Cleveland Indians: A major trade in the FanSided Winter Meetings

The FanSided Winter Meetings simulation remains in progress, and a major trade has been made between the Cleveland Indians and San Francisco Giants.

Today is the final day of FanSided’s offseason simulation, and the final day in which I can pretend to be the Cleveland Indians‘ general manager. It’s been a good run.

I didn’t think many moves needed to be made, but sometimes an offer is too good to pass up.

One of those offers came through yesterday, and resulted in me trading Jason Kipnis to the San Francisco Giants for Brandon Belt. (Remember, this trade is just part of a simulation. It’s not real!)

With Carlos Santana still on the market, Belt comes in and can start at first right away. And even if Santana does return, Belt can play one of the two corner outfield positions.

He is a career .268 hitter and is under contract through the 2021 season. He is set to make $17.2 million each of the next four seasons, which is just a few million more than what Kipnis is owed in that timeframe.

Trading Kipnis cements Jose Ramirez as the everyday second baseman and should mean Yandy Diaz get the nod at third base. Giovanny Urshela may remain in the conversation, but his offense remains a major question mark.

Trading someone like Kipnis is never easy, but it isn’t as emotional when it takes place in a simulation. It will be interesting to see if the team deals him in real life, although I don’t see as sweet a deal as this one for Belt being offered up anytime soon.

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And if a trade doesn’t develop, Kipnis can still have a great year in 2018. He is one of the better players on this Indians team when healthy, and trading him after an injury-shortened 2017 season may be too rash a move. It is easy to do in a simulation when it doesn’t count, but doing it in reality could lead to a hole in the lineup, and in the clubhouse.