3B?

[bill hAll Star]

I'm assuming that Cleveland is not interested in just taking on Garza's salary. Bauer has his issues but he's in that rotation. Carrasco is in. Kluber. Anderson and Tomlin have been decent. Salazar probably is in there.

 

Long story short, why would Cleveland take on 2 (maybe 3) years at $14 million/year for a guy that probably doesn't crack their rotation?

 

In terms of Johnson - I don't know if I'd make the trade on the Brewers' side either. You can get a 0 WAR (and declining) player anywhere if you want. I'm sure Casey McGehee (a 2 year older clone of Johnson) is going to be available. Saving $7.5 million in theory is nice, but I'd rather just pay Garza and see if he can flash his old self (Johnson has never had positive value save for a lucky BABIP season, Garza has had plenty of valuable seasons) and be traded for more than just Chris Johnson.

 

EDIT: In terms of opening a rotation spot for somebody like Lopez - I'd rather just let those guys play middle relief. Lopez, as a good prospect, should probably start. Lower ceiling guys like Jungmann, Cravy, or Peralta at this point can pitch the middle innings as we're getting smoked as a 70-win team. They can have their tryout there. Not much harm being done. Let them pitch 5 innings in relief if Garza keeps getting rocked early in the game.