Cleveland Indians: 5 reasons why the Mike Clevinger trade was great
By Chad Porto
It shored up the minors
No successful, competitive, and title worthy franchise can achieve the heights the Cleveland Indians have had without a strong and reliable minor league system. The problem is that the Indians depleted their top prospects over the last few years in short-sighted deals. Guys like Francisco Mejia, Justus Sheffield, Clint Frazier, and others have been dealt away for basically nothing. Rentals, at best.
Sure, Mejia was traded for Brad Hand, but Sheffield and Frazier were traded for Andrew Miller. It’s really fair to say that if the Indians just kept Meija, Sheffield, and Frazier, the team would be much better off.
Especially when you consider how good the bullpen is already in 2020. You’d be hard-pressed to not assume that someone other than Hand could close out a game. At least not this year. So the Indians need to replenish the minors because it’s clear that guys like Bradley Zimmer are not going to turn into the star they were hyped to be.
The Cleveland Indians were smart to get back three of the Padres top 11 prospects in shortstop Gabriel Arias, left-handed pitcher Joey Cantillo and shortstop Owen Miller. Cantillo is a solid pitching prospect, only 20-years-old and has a career 2.51 ERA so far in his time in the Padre’s minor leagues. He also averages 1.3 strikeouts per 9-innings.
The shortstops on the other hand are nearly identical in what they bring to the table offensively. Owen Miller is the better all-around hitter, not hitting below .290 at any point in his professional career and posting a minor batting average of .307 across three leagues so far. Owens is also a better power hitter (.441 slugging to Arias’ .396).
Arias will likely not play shortstop, as he’s not very good at the position. In 265 games as a shortstop in the minors, he’s committed 65 errors. Since Arias also plays third base, it’s likely that he’ll move over to allow Miller to play shortstop, should he and Miller share much time on the same roster.
Miller is more major league ready but is also three years older than Arias. So who knows what they’ll look like over time.