Cleveland Indians: 5 most memorable trade deadline moves since 2010

After back to back seasons’ of over 90 losses, the Indians shocked much of baseball by getting off to a hot start in 2011.

The Indians started the season 30-15 and jumped out to a seven-game AL Central lead over the Detroit Tigers. Cleveland would enter the all-star break 47-41 on the season, leading them to become trade deadline buyers.

There, they made a massive move as they traded four prospects to the Colorado Rockies for right-handed pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez.

At the time of the trade, Jimenez was one of baseball’s top starters. In 2010, he was named an all-star and finished third in the NL Cy Young voting after posting a 2.88 ERA, 19-8 record and even tossed the first no-hitter in Rockies history.

The Indians’ hoped he’d become a top of the rotation starter to help guide the team to a surprise postseason berth. Instead, he struggled as he pitched to a 5.11 ERA in 11 starts and Cleveland’s engine ran out of gas as they finished the season 80-82 and missed the playoffs.

Jimenez would struggle again in 2012 as he posted a 5.40 ERA and 9-17 record, but in 2013 found some of the magic from Colorado as he posted a 3.30 ERA, 13-9 record and helped the Indians clinch an AL Wild Card Spot. He wound up leaving the team in free agency for the Baltimore Orioles after the 2013 season.

As for the prospects traded for Jimenez, only one panned out to be a long-time major leaguer in left-handed pitcher Drew Pomeranz.

Pomeranz spent three years in Colorado before bouncing around the league with teams such as Oakland, San Diego, where he was named an all-star in 2016, Boston, where he helped the Red Sox win the world series in 2018, San Francisco and Milwaukee. He is currently in his second stint with the Padres.

In the end, this trade ended up being a win for the Indians as while Jimenez did not help the team produce upon arrival in 2011, he did wind up playing a large role in a 2013 postseason run, while none of the prospects moved to Colorado worked out long-term for the Rockies.

After their 2017 playoff run ended in an ALDS loss to the Yankees, the Indians entered the 2018 trade deadline aggressive as they looked to sure up their roster for a deep postseason run.

The teams’ most significant need was for bullpen help and that’s exactly what they went out and added as they acquired San Diego Padres all-star Brad Hand and right-handed reliever Adam Cimber.

To get the pair bullpen arms, the Indians parted ways with their top prospect at the time and baseball’s 15th ranked prospect per MLB Pipeline in catcher Francisco Mejia.

The deal ended up paying off for the remainder of the 2018 regular season for Cleveland as Hand pitched to a 2.28 in 28 games while recording eight saves with the Indians after the trade while Cimber posted a 4.05 ERA and also pitched in 28 games.

However, the relievers were not enough to propel the Indians deep into the postseason as the Houston Astros swept them in the ALDS.

Hand and Cimber remain with the club today. In 2019, Hand was named an all-star and posted a 3.30 ERA while locking down 34 saves. Cimber posted a 4.95 ERA in 68 games while picking up six wins and a save.

So far this season, Hand has struggled as his ERA stands at 4.70, but he has recorded seven saves. Cimber has been stellar in his six outings as he’s pitched to a 1.59 ERA.

As for Mejia, he had an up and down start to his career with the Padres. The catcher appeared in 20 games for San Diego in 2018 after the trade and slashed .185/.241/.389 with three home runs and eight RBI’s.

He played in 79 games for San Diego in 2019, slashing an improved .265/.316/.438 with eight home runs and 22 RBI’s, but in 16 games, this season has struggled slashing just .079/.146/.184 with a home run and two RBI’s. He is currently on the injured list with a thumb injury.

It’s too early to determine the winner of this trade, but the early verdict would favor Cleveland as Mejia hasn’t quite lived up to his top prospect status, while Hand and Cimber helped the Tribe to the postseason in 2018 while Hand earned all-star honors in 2019.

After a disappointing 2015 season, the Indians emerged as the AL Central front-runners in 2016 ahead of the defending world champion Kansas City Royals.

To hold off Kansas City, and solidify themselves as the division favorites, the Indians made a bold trade with the New York Yankees sending former first-round draft pick Clint Frazier, top pitching prospect Justus Sheffield and two more minor league arms in Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen to the Bronx in exchange for all-star reliever Andrew Miller.

Miller had a signed a four-year deal with the Yankees prior to the 2015 season; thus, the Indians would have the southpaw in their bullpen not just for the 2016 postseason run but through the 2018 season.

The move quickly paid off for the Tribe as Miller posted a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings after the trade to help lead the Indians to their first AL Central title since 2007. In the postseason, Miller was dominant as he did not allow a run in Cleveland’s ALDS sweep of the Boston Red sox and was named ALCS MVP after tossing 7.2 scoreless innings with 14 strikeouts against the Toronto Blue Jays as the Indians won their first AL pennant since 1997.

While Cleveland would go onto lose the world series, Miller would help the team win two more division crowns as in 2017 he was again named an all-star as he posted a 1.58 ERA for an Indians team that won 102 games and also set an MLB record by posting a 22-game winning streak during the regular season.

In 2018 Miller had his struggles as his ERA finished at 4.24, but he was still part of a third straight AL Central Division champion squad. He’d go onto sign with the St. Louis Cardinals following the 2018 season.

As for the Yankees, they also benefited from this trade. The team would knock off Miller and the Indians in the 2017 ALCS, have gotten much production from Frazier who hit 12 home runs in 69 games for the Bombers in 2019 and sent Sheffield to Seattle to land a top of the rotation arm in James Paxton.

This trade was truly a win for both teams, but for the Indians, it helped create an unforgettable 2016 postseason run.

Perhaps no trade made during the 2019 trade deadline generated a more buzzing than a three-team deal between the Indians, Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres.

In the deal, the Indians flipped all-star starting pitcher Trevor Bauer to the Reds, while adding big-name outfielder Yasiel Puig and pitching prospect Scott Moss from Cincinnati as well as slugger Franmil Reyes, right-handed reliever Logan Allen and minor league bat Victor Nova from San Diego. To finish the trade, the Reds shipped top outfield prospect Taylor Trammell to the Padres.

This deal came after Shane Bieber, Adam Plutko and Aaron Civale emerged as reliable rotation pieces allowing the Indians to move Bauer, who was set to become a free-agent the team likely would be unable to afford after the 2020 season.

Needing help scoring runs, the Indians got exactly what they needed in Puig and Reyes. Puig slashed .297/.377/.423 with two home runs and 23 RBI’s while Reyes slugged 10 home runs with 35 RBI’s in 51 games.

Unfortunately, this would not be enough to propel Cleveland to the playoffs as their three-year postseason streak came to an end after finishing the regular season 93-69 and eight games behind the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central.

As of 2020, the Indians four of the five players the Indians added are still with the organization with the expectation of Puig, who is a free agent. Reyes has served as the Indians designated hitter this season, Allen has appeared in one game out of the bullpen, Moss is at the teams’ alternate site and Mesa remains in the minors.

As for Bauer, he struggled in 10 starts upon his arrival in Cincinnati posting a 2-5 record and 6.39 ERA, but in 2020 he has regained his all-star form as he’s posted a major league-best 0.68 ERA in four starts this season. He will be a free agent at the end of the season.

When the Indians plugged the trigger a three-team trade with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Padres at the 2010 summer trade deadline, there wasn’t much hype around the city of Cleveland.

The Indians’ who were deadline sellers, traded away starting pitcher Jake Westbrook to the Cardinals, St. Louis sent outfielder Ryan Ludwick to San Diego while Cleveland landed pitching prospect Corey Kluber from the Padres.

At the time of the move, there was little to no excitement about the trade from Indians fans. Kluber was not ranked among San Diego’s top 30 prospects, and the city of Cleveland was distracted by the fact LeBron James had left the Cavaliers to form a dream team in Miami.

No one realized that the Indians’ wound up acquiring an arm that would soon become one of the best pitchers in team history.

Kluber made his MLB debut in 2011 but did not become a mainstay in the Indians’ rotation until 2013. He made 24 starts for the Tribe that season and pitched to a 3.85 ERA while posting a record of 11-5 to help guide the team to a surprise postseason berth.

Then in 2014, he began to become a household name. The right-hander made 34 starts in which we went 18-9, posted a 2.44 ERA and struck out 269 batters to stun major league baseball and take home the AL Cy Young Award.

By 2016, he was named to his first all-star game, which ironically took place in San Diego at the home of the team that gave up on him before he ever reached the majors. That season he posted an 18-9 record and 3.14 ERA to help the Tribe win their first division title since 2016.

In the postseason, Kluber tossed seven shutout innings in an ALDS victory over the Red Sox, went 1-1 with a 1.59 ERA in two ALCS starts against the Blue Jays and made three starts in the World Series in which he posted a 2-0 record and 2.81 ERA against the Cubs in a series Cleveland would lose in seven games.

He followed that up by winning his second Cy-Young Award in 2017 after he posted a career-best 2.25 ERA, went 18-4 and struck out 265 batters to help guide the Indians to a 102-win regular season.

Kluber earned another all-star nod in 2018, but in 2019 was riddled by injuries as he made just seven starts on the season. With the emergence of young arms such as Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger, the Indians traded him to the Texas Rangers before the 2020 season-ending an era that would never be forgotten in Cleveland.

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The addition of Kluber made the Indians’ run-away winners of the three-team deal as while Westbrook pitched out of the Cardinals’ bullpen during their 2011 World Series championship run, never came close to the success of Kluber in Cleveland, while the Padres who made the team to improve their 2010 lineup missed the postseason that year and remain in the midst of a postseason drought that dates back to 2006 to this day.