Honestly I figured I would reply to this here...
Cleveland, if they play their cards right, could on paper, have a very similar team talent wise if not better than they currently do by trading Bieber then trading for someone to replace Bieber in a sense. So Bieber gets the bat they need and the prospects we have gets someone to help replace Bieber in a sense and/or compliments this roster...
@Gson @CDAV45 @hockeyjohn @CATS44 humor me a moment and whoever else wants to do this I have a challenge... I will be doing it as well so don't worry
With 3 or less trades (you can say DFA so and so, that wont be considered a trade)... Let's say Antonetti makes Bieber available but still wishes for a wild card spot at least! He is willing to part with prospects as well to find upgrades in struggling positions...
At the end, Cleveland needs at least 3 SPs with 2+ years of MLB experience... design the trades within realistic reason (Aka BTV as a guiding point of reference if need be) and let's see what you come up with and we can discuss the trade ideas. We all won't agree but I think the middle ground could be interesting...
Whatever happens this is the core I'm building around:
Rotation- TMac, Bibee, Williams, Cantillo, Morris and Allen. I would be open to dealing Allen in the right situation. Morris' value isn't where it needs to be to deal him, but if a return from a bigger trade would be enhanced by including him I would consider it.
Positions- Kwan(CF), JRam(3B), J Naylor(1B), B Naylor(C), Gimenez(2B or SS), one of Arias, Rocchio or Freeman to play opposite of Gimenez.
Straw would be more useful/productive as our 4th OFer......maybe. He's garbage with the bat, but he plays fantastic defense and runs the bases about as good as anybody. That screams 4th OFer. I'm moving Kwan back to CF.
After that, we need to see what some of these talented kids can do. Arias is coming around with the bat and Freeman deserves to be playing. I don't care if you keep Arias as the utility, move Gimenez to SS and give Freeman the 2B job or if Arias is the SS with Gimenez remaining at 2B and freeman coming off the bench. Maybe Rocchio takes the job away from both. There just aren't enough opportunities to go around right now.
Bo needs to be our starting C to get him ML experience at the least and he will be at some point. The chances are very good IMO that he improves this team when he takes over C duties.
You have to add Collins to the 40 man and give him a look, even if only briefly. You can't ignore what he's doing and there is no split issue with him whatsoever this season. He can share DH/1B duties if he continues to rake. If he doesn't then designating him is no big deal.
Once McKenzie, Civale and Morris return that brings us to dealing some SP. There are a few teams that will be interested in Bieber for sure. Namely the Dodgers, Orioles, Angels and Cardinals. I'd have to have a SP or ready SP prospect in return to start with and build from there. I'd target Bradish, Stone, Nastrini, Pepiot, Liberatore, Bachman, Bush and Graceffo from a SP perspective. Positionally I'd look at Hays, Ward, Yepez, Westburg, Vargas, Fabian and DeLuca. The loser of the Bieber sweepstakes could have interest in either Quantrill and/or Civale. Obviously it will be a lesser package, but they would still garner a good return.
I'm also willing to include or listening to offers on one of Freeman, Arias and Rocchio. I'd be willing to deal any/all of OGon, Valera and Brennan. I'm not looking to give them away so the return has to be satisfactory.
There are also some more minor deals that could possibly be made for guys like Meneses and Rooker(if you believe what he's doing is sustainable). A deal where Brennan goes to Oakland for Rooker sounds reasonable. Even if you had to add someone like Gaddis I'd still consider it and I'd definitely send Brennan and Gaddis to Washington for Meneses.
Clearly being aggressive like this would require they cut ties and eat some salary unless they could get teams to take on those salaries.
