Cleveland Indians: 5 Missed Players at the 2015 Trade Deadline
Aug 2, 2015; New York City, NY, USA; New York Mets center fielder
Yoenis Cespedes(52) pops out to first during the first inning against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
OF. Cuba. Yoenis Cespedes. 52. player. 3.
Okay, so Yasiel Puig may or may not have been available but this player definitely was. The potential to acquire OF Yoenis Cespedes of the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline was real. Cespedes is exactly the kind of right-handed bat the Cleveland Indians offense needs. He’s hitting .294 with 18 home runs and 66 RBI this season. For his career he’s a .269 hitter with 89 HR’s and 328 RBI over four seasons.
The reasons Antonetti wouldn’t make this deal are numerous. He is owed about $9 million in the final season of his contract, would be a potential rental, and would be an inter-division trade. However, his numbers speak for themselves. He is exactly the kind of player who you could put in the middle of your lineup. Cespedes is also a player that the Indians had on the trade radar last season but didn’t take a chance on.
Acquiring him from Boston rather than Detroit might have been more tolerable. At this point though, Indians fans don’t care where the power hitting offensive threat comes from. Detroit Tiger or not, Cespedes would have looked great in a Cleveland Indians uniform.
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Now Cespedes is with the New York Mets after being traded by Detroit, and he’ll be a free agent after this season. It’s almost guaranteed the Indians won’t be in the market for a player with his potential salary; which is sad, because they could have had at least 1-1/2 seasons of Cespedes anchoring the offense.
Okay, so the Indians are down 0-2, but they’ve gotta go down swinging right? Here’s the next miss…
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