Jim Bowden in The Athletic has a column on potential trade targets for various teams. Here's his ideas for the Indians.
Cleveland Indians
Need: Corner OF bat
Targets to consider: Mike Yastrzemski, RF, San Francisco Giants; Aristides Aquino, RF, Cincinnati Reds; Corey Dickerson, LF, Miami Marlins.
The Indians, like the Reds, have one of the best starting rotations in baseball, led by Shane Bieber, Mike Clevinger, Carlos Carrasco, Zach Plesac and Adam Civale. Their bullpen is loaded as well, with the likes of Brad Hand and James Karinchak. Their infield offense and defense is special, led by MVP candidates Francisco Lindor and José Ramírez and on-base percentage machines in Carlos Santana and César Hernández. Oscar Mercado profiles as a 20-home run, 20-stolen base center fielder. Franmil Reyes has 30-home run power from the DH spot.
However, what they lack are corner outfielders who can hit and with power. I realize the Indians don’t want to absorb any significant contracts and money they do have to spend — they need to save for their franchise player Lindor in case they can find a way to sign him long term.
Therefore, looking for affordable corner outfielders that would be an upgrade, I found Mike Yastrzemski of the Giants, Aristides Aquino of the Reds and Corey Dickerson of the Marlins.
Yastrzemski is my favorite of the three. The grandson of Hall of Famer Carl, Yastrzemski burst on the scene last year when he slashed .272/.334/.518 with 22 doubles, 21 home runs and 55 runs batted in, playing in 107 games and getting just 411 plate appearances. He’s off to a fast start this year leading the NL in runs and walks with 3 home runs and 7 runs batted in. Yastrzemski is 29 years old and although the Giants don’t want to trade him, based on his age I’m sure there is a prospect package that would at least tempt them.
Aquino seems to have lost his job to Nick Castellanos in right field and between Nick Senzel, Shogo Akimaya and Jesse Winker he seems to have dropped right off the depth chart, finding himself spending more time at the alternate site than at Great American Ball Park. Aquino, 26, hit 19 home runs last year with 47 runs batted in with the Reds in just 56 games and would at the very least be an upgrade from what the Indians are throwing out there right now.
My final suggestion would be Corey Dickerson. The Marlins signed him as a free agent this past offseason, inking him to two-year, $17.5 million deal. However, with the pandemic and dramatic financial losses, they probably wouldn’t mind alleviating him from the accounting books at this point, especially with so many outfield prospects on the way up. Dickerson, 31, had hit 20 or more home runs three different times in his career and hit over. 300 both in 2018 and 2019.
We have Naquin about ready to return and we wouldn't have to give up anything to get him. I'm not sure what we would have to give up to get a Yaz, Aquino, or Dickerson and whether any of them would be a big upgrade over Naquin, Domingo Santana, Luplow (versus lefties), or Zimmer (if Mercado or DeShields plays center).
Aquino is interesting because he's 26 years old so his best years are coming up. Last year in his first big league action he hit .259/.891 with 19 home runs in only 205 AB's. He did not have a platoon split, either. At 6'4", 220 he would replace Domingo Santana as a right-handed power bat. What concerns me is that his OPS at home was 1.010 versus .788 away, suggesting that maybe GABP artificially inflated his numbers a bit.
But I'm always on the lookout for emerging talent that is blocked, and Nick Castellanos is a pretty big block, so if the Reds can't use this guy maybe we could. Aquino hit .356 last year with RISP and .400 with RISP/2 out. I like players who are at their best in the most important at-bats.
The Reds are 6-8 and don't appear to be serious WS contenders this year. Hey, we traded Trevor Bauer to them last year. Maybe we can swing something for an emerging power hitter they don't have a job for.