Indians president Chris Antonetti speaks with media about Leonys Martin; four takeaways

CLEVELAND-- Tuesday was the MLB trade deadline, and the biggest splash the Indians made was in acquiring Leonys Martin from the Detroit Tigers at the trade deadline.

Martin is an outfielder who gives the Tribe a bit more depth in the outfield, especially considering the fact that he is under control by the team into next season (read more about him here).

Following the official deadline at 4 p.m., team president Chris Antonetti spoke with reporters via conference call about the move. Here are four takeaways from that discussion.

1. After acquiring Hand and Cimber, the team focused their attention on the outfield

After the team traded for Brad Hand and Adam Cimber, they zeroed in on potential outfield acquisitions. It's not surprising why, considering the injuries that the team currently is dealing with. Tyler Naquin just landed himself on the DL with a hip injury, while Bradley Zimmer is out for the year because of shoulder surgery, and Lonnie Chisenhall continues to have nagging calf issues.

As Antonetti said, Martin addresses a need while complementing current players on the Tribe roster.

"It's been a position that's been a little bit in flux for us for a balance of the season, so we explored a lot of alternatives to try and address and improve our outfield options," he said. "And we were really pleased to be able to acquire Leonys Martin. We think he's a great complement to our roster. He provides us a very good defender in center field who's a good base runner, capable of playing both center and right, and is also a very good offensive player against right-handed pitching."

2. The Indians are confident in Martin's health

At the beginning of July, Martin completed a DL stint because of a left hamstring injury. He also suffered a similar injury back in May.

When it comes to Martin's health, however, Antonetti said he is confident that this injury will not be a nagging one for the outfielder as the team gears up for another postseason.

"We spent a lot of time on that," he said. "Talking through that with the Tigers medical personnel. And also, we had the ability to see him play over the last handful of games to watch and make sure he's healthy. We think he's working his way back to full strength and top speed but he's getting pretty close to that level."

3. Martin's contract was a draw

Martin's multi-year contract played a factor in the Indians targetting, has become a staple of Antonetti trades through the years (albeit not always a necessity i.e. Jay Bruce). The outfielder is under control through the 2019 season.

It's especially big for the team since Bradley Zimmer won't return for 8 to 12 months, and Lonnie Chisenhall will enter free agency this offseason. As Antonetti said, Martin not only helps in 2018, but will help build the outfield for next season as well.

"It was an important element for us," Antonetti said, "and with Leonys he is under team control next year, so that gives us another good option for our outfield as we seek to build our team for 2019 as well."

4. What about the Harper talks?

Over the last 24 hours, news leaked that the Washington Nationals' were potentially interested in trading Bryce Harper. According to various reports, the Indians had discussions with the Nationals about a possible deal for the All-Star outfielder and reigning Home Run Derby champion.

While Antonetti wouldn't get into too many specifics on what exactly happened with those talks and what the Nationals asked for, the team is clearly happy with the move they ended up making.

"I think over the last month plus we spent a lot of time examining alternatives to improve the team," Antonetti said. "While our initial focus was improving our bullpen options, we were concurrently focused on trying to improve our outfield situation. That market took a little bit longer time to develop, and really came together here over the last few days. But throughout that process, we examined a lot of different alternatives and are really pleased that we ended up with Leonys."