Cleveland Indians: 2 players the Tribe shouldn’t have let walk in free agency

2 players the Cleveland Indians shouldn’t have let walk in free agency

The Cleveland Indians are known for not retaining talent at this point. Being a small market team, the club often trades away top talent that becomes too expensive rather than resigning players on hefty deals. That was the case this past offseason when the team parted ways with star shortstop Francisco Lindor. However, that hasn’t always been the case of late.

In other cases, the team has waited too long and watched talent walk out the door instead of being resigned. The way of the trade is what has kept the team competitive, but other times it just didn’t formulate for the organization to keep the talent they have or move them in a trade before the deal expires.

There’s pros and cons when this happens. The pro is that the team often gets more time with the player than when a trade goes down. To optimize trade value, the player is usually dealt a year or two before the deal expires, taking away time that could be spent in Cleveland. The con is that the club gets nothing in return for the player that ends up walking in free agency.

For a team like Cleveland, getting something in return for players is the lifeblood of the team. It’s how they stay competitive. However, resigning players would be even better. Keeping already developed talent in Cleveland could have solved a few of the team’s current problems long before they happened. Like the outfield.

Over the last handful of seasons the Cleveland Indians have let two outfielders walk that both could be big contributors on the current club based on what they are doing for other teams. While it might have cost a bit more to keep the players on the Tribe’s roster, it might have been worth it given the state of Cleveland’s current outfield.