Cleveland Indians: 5 best trades since 2000

The Cleveland Indians have had some really good trades since 2000, looking in hindsight. Let’s look at the top five trades since 2000.

Like most MLB teams, the Cleveland Indians make a lot of trades. Most of these trades are inconsequential.

There are salary dump trades, minor-league trades, and trades for cash. In 2017 alone, the Cleveland Indians made six trades.

See the trades below:

• Traded Shawn Armstrong to the Seattle Mariners. Received international bonus slot money.
• Traded Ryder Ryan (minors) to the New York Mets. Received Jay Bruce.
• Traded Thomas Pannone (minors) and Samad Taylor (minors) to the Toronto Blue Jays. Received Joe Smith.
• Traded Michael Martinez to the Tampa Bay Rays. Received player to be named or cash.
• Traded Austin Adams to the Los Angeles Angels. Received player to be named or cash.
• Traded player to be named or cash to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Carlos Frias.

As you can see, some of these trades were completely inconsequential, while others made a huge impact.

This is how it goes with MLB trades. The way I evaluated whether a trade was good was not only the quality of the player received opposed to the player traded, but also the long-term impact that the player received had against the long-term impact the player traded had.

Honorable Mentions

• 2017 – CLE receives: Jay Bruce; NYM receives: Ryder Ryan
• 2012 – CLE receives: Matt Albers, Trevor Bauer, Bryan Shaw, and Drew Stubbs; ARI receives: Lars Anderson, Tony Sipp, and Didi Gregorius; CIN receives: Shin-Soo Choo and Jason Donald
• 2012 – CLE receives: Mike Aviles, Yan Gomes; TOR receives: Esmil Rogers
• 2009 – CLE receives: Chris Perez, Jess Todd; STL receives: Mark DeRosa
• 2006 (combined) – CLE receives: Asdrubal Cabrera, Shin-Soo Choo, Shawn Nottingham; SEA receives: Eduardo Perez, Ben Broussard
• 2002 – CLE receives: Travis Hafner, Aaron Miete; TXR receives: Einar Diaz, Ryan Drese
• 2002 – CLE receives: Coco Crisp, Luis Garcia; STL receives: Chuck Finley

Trade #5: 2015 – CLE receives: Chris Johnson; ATL receives: Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher

This trade is a salary dump, but it’s so much more. After spending big for Swisher and Bourn in the offseason, the Tribe thought they had two cornerstones for years to come. A team that doesn’t spend much, the Indians needed to dump both players to do what they did in 2016 and 2017, which was make the World Series and win 100 games.

No big deal. Bourn and Swisher are both out of the league and the Indians swiftly got rid of Chris Johnson. This trade was more about what happened as a result instead of the trade itself.

Trade #4: 2008 – CLE receives: Carlos Santana, Jon Meloan; LAD receives: Casey Blake

In another salary dump, the Indians sent Casey Blake to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a Double-A catcher. Little did they know (or maybe they did) that this catcher would be a cornerstone for the Indians for the next nine years.

Casey Blake didn’t play in the league longer, and Carlos Santana was one of the best, most steady players that the Indians have had for a decade.

Trade #3: 2016 – CLE receives: Andrew Miller; NYY receives: J.P. Feyereisen, Justus Sheffield, Clint Frazier, and Ben Heller

While this cost as much as any trade has in the last 18 years, Andrew Miller’s impact on the 2016 playoffs cannot be understated. With Corey Kluber (next), Andrew Miller almost single-handedly held up the bullpen in the playoffs and down the stretch, which led Cleveland one game away from its first World Series title since 1948.

And in 2017, Miller followed up with another stellar season. This trade might look worse as time goes on, but for recent memory, it’s a top five in the last 18 years.

Trade #2: 2010 – CLE receives: Corey Kluber; STL receives: Jake Westbrook and Nick Greenwood; SDP receives: Ryan Ludwick

While Jake Westbrook and Ryan Ludwick had relatively productive careers beyond Cleveland, getting Corey Kluber for Jake Westbrook looks like a coup. Not only has Kluber won two Cy Young Awards with the Tribe, he’s also been a workhorse and one of the most consistent AL starters for the last five years. Kluber was not good for San Diego, so they aren’t necessarily kicking themselves for this one.

And St. Louis shows up a lot on this list (especially in the honorable mentions), so they may want to consider whether it makes sense to trade with the Indians in the future.

Trade #1: 2002 – CLE receives: Cliff Lee, Brandon Phillips, Grady Sizemore, Lee Stevens; MNT receives: Bartolo Colon, Tim Drew

Finally, the trade that sportswriters write about all the time, the big one. Shockingly, Bartolo Colon is still in the league, as a starter, 16 years later. But this trade was the greatest example of “don’t give up the farm” for one person.

The Indians got a Cy Young winner, a second baseman who has started for the last 15 years in the league, and a former All-Star whose career ran short because of injuries.

Next: Ranking Terry Francona among the team’s best managers

Bartolo Colon has obviously been successful over the years, winning a World Series and Cy Young with the Los Angeles Angels after this, but Montreal didn’t get what they wanted out of him, and they gave up a lot. Hopefully, the Tribe can make more trades like this in the near future.