Cleveland Indians Rumors: Trade with Brewers on the way?

The Hot Stove finally started cooking on Thursday evening, as the Milwaukee Brewers made two big moves, acquiring Christian Yelich, and signing Lorenzo Cain. A deal with the Cleveland Indians may be coming soon.

After making two big additions in the span of an hour, it should surprise no one to see the Brewers make another move very soon. The strength of the Brewers team was their outfield depth, now they’ve acquired even more.

That means the incumbent outfielders must be made available in a trade.

With those two players now being made available, another interesting report came out that involved the Cleveland Indians.

Well, what do you know, the Indians may now get into the sweepstakes for Brewers outfielders. We’ve already mentioned how they could match up as trade partners, and what a potential trade might look like. Although our previously projected trade may not line up with current team needs.

The Brewers are looking for starting pitching, as Morosi explained, and Domingo Santana would be a perfect fit in Cleveland. A right handed power bat, under team control for the next four years, Santana would dominate in the corner outfield. He would be a clear upgrade over Lonnie Chisenhall.

Who could the Brewers want?

In their quest for pitching, Cleveland is the right team to talk with. With enviable pitching depth, the Tribe could afford to move one of their starters for an upgrade in the corner outfield. But which pitcher would get the deal done.

In all likelihood, the Brewers would ask for Carlos Carrasco. He’s a proven top of the rotation type starter and is under control for three more years at a very cheap price. However, the Indians would most likely reject the idea of moving Carrasco. The Brewers could package other prospects with Santana if they wish to acquire Carrasco. But it will still be difficult to get the Indians to part with him.

Danny Salazar is an obvious choice to be traded, and he could be of interest to the Brewers. But, they would likely want more from Cleveland’s side to get a deal done. A straight up Santana-for-Salazar deal will not work for Milwaukee.

Corey Kluber is as untouchable as it gets. Trevor Bauer could be another piece that interests the Brewers, but the fact that he hasn’t yet posted an ERA below 4.00 could be worrisome to them. Mike Clevinger would not be enough for Domingo Santana.

Basically, if the Cleveland Indians were to match up with the Brewers, it’s going to be down to Danny Salazar-plus others or Carlos Carrasco with Milwaukee adding in more players.

Is a trade likely?

Nothing is imminent at this point. This is a purely speculative fit between the two clubs. There haven’t been any reports that the two teams are talking right now. So this may be a good fit on paper, but the chatter hasn’t supported that the two are close to anything.

Then again, if both front offices do a good job on keeping rumors quiet, then we may not know until the deal goes down. In that case, no one should be surprised, but this is definitely a situation to keep an eye on.

Next: Encarnacion deal had major effects on offseason

The Hot Stove is finally up and going. Spring Training will start in a few weeks so I guess it’s better late than never for the offseason. Perhaps these two dominoes falling will be what the rest of MLB needs.