On Sunday afternoon, Trevor Bauer threw a ball over the center field wall so Terry Francona could not take it from him. Tuesday night, the Indians threw Trevor Bauer to Cincinnati in a three team trade.
The deal is headlined by Bauer and Puig who are trading places. The Indians will also receive Franmil Reyes and Logan Allen from the Padres. The Reds will receive Trevor Bauer; while the Padres will receive Taylor Trammel from the Reds. Bauer’s name has been no stranger to trade rumors since the offseason. The Indians are very much alive in the American League playoff race and losing an arm like Bauer is puzzling. Maybe they look at the rest of the American League and wonder if it is worth trying. Or maybe it’s all about being a franchise with money problems and knowing they would not be able to eventually pay Bauer what he deserves. What I think is equally as likely is that the Indians brass were not amused by his antics on Sunday and finally decided to pull the trigger.
Things for the Reds have finally began to look up this season as they are in contention for a National League Wild Card spot. There were rumors that perhaps their stud ace, Luis Castillo, was available for the right price. You can squash those rumors now. The Reds are going for it in a jam packed National League, both in terms of the Wild Card and the Central division. Can this be the move that finally gets Joey Votto back to the playoffs? He sure deserves it. What shouldn’t go unmentioned here is that, right on cue, Puig was involved in a bench clearing brawl nearly minutes after news broke of the trade. It says a lot about the teammate Puig is, but it also raises speculation on my end if the Indians have any grounds to pull the trade. As I said, I think the Bauer antics played a role in him being traded from the Indians, so I have to think Cleveland is not too crazy about this development from Puig.
The Padres, I think were just facilitators to make things more appealing for the Reds and Indians. Franmil Reyes is an interesting piece for them to part with. He has 27 homeruns on the season and is a good, young, controllable bat for the Indians to add. Chris Perkowski, host of the “Charging The Mound” podcast, even labeled Reyes as one of the real surprises of the first half of the MLB season when I joined him a couple of weeks ago. Taylor Trammel is the prospect going the Padres way. He is 21 years old in AA, Reyes is 23 years old and hitting in the majors. They both play the outfield. It’s a risky gamble here for the Padres.
With Bauer off the board, who is going to be the next domino to fall? Or will this be it?
