The Cleveland Indians will be without three familiar faces when next season starts. Edwin Encarnacion, Yandy Diaz and Yonder Alonso all have new homes. In return Cleveland receives Carlos Santana, Jake Bauers, Alex Call and cash.
Indians send Encarnacion and Diaz out, receive Santana and Bauers
Edwin Encarnacion is now in Seattle and Yandy Diaz is in Tampa Bay. This particular deal brought Cleveland their new first baseman and designated hitter. Jake Bauers and Carlos Santana respectively.
Although many are not necessarily excited about saving money, it matters. By making this particular deal, Cleveland will save money and get younger at two key positions. As Jeff Passan pointed out Cleveland is only spending $4 million more over the next two seasons for Santana and they have a new first baseman.
The extra year of control for only a bit more than Encarnacion’s one year remaining on his deal makes a huge difference. Now money can be allocated to address the outfield, bullpen or contract extensions.
Indians send Alonso to the Chicago White Sox
As noted above in Jeff Passan’s tweet, Cleveland was shopping Yonder Alonso. Alonso now has a new home in Chicago with the White Sox. Cleveland receives outfielder Alex Call in the deal and Chicago assumes all of the contract.
With Chicago taking on all of Alonso’s contract Cleveland saves a total of $21.5 million for the 2019 season. This includes the deal to send Encarnacion to Seattle and Diaz to Tampa Bay.
Why trade Edwin Encarnacion?
First things first, money matters. Encarnacion and Alonso were going to be expensive in 2019 and the team may not have been able to hang on to more important players on the team. It was pointed out by Anthony Castrovince that with the money saved it increases the likelihood that the team retains both Corey Kluber and Trevor Bauer. If this is the case that would be a huge win.
In regards to his performance Encarnacion is trending down in some critical areas. Batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage have all decreased in four consecutive seasons. Additionally his strikeout rate has increased each of the last six seasons. Starting off at 9.9 percent in 2013 and reaching 22.8% in 2018. These are trends that do not appear to reverse any time soon. It is possible Cleveland is looking to get out from under this contract before the bottom falls out with Encarnacion, because when it does, it will fall hard. Encarnacion will be 36 next season and it is hard to imagine all of these trends going in a positive direction.
Why trade Yonder Alonso?
Yonder Alonso was essentially brought in to replace Carlos Santana’s production. Now that Santana is back in the fold, Alonso is expendable. The Indians took a gamble on Alonso who was coming off a career year in 2017. Cleveland hoped that Alonso would be able to build upon the previous campaign, but in similar fashion Alonso got off to a hot start and cooled off.
Alonso only had eight extra-base hits from August 1st through September 30th. For someone that needs to be an extra-base hit threat, this is not quite up to par. Cleveland hopes they can get better production with the Santana reunion.
Why trade Yandy Diaz?
Yandy Diaz did not have a place to play. While Diaz has not necessarily gotten his fair shot in Cleveland, there has not always been room for him. The infield did not have an open position. Even with a struggling Alonso or Jason Kipnis, there was not a spot with regular playing time open to him.
Many will argue that Cleveland could have moved Jose Ramirez to second base to accommodate Diaz. Considering the team moved Ramirez for Josh Donaldson the thought process is not entirely flawed. However there is a distinct difference between Diaz and Donaldson. Donaldson is a former MVP and Diaz only has 299 plate appearances in 88 games.
Offensively Diaz does hit the ball hard, but the issue is that most of the time it is on the ground. Hard hit ground balls are not what teams are necessarily looking for. If Diaz were able to put the ball in the air a bit more his bat could become more valuable. Considering where the Indians are in regards to contending they are not in a position to hope that a player changes the type of contract is made at the plate.
Moving Diaz was essential to get out of the Encarnacion contract and acquire Alonso’s replacement at first Jake Bauers. Bauers is younger and should be able to provide more production than Diaz could have. Bauers projects to be a home run threat, something that Diaz has shown he is not able to do.
Cleveland did what was expected of them
At the end of the day Cleveland had to get younger and cut payroll, they did both. Santana is younger than Encarnacion. Bauers is younger than Alonso. Both positions became more youthful and less expensive. Call may make an impact in the future, but at this point has not advanced past AA. Worst case scenario the team shed salary.
Considering the new look of the team with a smaller payroll the team should remain completive in the American League Central for longer than they would have before the trades. More importantly they were able to get quality players while shipping out two expensive contracts in Encarnacion and Alonso. Santana’s deal is a bit expensive, but since it is over two years it is a bit more reasonable for a team with financial constraints.
Adding in the fact that the team already traded Yan Gomes and Erik Gonzalez earlier this offseason, got good returns from those deals and signed Carlos Carrasco to an extension, the Indians have been productive this offseason. Each individual move may not be all popular, but they all need to be thought about together as a minor roster overhaul rather than one trade that many are not a fan of. The entirely of the offseason should be judged together, not separately. Considering everything as a whole, the Indians have had great offseason.