Padres Acquire Mike Clevinger in massive nine-player trade with Cleveland
Credit: AP Photo
The San Diego Padres and Cleveland Indians agreed to a deal on Monday.
A.J. Preller does not stop working trades until the final bell.
This morning the San Diego Padres received Mike Clevinger, Greg Allen, and a player to be named later in exchange for Cal Quantrill, Gabriel Arias, Joey Cantillo, Austin Hedges, Josh Naylor, and Owen Miller.
Source: Deal is Clevinger, Greg Allen and PTBN to Padres; Quantrill, Arias, Cantillo, Hedges, Naylor and Miller to Indians.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) August 31, 2020
This easily becomes the most significant trade of this deadline. The Padres are receiving a front of the line starter while the Indians in exchange get the seventh, ninth, and eleventh ranked prospects in the Padres loaded system.
Clevinger put up 4.2 and 4.5 fWAR in 2018 and 2019. He hosts a four-pitch mix consisting of a four-seam fastball, slider, curve, and changeup. That slider has produced a 41.5% whiff rate this year. This year he is putting up an ERA+ of 147 with 100 being the league average. He excels across the board and is everything a team wants in a starting pitcher.
Clevinger rumors started to emerge when the team found out he broke their COVID-19 protocols. He was then sent down along with Zach Plesac. With the amount of starting pitching that the Indians have, its no surprise that they were willing to part with him to get this prospect haul.
Allen is a San Diego native and alumni of SDSU, where he was coached by Mr. Padre himself, Tony Gwynn. He plays all three outfield positions and has the speed to cover a lot of ground. He doesn’t provide much pop in his bat and won’t be much of a weapon at the plate. In his career, he has an OPS+ of 70. Most likely, he will join the competition for playing time in left field. That is the last hole on the team while Tommy Pham is injured.
The PTBNL means that whatever player San Diego will receive is not on the Indians’ 60-man roster. However, it is rumored to be minor league reliever Matt Waldron, an 18th-round pick in the 2019 Draft.
Moving onto the cost for the three players, beginning with the Major Leaguers.
While Quantrill was featured in the bullpen this year, he can quickly become a starter. This year he was posting a 2.60 ERA in 17 innings of work. Naylor is an outfielder/first baseman who never got consistent playing time on the Padres. The Indians have a desire to fill in their outfield. His bat is filled with potential, but the rest of his game needs work. Naylor will join former Padre Franmil Reyes in the outfield mix for Cleveland.
Hedges has been the starting catcher since 2017 when he took over the role. He is known as one of the top defensive catchers in the game. His bat is a glaring weakness, but August 2020 was his strongest month at the plate in a while with three home runs and a .786 OPS.
As for the prospects, Arias is a shortstop that is on the verge of becoming a five-tool player. His fielding is already top-notch, and his bat has been trending upward lately. Cantillo is a left-handed pitcher that is a symbol of the Padres’ ability to spot talent. Drafted in the 16th round of the 2017 Draft, he posted an elite 1.93 ERA in Single-A Fort Wayne during the 2019 season. Miller is a middle infielder who has a knack for making contact with the ball. If the power comes in, he can become a great player.
The Padres accomplished one large gap in their roster with this trade. They have a front line starter to lead their rotation. This upgrades them from playoff contenders into serious World Series Contenders. After this trade deadline, their lineup is one of the scariest in the league, and they added the necessary arms to shut down other teams.
They did give up a lot of talent to get here. Quantrill was one of the more reliable bullpen arms, but a sacrifice worth making. Naylor’s role as DH was eliminated with the addition of Mitch Moreland. A catcher had to go once the Padres acquired Austin Nola and Jason Castro. Many solid prospects left the system, but the Padres have kept a lot of the top core prospects.
Evan is a student finishing up a degree in Finance from Northern Arizona University. The ability to break down numbers and find the story behind them has lead to his first of writing for East Village times. He covers baseball which is the sport he grew up playing and has followed even after his playing years.
So, I am assuming that Clevinger will slide in behind Davies in the rotation depending on when was his last start in Cleveland. When do we see Yonder’s debut? Last night Nola looked right at home handling our pitching staff and Rosenthal got the job done! Hope it doesn’t take too long for Moreland to get comfortable. Cleveland got a lot but it will take a year or so to determine who actually got the best in this trade.
This is a HUGE steal for the Tribe.
One individual is sacrificing so much to save his job.
The Indians are getting a ton and I can see how they are excited. From the Padres perspective we still kept the top prospects in the system and still have a lot of quality in the farm. At one point it does no good to have it sitting there doing nothing.