Chernoff might stray away from their norm of being conservative leading up to MLB Trade Deadline and actually look to trade a significant haul in order to acquire the final piece to their puzzle.

Olney reported on Wednesday afternoon that ‘rival evaluators’ see the Indians as a dark horse to acquire high-end reliever(s), specifically one of Aroldis Chapman or Andrew Miller should the New York Yankees ultimately decide to put them on the trade block.

After taking two-of-three from the very same Cleveland Indians to close out the first half of the season, the Yankees will resume play after the All-Star Break at an even .500 (44-44) and 5.5 games out of the second American League Wild Card slot, so it’s still unclear as to what direction the Yankees will head as we near the MLB Trade Deadline.

Should the Bronx Bombers get off to a hot start in the second half of the season, Yankees GM Brian Cashman might elect to stick with his guns and shoot for another playoff run. If they’re slow out of the gates and fall below the .500 mark, we might very well see a trade between the Yanks and Indians.

So what might the Yankees look for from the Indians in return for one of their premier southpaw relievers?

Let’s start with a prospect packaged headlined by at least one of Cleveland’s top prospects such as 23-year old outfielder Bradley Zimmer or 21-year outfielder Clint Frazier as well as tier-two prospects like Brady Aiken, Mike Clevinger and Yandy Diaz.

Bradley Zimmer, ranked #22 on MLB Top 100 Prospects and Clint Frazier ranked #23 respectively are projected to be five-tool players for their future MLB club. If I’m the Yankees, I would push for Frazier because he’s projected to be a 20-20 guy and is currently tearing the cover off the ball at Double-A Akron.

The Yankees are also in dire need of controllable starting pitching, and both southpaw Brady Aiken and Mike Clevenger (who already made his major league debut) are on track to be impact starting pitchers. Yandy Diaz on the other hand is an appealing third-baseman who the Yankees can use to replace Eric Jagielo, whom they originally traded in order to acquire Aroldis Chapman from the Cincinnati Reds.

Heres a look at some potential trade packages:

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The Indians are also rumored to be in the mix for an impact bat, so perhaps Carlos Beltran‘s name can be thrown into trade discussions as well.

Stay tuned.