Cleveland Indians have numerous options to replace Byrd, Brantley

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The Cleveland Indians Have Numerous Options to Bolster the Outfield

The Cleveland Indians outfield has gone through some drastic changes over this past week and a half. It all started when Major League Baseball announced that outfielder Marlon Byrd was suspended for 162 games for his second positive test of a performance-enhancing substance, which will effectively end the 38-year-old’s career.

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This was then followed up by reports that the Cleveland Indians fear that star outfielder Michael Brantley will miss “a significant amount of time” due to inflammation in his surgically repaired shoulder (per Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports). Brantley started the season on the disabled list, was activated on April 25th and batted .231 with zero home runs and seven RBI in 11 games.

Both of these events leave big holes in the Indians’ outfield, as Byrd was a solid outfielder for the Indians this year, and Brantley has been a franchise cornerstone for the Indians for the past four years. The MLB trade deadline is August 1st, and the Indians front office will have a lot to consider up until then, but here are five ideas should consider before the deadline.

Next: Look Internally for Help or Make a Trade?

1. Let Tyler Naquin Play Every Day

The first idea the Indians should consider involved a player that’s currently on their 25 man roster. Tyler Naquin broke camp with the Indians on their opening day roster, but has been sent down to AAA twice this season, and both times have not been because he was slacking at the major league level, but so he could work on two specific things, his power hitting and his walks. And if Naquin’s latest stint in the Majors is any indication, Naquin might not be down in Colombus for a long time.

2. Trade for Josh Reddick

The Indians will most likely have to end up making a big trade for an outfielder if they want to stay in contention this year, and one of the outfielders that they should consider picking up is Josh Reddick. Reddick is currently on the shelf now with a broken thumb, but he hopes to be back in the lineup by the end of the month, and despite the injury, has been Oakland’s most reliable position player for the better part of five years now.

The A’s are currently 25-32 and 10 games back of the Rangers in the AL West, and are starting to move towards the rebuilding process, and luckily the Indians have a lot of young team controlled arms that they would be willing to part ways with (see Rob Kaminsky, Mike Clevinger, Trevor Bauer). Reddick gets on base a ton, and would bring some pop to the middle of the Indians order.

Next: Two NL West Options to Consider

3. Trade for Matt Kemp

The A.J Preller era for the San Diego Padres started off with a bang in 2015, as they made numerous moves in hopes that it would lead to them contending for a world series. In the end, the finished 74-88 and in fourth place in the NL West. They have been slow out of the gate in 2016, as they have a 23-35 record, and don’t look like a contender. This has led them to already make some moves, as they traded James Shields to the White Sox for prospects. Shields was one of the headline acquisitions Preller made in the 2015 offseason.

The other big name was Matt Kemp, leading many to believe that the power hitting right-fielder could be dealt this season. Now Kemp is nowhere near the five-tool player he was with the Dodgers, but he can still provide some genuine raw power in the lineup as he’s proven so far this year with San Diego, as he has 13 home runs and 39 RBI through 57 games. Getting Kemp will not be cheap, though, as the Padres appear to be in full rebuild mode, so they would probably want some big name prospects, like Clint Frazier, Bobby Bradley, or Mike Papi. If not Kemp, the Padres also have Melvin Upton Jr. and Wil Myers, who are both adequate MLB outfielders, and might not have such a steep cost like Kemp.

4. Trade for Carlos “CarGo” Gonzalez

Like Kemp, Carlos Gonzalez is on an NL West team that is in the rebuild process, and would love to have young, team friendly prospects. The reason the Rockies might truly entertain trade talk with the Indians is because the Rockies desperately need pitching. Offense has never been a problem for the Rockies, but the lack of even semi-decent pitching has deterred any true hopes of them contending since they last reached the world series in 2007.

Gonzalez is currently batting .308 this year with 13 home runs and 29 RBI in his year 30 season. But what’s even more impressive about Gonzalez is that his batting average is currently higher on the road compared to home (.310 compared to .307). Gonzalez plays his home games in Denver at Coors Field, where the ball just flies out of the ballpark, so the fact that he has a higher average on the road goes to show how good of a hitter he truly is.

Next: Could Another Trade With the Cardinals Work?

Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Trade for Tommy Pham

This trade may be the longest shot on here, but this still could be a very successful trade for both the Cleveland Indians and St. Louis Cardinals. The Indians and Cardinals have made midseason trades each of the past two seasons, as in 2014 the Indians traded Justin Masterson to the Cardinals for James Ramsey (who the Indians have since traded to the Dodgers). Last season the Indians traded Brandon Moss to the Cardinals in exchange for the aforementioned Rob Kaminsky.

The Cardinals currently have a packed outfield, as they currently have Matt Holliday, Randal Grichuk, Jeremy Hazelbaker, and Stephen Piscotty on their 25 man roster, which Tommy Pham as the odd man out. Pham burst onto the scene last year, batting .268 with five home runs and 18 RBI over 52 games last year, and he took Jon Lester deep in Game one of the NLDS last year. The Cardinals have an aging pitching staff, so the Indians would probably have to give up at least one major league ready starter, which is something that they may not want to do.

Next: Lindor Proving His Worth

Being only June 7th and with the team 2.5 games in first place in the division, the urgency to make a move may not be there quite yet. However, despite the great play from the outfield and their place in the standings, the Cleveland Indians should consider the numerous outfield options to upgrade a position thinned by both injury and suspension.

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