Cleveland Indians: Early look at the bullpen trade market

Jared Hughes

If the asking price for Iglesias ends up being too high, the Indians could turn to another Reds reliever in Jared Hughes. Hughes is prone to inducing groundouts, which is a desirable quality in today’s home-run-happy MLB.

The 32-year-old is enjoying the best season of his career thus far in 2018, boasting a 0.85 WHIP and 1.52 ERA over 23.2 innings. He’s under contract through 2019 at $2.125 million, with a club option for 2020. If the numbers Hughes has put up to start 2018 aren’t a mirage, he could end up being a bargain-add in the middle of the Indians bullpen for a year and a half.

Amir Garrett is another quality arm in the Cincinnati bullpen, but his age and the fact that he has yet to enter arbitration make it likely the Reds will hold onto him for the foreseeable future.

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As the season wears on, more teams will drop out of the race and more names will be brought into the discussion. As the summer heats up, expect the Indians to be linked to some of the arms listed above, and possibly more.