2018 Cleveland Indians

[CBBI]

Question for the group...

What do we think about moving one of the starting pitchers for an impact bat?

Pitching depth is obviously a great thing, but right now the Indians have six guys (Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Salazar, Tomlin, Clevinger) who have all proven to being various degrees of successful at the Major League level.

Do you guys trust the minor league guys, specifically Merritt, enough to potentially deal away one of the top six guys -- likely Clevinger or Salazar -- for another bat?

 

[Mr. Orange]

Question for the group...

What do we think about moving one of the starting pitchers for an impact bat?

Pitching depth is obviously a great thing, but right now the Indians have six guys (Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Salazar, Tomlin, Clevinger) who have all proven to being various degrees of successful at the Major League level.

Do you guys trust the minor league guys, specifically Merritt, enough to potentially deal away one of the top six guys -- likely Clevinger or Salazar -- for another bat?

This is a very interesting question. Kluber/Carlos/Bauer are untouchable though. I like Josh too. But yeah Danny or Clevinger certainly I would move for an impact bat.

 

[sportscoach]

He didn't say "Is Tito going to be fired?"

He asked if he was for sure going to be back. Francona's gonna be 59 next year and has health issues. It's not out of the realm of possibility that he decides he just doesn't want the grind anymore.

There is no ifs ands or buts about it, Tito will be back and coaching this team. He may consider leaving in a year that is a sell year, but he will not miss 18 since he has unfinished business and so does the team. Maybe 19 he may move away from the game but in 18 he will be there.

 

[sportscoach]

Question for the group...

What do we think about moving one of the starting pitchers for an impact bat?

Pitching depth is obviously a great thing, but right now the Indians have six guys (Kluber, Carrasco, Bauer, Salazar, Tomlin, Clevinger) who have all proven to being various degrees of successful at the Major League level.

Do you guys trust the minor league guys, specifically Merritt, enough to potentially deal away one of the top six guys -- likely Clevinger or Salazar -- for another bat?

Merritt and Clev I believe are out of options so they either are on the roster or cut/traded. I would trade Salazar first,but I don't think he will get us an impact bat if traded by himself. My guess is we won't do any major trades until 19 when we have to replace a good portion of our team.

Now I am not saying it isn't possible, but Salazar value dipped a lot and I don't trust him to pitch a full season and probably most teams won't either

 

[BooyaCS]

Could you get a bag of cheese doodles for Kipnis right now? Dude is straight awful.

Probably not. The issue is if you play him you are taking a spot away from someone else that may be more productive

 

[CBBI]

Merritt and Clev I believe are out of options so they either are on the roster or cut/traded. I would trade Salazar first,but I don't think he will get us an impact bat if traded by himself. My guess is we won't do any major trades until 19 when we have to replace a good portion of our team.

Not trading until 2019 is perfectly fine, but then 2018 roster construction comes into play. There are only so seven bullpen spots to be had. Allen and Miller are locks and Olson should be a lock. That leaves four spots. Goody and Otero did nothing that would lead me to believe they wouldn't be back. So now you have three spots left. Let's go ahead and assume Shaw is gone, but Smith seems like a prime candidate to return, so now two spots left.

Are you good with the last two bullpen spots being occupied by Ryan Merritt and Danny Salazar/Mike Clevinger?

Especially if long-term the Indians want all of these guys to remain starters, it seems like it would be difficult to pull that off.

 

[Kevalier]

With how much he's owed, we aren't getting anything of value for Kipnis. Maybe if we eat a big chunk of his salary, but then what's the point? Hopefully he can return to a the 4+ WAR player he was in 2015 and 2016 with a injury-free spring training.

Expect Toronto to take a hard look at acquiring Kip. Obviously, Shapiro and Atkins are quite familiar with him, and they plan on contending again next season with a need for a 2B who can hit at the top of the lineup.

 

[sportscoach]

Not trading until 2019 is perfectly fine, but then 2018 roster construction comes into play. There are only so seven bullpen spots to be had. Allen and Miller are locks and Olson should be a lock. That leaves four spots. Goody and Otero did nothing that would lead me to believe they wouldn't be back. So now you have three spots left. Let's go ahead and assume Shaw is gone, but Smith seems like a prime candidate to return, so now two spots left.

Are you good with the last two bullpen spots being occupied by Ryan Merritt and Danny Salazar/Mike Clevinger?

Especially if long-term the Indians want all of these guys to remain starters, it seems like it would be difficult to pull that off.

Essentially one of McAllister, Merritt or Salazar will be gone this offseason and I am betting it will be McAllister since he will be a free agent after 18. Merritt is out of options I am pretty sure so it's either we try to outright him or find a spot in the bullpen as a long reliever.

It's possible Tomlin is switched to the pen as well and guys like Merritt/Salazar starting..

Also most of our bullpen is gone in 19 so one or two of our currently listed starter depth will be converted to the bullpen. Personally I don't trust Salazar to be a starter long term, not because of his stuff but because of his history of arm issues. He only hit 100 innings once in the minors before we called him up. I want to see if he could be put into Shaw's role.

 

[sportscoach]

Expect Toronto to take a hard look at acquiring Kip. Obviously, Shapiro and Atkins are quite familiar with him, and they plan on contending again next season with a need for a 2B who can hit at the top of the lineup.

I am okay with trading Kip, but his value is so low right now and it's not like the Blue Jays have a good farm system, if they need to rebuild it rather than try to contend next season. I just don't see us getting anything worthwhile for Kipnis.