Indians Acquire Mike Aviles & Yan Gomes From Blue Jays For Esmil Rogers

The Indians traded relief pitcher Esmil Rogers to the Toronto Blue Jays for shortstop Mike Aviles and C Yan Gomes.

Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

Last season the Indians struggled versus left handed pitching, never were able to find a suitable replacement for Asdrubal Cabrera, and spent the majority of the season with only two catchers on their 40 man roster. The acquisition of the right handed hitting Mike Aviles and Yan Gomes is a step in shoring up all three of those weaknesses.

In 2012 the 31 year old Aviles was the Red Sox starting shortstop  (120 games) and posted a slash line of .250/.282/.381 with 13 home runs and 14 stolen bases. His career slash line against LHP is .295/.339/.458 and in 2012 he posted a .286/.325/.429 against them. He made $1.2M in 2012 and is arbitration eligible (arb2) and is under team control through the 2014 season.

Yan Gomes is 25 years old and can  play catcher, first base, and third base. He spent the majority of the 2012 season playing for the Blue Jays AAA affiliate Las Vegas 51s where he hit .328/.380/.557 with 13 homers. He finished the season playing in 43 games with the Blue Jays and posted a .204/.264/.367 with 4 homers in 111 plate appearances.

In acquiring Aviles and Gomes the Indians sent 27 year old reliever Esmil Rogers, who after being acquired from the Colorado Rockies on June 12th, was one of the better relievers in the pen. In 44 games he posted a record of 3-1 with a 3.06 ERA which included an impressive K/9 rate of 9.2 and an equally impressive BB/9 rate of 2.0 in 53 innings of work.

With this trade the  Indians have filled some early holes on their roster but it also brings up the question as to whether or not the Indians are looking to trade Asdrubal Cabrera.