I'm still trying to figure out the money because most trades are about the money.

If nothing happened, Tribe would owe EE $20M and a $5M buyout for 2019.

Seattle picks that up and dumps Santana who is owed $41M for 2019 and 2020 with a $500K buyout.

Tampa gets Diaz and a pitcher for Bauers and forks over $5M to the Mariners. WTF? Why not send it to the Indians directly?

What did Tampa get from Seattle?

Mariners take the $5M add $1M and send it to the Indians to offset some of Santana's money.

I used to have a kid named Jake Bauers on my Little League team. Couldn't hit for shit. Turned out to be an excellent college golfer and may get a shot at the Tour.

OF is beginning to look like something and we have not given away a great starter. LF: Bauers. CF: Martin and Allen. RF: Luplow and Naquin.
meanwhile, 1B: Santana 2b: Kipnis ss: Lindor 3b: Ramirez C: Perez and Haase DH: Alonso Utility Max Moroff. I can live with since we still have baseball's best starting 5.

Bullpen needs something more, however. We haven't added anyone significant for relief, but in a sense we have: there's a possibility that Danny Salazar may pitch in 2019 and he could be a big help for low pressure 7th inning. Jon Edwards is a modest boost to the middle relief corps. Hand is the closer. Need an 8th inning pitcher. Cimber is a match up guy, as is Olson. that leaves 2 spots: candidates on hand include returnees Otero, Goody and newcomers Lockett, Jefry Rodriguez, Chih-Wei Hu.

That team again easily wins the central. The rotation is always a potential championship group.

Tampa got Edwin?

I think you could reasonably call Yandy and Bauers a wash. TBD

I like the Santana move and I like the money saved.

IF IF it is used for upcoming transactions. TBD again.

I like each component of the deal. And just maybe it also lessens the likelihood we deal a Cy Young quality starting pitcher.

civ ollilavad wrote:I like each component of the deal. And just maybe it also lessens the likelihood we deal a Cy Young quality starting pitcher.

And I would have no problem entering the playoffs next year with Bauer in game 1, Carrasco in game 2, Clevinger in game 3.

With Bieber and McKenzie as 4 and 5.

Assuming of course that Kluber goes towards more offense!

To give an example, if they had dealt Kluber for Goldschmidt I'd be doing cartwheels. But then again Arizona would have liked St Louis' deal better because of Kluber's cost.

Ahhhh...hmmm...

If we could deal Alonso for a reliever, Bauers could play 1B and Santana could DH. This is assuming we can sign a bona fide outfielder.

Not sure why we'd do that. Santana is a darn fine defensive 1st baseman. One of the positives of this deal. Along with the fact he walked more and struck out less than EE, and is younger.

no problem entering the playoffs next year with Bauer in game 1, Carrasco in game 2, Clevinger in game 3. With Bieber and McKenzie as 4 and 5.

,

that would be a very fine rotation. Kluber for Verdugo and a good reliever. is that enough? some scenarios have included a LH starter which we lack but don't desperately need.
I read that there are lots of good free agent 2nd basemen which certainly reduces even further the demand for Kipnis so perhaps they've given up on trading him, hence Jose goes back to 3rd. But if we really can find someone to take Kipnis, I guess there are plenty of reasonable options out there to replace him at 2nd

I agree about Santana at 1st. Alonso is dh if he stays, probably is dealt. Bauers in left even if it's not his best defensive position. I'm OK with Martin and Allen and maybe later Zimmer in center. Right could be better than Naquin and Luplow.

Santana improved defensively as a first baseman .....compared to his initial stab at it.
Tribe loved his bat but he was an awful catcher, a poor 3rd baseman so they moved him to first trying to keep him in the lineup. Tribe let him work at his defense because of his bat not because he was dazzling in the field.

Hope this works out but he has never put up EEs power numbers and the Tribe better be hoping to get some power somewhere else.

Hillbilly wrote:Not sure why we'd do that. Santana is a darn fine defensive 1st baseman. One of the positives of this deal. Along with the fact he walked more and struck out less than EE, and is younger.

Agree with all this post. In the playoffs you gotta put that ball in play/get on base. Swing happy hitters will be exploited.

Boston completely showed this. They had professional hitters and could play small ball. Literally no one was swinginforthefences - their best hitters JD Martinez and Betts leading the way in that approach.

They cut down the fence swinging Yankees and Dodgers. Houston was not 100% with Correa and Altuve injured but when healthy they also have sound hitting approaches. No Joey Gallos

So far this offseason, how do you thinks the Tribe stands? Better, worse or about the same?

Unless they're content to just win the Central, I don't see anything that helps improve the post-season.

First off, to me Carlos Santana is better defensively and gets on base (more walks, less strikeouts) more and that plays much better in a playoff series.

That said....it is pretty minor.

So my answer to that question is that it's way too early to answer it. It's like asking how you think a movie will turn out during the first 15 minutes. The first part of a movie is simply setting the stage, boring stuff often.

Same here. To me, it is very very clear what this team is trying to do. They are trying to RE ALLOCATE how they spend their money.

They know they need more offense, and actually a different kind of offense. Yet they don't want to spend more to do it.

So they deal a rotation piece to BOTH get salary relief, long term stability AND more offense. And until they get a deal that does those things they won't strike. But they will strike and they still have literally months to do so.

So like a movie does have an ending, this will too. But it's way, way early.