Cleveland Indians: Is the front office difficult to do business with?

The Cleveland Indians were involved in discussions with several trades, none of which came to fruition. Are the Indians difficult to do business with?

See if you can spot the pattern here.

• The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks that supposedly involved one of their starting pitchers and one of the Diamondbacks’ outfielders. After the negotiations broke down, the Diamondbacks acquired Shelby Miller from the Braves for three players. There was widespread consensus that the Braves made a killing.
• The Indians were negotiating a trade with the Reds for Todd Frazier. After negotiations broke down, the Reds traded Frazier to the White Sox for three prospects. There was widespread consensus that the White Sox did not give up much to get Frazier.

So here we have two potential trades that the Indians did not make. In both cases, the teams that were involved in the negotiations with the Indians were obviously eager to make deals, to the extent that they allowed themselves to get screwed by their ultimate trading partners. There is no logical reason to believe that they were less willing to get screwed by the Indians. So why did the Indians not make any deals?

Obviously, whoever was negotiating for the Indians was driving a hard bargain, which is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it is hard to avoid the feeling that both the Reds and the Diamondbacks would have been better off dealing with the Indians. Shelby Miller will be eligible for arbitration this winter, so he will probably make in excess of ten million dollars. Carlos Carrasco and Danny Salazar will both make a fraction of that. The Indians also could have offered a better group of prospects than what the Reds got in the Frazier trade, without including Bradley Zimmer or Clint Frazier.

One could argue that the Indians wanted more established players than what the Diamondbacks gave up for Miller. Well, based on 2015 numbers, Ender Inciarte is better than any outfielder that will be on the Indians’ roster until Michael Brantley gets healthy. Plus he’s only 25, can play center field and will be affordable for several years. To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

To get him and a guy who was the number one pick in the entire draft less than a year ago would have been a steal, but the Braves also got Aaron Blair, who was listed as Arizona’s number two prospect. Maybe Swanson and Blair would not have helped the Indians this year, but they would have eventually been impact players, or the Indians could have flipped them in a trade for players who can help now. Maybe for Todd Frazier.

It’s hard to say why the Frazier trade never happened. I have read that the Reds insisted on Salazar or Carrasco, then insisted on Zimmer or Clint Frazier. Nobody that the Reds got is close to Zimmer or Frazier in potential. That may have been where the negotiations started, but, based on where they ended, a package centered around Tyler Naquin might have been enough. There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to

There’s nothing wrong with Tyler Naquin, but he’ll be 25 in April and a bunch of journeymen are ahead of him in the pecking order for 2016. So you have to wonder, when the Reds had the final offer from the White Sox/Dodgers in hand, did they make one more call to the Indians to see if there was a better offer to be made. Did the Diamondbacks offer the same three players for Salazar or Carrasco that they traded for Miller?

Next: Three reasons to be excited about 2016

This brings us to something that has been whispered now for a couple of years, which is that the Indians are just difficult to deal with because they overvalue their own players. Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks called, and the Indians feel that the players they have are just too valuable to trade.  Maybe the Reds and Diamondbacks got so frustrated dealing with the Indians that they stopped calling them.  Maybe the Indians’ cell service is not very good, and they never knew that anyone was trying to call them. In any case, both the Braves and the White Sox got better, and the Indians didn’t.  If everyone on the Indians’ roster and in their farm system is so valuable that they can’t possibly be traded, our expectations for 2016 should be through the roof.

Maybe the Indians’ cell service is not very good, and they never knew that anyone was trying to call them. In any case, both the Braves and the White Sox got better, and the Indians didn’t.  If everyone on the Indians’ roster and in their farm system is so valuable that they can’t possibly be traded, our expectations for 2016 should be through the roof.