Everybody in Cleveland and Atlanta is talking about the blockbuster trade between Indians and Braves involving top-notch players. In the deal announced today Cleveland has acquired 22-year-old RHP Ian Anderson, 23-year-old C William Contreras, 27-year-old SS Johan Camargo, 27-year-old LHP A.J. Minter and 23-year-old RHP Mike Soroka from the Braves and in return will receive 34-year-old RHP Corey Kluber, 27-year-old minor league CF Greg Allen and 25-year-old minor league RHP James Karinchak.
When reached for comment Atlanta General Manager Matt Powell had the following to say “With Soroka out for another four months I felt like our pitching staff needed an ace. We really needed one even with Soroka. I’ve seen pitchers never recover from injuries like that as well. I’m not sure how long we are going to be able to hang on to some of these other young guys either so I felt like we need to try and win now. Freeman is a fa at the end of the year and of course I want to try and resign him so that would if made. We won 96 games last year and finished 3rd in our division so obviously competition was a big part of it too. We needed a proven veteran ace. We gave up a lot of young talent as well but if you look at it closer it’s not as much as it seems. Contreras was ready to come up and I plan to sign Carson Kelly to an extension which leaves him without a spot. Austin Riley can hit for power but he struck out in almost 50% of his at bat’s season so that was extremely disappointing and Andersons development had slowed big time. Basically it came down to the fact we need to try and win now and not waste all the talent we have here.”
During his career the 34-year-old Kluber has piled up 1593 innings. Over that time, he has fanned 1724 batters, walked 336 and put up a 3.21 ERA. His lifetime won-lost mark is 115-68 and opposing clubs have hit .233 against him.
Soroka has a lifetime record of 24 wins and 13 losses and a 3.36 ERA.