Cleveland Indians: 3 players most likely to be added by trade deadline

Cleveland Indians Trade Target #1: German Marquez, P, Colorado Rockies

While German Marquez is going to be the most expensive player on this list, he might be the easiest to acquire for the Cleveland Indians. The Tribe and Colorado Rockies have a good relationship, whether it be on the trade market or social media, and the Rockies will be deep into the selling aspect of the trade deadline with multiple players most likely on the move.

Since we’ve already mentioned the price tag, we’ll start there. Marquez is in the third year of a five-year deal, but it’s still a relatively affordable contract for a 26-year old starting pitcher.

Over the course of this year, Marquez is set to bring in $7.8 million which will increase to $11.3 million in 2022 and $15.3 million in 2023. A little expensive, but it might be worth it to stabilize the rotation a bit.

So far this season, Marquez has an ERA of 3.91 over 71.1 innings pitched and is the only pitcher in the game to have two complete games this year. He’s also been able to strike out 75 batters and walk just 34.

Also, while his ERA of 3.91 might seem a bit high, that includes an implosion outing where he gave up eight runs in 0.2 innings to balloon that number. If you take away that start, he has a sub-3.00 ERA, being better than Aaron Civale and nearly on the same track as Shane Bieber.

Marquez might be a bit more expensive, but given his age and ability the price would be worth it. Adding him to the starting rotation would solidify four spots through 2023, leaving just one spot to be filled by the farm system. That would be well worth whatever the price of the trade would be, plus his contract over the next couple seasons.