Cleveland Indians: Making a mock trade with the Brewers

As previously written, the Cleveland Indians might be able to find a good trade partner in the Milwaukee Brewers. The guys over at Reviewing the Brew agreed and asked to try to work out a potential trade as the GMs of our teams.

It all started with a simple question. The Reviewing the Brew guys asked us if we wanted to try to work out a hypothetical trade with each other. We were game, and from there, discussions began.

The Negotiations

Initial talks focused on Danny Salazar. The Brewers were known to need starting pitching and the Cleveland Indians are open to trading Salazar. We were looking for some major league ready guys but those talks never really got anywhere.

Then talks turned to second baseman Jason Kipnis. Considering the reports that Kipnis was almost traded to the New York Mets, he had to be on the table, despite the reservations of some of our writers. The initial asking price for Kipnis was for righty Luis Ortiz and outfielder Trent Grisham. Ortiz is one of the top 100 prospects in baseball and Grisham was the Brewers’ first pick back in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, the RtB writers balked at that asking price and the money they would owe Kipnis. They countered with Grisham and Marcos Diplan. That would be the Brewers #13 and #15 prospects in a deep system. Initially, we wanted the Tribe to get a stronger return and we asked for Freddy Peralta instead of Diplan. Peralta, the Crew’s #11 prospect we thought to have a better chance of staying in the starting rotation.

The RtB guys still thought that was too much, sticking with the team’s philosophy of highly valuing their prospects. Even after floating the idea of paying down half of Kipnis’ salary, they still rejected it and stuck with Grisham/Diplan. Still, the Indians needed more in return for Kipnis and asked for Jonathan Villar to be thrown in.

Villar had a tremendous 2016 for Milwaukee but regressed hard in 2017. The RtB guys were open to moving Villar but needed a prospect thrown in from our side. We exchanged several names but couldn’t agree on a player. Money was brought up as potential compensation as well.

The Deal

Eventually, both sides agreed to a deal. And this is what the final deal looked like.

The key to this deal from the Indians end is that they don’t have to pay any of Kipnis’ salary. The Brewers take on all of the money left on his contract. This frees the Cleveland Indians to spend that money elsewhere. Grisham is projected to start the year in Double-A and could be ready for his first taste of the big leagues in 2019.

Diplan is still just 21 years of age and has a lot of development ahead of him. But he has a ton of potential in his big arm. The RtB guys were hesitant to follow through, believing their need at second base isn’t as desperate as it currently seems. In the end, they gave up two of their top 15 prospects for two, potentially three years of a very good second baseman.

Could this deal actually happen?

Probably not. As they said, the Brewers don’t desperately need Kipnis in their lineup. Plus, considering the Indians are still contending for a World Series in 2018, dealing Kipnis without getting an MLB ready bat they can immediately plug into the lineup wouldn’t help that cause.

Still, this doesn’t mean that both of these teams’ GMs can’t get together on a deal. There’s still a lot of common interest around the league and every GM is looking to make a deal at the right price. Is Grisham and Diplan the right price for Kipnis? Maybe, maybe not. But that’s for the real GMs to decide.

Next: The Ideal Lineup in 2018

With Spring Training right around the corner, teams will be forced to make moves once the market finally starts moving again. It’s been a slow offseason, but someone will budge at some point.