Ed Puskas: The reality of money in baseball

Some baseball teams have it made. Money is no object to the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers.

If there’s a hole in the lineup, the starting rotation sags or the back end of the bullpen starts lighting fires instead of putting them out, these teams just throw money at the problem.

That’s not how it works in Cleveland and some other places, where the so-called “small-market” clubs play an entirely different — and cheaper — brand of baseball.

And let’s be clear. By “cheaper” we’re not exactly talking about a shoestring budget. There are millions and millions of dollars involved even for baseball’s bargain-basement clubs.

You can be sure if Indians shortstop Francisco Lindor let the Indians know he was amenable to a long-term deal that would keep him in Cleveland beyond 2021, the Dolan family would break the bank to try to make it happen. Lindor is already one of the best players in baseball and with his skills at age 25, any club would be happy to make him its centerpiece for the next decade.

But the numbers for everyone else can get complicated for clubs without the resources of baseball’s big boys.

That’s why the Indians traded Edwin Encarnacion, Yan Gomes and Yonder Alonso and why they’re shopping two-time Cy Young Award winner Corey Kluber and perhaps the younger Trevor Bauer, another right-hander with Cy Young potential.

The Indians have done a great job of positioning themselves as contenders with club-friendly contracts for up-and-coming players, trades for key pieces like Andrew Miller and the occasional free-agent acquisition, such as Encarnacion.

But this offseason, they’ve declined offers on some of their own free agents and entertained trade offers. That’s life in small-market baseball.

The Indians’ current strength is an enviable starting rotation of Kluber, Bauer, Carlos Carrasco (who just agreed to an extention), Mike Clevinger and Shane Bieber. That’s not quite yet the Baltimore Orioles rotation of the late 1960s-early 1970s, but it’s one of the best in the major leagues right now.

Cleveland needs corner outfielders and — with the trade of Gomes to the Washington Nationals — a starting catcher. The Indians could try to fill those holes with young, unproven players and hope to ride that starting rotation back to the playoffs, but that isn’t likely to work. That’s why they acquired Jake Bauers from the Tampa Bay Rays and re-acquired Carlos Santana from the Seattle Mariners.

If the Indians’ window as an American League pennant contender is to remain open, they’re going to have to retool by dealing from a position of strength.

The baseball purist in me hates the idea of trading a dominant starter, but the realist understands Kluber could bring a package that can help keep the Indians in contention.

Remember, this isn’t the Red Sox or Yankees.

The down side? We might have to watch Kluber help the Dodgers win a World Series.

Write Vindicator Sports Editor Ed Puskas at epuskas@vindy.com and follow him on Twitter, @EdPuskas_Vindy.