Even before his escapades in downtown Chicago three weeks ago, Mike Clevinger was on borrowed time with the Indians.
His name was destined to populate trade rumors this winter. With a seemingly endless supply of starting pitching depth and a seller’s market at hand, Cleveland’s front office opted to instead pounce a few hours prior to the in-season trade deadline.
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They turned to a familiar friend, the Padres, a team with which the Indians have now completed five trades in the last 25 months. For the third consecutive year, the two sides united to execute a significant deadline deal.
To the Indians: Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, Austin Hedges, Gabriel Arias, Joey Cantillo and Owen Miller
To the Padres: Clevinger, Greg Allen and a player to be named later
In a span of 13 months, the Indians have shipped out three top-line starting pitchers: Trevor Bauer, Corey Kluber and now Clevinger. And yet, their rotation remains a strength, thanks to the evolution of Shane Bieber from college walk-on to undisputed ace and the development of Aaron Civale and Zach Plesac.
“With the way the Indians do things — which is, they’re there to win every year — anybody has a price,” Clevinger said Monday afternoon. “Everybody has a price tag and I think everybody in that organization knows that. There’s no one that’s really untouchable over there, so you have that in the back of your mind. There wasn’t really a timer on it, but I knew it could be very plausible this season or this offseason.”
Given the Indians’ standing atop the AL Central and in prime position to earn a ticket to the postseason, the deal might leave some scratching their heads. But this is the type of trade the Indians have attempted to master in recent years, swapping out a starter for pieces that will aid both their immediate and future causes. One National League front-office evaluator raved at the surplus value the Indians obtained, saying, “Cleveland crushed this.”
That surely has more to do with the future than the present, but that’s how the Indians operate. Over the last few years, they have transformed one of the oldest rosters in the league into one littered with youth. Their aim is to never rebuild, to never descend into the pit of misery that forces fans to focus more on hopes, wishes and minor-league box scores than tangible, big-league results. So even when it might make sense to address a present-day need — and their outfield was desperate for an upgrade — they always have an eye on the next few years.
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Whether the team is better equipped to make a run in 2020, however, is both a valid and important question. A rotation anchored by Bieber and Clevinger certainly would have granted the Indians advantages in October, but an outfield flaunting a .186 average and .287 slugging percentage had grown tiresome. If any team can absorb the loss of a pitcher with Clevinger’s ability, it’s the Indians, who deliver skilled starting pitchers to the big-league roster with Amazon Prime-like haste. But that places a hefty burden on a handful of inexperienced hurlers in Civale, Plesac and Triston McKenzie.
Naylor will add some thump to the lower half of Cleveland’s oft-punchless batting order. He dropped about 30 pounds since the start of last season so he can move around better in the outfield, but his glove still leaves much to be desired. He could potentially replace Carlos Santana at first base, though that’s a conversation for another year. The former first-round pick is under team control through the 2025 season. His younger brother, Bo, is one of the organization’s top prospects.
Naylor, Quantrill and Hedges are expected to join the big-league roster. Quantrill pitched in relief for San Diego this season, primarily because the Padres bullpen has set fire to a bunch of leads. Hedges has received plaudits for his defense behind the plate, but he hasn’t produced much at it.
Arias, Cantillo and Miller will join a farm system that has vastly improved over the last few years. Cantillo, 20, is said to possess a highly effective change-up, which explains how he limited hitters to a .179 average and .502 OPS last year. He posted a 2.26 ERA with 11.6 strikeouts per nine innings in his time split between Class-A Fort Wayne and High-A Lake Elsinore.
Arias registered a .302/.339/.470 slash line as a 19-year-old shortstop with Lake Elsinore last season.
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Miller, a third-round pick in 2018, batted .290 with a .785 OPS at Double-A Amarillo last year. He bounced around the infield, playing second, short and third. The Indians have a plethora of similarly aged middle-infield prospects, headlined by Tyler Freeman, Brayan Rocchio and Aaron Bracho.
Our Keith Law ranked Arias as the No. 7 prospect in the Padres’ system, with Miller at No. 9 and Cantillo at No. 13. And that’s for one of the top systems in the league, so individual rankings are all relative.
Last summer, the Indians, Reds and Padres sorted out the final details of their seven-player trade as Cleveland players filtered out of the clubhouse following a game against the Astros. Bauer emotionally embraced teammates as word spread from locker to locker. Yasiel Puig, part of the trade, participated in an on-field brawl as his final act in a Cincinnati uniform, as Chris Antonetti and Mike Chernoff watched, horrified, from Terry Francona’s office.
A few days after the Winter Meetings in San Diego in December, the Indians dealt Kluber, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, to the Rangers for Emmanuel Clase and Delino DeShields. Kluber logged one inning for Texas this season before the injury bug bit him once again. Clase tested positive for a banned substance and won’t offer the Indians anything in 2020.
The Indians and Padres progressed toward an agreement on the Clevinger deal late Sunday night. A handful of other teams expressed interest, including the Braves, White Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays. The Padres have hastily reshaped their roster this week with a slew of trades. Now, they have a front-end starter to lead them into the postseason for the first time since 2006.
Clevinger has produced 11.0 fWAR and a 3.20 ERA since breaking into the majors in 2016. He ranked seventh in fWAR among American League starters last season despite missing two months with an upper back strain. He’ll turn 30 in December and can become a free agent after the 2022 season.
Clevinger and Plesac ruffled feathers in the Indians clubhouse when they left the team hotel in Chicago, sans permission, on Aug. 8 for a night out. Clevinger flew back to Cleveland with the team before knowledge of his involvement surfaced. The team exiled both players to the club’s alternate site in Eastlake, Ohio. Clevinger returned to the active roster on Wednesday, when he pitched the Indians past the Twins in his final start with the club that once acquired him from the Angels for the last 21 innings of Vinnie Pestano’s career.
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Ironically, Plesac will replace Clevinger, his close companion, in Cleveland’s rotation moving forward. The Indians are placing faith in youngsters Plesac, Civale and McKenzie, who will all contribute to a rotation that ranks first in the majors in ERA (by a relatively wide margin). Adam Plutko, Logan Allen (another former Padre) and Sam Hentges could provide some depth if needed.
(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)
