Cleveland Indians: Four blockbuster trades for Francisco Lindor

Tribe lands Angels’ top prospect

The Indians should try to avoid moving Lindor within the American League, but if a team can offer a package that includes their top prospect, as well as three of their top eight, it will be hard to ignore.

The 2021 season will finally be the last on the enormous Albert Pujols deal, so that will clear up plenty of money for Los Angeles to shift over to Francisco Lindor beginning in 2022, pairing two of the game’s best players together in Lindor and Mike Trout.

As for the Indians, they land the Angels’ top prospect in Brandon Marsh, who should be MLB-ready in 2021. The Angels of plenty of outfielders, so moving Marsh is a possibility. At 22-years old, the 2016 second round pick could be an immediate producer for an Indians outfield that is starving for sustained production. Playing 96 games at the Double-A level in 2019, Marsh slashed a solid .300/.383/.428 with 21 doubles, 18 stolen bases and seven home runs.

The second part of the trade is an 18-year old shortstop in Kyren Paris. Currently the No. 5 prospect for Los Angeles, Paris was the Angels’ second round pick in 2019. He doesn’t have statistics to look at, but his potential is high.

The final piece is second baseman Jahmai Jones who would be the only one in this deal with MLB experience. Jones could slide into the vacancy left behind by Cesar Hernandez while allowing the Cleveland Indians to focus their minor league middle infielders on filling the shortstop void. In his brief MLB appearance, Jones had good fortune, going 3-for-7 with an RBI and two runs scored.