Making the case for the Indians trading Clevinger or Plesac

The Indians can use recent incidents to help bolster the offense.

The Cleveland Indians have managed to jump out to a 13-9 start with setbacks both on and off the field.

The off-the-field problems have centered around starting pitchers Mike Clevinger and Zach Plesac. Both players went out for a night on the town in Chicago, blatantly ignoring team and league protocol. Then came Clevinger lying about it and flying home with the team before being caught. That terrible act was followed by a non-apology video posted by Plesac while he was driving a car.

The Indians have a clubhouse issue on their hands, and one option is to trade one or both of the pitchers. Doing this would solve the main on-the-field issue of the season.

The Indians need help on offense now

The offensive stats in Cleveland are dismal. The team is slashing .203/.312/.330 through 22 games and somehow still has a plus-21 run differential. That is thanks to the elite pitching, which included the help of Clevinger and Plesac.

But the team may have reached a turning point. Both pitchers individually drove to Detroit to have a meeting with the team. The meeting went so poorly both were immediately optioned back to the team’s training site and veteran reliever Oliver Perez reportedly threatened to opt out if they were welcomed back.

Clevinger would be the prized pitcher for another organization in a trade. He has a career 3.20 ERA since making his debut in 2016 and went 13-4 with a 2.71 ERA in 2019. The right-hander is supposed to be the No. 2 guy on the staff and could be an ace on several other teams.

Being sent to the training site may also result in him losing a year of service time and not being a free agent until 2024. The same goes for Plesac as the trade value shoots up for both. The only question is if teams will just look past these recent incidents that put the pitchers on the trading block in the first place.

The Indians entered the season with the likes of Bradley Zimmer, Tyler Naquin, Oscar Mercado, Daniel Johnson, Greg Allen, Domingo Santana, Delino DeShields, Jordan Luplow and Franmil Reyes all fighting for time in the outfield. Reyes is the only one to do much of anything on offense, and he is also an option as the designated hitter.

Trading Clevinger and/or Plesac can give the team an unexpected boost in the form of landing top prospects and hopefully some with MLB experience. The alternative is holding onto both pitchers and either keeping them at the training site as punishment or bringing them back and fracturing the clubhouse.