The Indians are looking for lefty relief help, tweets MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Rich Hill is the only lefty reliever on Cleveland's active roster, and he has struggled this season, posting a 6.51 ERA and 5.5 BB/9, albeit with 11.7 K/9. The Indians haven't had much better luck this season with fellow lefty relievers Nick Hagadone, Scott Barnes and David Huff. Here's more out of Cleveland.
Pat McManamon of FOXSportsOhio.com confirms that the Indians are looking for relief help, particularly of the left-handed variety, but says not to expect much beyond that. McManamon reports that GM Chris Antonetti is pleased with the Indians' starting pitching, offense and defense, which only leaves the bullpen as a possible spot to upgrade. Antonetti remains open to a bigger trade, but he is unlikely to trade a young talent like Francisco Lindor or Danny Salazar, and he says he "feel[s] good about the group of guys that we have."
Antonetti also notes that it's a tough market for buyers, according to McManamon. "[Y]ou could make the argument that there are 24, maybe 25 teams that are buying or at least holding onto players," Antonetti says. That's particularly problematic for the Indians, since one of the few clear sellers (the White Sox) is in the Indians' division, and two other potential ones (the Twins and Royals) are as well. Those teams might not want to trade within the AL Central. Antonetti says it might actually easier to make deals in August, despite the barrier of the waiver process, because more teams will realize that they're out of the race by then.
