Who said they were rebuilding? I called it retooling. Whatever happens, I doubt they get themselves in the same situation they have with Lindor. Better to trade them a little early than too late. Kluber is another example. They could load this team up by trading Lindor and Ramirez. That's without mentioning trading another SP in the event that one is acquired from trading Lindor and/or Ramirez. There is absolutely reason to speculate. They are in a financial pinch and trading the most expensive contracts is certainly a possibility as long as there are teams interested in said players. I'm not stating any of these ideas as fact. They're just ideas on how I think this team can load up with talent while cutting payroll and getting rid of mediocre, more expensive players like DeShields and Naquin. You don't have to agree with my ideas and I don't take offense to your thoughts as well.
There is a 0% chance Jose is moved this offseason so yeah there’s no reason to speculate.
The Indians plan on being competitive now and in the future. For the Indians to be competitive in the present day, Jose Ramirez is a massive massive massive piece to that equation. Trade Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez, with three years left on one of the biggest bargain and team friendly contracts in the history of baseball, in the same offseason, and you might as well just relocate the franchise tomorrow.
I also think the biggest misnomer is that these (likely) Indians moves this offseason are purely financial and I don’t think that’s entirely the case.
Finances certainly play a part, especially with Frankie, but guys like Santana, Hand, Perez and to an extent Carrasco have in-house replacements where you can get similar production at a much cheaper cost.
I don’t think it’s a big deal when you trade a guy (in relation to his contract status). Could the Indians have gotten more by trading Lindor sooner? Maybe. But the Indians tried getting a Lux or Senzel for him last offseason and their respective teams still didn’t bite. So if you're not getting the ultimate desired return at any point then really what's the difference between trading him with two years left on his deal vs. one? I don't think the difference is probably worth the PR hit and loss of MLB production to be honest.
I don't think the Indians moved Kluber too late. I think that's playing Monday Morning QB. The guy was worth ~13 fWAR in his previous two seasons combined and had an extremely team friendly deal in relation to his production. He got hurt, production dipped, the contract lost it's friendliness to the team and so they moved him for what they could. Shit happens sometimes....
I just don't think it's realistic to have a competitive team if you constantly sell off your best players at their peak value. You'd perpetually be in a state of rebuilding or retooling or whatever you want to call it. It's all about weighing the opportunity cost.
For a team like the Indians, it's how they remain competitive. They're heavily reliant on the contributions of guys like Corey Kluber and Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor and Shane Bieber for a period of time until the next wave of talent arrives. It's how they survive, it's how they remain competitive without tearing it down. They might not be a World Series competitor every year but they're in the hunt every year and that means something.....