I'd Rather The Indians Just Not Trade Mike Clevinger....
What a wild afternoon / night it was on the Mike Clevinger trade watch....
It actually all began on the 28th when Jon Heyman reported that the asking price was said to be "ridiculous" to get him.
Well I'd hope so? Are we trading him because of the incident in Chicago or because we need a bat? Because it it's the former, THAT'S ridiculous. Get over it. If we're trading him because he lied to his teammates, the asking price better be so ridiculous that it's a highway robbery if we move him.
But then yesterday afternoon it REALLY heated up. First with the White Sox..
Let me be the first to say that trading him within the AL Central is a terrible decision. Especially when the White Sox are saying they're not giving up Luis Robert. Okay, next! Why give a potential Ace with multiple years remaining on his contract to a team you're within a one game divisional race with…..? I know Clevinger has a good head start on all of the nice places to eat in Chicago, but still, why send him there?
Just minutes later, Heyman said Clevinger is very likely to be gone by the deadline.
Uhhh the White Sox aren't even listed there? Anyways, I concur that we have 6 very good or better starters, but Clevinger is definitely in the top 4 of those. And he's locked up for another couple years. So I think we should keep him and move someone else if we have to…
Back to the White Sox again. So much so that people were realllllly getting into this one. But then it got quiet for a while until about 7:20 when it sounded like it was pretty much a done deal that he was going to the……PADRES!
I mean, I like the idea of getting him so far away from Cleveland that we don't have to worry about him, but the Padres have made like 4 trades in 15 minutes. What are they giving us here?
Either way, after one hour of basically guaranteeing he was a Padre, Nightengale came out and said he's 100% being traded but probably NOT to the Padres!
3 minutes later, we had a Mystery Team enter the fold…
6 minutes later, it appeared the Braves might be that Mystery Team.
An hour later, it was the Blue Jays who were the Mystery Team…
20 minutes later, the Indians apparently said let us sleep on these offers and we'll get back to you tomorrow.
And that brings us to this morning…..
It sounds like we might have offers on the table from the White Sox, Braves, Padres, Blue Jays, Yankees, and Dodgers. I'm sure they're trying to out bid each other, and our front office has gained the respect to believe in them. I'm sure we're going to come away with a nice haul here. BUT FOLKS, we're in FIRST PLACE in the American League Central right now. This price better be so ridiculously high that every single person agrees the Tribe won the trade on first glance. I want hitters that will impact our roster right now. I want a pitcher in return. And I want multiple prospects. And if that sounds too high of an asking price, THEN I WANT TO KEEP MIKE CLEVINGER.
I get that we need bats, I really do. But I don't think he's on the trading block if he doesn't go out to eat with Zach Plesac in Chicago. Are we really giving up a young Ace with a team friendly contract because he went out to eat with Plesac in Chicago? This is Major League Baseball. This is a professional sport. Feelings are allowed to get hurt. The Indians job is to put out the best team on the field, and there's no doubt Mike Clevinger is on the best version of the Indians.