Indians: The Tribe shouldn’t make any deals at the trade deadline unless a perfect deal comes in

The Indians should stand pat at the MLB trade deadline unless they get a perfect offer.

The Indians are looking like a team that’s bouncing back. Heading into the All-Star break they were on a three-game winning streak and (for all intents and purpose) swept the Rays in the three games they ended being up being able to play. The Tribe are three games above .500 and are weeks away from being at full strength for the first time in months. Standing pat and not making any moves at the deadline seems like the smart play here.

Unless a massive deal comes along; the size of a Mike Clevinger or Trever Bauer deal. A deal so big it changes the course of the Indians’ immediate and distant future. The one we mentioned before about the Tribe going after Pirates players Bryan Reynolds, Adam Frazier, and Tyler Anderson. It’s a deal that would give them a stud center fielder, a good fifth-line pitcher, and a second baseman that’s under team control for another year.

This is the kind of deal that would make sense for the Indians to make. Trading away Cesar Hernandez just because is a bad idea this year.

Don’t trade away anyone for prospects unless the deal is too good to pass up

Making trades like Cavs GM Koby Altman has done is a bad idea. The idea of trading someone who can help your team like JaVale McGee for a second-round pick is a bad move. Trading away Hernandez, who’s having the best power-hitting year of his career, for a player-to-be-named-later would be a horrible idea. The Tribe isn’t out of the 2021 playoff chase by any means. In fact, the team is still trending towards 90 wins at the current rate of play.

If the Indians get blown away with a trade offer, with three or four Top 10 prospects for Hernandez, yes, make the trade. That’s not going to happen though with a player like Hernandez. His age, length of the contract, and up-and-down play don’t make people rush to trade away one top prospect for that kind of production. Let alone three or four.

So unless the trade is just too good to be true, assume it isn’t and stand pat. This is a team that has always found a way before and with eight games against the White Sox left in the year, they control their own fate. They can easily swing the balance of the season in two series. This is not a lost season and should not be treated as such.