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 Rule 5 Draft hasn’t exactly gone well for the Indians in the last 10 years. Virtually none of the players they opted to draft have amounted to anything worthy of the selection, while a handful of players the team lost to other clubs have panned out to be solid MLB players.

In the 2012 Rule 5 Draft, the Baltimore Orioles selected left-handed reliever T.J. McFarland away from the Indians. Since then, McFarland has put together a solid career as in 2014 he made 37 relief appearances and one start posted a 2.76 ERA to help the O’s clinch their first AL East title since 1997.

He would remain a key member of the Orioles bullpen through the 2016 season before landing with the Arizona Diamondbacks, where in 2018, he posted a 2.00 ERA in 47 relief appearances.

In 2020, McFarland pitched in 23 games for the Oakland A’s in which he posted a 4.35 ERA for the eventual AL West champions.

McFarland wasn’t the only valuable asset the team lost in the 2012 Rule 5 Draft as right-handed reliever Hector Rondon was also drafted away. Rondon, who was drafted by the Chicago Cubs, emerged as one of the best late-inning men in baseball for a handful of seasons on the Northside of Chicago.

In 2015, Rondon pitched in 72 games for the Cubs posting a 1.67 ERA to help the team reach the postseason for the first time since 2007 and the NLCS for the first time since 2003. The following year, he posted a 3.53 ERA in 54 outings and helped Chicago defeat the Indians in the World Series.

He went on to join the Houston Astros after the 2017 season and posted a 3.20 ERA over the course of 63 outings in 2018. Rondon spent 2020 with the Diamondbacks, where he struggled in 23 appearances posting an ERA north of seven.

Perhaps the most painful Rule 5 Draft loss for the Indians came in 2016 when Baltimore drafted away outfielder Anthony Santander.

Santander burst onto the scene for the Orioles in 2018 when he slashed .261/.297/.476 with 20 home runs and 59 RBI’s. He followed that up by slashing .261/.315/.575 with 11 home runs and 32 RBI’s in just 37 games in 2020 before losing his season to injury.

With the Indians’ need for help in the outfield, losing Santander has become more painful than ever imagined.