Friday Five: Trades for the Cleveland Indians to move Mike Clevinger

This is more of a personal favorite than it is a solid deal for the Cleveland Indians, but there is some logic to it. Michael Lorenzen and Amir Garrett can both provide something to an already strong bullpen in Cleveland.

The Indians’ bullpen is full of youth plus Oliver Perez and is proving to be a force in the league once the starters turn the game over. The one “issue” with Cleveland’s pitching as it currently stands is the diversity in matchups. Perez is one of just three left-handers in the bullpen for Cleveland with, the other two being the closer Brad Hand and starter-by-trade Logan Allen.

This is where Garrett comes into play. Predominately throwing a four-seam fastball and a slider, Garrett is the perfect left-handed compliment to add to all the Cleveland bullpen’s young right-handed arms. Garrett also still has multiple years of arbitration left, keeping him in the Indians’ bullpen for a long time.

That brings us to Lorenzen, who would be another right-handed pitcher in the bullpen. However, moving Nick Wittgren would free up the opportunity for Lorenzen to become the 8th inning guy for the Indians and be a true setup man. Lorenzen has one year less of arbitration left than Wittgren, but he is more proven and stable.

If you think back to the 2016 Cleveland Indians that made the World Series, one of the biggest strengths of that team was the bullpen and being able to lock down the 7-8-9 innings with a righty-lefty-righty combo. Adding Garrett and Lorenzen would give Cleveland a youthful trio with Hand to replicate that success in reverse with a lefty-righty-lefty death punch to close out games.

The other player added for Cleveland is Will Benson, the team’s 30th ranked prospect according to MLB.com. The Indians already have a solid group of young outfielders in the system, so moving one in this deal shouldn’t be an issue.