At the moment, the Cleveland Indians are in first place in the AL Central, tied with the Chicago White Sox. Hardly the situation of a Trade Deadline seller.
But this Trade Deadline is very different:
Francisco Lindor's name has been mentioned in some preliminary trade talks, per source. There's no indication the Indians are planning to move him, but the possibility exists. Lindor has one more year of control before hitting free agency.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) August 30, 2020
There’s an increasing belief among teams Mike Clevinger has a good chance to be dealt. Indians have 6 very good or better starters, all on cost-efficient deals. Price is appropriately high. Braves, Padres, Yankees, Dodgers among many who’ve been in contact.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) August 30, 2020
Although winning this year is still very much in the cards for the Indians, and has value, they are also an organization that has been kinda-sorta trying to rebuild on the fly for a while now, with rumors going way back that they’d look to trade Lindor if an extension wasn’t possible. So, even in a year when the Indians are competitive, there’s a theoretically understandable reason that they might still look to capitalize on Trade Deadline value when they can.
The thing about using this moment to try to restock everything, though, is that price tags are artificially depressed by the shortened season, as well as the likelihood that a guy’s projected price tag in arbitration in 2021 suddenly looks a lot less compelling than it did pre-pandemic. So for each of Lindor and Clevinger (maybe especially for Lindor, who is set to make big bucks next year in his final go at arbitration (not unlike Kris Bryant)), you just aren’t going to see the kinds of franchise-altering returns you would’ve last year. It’s possible even a package wouldn’t net the kind OMG-they-are-set-up-for-the-future-type returns.
And if that’s the case, does it make sense to trade either of these guys right now for merely pretty good prospect returns? My guess is the Indians hold out for a whopper of an offer, and that never comes. So they proceed to compete down the stretch and on into the playoffs. The Cubs have two games left against the Indians, by the way, in mid-September.