Cleveland Indians: 2 things that went wrong in July and 1 that went right

Cleveland Indians selling at the trade deadline

It was a good thing that the trade deadline was at the end of July. Had it been earlier in the month, the Cleveland Indians may have been inclined to buy, which would have backfired by the end of the month. While it was the right decision to sell, it still hurts that Cleveland was in that position in the first place.

Entering July, the team was still well within reach of both the AL Central and the Wild Card races. Unfortunately, the month caught up with the team and they ended up being sellers at the trade deadline. As we gain distance from the deadline, the deals to move Eddie Rosario, Jordan Luplow and Phil Maton make more sense. However, the Cesar Hernandez deal still has us scratching our heads a bit.

Hernandez still has a club option for 2022 on his deal. Moving now gets the most value for him, but it also doesn’t quite make sense in the fact that the team hasn’t really shown their hand for a plan at second. The team is using a combination of Owen Miller and Ernie Clement to fill the spot, but moving a veteran who has been playing well without a clear successor just seemed a bit odd.

There’s still plenty of time left to see if the Hernandez deal was worth it, and odds are when everything is said and done it will be. Nevertheless, it still hurts that the Tribe ended up selling at the end of July after having the potential to buy going into the month.