The Cleveland Indians have traded Trevor Bauer to the Cincinnati Reds in a three-team deal with the San Diego Padres. The Indians were compensated with Franmil Reyes, Yasiel Puig, and Logan Allen.
The trade deadline always breeds ingenuity, aggressive teams and low market clubs are going to have to be creative in order to compete with the other clubs. The Cleveland Indians were in a position where they had to parlay the excellent Trevor Bauer into future roster players. They would never be able to afford him once he hit free agency and with the looming expiration of Francisco Lindor‘s team control, they have to plan for the inevitable fate of a future without him.
The Cincinnati Reds sit 6.5 games back in the NL Wild Card race, however, they view themselves as a club ready to compete next season.
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The Indians did not simply discard their pursuit for the postseason and possibly the division. They dealt from a position of strength- Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber are on the verge of a return- in order to stabilize a position of weakness. Franmil Reyes and Yasiel Puig are two powerful right-handed batters that will not only provide outfield depth, but they will also allow Terry Francona to comfortably fill out the lineup confidently.
In essence, this move was an attempt to buy and sell. They sold an asset with diminishing value- due to a contract expiring in 2020- for a budding talent with over five years of team control in Reyes and a rental with good power in Puig. Not to mention they also added pitching depth in the form of Logan Allen – who is listed as a top-100 prospect overall by MLB Pipeline.
The Indians rotation will now be composed of Kluber, Carrasco, Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, and Zach Plesac. The loss of Bauer is obviously weakening the rotation, he is among the best pitchers in the league, good enough to be the ace of a staff. However, adding Reyes and Puig to the lineup will absolutely bring the element of power Cleveland’s outfield is lacking.
If they did not attempt a move such as this, Cleveland was setting themselves up to attempt the insane. They would have entered the postseason with an eerily similar roster to 2018 and expect something besides an easy defeat to the Astros or Yankees in the division series. This ensures that at the very least, Cleveland’s front office is being proactive and can still compete, while keeping the future in mind.
As for the Padres, they received Taylor Tremel an exceedingly talented outfield prospect who can add even more depth to a farm system that is already filled to the brim with it.