An Important Part of Evaluating the Corey Kluber Trade is What Comes Next

This could work.

No. Really. It could.

There was a blueprint for it.

And not from a the Indians just dealt their two-time Cy Young Award winner who was on an expanded but affordable contract over the next two potential seasons so what choice do you have but to talk yourself into what they’ve done to avoid a deep state of Holiday depression … [slow exhale] … perspective.

But -- yeah, there's a but -- trading Corey Kluber had to satisfy two conditions to ultimately make sense. Otherwise, why?

It’s not as if he needed to be a cash dump. They could have just declined his option at the start of the offseason, and Kluber’s salary in 2020 looks pretty appealing compared to recent deals handed out to starters.

So, again. Why? Regardless of his atypical performance last year or the freak injury that ended Kluber’s season, he’s still a very appealing piece -- beyond the age or possible warning signs -- for any team looking to contend.

And that’s still the goal here, no?

The first step was obvious: It had to make good baseball sense. The player return needed to justify giving up a somewhat risky, yet still valuable pitching piece, who also doubles as one of the best starters in franchise history.

The second, however, should be easy, and rests with ownership: They have to make use of the money saved in the move. They need to re-invest the $18.5 million moved off the books ($17.5 million for 2020 plus Kluber’s $1 million potential buyout for 2021), give or take any bit of cash considerations in the deal.

If both of those conditions couldn’t be met — and the second point of re-investment can’t be stressed enough — then what in the world was the point?

Then, Cleveland and Texas reached a deal, and those conditions were immediately put to the test. The return for Kluber from the Rangers begins with 21-year-old flame-throwing reliever, Emmanuel Clase.

Clase. Ho ho, freaking, ho.

He is enough to make you salivate. Even with just 345 pitches thrown in the majors, he’s demonstrated enough of his 99-100 mph cutter to make anyone take notice.

The righty wasn’t particularly high on the Rangers top prospect list entering the year, but he managed to climb from Class-A+ to the majors last season, eventually posting a 2.31 ERA and 3.43 FIP in 23 1/3 innings with Texas.

He also tossed 67 pitches — 19.4 percent of the fastballs he threw — at 100 mph or faster, including more than a handful that approached 102 mph.

Both his average fastball velocity and average heater spin rate positioned him in the elite category among the small sample. (The 2019 Indians bullpen, on the other hand, seemingly obeyed highway speed limit laws.)

Clase has posted solid strikeout numbers in the minors and majors, but maybe not as many as you’d expect given his elite velocity fastball and 90 mph slider (though, the elite ground ball rate helps offset some of that).

That considered, Clase looks like an extremely intriguing arm that could possible pair with James Karinchak to form an untouchable back-end duo in the years moving forward.

That’s not nothing. That shouldn’t get lost.

And yet, here’s where multiple things can be true at once. Having established all of the things that make Clase appear special, a reliever, even one with the ceiling to perhaps someday touch elite status, still feels light, especially as a centerpiece for an arm that, despite a few red flags, still has front-of-the-rotation potential.

In this situation, it’s possible to be both thrilled about Clase’s room for growth and still ... uhhh ... underwhelmed by the return. (Though, at least, one rival talent evaluator felt “just a reliever” was underselling Clase’s ability and believes he is an extremely valuable relief asset.)

To that point, Clase wasn’t the only return the Indians will reportedly receive, with outfielder Delino DeShields Jr. also coming back to Cleveland.

That part feels … a lot more head-scratching.

Sure, DeShields brings loads of value of the bases — he’s added the eighth-most value on the bases in baseball since 2015, according to FanGraphs — and finished sixth in the majors in outs above average (12) last year, per Baseball Savant.

He’s also been 24 percent below the league average offensively in his career and was 28 percent below the average in 2019.

Considering he’s owed a projected $2.4 million through arbitration in 2020, and Oscar Mercado emerged as the club’s starting center fielder last year, one must wonder what the appeal was for the Indians, unless DeShields was simply a way of taking back some money without much cash actually being involved.

(Perhaps he’s a piece they will later attempt to flip. But that, at this point, would only be speculation.)

No matter what, the return is going to take time to evaluate. A year ago, the Yan Gomes trade to the Nationals felt confusing.

Today, Daniel Johnson looks like he’ll play an important part in the Indians’ future. Jefry Rodriguez provides some valuable organizational pitching depth.

The remainder of this rests, however, with ownership.

Based on their actions last winter, perhaps that fact is most frightening.

Particularly if the Indians hold on to Francisco Lindor this winter, not utilizing the money saved in the Kluber deal would be indefensible.

Sure, the Indians operate with an eye toward being successful beyond Lindor’s stay in Cleveland — to their credit, they haven’t had a losing season since 2012 — but wasting one of the game’s all-time talents by not at least maintaining payroll from last year’s drop would be beyond baffling and without excuse.

So, could the blueprint still work? Yes. It's possible.

Spending in free agency. Filling holes with the savings. There’s no excuse for re-investing money to be anything other than easy.