Notable Cleveland Indians Winter Meeting moves since 2010

The Cleveland Indians have stayed relatively quiet at the Winter Meetings the past 10 years but have made a few memorable transactions.

There is no bigger MLB offseason event than the Winter Meetings as the Cleveland Indians and all 29 other teams’ across the league gather with rival executives and agents to complete trades and finish off free-agent deals.

Despite a year full of canceled events, the Winter Meetings will go on in 2020 but look slightly different as they will be held virtually amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The Meetings will begin Sunday,  and run through the end of the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday, Dec. 10.

The last decade has seen the Indians stay relatively at the Winter Meetings with only a few trades, small signings and Rule 5 Draft choices. However, this year the Tribe will have much of the baseball world watching them.

With the Indians expected to trade four-star shortstop Francisco Lindor, there will be increased speculation that a move will be made during baseball’s busiest week of the offseason.

In honor of the Winter Meetings kicking off Sunday, here’s a look at every move the Indians have made during them since 2010.

The past 10 years, the Indians have stayed mostly quiet on the free agency front during the Winter Meetings but have made a handful of minor league signings, including some that wound up making the big league roster.

Among the eight players, the Indians signed to minor league free agent contracts with invitations to spring training during the Winter Meetings since 2010, just one reached the majors with Cleveland after signing on with the team.

During the 2014 Winter Meetings, the Indians signed veteran catcher Adam Moore. Moore spent three seasons (2009-11) with the Seattle Mariners after being drafted by the club in 2006 and went onto play with the Kansas City Royals (2012-13) and San Diego Padres (2014) before signing with Cleveland.

Moore would play just one game with the Indians in 2015, going 1-4 with an RBI and then went onto play nine games for the team in 2016 in which he did not record a single hit.

The only other name that signed with the team during the Winter Meetings to play a major league game for the Indians was outfielder Matt Carson who the team re-signed to a new MiLB deal during the 2013 Meetings.

Carson appeared in 20 games for the Indians during their 2013 season and notched a walk-off single against the Houston Astros on Sept. 19 during the Tribe’s late season surge to lift them into the postseason.

While Carson and Moore both spent time playing for Cleveland, Robbie Grossman is the most notable name the team signed to a MiLB deal during the Meetings.

Grossman signed with the team during the 2015 Meetings but, after not making the club during Spring Training, opted out of his contract in May of 2016 and joined the Minnesota Twins. He would play 99 games for the Twins that year, 119 games in 2017 and 129 in 2018 in a year that saw him hit .273.

In 2019 Grossman signed a one-year deal with the Oakland A’s where he played in 138 games. He rejoined Oakland for the 2020 season, where he played in 51 of 60 games during the shortened season and hit eight home runs for the AL West champions.

The Indians have made three trades during the Winter Meetings over the course of the last decade, all of which wound up significant.

2014

During the 2014 meetings, the Indians traded for a veteran bat as they added Brandon Moss from the Oakland Athletics in exchange for infield prospect Joey Wendle.

Moss was coming off a 2014 season that saw him earn All-Star honors as he slugged 25 home runs and picked up 81 RBI’s for the A’s. He was unable to replicate that success in Cleveland as he hit just .217 with 15 home runs in 94 games for the Tribe before being traded at the 2015 July Trade Deadline to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wendle spent short stints with the A’s in both 2016 and 2017 before landing with the Tampa Bay Rays, where in 2018, he finished as an AL Rookie of the Year finalist after slashing .300/.354/.435 with 61 RBI’s.

He helped guide Tampa to the World Series in 2020 after hitting .286 in 50 games for the AL champion Rays.

2017

In 2017, the Indians made a seemingly small move when they dealt right-handed reliever Shawn Armstrong to the Seattle Mariners for International Bonus Slot Money.

Armstrong pitched to a 4.38 ERA in 21 relief appearances to the Indians in 2016 and was clearly simply a depth piece in the pen.

Since leaving Cleveland, however, Armstrong has found success. In 2017 he posted a 1.23 ERA in 14 appearances for Seattle and in 2020, he posted a 1.80 ERA in 14 relief outings for the Baltimore Orioles.

2018

Perhaps the most memorable Winter Meetings trade made by the Indians in the past 10-years was a three-team deal with the Mariners and Rays in 2018.

The Indians sent slugger Edwin Encarnacion to Seattle and both infielder Yandy Diaz and right-handed pitcher Cole Sulser to the Rays in exchange for first basemen Carlos Santana bringing him back to Cleveland after one-year away and young first basemen Jake Bauers from Cleveland.

Encarnacion spent just two full months in Seattle before being traded to the New York Yankees; Diaz emerged as a key contributor to the Rays 2019 AL Wild Card Game-winning team hitting two solo home runs for Tampa in their win over Oakland and then helped the team reach the World Series in 2020 and Sulser wound up landing in Baltimore where he became the Orioles closer in 2020.

As for Cleveland’s addition, Santana put together an All-Star 2019 season that saw him hit .281 with 34 home runs and 93 RBI’s but struggled in 2020 and is now a free agent while Bauers slumped through the 2019 season and spent all of 2020 at the Indians alternate site in Lake County.