Cleveland Indians Rumors: The latest with the starting rotation

Cleveland Indians fans have to sit back and wait while rumors continue to pour out about potential trades involving starting pitchers.

The offseason started with news that the Cleveland Indians would listen to offers for members of the starting rotation.

That seems logical, as it never hurts to listen to offers, but it may have led some to panic about the potential of the team tearing down the rotation.

The key thing to remember is that the Indians wouldn’t make a trade just to cut salary. It would be to acquire more talent to help the team win.

Here is the latest from Bill Nightengale:

Once again, these are just rumors.

Trading Trevor Bauer would make sense given he has stated he prefers to sign one-year deals after arbitration as opposed to signing any long-term contracts. However, a trade may make more sense next year since he is under club control for two years, and will be earning more in arbitration before the 2020 season.

Bauer had a career-year in 2018 that was unfortunately cut short due to injury. He only appears to be getting better so it would be wise to hold onto him for 2019. But the same can also be said about Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco.

Trading any of the three would be a tough decision and would require a great return of talent for the team to even consider such a move.

My personal belief is that the Indians are just listening to offers, hoping a team makes one that can’t be refused. But unless a one-sided offer comes in from a desperate team, listening may be all the Indians do.

The team has employed a strategy of gauging where the team is around the All-Star break after making minor moves at the start of the year. The same may be true this year as the team looks to keep costs low, preventing a major offseason signing.

If the Indians don’t get that amazing offer before the year, it is entirely possible a member of the rotation is traded during the season in what would likely be a swap of stars.

All the possibilities are on the table and it is tough to gauge what rumors are more likely to occur than others. But what we do know is that the Indians are at least talking to teams about trading some starting pitching.