The Cleveland Indians need some outfield help, and these five men could be the guys to help make the Indians 2020 season one for the books.
The Cleveland Indians can’t keep Zach Plesac and Mike Clevinger. Not with members of the team threatening to opt-out of the year. The two players have ruined their careers in Cleveland by acting like children and ignoring the rules laid down by the Cleveland Indians and the MLB. All they had to do was give up three months of fun for a season, but they couldn’t do that.
It’s time to trade them for outfield help. Who do you trade them for? That’s a good question. Firstly, not ever selection(s) on this list are guys you’re going to need to trade Plesac and Clevinger for. This isn’t a “trade Clevinger and Plesac for these guys” article. It’s merely a statement that the Indians need outfield help and the team needs to get rid of Plesac and Clevinger type of article. So if you can pull off both at once, then that’d be good.
Several of the names on this list, however, wouldn’t be obtainable without a Clevinger or Plesac type player involved in the trade, which is why it works to include them.
The outfield has been ghastly, not nearly as bad as the team’s current crop of catchers but hopefully, Roberto Perez can help with that. The Indians are just about out of options in the outfield. Tyler Naquin is back but still finding his grove, and Oscar Mercado has been optioned down to Lake County. Now the only real option the team has left is Jake Bauers.
Maybe Bauers can finally put it all together in 2020 but in the off chance that he’s not the answer, these are five names the Cleveland Indians should go after, and if they have to part with Clevinger or Plesac to get one or more of these players, so be it.
Jay Bruce and Shin-Soo Choo
Neither man is worth Mike Clevinger or Zach Plesac, so these would need to be trades of not-so-vaunted minor league prospects. While both men are up there in age, and both men are in their last contract year, both men would be a valuable upgrade over what the team currently has going on.
Bruce’s Phillies are 8-9 and Choo’s Rangers are 10-10 so it’s not clear if either team would be willing to part way with their veterans, but it’s not like contenders haven’t traded guys like Bruce or Choo before. Aging sluggers, who probably aren’t coming back next year anyway, and you get a prospect out of it? That’s usually a done deal, even with the team trying to make the playoffs.
Choo is hitting .240 with three home runs and 10 RBI’s. He’s got an OPS of .769, which isn’t too far off from his career average of .825. He’s also just two years removed from his lone All-Star selection. You’re not going to build an entire offense around Choo, but as a seven or eight hitter, he’s exactly what you need.
For Bruce, you’re looking at comparable numbers, three home runs, seven RBI’s, and a .227 average but that’s still a massive upgrade over some of the outfielders the team has. When healthy Bruce is a 20 home run a season kind of guy, so it’s entirely possible that Bruce can still get some deep shots in for the Indians.
The point of this duel selection is pretty obvious and that’s because the team should go get both. The team needs depth and the team needs production. Sure, both men combined barely do enough to be considered “productive” but they’re still better than guys like Oscar Mercado, who’s been optioned to Lake County.
If both veterans can be had for a steal, the Indians should go get ’em both.
Kevin Kiermaier
The Tampa Bay Rays are currently in 2nd place in the AL East and have the offense to compete with anyone, but their pitching staff isn’t what it needs to be. The team could afford to part ways with the alleged “face of the franchise” Kevin Kiermaier if it meant getting back a Zach Plesac or Mike Clevinger (but not both). Kiermaier is probably their fourth-best hitter, he’s under contract for several more years and has had some years of productivity at the plate. Not huge power numbers, mind you, but he brings an upgrade to the outfield hitting-wise and has Gold Glove-caliber defense, having won two Golden Gloves in his career already.
Someone like Kiermaier may not be the only guy you go get if you trade for him, however. Maybe looking at another team’s top prospect might have to be a thing that goes alongside a move for Kiermaier. Maybe taking a swing and going for the Angels’ prospect Brandon Marsh could work out depending on what you offer.
That way this isn’t an issue the team has to keep revisiting over the next few seasons.
Admittedly, Kiermaier isn’t hitting his best in recent years and has been dinged up but a change of location may help him right the ship. That’s the thing with trades, people often forget that not every coach and not every manager handles talents the same way. Perhaps the Indians staff can unlock something in Kiermaier that the Rays couldn’t.
Even if he stays a .240 hitter, that’s still a huge leap over what the current Indian outfielders are doing.
Kyle Schwarber
It seems unlikely Kyle Schwarber is going to get paid big money in 2021. The MLB is not going to be spending a lot of big money, and even before the pandemic hit, teams weren’t spending that much money. Schwarber also isn’t someone who deserves a huge contract either.
He’s got crazy power, admittedly. He’s also got a crazy bad average. He’s a career .235 hitter, but he’s been averaging over 30 home runs over his last three years. He isn’t known as a heavy RBI guy, two years of 59, and 61 RBI’s respectively (before having 93 last year) but that isn’t a big issue for the Indians as just his sheer presence in the lineup could cause a team to think twice about walking someone like Franmil Reyes or Francisco Lindor.
Schwarber’s pending free agency does hurt the desire to trade Mike Clevinger or Adam Plesac for him, so who knows what you’d have to give up to get Schwarber in Cleveland but his lack of contact and pending free agency may mean that you won’t need to give up one of the two embattled pitchers.
Ideally, you’d want an outfielder who’s controllable for at least two additional seasons and isn’t someone you have to worry about making consistent contact with the ball. Yet, Plesac and Clevinger are not welcomed back by their teammates, and the team is in desperate need of someone who can impact the offense and protect Reyes. So maybe it’s worth taking a shot. As long as he agrees to a contract extension before a trade is done.
Clint Frazier
The Indians never should’ve traded Clint Frazier (or Justus Sheffield for that matter). They damn sure shouldn’t have traded him for a middle reliever. It doesn’t matter if it was Andrew Miller. No reliever is worth an everyday player. Period. Frazier and Bradley Zimmer were supposed to be the building blocks of the outfield and had the team retained Frazier, who knows what this outfield would look like today.
Well, good news, the Yankees are listening to offers on Frazier. This is another situation where you may not need to ship Zach Plesac or Mike Clevinger to get Frazier back. Frazier has had his own embattlement with the Yankees for a while and wasn’t even on their opening day roster for 2020, instead only being called up because Aaron Judge got hurt.
Since getting called up, across 15 at-bats, Frazier has two home runs, eight RBI’s, and a .533 batting average. Granted, it’s only across four games, but still, he has eight hits in only 15 at-bats. Sandy Leon and Beau Taylor only have three hits between them. Point is, don’t discount a limited number because that doesn’t mean much this season.
Frazier would be an everyday player for the team, and hopefully, Zimmer and Tyler Naquin can get back on track, so you can have the outfield for 2020 you were always supposed to have. Even if one of them doesn’t, Delino DeShields is truly impressive in his limited playing time.