3 players Cleveland Indians could trade and still remain competitive

3 players Cleveland Indians could trade and still remain competitive

The trade deadline for Major League Baseball is drawing close and it would be a complete shock to see the Cleveland Indians do anything other than sell at this point. Even staying put and doing nothing seems a bit of a far cry for the team given their objective to save payroll and build towards the future.

While selling seems like the route to be taken, the Tribe are not completely out of contention. It would be an uphill climb, but the Wild Card is at least still within reach. Luckily, there’s a path for Cleveland to be sellers while also keeping a competitive roster for down the stretch to make a potential postseason push.

Heading into the series against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Cleveland Indians hold a record of 49-48, just above .500. That standing has the Tribe five games out of the Wild Card race, tied with the Los Angeles Angels, while being 8.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. Like I said, the division might be too far out at this point, but the Wild Card is still a possibility.

Even with that considered, it doesn’t make sense for the Tribe to do anything other than sell at the deadline. Being a small market team, this is how Cleveland has been able to stay competitive for as long as they have. Instead of letting players walk in free agency, they are moved for future pieces. This familiar situation is likely set to happen again this week.

We’ve already talked about prospects that could benefit from a Cleveland deadline trade, but what about the players that can easily be replaced? The players that the team can live without and still have a shot at the division? If the Cleveland Indians do decide to sell, these players can be moved with the team not missing much of a beat.

Cleveland Indians 2B Cesar Hernandez

Since coming to Cleveland Cesar Hernandez has really blossomed as a player. Last year it was a defensive awakening, earning his first career Gold Glove. This year, the progression has switched to the offensive side of the game, already with a career-high home runs for a single season with 17. But how could the Cleveland Indians deal him and still remain competitive?

There’s no questioning Hernandez’s impact this year. He’s been one of the bright spots of the team, but there’s other options should the team move him. In the lineup, Bradley Zimmer showed potential in the leadoff spot over a few games. As for the field, there are plenty of prospects that can take over the spot.

If the team wants to go with players who already have service time logged, then Ernie Clement, Yu Chang or Owen Miller are options to play second. However, if the team is willing to give a new player a shot then Gabriel Arias seems like the logical choice to step up.

Over the last 28 days, Arias is slashing .289/.344/.446 for Triple-A Columbus with five doubles, a triple and two home runs. Over the last week the numbers are even better at .389/.476/.500. Being the No. 5 prospect in the organization, giving Arias time now could help the team next year since he won’t have the same learning curve then. Plus, he’s showing enough pop now that he could easily fill in for Hernandez and the team shouldn’t miss much of a beat.

Cleveland Indians RP Bryan Shaw, Blake Parker

We’re going to cheat the headline a bit. We’re naming just three players, but we’re talking about more than that. Anyway, the bullpen has a few arms that might interest teams around the league in need of a boost.

Both Bryan Shaw and Blake Parker are set to become free agents at the end of the year and with both being proven veterans they could draw a prospect or two on the market. With both being right-handed pitchers, Shaw and Parker have the ability to either eat innings or come in and get out of a jam.

For the Tribe, there are enough arms in the bullpen that the team could get by if they traded either Shaw or Parker, probably even if they moved both. Between Nick Wittgren, Nick Sandlin, Phil Maton and Trevor Stephan among others, there’s enough to make up the slack that Shaw and Parker would leave behind.

Shaw’s role would be the hardest to fill, but Parker didn’t even start the season in Cleveland. If just one is moved, that shouldn’t be a problem at all. If both are moved it becomes a bit more difficult, but still very possible to fill their roles for the rest of the season and still be competitive.