Cleveland Indians: 5 outfielders to target at MLB trade deadline

5 outfielders for the Cleveland Indians to target at MLB trade deadline

If the Cleveland Indians end up as buyers at the trade deadline for major league baseball, then they will have two glaring needs to invest in. Starting pitchers and outfield. Both positions have been hit by the injury bug this season, but needed upgrades before that even happened. Now, the Tribe are facing one of their last options to address the problem externally and time is running out.

While the outfield play for Cleveland has been a bit improved this season over the last few, it still hasn’t been great. Eddie Rosario and Harold Ramirez have shown to be strong additions, but the injury to Josh Naylor paired with Rosario missing time has set the outfield back to their old ways.

While Ramirez is still healthy the Cleveland Indians have been forced to use a mixture of Oscar Mercado, Bradley Zimmer and Daniel Johnson to fill out the rest of the lineup. Each of the three have shown potential, but consistency has been lacking. Even with Rosario back in the near future the outfield still needs at least one more player to complete the unit.

Whether or not the Tribe will be buyers at the deadline is still yet to be determined. What is seeming like the most likely option is that the team does nothing. But what if they do decide to explore options for the outfield? Who could be on the team’s radar?

There’s a handful of players that could be on the table for Cleveland. It will of course depend on how much the team is willing to spend, both in prospects and payroll, to acquire any players. Given the team’s want to build from within while also keeping payroll low surely indicates that the team will be frugal in all aspects. However, they could still find a way to reach a deal for a much needed boost to the outfield.