Yankees: Is Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer the better trade option to pursue?

On Thursday the Cleveland Indians agreed to an extension with All-Star pitcher Carlos Carrasco, which means they have no plans to trade him anywhere this offseason. Although, it’s more likely now that they’ll seriously consider trading Corey Kluber or Trevor Bauer and the Yankees could be a perfect fit for either.

After the Yankees missed out on signing Patrick Corbin, their top free agent pitching target, the best route for them to add another ace this offseason might be via trade. Nathan Eovaldi was also a target but he re-signed with the Red Sox and it was reported that the Yanks weren’t willing to offer him anything more than a three-year deal.

J.A. Happ is definitely still a possibility to return to New York but only if he accepts a two-year deal. I’d prefer the Yanks to sign Happ, but if they can’t there aren’t many other realistic or impactful options for them to choose from in free agency. Dallas Keuchel isn’t going to get the kind of money he’s looking for from the Yankees and Charlie Morton’s name hasn’t been linked to the team thus far.

That means a trade for another ace could become more likely with each passing day and the best two available options on the block are both on the Indians. Either Kluber or Bauer would put the Yankees in a great position to win their division next season and contend for a World Series, but it’s going to cost a huge haul to get one of them.

Kluber has the better track record winning two Cy Youngs in the past five seasons, but because of his age (32), he’d probably cost less to acquire as opposed to the 27-year-old Bauer. Bauer is coming off two outstanding seasons, especially his 2018 campaign when he really cemented his name as one of the top starting pitchers in the game today.

Kluber is a bonafide ace, but in Bauer’s case, he’s an ace whose best days are still very much ahead of him. Don’t get me wrong, Kluber is still great, but last season his velocity decreased and his overall stuff took a bit of a dip which could’ve played a role in him giving up a career-high 25 home runs. Bauer on the other hand only allowed 9 home runs all season and struck out 221 batters in only 175.1 IP.

If I had to choose the better fit for the Yankees I’d go with Bauer because of his age and upside, but in terms of who they’d be more likely to acquire, I’d have to say Kluber and here’s why.

The first reason is that Kluber is four years older than Bauer and between the two of them, he has the contract that the Indians would probably much rather trade away. Kluber is due to make $17 million in 2019 and he has a club option for both the 2020 ($17.5 million) and 2021 ($18 million) seasons. For a pitcher as great as Kluber that’d be a very team friendly contract for a big market club like the Yankees, but for the small market Indians, not so much.

One of the reasons the Indians are open to trading away one of their two aces is so they can clear up money to eventually sign Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor to long-term deals. Keeping Kluber on the roster through 2021 would make that harder to do so.

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As for Bauer, he’s going to get paid a ton once he reaches free agency in 2021, but for now, he’s due to make around $11.6 million in arbitration next season. Because he’ll cost less than Kluber on a per year basis that means the Indians should get an even bigger haul in return for him. It also means it would be much harder for the Yankees to trade for him.

To get Bauer the Yankees would almost certainly have to give up either Miguel Andujar or top prospect Estevan Florial, two players who are pretty much untouchable. Now in order to get Kluber, they may have to do the same, unless they were willing to take on another big contract in addition to him.

Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com wrote a great piece on Thursday about potential trades the Indians could pursue for Bauer and Kluber. Here’s what he came up with if they traded Kluber to New York.

Yankees get: Kluber, 2B Jason Kipnis
Indians get: RHP Sonny Gray, RHP Chad Green, OF Clint Frazier, RHP Domingo Acevedo

I don’t know if Brian Cashman has offered a proposal for Kluber as of yet, but if he hasn’t this a deal he should definitely consider doing. Not only would the Yankees get another ace to round out their starting rotation, but they’d also get Kipnis a left-handed hitting second baseman who could be the short-term replacement in the lineup for Didi as he recovers from injury.

The price tag on Kipnis of $17 million for next season is a lot, but he can become a free agent after the season. Since they’d also get Kluber and his three years of team control it would be a risk worth taking. They’d also get both players without having to give up Andujar or Florial and they’d get rid of Sonny Gray in the process. Losing Chad Green and Clint Frazier would hurt, but the Yankees have a good enough bullpen to still be great without Green and Frazier is still blocked off from getting the starting job in left field next season.

With Winter Meetings next week you can bet the Yankees are going to make a strong push to add another starter. I think they’ll try to go the free agent route with J.A. Happ first, but if they can’t bring him back Cashman should totally try to make another trade and get Kluber just as he did with James Paxton.