Indians Reportedly 'Aggressively' Shopping Trevor Bauer Despite Holding Top Wild Card Spot
By Adam Weinrib
The Cleveland Indians have risen concurrent with their recovering superstar Jose Ramirez, and are firmly back in the AL Central race, leading the Wild Card by a semi-comfortable margin.
However, that hasn't stopped them from pushing a Trevor Bauer trade league-wide, especially following his bizarre tantrum on Sunday afternoon.
According to reports, the Tribe has gone as far as "shopping" the mercurial right-hander, despite their playoff pole position.
The Cleveland #Indians may be just 2 games out in the AL Central, and leading the wild-card race, but still are aggressively shopping Trevor Bauer. Yet, they have to get players to help immediately in return.
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) July 29, 2019
With Shane Bieber and Mike Clevinger in tow, and Corey Kluber returning in the not-too-distant future (with Carlos Carrasco potentially following behind?), starting pitching is far from Cleveland's greatest need. If they can maximize Bauer for another win-now type player, you'd be hard-pressed to argue against it.
And we happen to know one pitching-starved AL East team with a big league-ready outfielder (and former Indian!) currently wasting away in Triple-A.
— Reg (@reg3835) July 29, 2019
Though New York has been hesitant to trade Clint Frazier for a pitcher who doesn't come with years of control (Bauer's only locked up through 2020, and has an insane desire to pitch the rest of his career on one-year deals), this makes almost too much sense not to happen, especially with Frazier blocked and belligerent.
Speaking of belligerent, Bauer's never been more available, and the Yankees reportedly had him ranked will above Marcus Stroman on their deadline wishlist. Doesn't take much to connect the dots here.