Cleveland Indians: Some great prospects traded away this summer

The Cleveland Indians added two players this summer to help for their playoff run but they also gave up some very solid prospects in the process.

The Cleveland Indians made a pair of moves this summer to shore up their team as they prepare for another playoff push.

At the July 31 deadline, the Indians added reliever Joe Smith before adding Jay Bruce a few days later to shore up the outfield after several injuries struck. Neither player was a star and Bruce was moved in August after clearing waivers, so the returns were never going to be great for either player’s former team.

However, that said, the Indians did trade a couple rather intriguing (if nothing else) prospects to acquire the two veterans.

For Joe Smith, the Indians traded left-handed pitcher Thomas Pannone and second baseman Samad Taylor. Neither player ranked in any preseason top 30 prospect lists and neither was on MLB’s midseason top 30 prospect list. In light of this, many fans shrugged the trade off as nothing more than spare parts, but I can assure you, it was anything but.

Pannone may not have made any top lists to start the year, but he was in our prospects to know list this spring. The 2013 ninth-round pick was coming off a fantastic 2016 season in which he went 8-5 with a 2.57 ERA in 133.1 innings between Class-A Lake County and Advanced-A Lynchburg. In 2017, Pannone proved that 2016 was no fluke as he’s been arguably better.

In 19 starts between Lynchburg and Double-A Akron, Pannone went 8-1 with a 1.96 ERA. He struck out 120 batters in 110 innings and walked just 28. Batters hit just .194 off him and he posted a WHIP under one (0.95).

He was the best pitcher in the Tribe system in the first half and while he was still not a top ten prospect, was inching closer and just missed in my eyes. He will be sorely missed from the Tribe’s system.

Samad Taylor was not a top 50 prospect when the season began but he got off to a very good start at Short-Season Mahoning Valley this year, hitting .300 with a .795 OPS in 28 games with the Scrappers.

He was a tenth-round pick in 2016 by the Indians and hit .293 in 2016 with the Tribe’s Rookie Affiliate. The second baseman still won’t crack any top 30 lists but he is a solid depth piece who could sneak up lists in the coming years.

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The Jay Bruce trade is another trade that saw only one prospect traded, and to many, it was a non-spec in reliever Ryder Ryan. To be fair, like with Taylor, Ryan was not a top 50 prospect and despite a solid season, he is not a top 30 prospect by any measure.

He had a rather high 4.79 ERA in 33 games with Class-A Lake County this year; however, he did strikeout 10.7 per nine innings, which is very impressive considering he was a position player at the University of North Carolina before being drafted in the 30th round in 2016.

The Indians, however, drafted him out of high school as well and really believed in his arm. He can run his fastball up in the high-90s and if he can grow as a pitcher could make it as a big-league reliever.

He was one of the best pitchers on the Captains’ staff in April showing he has the ability to dominate at times. He’s still very raw and he’s more of a wild card than anything else, though one that could pay off for the New York Mets.

So while the Cleveland Indians did add two key pieces in Smith and Bruce, they did not get them for scraps. Pannone along was a big loss, as one could lay claim he was the best left-handed pitcher in the Tribe system. One could even argue he was too much for Smith (I would be in that group).

But the good news is the Indians had a deep system and the additions of Smith and Bruce have already paid off for the club, especially with the injuries that have struck.

Next: Best prospects from the first half of the season

So what do you think, did the Indians give up too much for a pair of rentals? Or were the prospects worth the additions?