Cleveland Indians get great return on Mike Clevinger trade

The Cleveland Indians have sent Mike Clevinger to the San Diego Padres for Austin Hedges, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, and three minor leaguers.

The Cleveland Indians have sent one-half of the Chicago party squad off to the San Deigo Padres on Monday, as Mike Clevinger is dealt for right-hander Cal Quantrill, outfielder Josh Naylor, and catcher Austin Hedges, along with three minor league prospects in shortstop Gabriel Arias, left-hander Joey Cantillo and shortstop Owen Miller.

Quantrill has pitched well this season, but mostly as a relief pitcher. That may change now that there’s an opening in the rotation. Quantrill has a 2.60 ERA and has pitched in 17 innings so far in 2020, mostly in relief. Hedges has played in over 400 games for the Padres and has been a solid addition behind the plate. While the team needed to upgrade their battery and improve the backup depth behind starter Roberto Perez, Hedges may not be the right guy.

Outfielder Josh Naylor is hitting .278 in 2020 in limited action but the 23-year-old was a highly vaunted prospect in the Padres minor league system that was ranked second in the MLB in March of 2020. Naylor and Quantrill were two of the more anticipated players to be called up from their minor league affiliates.

Of the minor leaguers, the Indians get two of the Padres top ten prospects in Cantillo and Arias and a third in the top 11 with Owen Miller. The move bolsters the Indians’ own minor league squads some, and with Miller and Arias, both having the potential to be the successor to Francisco Lindor, the ability to move on from the Tribe’s most know player in the winter of 2020 becomes all the more likely.

The Indians will also send over Greg Allen and a player to be named later but as far as trades go, getting a backup catcher, a starting outfielder, a new starting pitcher, and two top ten prospects at positions of need? This seems like, on paper, one of the biggest fleece jobs the Indians have ever committed.