Cleveland Indians trade talk: 7 players the Tribe should target

3. Marco Estrada, SP, Toronto Blue Jays

Another Blue Jay makes the list and it has a lot to do with Toronto hanging around the bottom of the AL East.

Marco Estrada‘s expensive and carries a $14 million price tag, however, the Indians would’n’t be on the hook for all of it. If Cleveland were to acquire him at the trade deadline, they’d owe him about half of his salary.

The problem with Estrada: He’d be a one year rental.

On the plus side, the market looks like it will be saturated with starting pitchers, so perhaps the Indians won’t have to sell the farm to acquire a player who will only be hear for three months.

Here’s what ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote about the market:

"Some executives point out that there could be motivated sellers, as well, creating a lot of opportunities for buyers. Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, there will be fewer players who will glean draft-pick compensation, so the old strategy of keeping a prospective free agent to extend a qualifying offer won’t be as attractive. Rather, there could be teams that look to move players to dump salaries and save money, and ask for less in prospect value."

An MLB executive told Jon Heyman that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the Jays trade a short-term guy, such as Estrada. If that’s the case, and the haul isn’t to hefty, the Tribe should looking into him.

Estrada is 4-2 with 78 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings of work.