Cleveland Indians: Tribe the best fit for Orioles’ Manny Machado?

In a slow moving offseason, Manny Machado has been the biggest name on the trade market. According to recent reports, the Cleveland Indians are pursuing the star infielder.

There doesn’t appear to be a clear fit for Machado in Cleveland at first glance. After all, Machado has not been shy about his desire to move from third base to shortstop this year, and Francisco Lindor is currently entrenched at that position. Jose Ramirez finished third in the AL MVP voting and is set to start the year at third base. Jason Kipnis is going back to second base. So where’s the fit?

Do the Indians have the pieces to make a deal?

Outside of great infielders, the Cleveland Indians also possess a high quality rotation with a ton of depth. Danny Salazar is known to be on the market and would be of great interest to the pitching needy Orioles. However, a Salazar for Machado deal straight up, would not work. Top prospect Triston McKenzie might also be of interest to Baltimore.

To make room for Machado in a potential deal, Morosi theorizes that Kipnis could be included in the trade, or be dealt elsewhere. The Orioles do not have a great need at second base since Jonathan Schoop is more than capable of playing the position.

Another issue that could arise is that Machado is only under contract for one more year. With him being a free agent next winter, the Cleveland Indians would know that he is a pure one year rental and there is practically no chance they can sign him to a long term deal.

Could a trade come together?

Morosi does state that these talks happened in December and there’s nothing currently active. But you never know when a deal can come together. Another interesting thing noted in the article is that Machado is new acquisition Yonder Alonso’s brother-in-law. That doesn’t make a trade more likely, but it’s still intriguing.

Fans have wanted the Indians to make a splash this winter to put this team over the top. With a potentially closing World Series window, Machado might be just the move to make to win a title.

While most of the things on the Hot Stove have been put on the backburner this entire winter, the Machado market could heat up fast. If the Orioles really want to move him and perhaps lower their demands a little bit, teams will come crawling back to work out a deal. If it comes to that, the Cleveland Indians have the pieces to get a deal done. Whether or not they have the desire to part with those pieces remains to be seen.

Next: What a pitch clock might mean

With some new life hopefully being injected into the offseason soon, we could see a lot of moves being made in the next few weeks. Spring Training is almost here, and someone will need to make some trades and sign some players. The Cleveland Indians aren’t done making moves yet.