Bnowell4evr

"The Guy" and "The Package" aren't mutually exclusive to me. In a trade with the Indians the player that I would covet the most is Triston McKenzie because pitchers like him are never available the further he gets up the ladder. However, because he's so far away it allows the Brewers to get a better overall package.

That's pretty close to how I would rate the Indians farm system but with some small changes. - Triston McKenzie should be in Tier 2. - Diaz and Chang should be in Tier 3.

I don't remember hearinghis name connected to that trade at all. Salome was ahead of Lucroy at the time and was pretty much untouchable.

I believe that but I don't have any recollection of Gamel being mentioned as one of the PTBNL. I vaguely remember he was mentioned as a possible headliner with the Indians getting their choice between him or LaPorta. Gamel was a top 35 prospect before the 2009 season...

Maybe you stated it before and I missed it, why no interest in Francisco Mejia?? Last I heard it's becoming clear that Nottingham is destined to move away from C. What is Milwaukee looking to do Catching-wise in 2017/18/19??? It's highly unlikely any of the recent draftees would be ready to catch at the big league level before 2020. Mejia and Bradley are interchangeable to me. If you look at the Brewers system you will see that they're devoid of any power hitting threat to play 1B which is why a guy like Bradley appeals to me more than Mejia (who I believe is the better prospect). I also haven't even remotely given up on Nottingham sticking at catcher! The guy is just 21 and would be playing in rookie ball had he went to college. He has plenty of time to hone his craft as the Brewers are in no rush to move him off the postion.

A half season of Fernando Rodney brought back Chris Paddock. If you don't think 3 1/2 years of an elite LH reliever is going to cost a lot then I don't know what to tell you. Now I don't think he's worth multiple top 100 prospects but he's definitely worth at least one and would move the needle significantly if packaged with Lucroy. Adding a Smith to a Lucroy trade makes it comparable to the value the Brewers gave up a year ago when they made a trade with the Astros. In that deal the Brewers received 3 top 100 prospects according to Sickels and a 4th prospect who was rated as a B-.

The Indians make too much sense for this deal not to happen. For Lucroy alone the Brewers get Bradley, the Indians choice between Clevinger, Aiken, Sheffield, McKenzie and then either Juan Hillman or Yandy Diaz. For Lucroy and Smith the Brewers get Bradley, Diaz and then their choice of two between Clevinger, Aiken, Sheffield or McKenzie. I've kind of fallen in love with Yandy Diaz of late because he reminds me so much of Michael Brantley. He doesn't have the prototypical power to play 3B like Brantley in LF but the guy just gets on base! I'll trade power for superior OBP skills anyday of the week and twice on Sunday!

What valuable pieces did the Brewers get for Sheffield? Are you talking about the great Matt Mieske? or better yet the ace Ricky Bones? or the hall of famer Jose Valentin? Which one of those were a valuable piece again? Ricky Bones was an all star.

The main reason the Indians haven't made more trades in the last 10 year is that they've been awful for the majority of that span. 2006 - 78-84 2007 - 96-66 2008 - 81-81 2009 - 65-97 2010 - 69-93 2011 - 80-82 2012 - 68-94 2013 - 92-70 2014 - 85-77 2015 - 81-80 How many teams do you think would make a trade deadline deal when they're on pace to finish with 80 or more losses? The Indians time to win is now while they have all their pitchers under control. So let's take it back to 1994. I think we can agree the Tribe was successful and competi editing the mid to late 90s. In 95 when they went to get the that extra starting pitcher (Ken Hil), the prospect package was headlined by David Bell. When the Tribe went to get John Smiley, that package was headlined by Danny Graves.. When they went to get Dave Burba they gave up only Sesn Casey. For Ricardo Rincon (yes of Moneyball fame) they gave up Brian Giles only. Thru all this they refused to increase their offer package to get the likes of Pedro Martinez (they would have had to part with Jaret Wright & said no, definition of hand palm to forehead), Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Chuck Knoblauch. Cleveland has finally realized they are small market and to be competitive, they need the farm system to keep producing talent, in successive waves, not a handful and then 5 or more years before another handful.. I can't disagree more with this logic, especially when you're judging a team based on what a previous GM did. That's like assuming David Stearns would trade Lucroy for current major league players because that's what Doug Melvin did with Carlos Lee. Or the Brewers would never have traded for CC Sabathia or Zack Greinke because they hadn't made a trade like that since the 80's. Baseball is all about striking while your window is open, especially for a small market team. The Indians are in a rare position where they're in 1st place and have a loaded system (7 BA mid season top 100). Now that doesn't mean they will trade for Lucroy but there's absolutely no way that Mike Chernoff sits idle and watches other teams around him improve. The few fans that actually attend the games in Cleveland would chase him out of town with a pitchfork.

The main reason the Indians haven't made more trades in the last 10 year is that they've been awful for the majority of that span. 2006 - 78-84 2007 - 96-66 2008 - 81-81 2009 - 65-97 2010 - 69-93 2011 - 80-82 2012 - 68-94 2013 - 92-70 2014 - 85-77 2015 - 81-80 How many teams do you think would make a trade deadline deal when they're on pace to finish with 80 or more losses? The Indians time to win is now while they have all their pitchers under control.

Zack Braddock? Manny Parra?

Clevinger, Mejia and Sheffield were ranked 69, 70 and 71st in BA's mid season list and McKenzie has the highest ceiling of the 3 pitchers. I think that's a very fair proposal. It lacks the star power but is loaded with depth.

I like the 3 supporting pieces but there's not enough pitching coming back to us. Swap out Brinson for Ortiz and I would say yes. I really like Guzman and hope he's apart of any trade with the Rangers.

It's a year and a half of an elite catcher + a comp pick if you can't sign Lucroy to an extension (Which I think you could). To get Lucroy you would have to give up one of those "untouchables" in addition to Sheffield to get the talks going. Then you would still need to add another piece to the equation. I'd love to see a package of Bradley, Sheffield and McKenzie coming back to Milwaukee. That's obviously too much for Lucroy alone so I'd be willing to add a reliever to that package. The Indians could have their pick between Jeremy Jeffress or Will Smith if the Brewers could get another low level nugget in return. That is assuming you need any relief help. Gotta give a little to get a little. Maybe with the recent NBA championship the Indians will feel some pressure this year to put themselves over the hump and think outside the box by making a big splash in the market. I think the Indians' system is deep enough to make something work even with taking those prospects off the table, however, taking 6 of the team's top 8 prospects off the table off the bat for a catcher with over a year of control left at an extremely affordable contract, performing at an incredible level doesn't really make sense to me. I'd be interested in at least one of those "untouchables," and maybe adding a Sheffield or McKenzie as a secondary piece with a lotto ticket or two. Cleveland could be interested in one of our relievers too, sweetening the return. GREAT MINDS THINK ALIKE. The site needs a thumbs up feature for posts like this

It's a year and a half of an elite catcher + a comp pick if you can't sign Lucroy to an extension (Which I think you could). To get Lucroy you would have to give up one of those "untouchables" in addition to Sheffield to get the talks going. Then you would still need to add another piece to the equation. I'd love to see a package of Bradley, Sheffield and McKenzie coming back to Milwaukee. That's obviously too much for Lucroy alone so I'd be willing to add a reliever to that package. The Indians could have their pick between Jeremy Jeffress or Will Smith if the Brewers could get another low level nugget in return. That is assuming you need any relief help.

Without question. There's just no way the Rangers would offer that.

Leody Tavares would be a nice get as the 2nd or 3rd piece to the package. He's the type of player that teams refuse to trade when he gets to the upper levels of the minors.

I don't wanna turn this into another age debate but playing in AA as a 20 year old is a tough task for any prospect.

Wendell Rijo is rated as a 50 prospect with high risk according to BA. He was the Red Sox 15th rated prospect coming into the year. I don't know anything about Wilkerson but his numbers and how he has come out of no where reminds me of Brandon Beachy.

Extremely unlikely that the Tribe deals Clevinger, let alone for Aaron Hill. If you said Will Smith and another prospect for Clevinger and another piece , I could see the start of an interesting conversation... How about Adam Plutko for Hill/Torres? Plutko's been terrific in 2015 and 2016. That's not a bad suggestion since Plutko is basically a Davies clone. I'd try to get another low level nugget if we were giving up a reliever. The Astros were able to snag David Paulino as a PTBNL in a trade for Jose Veras.

Rasmus was dealt because he didn't adhere to the Cardinal Way. That and having a capable replacement on hand in John Jay.

Extremely unlikely that the Tribe deals Clevinger, let alone for Aaron Hill. If you said Will Smith and another prospect for Clevinger and another piece , I could see the start of an interesting conversation... I agree it's unlikely but teams chasing the playoffs do questionable things this time of year. From the outside, Clevinger seems like an expendable piece because their rotation is full, he's old, has had TJ and struggled in his first trip to the majors. Barring an injury the Indians don't have any room in their rotation so his main value to the team is as a reliever. I will always remember how the Cardinals traded Colby Rasmus to shore up their rotation (Edwin Jackson) along with their bullpen (Marc Rzepczynski / Octavio Dotel) and a replacement for Rasmus as a backup OF'er (Corey Patterson). I'm hoping the Brewers capitalize on the position they're in and package several expendable players together to bring back a higher regarded prospect. Players like Hill, Garza, Torres etc don't have much value by themselves but if you package enough of them together and maybe eat some salary they could get something interesting.

Aaron Hill and Carlos Torres to the Indians for Mike Clevinger. Getting Mike Clevinger from the Indians for Aaron Hill is my ideal trade. I highly doubt the Indians would bite on that like the Orioles did with Parra so I'd offer up a reliever as well. Jeffress or Smith would be an overpay but Carlos Torres is pitching good enough to probably pry Clevinger away.

This signing pretty much tapped us out. Do we even have enough to afford Trevor Morrison now? I know he could accept 100K so anythings possible.

The Indians make a lot of sense for Aaron Hill. I wouldn't be shocked if they coughed up a package for both Lucroy and Hill. Maybe toss in a reliever and bring back a mega package.