KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – JULY 28: Starting pitcher Trevor Bauer #47 of the Cleveland Indians throws against the Kansas City Royals in the first inning at Kauffman Stadium on July 28, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
A slow-moving trade deadline cycle got moving Tuesday night, with Trevor Bauer on his way to the Cincinnati Reds and Yasiel Puig on his way to the Cleveland Indians in a three-team deal.
Anyone looking for some good MLB trade deadline action got some Monday night. As first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the Cleveland Indians will send Trevor Bauer to the Cincinnati Reds as part of a three-team trade that includes the San Diego Padres. Outfielder Yasiel Puig is the other big piece, as he’ll go from the Reds to the Indians.
According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the Padres will get Reds top outfield prospect Taylor Trammell in the deal. As first reported by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, San Diego will also send outfielder Franmil Reyes and left-handed pitcher Logan Allen to the Indians.
The Reds, in a surprising turn of events considering they seem to have moved into sell mode, surfaced as a suitor for Bauer earlier on Tuesday and didn’t hesitate to part with a top prospect to get it done. Looking to next year, they’ve got the makings of a formidable top three in the starting rotation as Bauer joins Luis Castillo and Sonny Gray.
The Indians have gotten mostly lackluster production out of their outfield this year, and they’ve struggled against left-handed pitching. So they’ll add Puig (22 home runs and 13 stolen bases this season, 1.015 OPS since June 11 entering Monday), and Reyes (27 home runs with an .846 OPS this season) to remedy both of those situations.
The Padres have a loaded farm system. Now they’ll add Trammell, who entered this year as a no worse than a top-35 prospect in all of baseball by three major outlets: No. 11 by Baseball Prospectus, No. 16 by MLB Pipeline and No. 33 by Baseball America.
The Padres are also sending young infielder Ivan Nova to the Indians as part of the deal.
Passan added that Reds pitching prospect Scott Moss is also involved in the trade. Jonathan May of MLB.com added Moss will go to the Indians.
Deeper details continue to trickle out, with prospects being added, but the primary pieces of this monster three-team deal are clearly Bauer and Puig, and the initial winner looks like the Indians.