Cleveland Indians: Terry Francona comments on Tribe rumors

In the midst of the seemingly endless rumors the Cleveland Indians have been linked to, the Tribe skipper finally speaks out on how he feels about the topic.

Unless you live under a rock, you’ve probably seen one the billion trade rumors that the Cleveland Indians have been linked to. It may have been the Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, and even the Reds; hell, now we’re hearing about potential three-way trades. It’s enough to drive you crazy as an Indians fan.

When you look at all of the swirling talks and rumors, it feels like the team is moving backward instead of forward. Well, apparently Tribe manager Terry Francona has seen enough of these rumors and has decided to say something about them.

That’s one way to instill confidence. It raises two questions for me. What are the 0.01 percent of the rumors that are true? Also, why did team president Chris Antonetti say changes are coming? It could mean positive changes, but given the budget of the team, positive change would still result in losing some key players.

Obviously, a team won’t (usually) openly admit if they are blowing things up. But the Indians have been shopping their deepest position for some time now, and that’s no secret. The players linked in those rumors may have been wrongfully mentioned, but I highly doubt the Indians aren’t shopping every available pitcher.

Let’s not forget that the team has reportedly said that everyone not named Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez is available. To me, that sounds like names like Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer are still being shopped despite what Francona says. But maybe he’s speaking about the returns that the team would get for those players. Maybe the Indians expect to get more than what they’ve been offered. There is no need to undersell the studs they have.

Another possibility is that Tito is saying the rumors are false because of the teams that have been linked to the trades. Maybe there are the illustrious “mystery teams” inquiring about Tribe players. Or maybe he’s telling the truth. If the rumors we’ve heard less of (ones involving Yonder Alonso, Edwin Encarnacion, or Danny Salazar) are true, I will panic a whole lot less.

The Indians have plenty of depth in their infield and starting rotation. The outfield and bullpen should still have fans concerned. If the team is moving forward as Francona has suggested, those issues need to be dressed before the season begins.