Indians 'Increasingly Unlikely' to Deal Trevor Bauer as Trade Deadline Approaches

Despite the bizarre optics of his Sunday meltdown in Kansas City, it never made much sense for the Cleveland Indians, just a pair of games out in the AL Central, to deal one of their most reliable hurlers in Trevor Bauer.

And, per Jon Heyman, our instincts may have been correct: it's highly unlikely to happen now that there's just a pair of days left before the official deadline.

Indians are increasingly unlikely to trade Trevor Bauer. Word is, ownership is reluctant to part with a big star with team in position to make playoffs and possibly even win division again.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 30, 2019

This shouldn't shock us.

The two "front-runners" for Bauer have always been the Yankees and Astros, but we never should've even considered Houston. Bauer and Gerrit Cole absolutely detest each other, back to their UCLA days, and will never again share a locker room; this is well-documented.

As a matter of fact, this should eliminate New York, too; signing Cole, a childhood Yankee fan, away from Houston should be their top priority this offseason. Why end that pursuit before it begins with Bauer?

Weirder things have happened but I would be utterly shocked if the Astros were interested in Bauer. The beef the Cole is real and I’ve heard that the Astros organization is decidedly NOT a fan of Bauer’s for that and other reasons. https://t.co/r0gLxFQxT4
— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra) July 30, 2019

Cleveland's currently relying on the return of Corey Kluber (and potentially Carlos Carrasco) to cement an already-formidable postseason push. Why deal away a controllable arm like Bauer with so much uncertainty following in his wake?

This should not, and likely won't, go down.