Cleveland Indians Willing to Listen to Offers for Corey Kluber and Other Veterans

Corey Kluber with the Cleveland Indians in 2018. Photo by Trask Smith/CSM/REX/Shutterstock

Cleveland Indians are looking to trim down their salary bill in the offseason, and have reportedly noticed other MLB teams that they are willing to listen to offers for several of their accomplished veteran players.

According to ESPN‘s Buster Onley, Indians will keep the third baseman Jose Ramirez and shortstop Francisco Lindor, but are willing to part ways with 2017 Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber, 2017 AL wins leader Carlos Carrasco, All-Star catcher Yan Gomes, and three-time All-Star slugger Edwin Encarnación and several other players for the right price.

Corey Kluber is set to make $17 million in 2019, while the Cleveland Indians hold team options on his contract for 2020 and 2021. He should be one of the easiest players to move, given the fact that he is playing on a high level on a team-friendly contract. Kluber was 20-7 in 2018 and had 222 strikeouts and 2.89 ERA.

Moving Edwin Encarnacion, however, will be more demanding task considering the big contract that is set to pay him $21.67 million in 2019. Encarnacion had 32 home runs and .246 batting average in 2018.

The Cleveland Indians had concerns with their payroll for a while now, and they feel they need to act before it gets too big. Big payroll is especially becoming a pressing issue for the team since they are among the worst teams in MLB when it comes to attendance. Because of salary management, the team didn’t tender qualifying offers to Michael Brantley, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.

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