Cleveland Indians: Three perfectly timed trades by the front office

Corey Kluber to the Texas Rangers

Anytime a team trades away a two-time Cy Young winner there’s going to be some looking around. With that being said, most fans were still more than a little hurt to see Corey Kluber depart from the Tribe. A fan favorite, Kluber was fun to watch on the mound. Even so, this deal might have been done a year late.

Kluber struggled through an injury-riddled 2019 campaign that hurt his trade stock, but also helped introduce us to the next wave of Cleveland pitching with Shane Bieber, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale. Despite the deal being done a year later than it maybe should have been, the Cleveland Indians still walked away with the better end of the trade by far.

It took us a year to see the full return with the suspension to Emmanuel Clase, but nevertheless it’s clear now that the Tribe won the deal. Kluber pitched all of one inning for Texas before his season ended due to injury and then left in the offseason for the Yankees. The Tribe saw a similar situation with Delino Deshields, but he at least played more than one inning in Cleveland. The real return was Clase.

After serving his suspension last season, Clase has walked into the closer role in Cleveland this season and has become a frequent flyer in the triple-digits on the speed gun. Barely 23-years old, Clase is set to be under team control or in arbitration through the 2025 season, giving Cleveland at least five seasons of a cheap, 100-mph closer.