Is there a rule about buying Major League players for cash?

Source: #WhiteSox acquire 1B Yonder Alonso from #Indians. First reported @WatchStadium.

Anthony Castrovince
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To be clear here, assuming CWS take on entirety of Alonso contract (and I believe that to be the case), the Indians have shaved ~$18M off the 2019 payroll. That’s $ that can conceivably be applied to other needs. I think the starter trade goes from a must to a maybe, at best.

White Sox To Acquire Yonder Alonso
By Jeff Todd | December 14, 2018 at 8:56pm CDT

The White Sox have reportedly struck a deal with the Indians to acquire first baseman Yonder Alonso. The match first arose on the WatchStadium Twitter account, with Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic also now reporting an agreement on Twitter. A “fringe prospect” will go to Cleveland in return, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today (Twitter link).

Needless to say, the gears are turning when it comes to first base/DH sluggers, with the Indians, Mariners, Rays, and now the White Sox at the center of the action. Alonso’s spot on the Cleveland roster came into question with the club’s recent 3-team deal, which brought Carlos Santana and Jake Bauers to the organization.

The addition of Alonso also dovetails with some of the Chicago club’s other major pursuits. Certainly, adding a veteran hitter on a short-term deal goes along with the recent moves to pick up Ivan Nova and Alex Colome. Those additions help the near-term outlook and assist with the recruiting of bigger free-agent fish. Alonso, particularly, is of note, as he’s the brother in law of reputed White Sox target Manny Machado.

Alonso, 31, signed with the Indians last winter on a two-year pact that includes a club option. He’ll play on a $8MM salary in 2019, with a $9MM vesting/club option (or $1MM buyout) thereafter. Notably, that option vests if Alonso compiles 1,100 plate appearances over the two guaranteed seasons of the contract; after reaching 574 last year, he’s now 526 shy of locking in more money for 2021.

The player we received is Alex Call. 24 year old OF’er with so so minor league numbers. Fringe prospect is good way to put it.

I have no problem losing Yonder or Edwin, though I will miss the parrot suits. Old, slow, and expensive. What we got back was Santana, young, some speed, some pop, financial relief, and potential help for the outfield. Last year we scored a lot of runs, hit a lot of home runs, and still got run off the field in the first round. As the whole division seems to be rebuilding, we could be retooling to stay out of a full blown rebuild.

Uncle Dennis wrote:I have no problem losing Yonder or Edwin, though I will miss the parrot suits. Old, slow, and expensive. What we got back was Santana, young, some speed, some pop, financial relief, and potential help for the outfield. Last year we scored a lot of runs, hit a lot of home runs, and still got run off the field in the first round. As the whole division seems to be rebuilding, we could be retooling to stay out of a full blown rebuild.

I think that is well put and exactly what the team is doing. It is actually what the Indians ALWAYS do. And quite well I must say. Not perfectly, but quite well.

The trade of Alonso again shows that this is just a series of moves with a goal that will only be revealed fully when the whole series of moves is over. No move necessarily makes sense in itself, but only in the larger context.

But in a general sense UD, the goal is to retool to stay out of a full rebuild, yes! And they are fortunate to have the cushion of a weak division and the strength of a killer rotation (take a look at the other teams' rotations if you don't believe it...) along with the dynamic pair Lindor and J Ram.

PS - one final issue on EE. If you watched games last year, eventually teams pitched AROUND Jose Ramirez to get to EE and Alonso. It happened over and over. So say what you will about EE's power numbers, but teams were not impressed and repeatedly chose to pitch to him instead of Ramirez. So what good were the numbers?

The Indians had their largest payroll ever last year trying to make another run at the Series. Didn't work. These moves were all about cutting payroll, period. No way anybody can make the argument that team is better. Not even close. And we still need help in bullpen and OF. Where we started when season ended. That's the frustrating part of these deals. We lost a few good players and all we have received is question marks.

But with the weak division they know they can still compete and then add a bat down the stretch before deadline next year and not be on the hook for a huge contract.

Hillbilly wrote:The Indians had their largest payroll ever last year trying to make another run at the Series. Didn't work. These moves were all about cutting payroll, period. No way anybody can make the argument that team is better. Not even close. And we still need help in bullpen and OF. Where we started when season ended. That's the frustrating part of these deals. We lost a few good players and all we have received is question marks.

But with the weak division they know they can still compete and then add a bat down the stretch before deadline next year and not be on the hook for a huge contract.

Right now the trades of Gomes, Encarnacion, Alonso, Diaz and Erik Gonzalez and the free-agent departures of Lonnie Chisenhall and Josh Donaldson have taken 77 homers and 284 RBI off the Tribe’s stat sheet from 2018.

The arrivals of Santana, Bauers, Jordan Luplow and Max Moroff have added 41 homers and 150 RBI. That means the Indians are still looking at a deficit of 36 homers and 134 RBI.

Technically, Brantley is still a FA but he ain't coming back. That's another 17 HRs and 76 RBI

Hillbilly wrote:The Indians had their largest payroll ever last year trying to make another run at the Series. Didn't work. These moves were all about cutting payroll, period. No way anybody can make the argument that team is better. Not even close. And we still need help in bullpen and OF. Where we started when season ended. That's the frustrating part of these deals. We lost a few good players and all we have received is question marks.

But with the weak division they know they can still compete and then add a bat down the stretch before deadline next year and not be on the hook for a huge contract.

No one is arguing the team is better overall. No one (though I do like Santana better than EE). Personally, I am simply arguing the team is not done. Not that they are better December 15.

Lindor and JRam had dream seasons last year. Anybody expecting better numbers from those two, is also dreaming.

I wasn’t replying to you or anybody, TFIR. Just ranting cause we are a mid-market club in a league with no cap. Get sick of this stuff.

I am confident they will use the saved money for a good cause. They have not hesitated to make some expensive signings [EE] or trade prospects for talent [Sheffield, Frazier, Mejia]. And if they can take on a contract without losing a starter, great!

Hillbilly wrote:I wasn’t replying to you or anybody, TFIR. Just ranting cause we are a mid-market club in a league with no cap. Get sick of this stuff.

Certainly can't argue that part is frustrating!