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April 1, 20162016 NFL Draft: The Cleveland Browns should trade down – WFNY Podcast No. 476
April 1, 2016With the recent shakeup that placed Cleveland Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer in the bullpen and not in the rotation to start the season, some have questioned why manager Terry Francona and company did such a move, especially if the club was looking to trade Bauer because that would decrease his trade value. Well, according to Dallas News’ Evan Grant, the Indians and Texas Rangers have been engaged in talks recently that would send a reliever to the shores of Lake Erie and a starter (or former starter) to Texas.
Though there is nobody on the roster standing in his way, A.J. Griffin has not yet been officially named the Rangers’ fifth starter.
With good reason: The club is still working to add more pitching depth.
The Rangers and Cleveland have engaged in talks recently, three major league sources said, centered around a reliever-for-starter trade. The Rangers believe they have depth to spare in the bullpen; the Indians have six starters for five rotation spots. …
Bauer, 25, is the kind of hard-thrower that Rangers manager Jeff Banister likes, but he struggles with command. He led the AL in walks (79) last year and has 139 over the last two years, ranking second in the league only to Ubaldo Jimenez (145). Bauer also has 313 strikeouts over that same time.
The top three starters of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, and Danny Salazar are locks in the Indians’ rotation at this point, leaving Bauer, fourth-starter Cody Anderson, and fifth-man in the rotation Josh Tomlin. Bauer, who was expected to be a key component of one of the best rotations in baseball after his red-hot spring, will surprisingly not be part of that rotation.
And while he may be inconsistent at times, the 25-year-old had an 11-12 record to go along with a 4.55 ERA in 2015, his fourth season in the MLB. In 176 innings, he accumulated 170 strikeouts. His move to the pen was surprising not only because of his strong spring, but also due to the fact that he has one of the highest ceilings of the three. Anderson, who made his major league debut in 2015, owned a 7-3 record with a 3.05 ERA in 15 starts. The 25-year-old had 44 strikeouts and 24 walks in 91.1 inning during his rookie season. In his return from shoulder surgery, Tomlin struck out 57 opposing hitters and had eight walks while owning a 7-2 record in 65.2 innings. (10 starts) The 31-year-old’s 3.02 ERA was the lowest of his career.
With the Rangers yet to declare a starter just days away from Opening Day, per Grant, people believe that the starter that they are hoping to acquire will round out their rotation, whether it’s the Indians or not.
While the Indians have a plethora of solid starting arms, Texas has plenty of bullpen arms, which is why a deal could work here. Rangers relievers that could possibly be dealt to Cleveland are Shawn Tolleson, Keone Kela, Jake Diekman, Sam Dyson, and Tom Wilhelmsen.
15 Comments
Boo to giving up anything of value to get relievers.
Agreed. If something like this happens, I think it says more about what they think of Bauer.
Steve, I agree with you again. I’m going to go visit the doctor to make sure everything’s ok.
No doubt. Horrible deal.
I swear on my non-existent soul if Chernoff/Antonetti make this deal after last years proclamation of not trading pitching for hitting (something they actually need) I’ll go next level scorched earth.
How about a trade for a home run hitting outfielder? Y’know, address a need.
Id even take a wide receiver
Going through the different links, the source is pretty clearly from the Rangers side of the equation. Hey, they want one from our bountiful depth of starters. Who doesn’t?
And a young starter with a (still) relatively high ceiling with 4 years of controllability? They can’t be considering that. I refuse to believe they have their player value charts that badly out of whack. Also, if any of our pitchers get traded, I think it’s Tomlin, but still.
“center around” is poor english. Try revolve around or center on.
How about a round center?
http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/07/medium_traylor_kuntz.jpg
May he R.I.P.
i don’t like it, but if they do it, they better bring back Diekman. Even though I like the 22-year old Kela better, Diekman is the only lefty of the bunch.
Gosh, this deal makes no sense…
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Detwiler-Joba-Otero is one of the worst middle relief combos on paper in all of major league baseball but I still don’t burn a trade chip like Bauer for bullpen help. Maybe us fans wildly overestimate Bauer’s trade value, but if he’s that undesirable to other teams, I say hang on to him and see what happens.
If anything, I’d test him out as a reliever before trading him for a reliever. Sure, the walks are a problem but if he attacks hitters with his best stuff for 1-2 innings, he could very well succeed. And if he doesn’t, then keep him around as a depth starter. It couldn’t be worse than relying on Toru Murata as your spot starter on the back end of a doubleheader.