It has been a depressing season for the Cleveland Indians but it’s about to get worse. The Indians will likely be helping other teams make playoff pushes while shedding payroll and saying “What until 2012 when the Tribe will be back!”. The teams most likely to make a play for Cliff Lee will be the Angels, Dodgers, Brewers, Mets and Phillies. The Mets don’t like have enough to get a deal done for Lee but they might have some interest in Carl Pavano. The Indians would likely take back Nick Evans or Daniel Murphy from the Mets for Pavano. The Dodgers might have a interest in both Lee and Pavano. They would probably offer something like Blake DeWitt, Ivan DeJesus, Xavier Paul, James McDonald and Cory Wade for both Indians pitchers but that might not be enough to entice them into action. Would the Indians go back to the well in Milwaukee? Only if they could pry Acides Escobar and Mat Gamel from the Brewers and that’s unlikely. The Indians would probably have a interest in trading with the Phillies (for Cliff Lee) if Jason Donald, Carlos Carrasco, Kyle Drabek and Andrew Carpenter were the return. The Tribe would likely kick in Kelly Shoppach if the Phillies included catcher Lou Marson. But the Angels might be the team to deal with about Lee as they could offer Brandon Wood, Sean Rodriguez and Jose Arrondondo for him. It will be interesting to see if the Indians trade Lee because he’s under contract for next season. Victor Martinez has the interest of the Giants and Red Sox. The Giants could probably offer more of a volume of players while the Red Sox could offer the Tribe pitching that they really need. Clay Buchholz, Mike Bowden, Manny Delcarmen. Daniel Bard and Justin Masterson all likely interest the Indians at different levels. If the Giants don’t want to trade enough to get Martinez to play 1B then they might have a interest in someone like Ryan Garko. Jhonny Peralta could also bring the Indians back some decent prospects. The Cardinals and Mariners would likely be the top of the list for Peralta. The Mariners could offer players like Jeff Clement, Rob Johnson, Wladimir Balentien, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Shawn Kelley which would make the Indians listen. Jason Motte and Brad Thompson could be part of the return from the Cardinals who are desperate. The Rockies, Braves and Yankees make sense for Rafael Betancourt. The Cubs have just placed starting catcher Geovany Soto on the D.L. so maybe a package of Kelly Shoppach and Ben Francisco could net them something like Kevin Hart and Jose Ascanio. The Indians might be able to get the Mets interested in Ben Francisco but don’t expect a lot back from them. The Wild Card for the Indians could be the Reds who could have a interest in dealing. They really need help on offense and could have a verying interest in Andy Marte, Ryan Garko and/or Ben Francisco. The Indians would probably target Homer Bailey in return. Other players likely to be moved by the Indians are Kerry Wood, Josh Barfield, Masa Kobayashi and Jamey Carroll. The Indians might as well tear this team down and rebuild it because they are a long way from being a playoff team right now.
