Tribe gets Martin to shore up center

The Cleveland Indians made a needed secondary move Tuesday ahead of the nonwaiver trade deadline, acquiring center fielder Leonys Martin, along with pitching prospect Kyle Dowdy, from the Detroit Tigers for shortstop prospect Willi Castro.

Martin adds some stability to center field after Bradley Zimmer’s season-ending surgery, which has come after a flurry of injuries and inconsistency for the Indians in the outfield, with the exception of Michael Brantley in left.

After a trade July 19 to acquire relievers Brad Hand and Adam Cimber from the San Diego Padres for catcher Francisco Mejia, the club’s top prospect, the Indians turned their attention to the outfield.

“We think he’s a great complement to our roster,” team president Chris Antonetti said. “He provides us with a very good defender in center field who’s a good base-runner, capable of playing both center and right and is also a very good offensive player against right-handed pitching.”

Martin, 30, has been having a quality season with the Tigers, especially defensively.

He’s batting .251 with nine home runs, 29 RBI and seven stolen bases. In center field, his nine outfield assists in 2018 is tied for second in the majors.

Martin has been placed on the 10-day DL twice this season because of a left hamstring injury.

“We spent a lot of time on that, working through that, talking it through both with the Tigers’ medical personnel and we had the ability to see him play over the last handful of games to make sure he’s healthy,” Antonetti said.

Brian Dozier, Chris Archer and Jonathan Schoop were among the many players traded before the deadline for making deals without waivers.

Wilson Ramos and Brandon Kintzler also were on the go in the flurry of 15 deals. Every team except San Francisco made at least one trade since the AllStar Game, with Tampa Bay swinging seven.

Archer headed from Tampa Bay to Pittsburgh in one of the deadline's more surprising deals.

He joins a Pirates club that has pushed back into the playoff race even after trading away Gerrit Cole and Andrew McCutchen in the offseason.

The Rays also sent All-Star catcher Ramos to NL East-leading Philadelphia.

Dozier went from the Twins to the Dodgers, Schoop from the Orioles to the Brewers, and Kintzler from the Nationals to the Cubs. Baltimore also sent starter Kevin Gausman to the upstart Braves.

Bryce Harper, Jacob deGrom, J.T. Realmuto and McCutchen had been mentioned in trade speculation, but stayed put.