A few years later, some the Tribe's most controversial trades are paying off.
View full sizeMichael Brantley entered Tuesday's series opener against Oakland batting .309 with a .394 on-base percentage as a starter either in left or center field.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- For Tribe fans, the first shock wave came on July 7, 2008. That was when CC Sabathia was traded to Milwaukee for Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and a player to be named later.
Less than a year after coming one game away from the 2007 World Series, the Indians traded the Cy Young Award winner. In Sabathia, they also traded one of the best pitchers to come through the farm system in decades.
"We knew it would be traumatic for the fan base," said team president Mark Shapiro. "But we also knew they was no way we'd sign CC."
Sabathia was heading to free agency, knowing his destiny was to become baseball's highest paid pitcher.
"The question wasn't trading CC," said Shapiro. "It was should we wait until after the season and take the amateur draft picks [as compensation], or try to find someone who'd trade us some top prospects."
Milwaukee was in serious contention and needed a big-time pitcher. The Indians convinced the Brewers to immediately part with LaPorta, who was leading all of the minors with 20 homers in 84 Class AA games at the time of the deal.
Jackson and Bryson were pitching prospects, but not high on anyone's list. Then the Indians faced a choice -- an outfielder named Michael Brantley or third baseman Taylor Green -- as the last piece in the trade.
They went with Brantley despite having more of a need for a third baseman. Three years later, Brantley is hitting .309 for the Tribe, sixth best among all American League outfielders. He doesn't turn 24 until May 15, meaning Brantley is not at his prime.
As for 24-year-old Green, he's hitting .211 with three homers and nine RBI in Class AAA. Last season, he hit .260 with 13 homers and 81 RBI in Class AA.
So they made the right choice.
Patience is needed
View full sizeMatt LaPorta has begun to show the extra-base power that could provide the Indians with much-needed punch from the right side of the plate.Sabathia did pitch the Brewers into the first round of the 2008 playoffs. He then signed with the Yankees.
The Indians have LaPorta at first, where he's hitting .263 (.857 OPS) with four homers and 15 RBI. He's second on the team with six doubles and has been solid defensively.
Brantley can play all three outfield positions and eventually will be the team's leadoff hitter. LaPorta should be the right-handed bat with some pop that the team has needed for years at first base.
"I'm always guarded when it comes to [talking about] these deals, because progress with prospects is never in a straight line," said Shapiro. "Guys have to go back to the minors. The [performance] goes up and down in the big leagues. But I do know that patience is usually rewarded."
That may be the case in this deal. The same is true with the trade of Victor Martinez to Boston for Justin Masterson, Nick Hagadone and Bryan Price.
In the summer of 2009, the Indians were on their way to 97 losses. They knew attendance would dip again in 2010. They knew they couldn't afford to sign Cliff Lee or Martinez -- both free agents after 2010.
They knew they'd be ripped by the media and fans for trading Lee (another Cy Young winner) and Martinez (a popular .300 hitter) when they were 1 1/2 seasons away from free agency.
"It came down to the same choice between picks and prospects," said Shapiro. "Emotionally, the Victor deal was the hardest because of what he has meant to the organization."
That's also the trade paying off the fastest, as Masterson is 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA in six starts. At Class AA Akron, Hagadone has not allowed a run in 14 2/3 innings, striking out 19 and walking only two. The 25-year-old lefty throws 95 mph after having major elbow surgery in 2008. He could be in the Tribe bullpen before the end of the season.
Money is always a factor
View full sizeDealing away Victor Martinez was emotional for the Indians front office and the Tribe's fans, but Justin Masterson's 5-0 start to the 2011 season eases memories of Martinez's departure.What the Indians don't say is economics also drove the Lee and Martinez deals. They would have added nearly $16 million to the 2010 payroll, and the Indians simply didn't think they could afford that. So they traded.
They are still waiting for the payoff of the Lee deal -- Carlos Carrasco, Jason Donald, Lou Marson and Jason Knapp. Carrasco is very close to establishing himself as a viable big-league starter. Marson is a solid backup catcher, Donald is at Class AAA but it's easy to project him as a utility infielder. Knapp throws 95 mph, but he's still preparing to start his Class A season.
The Indians mention "patience" when it comes to this trade. It was made in 2009, a year after the Sabathia deal. At this point last season, Brantley and LaPorta were struggling. Both would eventually go back to the minors before returning to Cleveland after the All-Star break.
These trades are risky. After the 2007 season, Minnesota traded Cy Young winner Johan Santana to the Mets. They received Carlos Gomez, Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey in return. Only Guerra is still in the Twins' organization, and he's 2-3 with an 8.81 ERA in Class AA.
Gomez, a career .245 hitter, is with the Brewers. Mulvey is 1-2 with a 12.93 ERA in Class AAA for Arizona. Humber was traded twice after joining the Twins, and is now 2-3 with a 3.06 ERA for the White Sox.
The Indians have a remarkable record of dealing for prospects, be it Carlos Santana (Casey Blake deal), Asdrubal Cabrera (Eduardo Perez), Shin Soo Choo (Ben Broussard) and Chris Perez (Mark DeRosa). Grady Sizemore, Lee and Brandon Phillips were obtained for Bartolo Colon in 2002, a mega deal that began this trend of trading veterans for prospects.
Along with the players obtained in the Sabathia, Lee and Martinez deals contributing to the surprising 19-8 start is the fact that Masterson can't be a free agent until after the 2014 season. The other players in these deals don't see free agency until after 2015 or later.
"We feel good about the players we got in return for those trades," said General Manager Chris Antonetti. "They gave us some depth with young players, and they are guys who we can build with. It means a lot to see them develop and help us win right now -- knowing that we will have these guys under our control for quite a while."
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2011/05/its_taken_time_but_cleveland_i.html
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