Could the Cleveland Indians Trade for Jose Reyes?
It didn’t take long for rumors about Jose Reyes to start spreading.
Before the season, word started going around that the 27-year-old shortstop is almost certain to leave New York when his contract expires after the season. And since the Mets (16-20) have little hope of making the playoffs in 2011 anyway—Baseball Prospectus has them at 1.4% odds of reaching the postseason—why not trade him now and get something in return instead of just letting him walk?
The San Francisco Giants have been the biggest target of this trade speculation, but Reyes has also been connected to the Cardinals, Red Sox, Brewers, Twins, Mariners, and Reds, to name a few. If Mets GM Sandy Alderson were to make Reyes available, he would surely have no trouble finding contending teams who would love to add one of the best shortstops in the game for the stretch run.
And yet, there is one division-leading team that no one is talking about for whom acquiring Reyes makes a tremendous amount of sense: the Cleveland Indians.
At first glance, Cleveland seems like an unlikely destination for Reyes. After all, the Indians already have Asdrubal Cabrera at shortstop. Droobs has been doing quite well for himself this year, batting .282/.348/.444 with 5 homers, 23 RBI, and 0.8 WAR in 34 games. He’s not on Reyes’ level (.318/.365/.490 with 1.7 WAR), but you wouldn’t want to bench a guy as good A-Cab.
But, as we saw yesterday, it might not be in the Indians’ best interest to keep Cabrera at shortstop for the stretch run. He makes the play once he has the ball and he gets more than his share of web gems, but in terms of range he’s one of the worst fielders in baseball. Acquiring Reyes would allow Droobs to go back to second base, where he would be a better fit.
In that case, the odd man out would be Orlando Cabrera, the clear weak link in the surprisingly strong Cleveland lineup. Replacing O-Cab with Reyes would be a worthwhile endeavor.
After moving to second base for the first time this millennium, Orlando Cabrera is off to a poor start, posting a .640 OPS and 79 wRC+ in 33 games. Combine that with lackluster defense (-5.9 UZR), and he’s been below replacement value with -0.4 WAR.
Assuming Asdrubal Cabrera’s loss in value from positional adjustment would be cancelled out by his improved defense if he moved to second, based on their current production to date, replacing Orlando Cabrera with Reyes would give the Indians an extra 0.06 WAR each game.
That might not sound like much, but it’s the equivalent of 9.6 WAR over a full season. It would take just 17 games for Cleveland to enjoy a full extra win. Of course, Reyes isn’t quite this good (his .348 BABIP will regress sooner or later) and it’s hard to imagine Cabrera’s defense won’t get better, but even so there’s no doubt that the impact would be dramatic.
The Indians wouldn’t have a shot at keeping Reyes past this season, but the team has said it will spend for an upgrade via trade, and there’s nothing wrong with a partial-season rental—like CC Sabathia was for the Brewers. In addition to the stretch-run boost, Reyes would presumably net the Tribe compensatory draft picks when he signs a blockbuster deal next winter. Cleveland could be on the other side of such a deal for once!
It remains to be seen if and when the Mets will begin shopping Reyes, and whether Alderson would demand more than would be worth the Indians’ while—Chris Antonetti isn’t going to mortgage the team’s future for a single pennant run. But Jose Reyes sure would look good in a Cleveland uniform, and the Tribe could easily be a frontrunner to land the young shortstop at the Trade Deadline.
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6 Rants to “Could the Cleveland Indians Trade for Jose Reyes?”
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I was actually exploring the same idea. Reyes is actually close to Manny Acta. I read an article where Reyes called Acta before his first game last season with the Tribe wishing him luck and making fun of his hats or something like that. Also Acta compliments Reyes on his skills regularly:
http://bastian.mlblogs.com/2011/05/10/he-stole-my-marble-rye/
It would be a good mix to have a player coach relationship like that. Especially one that would benefit both. Acta does love speed and Reyes has that in abundance even after his hamstring injuries. He also would add good defense that would push Asdrubal to his better defensive position of 2B. This would improve the team in every way.
It would probably take a trade of Jeanmar Gomez (or Alex White) along with David Huff, Jason Kipnis, Jason Donald and long term prospect from A or AA as a player to be named later. Is that too much? Would Reyes resign (cause he will be a free agent although a trade would probably be contingent on a new contract) and would he be in Cleveland’s price range?
Excellent point about him and Acta. As for your trade proposal—that sounds like way too much to me. I can’t imagine we would have Reyes beyond 2011, so I wouldn’t want to give up any major building blocks for the future. This might be what Alderson would demand, but no way do give up White or Kipnis in a rent-a-player deal.
No chance this happens. Would be nice, but is very wishful thinking. This goes against everything the Indians are doing, as Reyes would cost waaay too much coupled with the chance of him leaving via FA soon. I could see them going after a RH late inning guy like Heath Bell or another bat if things are still going well in July.
Any trade, according to ESPN, would most likely be contingent upon an extension being agreed upon like A-Gon in Boston.