The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians are reportedly continuing their trade talks, according to Jon Morosi of MLB.com.
Sources: #Dodgers and #Indians trade talks remain ongoing this week, as @Ken_Rosenthal first reported. If a deal is reached, a Cleveland starter — Kluber, Carrasco or Bauer — likely would go to L.A. @MLBNetwork @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) November 29, 2018
It was just last week that Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Dodgers and Indians were engaged in "lots of different discussions," which included trade discussions about the Indians' starting pitching, Yan Gomes and the Dodgers outfield surplus.
At the beginning of this month, the Indians said that they were going to "listen" to offers this offseason for starting pitchers such as Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco. With this latest rumor, the Indians trading Kluber, Carrasco or even Trevor Bauer to the Dodgers may be a possibility this offseason.
Aside from the Clayton Kershaw contract extension, the Dodgers have been relatively quiet so far this winter, but a potential deal with the Indians could be their first big move. It appears that they may be willing to pay up for a starter like Kluber, Carrasco or Bauer. A right-hander, Bauer has two years of club control left and two arbitration years left before he hits free-agency. Bauer wouldn't be a bad option for the Dodgers as he's coming off the best season of his career, posting a 2.21 ERA (and 198 ERA+) in 175 1/3 innings.
After losing in the World Series each of the last two seasons, we could see the Dodgers give up outfielders like Alex Verdugo or Andrew Toles (LA could try to hang onto Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger) so that they could head into 2019 with a rotation strong enough to win them their first World Series title in 31 years.
