MLB trade rumors: Indians were ‘seriously involved’ in J.D. Martinez talks

According to a recent tweet from Jon Paul Morosi, the Cleveland Indians were the only team besides the Arizona Diamondbacks to purse former Detroit Tigers outfielder J.D. Martinez.

The Indians have kept themselves out of rumor talk for most of the year, so this is sort of our first look at what’s going on behind the scenes. The D’Backs gave up almost nothing for a half-season of Martinez, so I cannot imagine the Indians were offering much themselves to drive up the price.

A rough equivalent of what Arizona sent over — a trio of middle infielders — would be something like Willi Castro or Yu-Cheng Chang and maybe someone like Luke Wakamatsu and/or Sam Haggerty. Or some combination of the four. Nothing that would sink the Indians, and it would have pulled from a position that the team has locked up in the majors with Francisco Lindor and Jose Ramirez. Since I’m already firing speculation widly into the air, I’m going to guess they just didn’t want Martinez enough to bother departing with Castro or Chang, if the Tigers were indeed asking for them.

As for the Indians’ interest in Martinez, it could have been insurance for Lonnie Chisenhall, who is expected to miss a few weeks with a calf injury. If the Indians are still looking for an outfielder, options could include some vomit-inducing choices like Nick Markakis and Matt Kemp from the Atlanta Braves, or even Marcell Ozuna from the Miami Marlins, Andrew McCutchen from the Pittsburgh Pirates, or if we want to get really insane Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins.

Did we go too crazy just there? I feel like we went too crazy.

Either way, we got our first rumor from a trusted source. Buckle up, ladies and gentlemen.