CLEVELAND — When it came to the 2020 MLB Trade Deadline on Monday, the Cleveland Indians made the biggest deal of the day, sending pitcher Mike Clevinger, outfielder Greg Allen and a player to be named later to the San Diego Padres in exchange for six players.
But while Clevinger may have been a polarizing player to some, opinions regarding his departure from Cleveland were hardly split, with many taking to social media to opine that the Indians got the worse end of Monday's blockbuster deal.
"Cleveland really messed up a core of Kluber, Bauer, Clevinger, Bieber, Lindor and Jose Ramirez," wrote Yahoo Sports' Chris Cwik. "Decided it was better to sell parts with two top-10 hitters and three top-15 pitchers. If you aren’t going to supplement that? How can you ever win it all?"
Cwik then added: "I’ll tell you how: Teams like Cleveland are hoping to luck into a World Series title with a perfect season where all their prospects hit and they make a marginal upgrade or two that pays off big. They win, then they turn around and deal everyone expensive and start it all over."
Longtime baseball writer Joe Sheehan took his criticism a step even further, stating that Cleveland's decision to deal Clevinger was evidence of a larger problem for the Indians' organization.
"To me, the Indians traded Clevinger for six guys who will never have a four-win season in the majors," he wrote. "They need to be the next MLB team to be sold. What Dolan has done with a core that was a run from a World Series win in 2016 sucks."
With Fan Graphs' Dan Szymborski wondering if trading Clevinger signaled the official start of a rebuild in Cleveland, many fans took to Twitter to share similar sentiments. The criticism only amplified as Monday's 4 p.m. ET trade deadline passed without the Indians making any other moves to improve their struggling offense.