Indians trade rumors: Braves mystery team in Clevinger sweepstakes?

In Cleveland Indians trade rumors, it looks like the Atlanta Braves are the secret team in the Mike Clevinger sweepstakes.

It’s been a whirlwind day on MLB’s trade deadline eve, as Cleveland Indians trade rumors involving Mike Clevinger can’t be tamped down.

Just when it seemed like the Padres were the front runner, it was revealed a mystery team came up with a better offer.

Minutes after it was revealed there was a new team in play, MLB Network’s John Morosi tweeted the Tribe had asked the Braves for outfielder Drew Waters.

Waters is an outfielder, who’s spent time in right field and center field during his time in the minors. He last played at the Triple-A level in 2019, but hasn’t appeared with Atlanta in 2020. He’s been stationed at the Braves alternate training site.

He’s currently ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Braves’ system. MLB Pipeline lists him as the 27th rated prospect in the game.

Waters would figure to be just one piece of the deal, as a front-of-the-rotation starter such as Mike Clevinger should command at least one more player, even if he’s one of the organization’s top prospects.

Waters has played all three outfield positions, albeit a majority of his games have been spent in center. The fact the Indians are looking for someone to roam Kenny Lofton’s old stomping grounds strengthens the rumors from earlier in the day, that the Tribe was eyeing Jackie Bradley Jr. from the Red Sox, while the White Sox’s Adam Engel was also thrown their way in rumors.

The switch hitter doesn’t have a ton of home runs, but he did have 40 doubles last season. Scouts believe some of those two-baggers could turn into home runs as the 21-year-old’s body matures.

He’s slashed .298/.354/.461 throughout his minor-league career, but strikeouts have been a problem. He’s been punched out more than 26 of his minor-league plate appearances, and that number actually rose to 28.6 percent last season. He’s walked just seven percent of the time throughout his career.

Waters was a second-round pick for the Braves back in 2017, who shot up the organizational prospect chart. If acquired, he’d likely join the lineup, as the Indians’ outfield remains a huge problem, from an offensive standpoint.

Oscar Mercado suffered a serious sophomore slump and the Tribe faithful hasn’t seen him since his demotion. Delino Deshields was better at the dish than Mercado, but he’s far from the answer.

The Braves are in desperate need of an ace-type pitcher, ever since their ace, Mike Soroka, went down.

San Diego had been trying to acquire Clevinger for a week, but their unwillingness to deal Jake Cronenworth or Trent Grisham may have been their undoing, as MLB Network’s tweeted the Padres were unwilling to deal the duo.