Trade Options For The Tribe a Week Before the Deadline

It's a week before the trade deadline, and like every team around baseball, the Indians are in the process of figuring out what's out there in the trade market. Buy or sell, the Indians will be making plenty of calls this week to teams around the MLB.

The Cleveland Indians currently sit at a 48-47 record which puts them in second place in the AL Central behind the Chicago White Sox at 58-39. Amongst the AL Wild Card teams, the Indians have three clubs ahead of them of the two spots in Seattle, New York and Toronto. The two wild card teams are currently Tampa Bay and Oakland.

However, it’s games such as a 10-5 loss to the Rays on July 23 that really show where this Cleveland team is overall. That is not in a place to contend for the playoffs…

Due to these performances, the Indians may look to move some of their players in order to acquire more assets moving forward. Players such as 3B Jose Ramirez with 20 home runs and 56 runs batted in all with a .256 average. This slugger could be a key to another team that’s looking to contend and could provide the Tribe with some assets.

Additionally, a player such as RF Franmil Reyes with 17 home runs and 45 runs batted in plus a .263 average.

Finally, starting pitcher Shane Bieber who has a 7-4 record and a 3.28 ERA. Now, the right hander has a right shoulder subscapularis muscle strain and is on the 10-day DL. However, a team could still be interested in the 6’3” 26-year-old and provide plenty of assets in exchange.

Unfortunately, this team is an arm and a leg away from contention in the division and wild card as well. Thus, it is going to take great returns to help build this team up to the best that it can be.

Certainly, the Indians do have the aforementioned assets that other teams would be interested in acquiring. This could be key to contention moving forward. It’s simply a matter of whom the Tribe gets that helps them to the playoffs.

A few trade targets could be David Dahl of the Rangers, Raimel Tapia of the Rockies, and Adam Frazier of the Pirates - Fansided. Some of many names out there for trade possibilities.

*The team is referred to as Indians for this article despite the announcement of the name change to Gladiators.