Over the years, the Major League Baseball trading deadline has always been very interesting to me.
I’ve always enjoyed seeing which players the teams in the valley of the standings have been willing to swap and which players contending teams are able to obtain.
I awakened this morning to the news of a trade between the Cleveland Indians and the Cincinnati Reds that is, to say the least, interesting. It came an evening before today’s 4 p.m. deadline.
The Indians have sent starting pitcher Trevor Bauer south on I-71 to the Queen City for outfielder Yasiel Puig.
Bauer has been a solid pitcher for the Tribe, but didn’t leave a lasting good impression with his meltdown during Sunday’s loss in Kansas City.
Puig, when his head is screwed on tight, has proven to be a powerful offensive force. At other times, however, the best way to describe him is “problem child.”
There are several other players involved in this trade scenario that also includes the San Diego Padres.
However, the marquee names belong to Bauer and Puig.
The Indians have been able to maintain a solid pace in the American League Central Division despite the fact that front-line pitchers Cory Kluber, Danny Salazar and Carlos Carrasco have been out with injuries or in Carrasco’s case, a battle with leukemia.
Six weeks or so ago, Cleveland trailed a very good Minnesota Twins team by 11 games in the division.
This morning, that distance stood at only three.
What the deal tells me is Indians’ officials must be fairly confident Kluber is just about ready to return to the bump. When he does, he will hopefully be at or close to the Cory Kluber of past seasons.
Salazar will start for the Tribe on Thursday.
The Reds have obtained a very solid addition to their pitching staff.
How much Bauer can do to help Cincinnati in any possible run for a wild card playoff berth remains to be seen.
Puig brings a very potent bat to the shores of Lake Erie, despite the fact he’s had behavior problems in both his Major League stops… the Dodgers and Reds.
Maybe Tribe skipper Terry Francona can be a stabilizing influence.
That may be a huge “maybe.” We’ll have to wait and see.
Throughout the history of baseball, there have been trades that have helped all the clubs involved.
There have also been a lot of one-sided deals.
The Reds were on both sides of that fence in trades I remember from my youth.
Cincinnati got the fantastic end of the deal in the early 1970s when they traded first baseman Lee May and second baseman Tommy Helms to Houston for second baseman Joe Morgan.
All Morgan did was provide another huge cog to the “Big Red Machine” during the World Series championship years of 1975 and 1976.
One trade in which the Reds didn’t benefit as well came a few years earlier when they peddled what they called an “aging 30-year-old” outfielder Frank Robinson to the Baltimore Orioles for pitcher Milt Pappas.
Robinson led the O’s to the 1970 World Series championship against the Reds.
By the way, Robinson’s also in the Hall of Fame.
Pappas later bounced around to the Braves and Cubs before calling it a career.
I was very young back in 1960 and really didn’t know what a baseball was when the Indians were the victims of a terrible, one-sided deal.
The Tribe sent slugger Rocky Colavito to the Detroit Tigers for batting champion Harvey Kuehn.
That deal brought about what Cleveland fans called “The Curse of Rocky Colavito,” a dark spell that hovered over the franchise for decades.
Hopefully, there are no curses with this current trade.
I also hope the Bauer-Puig deal helps both Ohio teams.