Cleveland Indians: Potential trade targets before the deadline
By Andrew Zubin
Teoscar Hernandez, OF, Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays are out of the playoff race and need to upgrade their starting pitching. The Indians can help the Jays in that department. I wrote in an earlier article that Teoscar Hernandez could be a nice upgrade for the Indians outfield. He’s not eligible for arbitration until 2021 and can’t become a free agent until 2024, so this trade could help fill a hole for the next six seasons.
Hernandez is 26 years old and stands at 6-foot-2 and 180 pounds. He made his MLB debut in 2016 with the Houston Astros and was traded to the Jays at the trade deadline in 2017. This season has been his first extended chance as the true starter and he’s produced well. Hernandez is batting .243 with 15 home runs, 21 doubles and 40 RBIs.
The issue with Hernandez is that he’s struggled for the last month. He’s had a very rough July, batting only .191. With no real track record to go off of it’s up to the Indians scouting department to decide if that is an aberration or the league has figured Hernandez out. Defensively, he’s nothing to write home about, but it seems like this season the Indians have punted on outfield defense since Bradley Zimmer went down with an injury.
For the WAR crowd, he’s a -1.7 dWAR (according to Baseball Reference). He’s in roughly the same ballpark as Michael Brantley who sits at -1.3 dWAR. The plus to all of this is that, as mentioned earlier, he’s under club control and he’s young. This would be a move for this season and the future, he has the potential to continue improving with more time.