We need one long term answers for the OF. We need a short term answer for the OF. The first thru trade, the second thru FA . One should be right handed. Both should be more than a DH with a glove. Hopefully, one could serve as a back up plan for first base, and/or a platoon partner with Bradley.
Every year, nobody is available, but somebody gets traded. It will be the same this year. Somebody who nobody expects to be traded will be moved.
I've been doing the prospect watch for years. The failure rate is staggering...and the Indians prospects have been no different, in some ways worse.
On the position player side, only one recent top prospect has made a dent on the field...Lindor.
Frazier, Zimmer, Mejia, Bradley, Chang, Naquin, Paulino, Ronny Rodriguez, Papi, Wendle, Wolters, James Ramsey....all were listed as a top ten 2014-15 Tribe prospect before getting to MLB.
Six/seven years later, the only one who has been productive enough to make a difference is Wendle, who has put up 8.4 fWAR in six years. The rest have combined for about 11 fWAR in 22 combined years.
Would you have traded four of them for three years of a 3 WAR player? Would you have traded four more for three years of a 3 WAR player? Would you have traded the last four for another three WAR player?
Had we done that, we would have added 9 WAR per year for three years to a team that was already the winningest in the AL.
And what would that have meant for the future of the org? Absolutely nothing.
I would without blinking trade four of our top ten prospects for a Reynolds, and trade four more for a Laureano....and merrily watch us dominate the division for the next three years, by which time the farm system would be restocked to do it again.
Anybody really care that the farm system is lower third if we have Clase and our rotation, along with Jose, Franmil, Straw, Reynolds, Laureano, Amed, and Gimenez together for the next three years? Anybody care about our position prospects while we are leading the league in runs scored?
