Cleveland Indians Trade Talk: Revisiting The 2009 Trades

In Cleveland Indians trade talk, Factory of Sadness writer Joe Russo revisits the 2009 deadline deals.

The Indians were out of contention at this time back in 2009, when Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez were shipped out in separate deals as the deadline rapidly approached a team at a crossroads for both players.

With free agency looming and a club with no real hope of winning the division, the Tribe made moves with an eye to the future. As the Indians feel far better about their odds in 2016, The 2009 campaign provides lessons both good and bad about the deadline deals to come.

Cliff Lee and Ben Francisco to the Phillies for Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Jason Knapp, and Lou Marson

If you wonder who the guys are after Carrasco on that list, you might not be alone. Knapp and Donald were supposed to be solid if unspectacular players that ultimately yielded little value. Lou Marson would fit very well with the current team, though, as a sub-par bat with a good glove behind the plate. Neither of the three stuck with the club very long due to injuries and poor play.

Carrasco, though, is tough to evaluate as part of this trade. Lee was coming off a Cy Young season and the trade made the Indians the first team to trade away back-to-back Cy Young winners.

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Carrasco had all the potential in the world and the scouting reports all reflected that. A good power arm that needed to be refined. Carrasco would show flashes, but would also show a propensity for losing his temper and focus, forcing him to the bullpen after a rough first attempt at being a starter. The rest of this story, though, we are all very familiar with. Carrasco is now one of the better starters in the AL.

The lesson on the Lee trade is that quantity cannot trump quality. Sure, Carrasco now is a great return for Lee after Mickey Calloway figured out how to get the most out of the right-hander.

Lee maintained his dominate play for a long time after this trade, while Carrasco has been great for the Tribe. The rest of these guys, though, don’t exactly resemble the haul from the Bartolo Colon deal.

The lesson for the current Indians is that they don’t want to get stuck gutting the farm system for a player.

Luckily, the Indians aren’t targeting a Cy Young winner. The front office knows to shop within their budget.

• Victor Martinez to the Boston Red Sox for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone, and Bryan Price

The “best” return in the deal was Masterson, who had an up and down stint with the Indians. There were flashes that he would be the pitcher Tribe fans had wanted at the top of the rotation, but inconsistent performance and some erratic control issues doomed Masterson, who never reached his potential before being dealt himself to St. Louis later on.

He did make the All-Star team in 2013, but also led the league in hit batters that season and had a 4.23 ERA during his time in Cleveland.

Hagadone and Price were both power arms taken inside the top 55 picks in their respective drafts. Hagadone had already had Tommy John surgery before the trade and Price only appeared in three games in his major league career.

Martinez hit .336 after the trade in Boston and then .302 the following season in his only full year in a Red Sox uniform. While it was proven after that season that the cost to keep Martinez would absolutely have been too high when he signed a massive deal to go to Detroit, losing Martinez for what amounted to an average starter and spare parts is tough to swallow as an Indians fan.

• The lesson for 2016 then is that while you may undervalue some prospects, teams may in fact overvalue them in an attempt to clear salary or prepare for a long-term future. Maybe it was just the Colavito Curse that doomed Masterson and company, but the Indians obviously valued the arms they got in return for Martinez.

Next: Get To Know A Top Prospect: Francisco Mejia

So as Chris Antonetti searches for either a third baseman, catcher, or reliever, he should remember why certain players are valued the way they are in the Indians system. Maybe Boston didn’t see Masterson as a long-term starter. Why, then, should the Indians have? Teams are always talking how they trust their draft boards. Antonetti should trust the evaluators in the system when discussing prospects at the 2016 deadline.

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Cleveland Indians Trade Talk: Revisiting The 2009 Deadline Deals

By Joe Russo | Jul 26, 2016

In Cleveland Indians trade talk, Factory of Sadness writer Joe Russo revisits the 2009 deadline deals.

More from Factory of Sadness