Cleveland Indians: 5 Missed Players at the 2015 Trade Deadline

May 3, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; General view of the scoreboard during a video review in the sixth inning of the game between the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The MLB Trade Deadline passed last week with the Cleveland Indians being a seller.

This year’s MLB Trade Deadline was once again a dud for the Cleveland Indians. The team again did not make any big moves. The Tribe deciding instead to focus on the future by trading away veterans from their big league roster. It’s an all too common theme in the Mark Shapiro/Chris Antonetti era of running the front office.

There were rumors of the team looking at players. Unfortunately, that led to fans being disappointed after no significant player(s) ended up in a trade package for Cleveland, who would contribute this season.

Cleveland was even willing to trade Carlos Carrasco (11-8, 3.76 ERA) who is having a pretty good season as the #2 starter. Instead the team made moves like trading Brandon Moss, David Murphy, and Marc Rzepczynski for minor leaguers.

However, none of the trades addressed the team’s offense. The struggles of the Cleveland Indians offense are well documented this season, and the “struggle is real.” Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer wrote about the offense in his August 2nd Sunday Notes. He cited that the Cleveland Indians have the fewest runs in MLB since June 1st with 174. That’s less than three runs a game. Even the best pitchers in the game give up 3 or more on average. They simply do not have an effective major league offense.

So why didn’t Chris Antonetti make a move? Why can’t this front office see that their pitchers are doing their job and the offense can’t? They continue to let the media drum up hope and hype that they are looking to make big moves at the trade deadline, but always come up short or selling. It’s not even like it’s just a 2015 thing. This is something that has plagued the team throughout the Mark Shapiro and Chris Antonetti tenure.

They’re afraid of being aggressors in a trade for a “big bat.” Yes, the free agent signings of Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn, and even  the trade for Brandon Moss have come back to bite them in the butt, but that’s the risk of spending money in free agency.

Shapiro and Antonetti are among the stingiest to let “potential” and “controlled” players leave their farm system in trades to take on the weight of veteran salaries to the payroll. The results are bargain bin deals for hitters, and the current offensive struggles are a testament to how that philosophy isn’t working.

Lets take a look at the five players who could have made an impact on the 2015 Indians offense, what they are currently doing for their teams, and why the Cleveland Indians are consistently becoming kings of the trade “dud-line” by missing out on these guys.

Next: Staying In The NL West