Just three days remain until baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, and the Hot Stove is on high boil. Rumors are swirling non-stop, as they will be for pretty much the rest of the week.
On Tuesday, I compiled a fully sourced analysis of 10 of the Cleveland Indians’ rumored top trade targets, which I updated yesterday to reflect changing conditions in the trade market. But both lists are now tragically out of date.
Here’s a summary of Wednesday’s news, deals, and whisperings about the Indians and the players they’re targeting:
-The Indians officially missed out on Carlos Beltran. The best hitter on the market was traded to the San Francisco Giants Wednesday, ending weeks of speculation about the possibility of him coming to Cleveland. It’s possible that Beltran’s no-trade clause was the problem—agent Scott Boras apparently scared the Indians off, and Beltran blocked a deal that would have sent him to Pittsburgh—but he said he was never approached about one.
-Cleveland is in on Ubaldo Jimenez, and if they’re willing to part with the right prospects—think Jason Kipnis or Drew Pomeranz, and that would just be a starting point—they “
robably match up with the Rockies the best” of all the teams vying for Ubaldo’s services. However, the Indians are “a real longshot,” and the Yankees and Reds are the favorites to land him, assuming he’s traded at all.
-The Indians are still in on Hiroki Kuroda, even though they’re not the frontrunners. But even if they beat out the Yankees, Red Sox, Rangers, and Tigers, they might not be able to pry him away from the Dodgers; Kuroda has a no-trade clause that he isn’t expected to waive.
-With Beltran and Colby Rasmus now off the market, the Indians are among several teams still in on B.J. Upton. At least one team thinks he’d come more cheaply than Hunter Pence.
-Jamey Carroll is still on the Tribe’s radar, though the two sides haven’t made much progress lately. The Brewers are also in on Carroll.
