Cleveland Indians: Five Myths Debunked in 2016
Myth #4: The Indians Will Not Makes Big Moves
Cleveland is notorious for being a low-spending team. Even coming into this season, the Indians did not make any notable acquisitions, although the Napoli, Davis, and Otero signings now look that way.
With a strong farm system loaded with talent, the Tribe’s front office had the pieces to make a move to fuel the club’s playoff run. At the trade deadline, it appeared that they were going to remain quiet until a run was made at former Milwaukee Brewers-now-Texas Rangers catcher Jonathon Lucroy.
The deal was agreed upon by both sides but was waiting for Lucroy to waive his no-trade clause. It was expected that he would do so because he was on the record as saying that he wanted to play for a contending team. However, he shockingly refused to waive the clause, and would later be traded to the Rangers.
While this move did not go down, it showed that Cleveland was willing to make a block-buster move to help the team.
Shortly after the Lucroy deal fell through, the Indians would make arguably the biggest trade deadline deal, acquiring reliever Andrew Miller from the Yankees for four prospects, two of which were Clint Frazier and Justus Sheffield, two of the Indians top prospects.