http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/25420692/cleveland-indians-trade-catcher-yan-gomes-washington-nationals

 

https://www.cleveland.com/expo/sports/erry-2018/12/af18a56fd42040/cleveland-indians-trade-catche.html

$27 million saved, Perez will be starter with Haase on the rise after Mejia deal last year...

Reaction to the trade from Indians fans was overwhelmingly skeptical as the team begins to reconfigure its salary structure with what is expected to be a number of offseason trades. Many fans view sending Gomes to Washington as a move based purely on finances with little return for the Tribe. 

Edited December 1, 20187 yr by caulfield12

Dolan family has a net worth of about $6 billion yet they run the Indians like a thrift shop. I dont blame Indians fans one bit for not showing up.

Indians are playing this smart. They have the best team in the division by 15 games.  They have the best young core in the division by a mile.  But they aren't good enough to win the league.

So while the rest of the division is horrid, they take the opportunity to retool; and they'll still win the division with 85-90 wins, while setting themselves up for the future.

 

If the Indians can follow up and make the right trade with Kluber/Carrasco/Bauer...they’ll be set for winning the division the next two years, unless something astounding happens.

But they won’t have much margin for error in terms of injuries.   The pitching depth will be much thinner.

At any rate, $54 million between Encarnacion, Kluber and Kipnis is too much for carrying two players who are no longer nearly as productive.  That said, they can buy out Kipnis for $2.5 million next year and Encarnacion for $5 million.

Theoretically, they should be in very decent shape financially in 2020...logic dictates that they should sell high on Kluber now, especially with Corbin and Keuchel being the best options out there on the FA market. 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/25423798/yan-gomes-gives-nationals-upgrade-catcher