Indians deal Mejia, beef up bullpen

the 2023 season.

Adding Hand and Cimber — especially the former — also gives the club additional options and insurance for beyond this season if Cody Allen or Andrew Miller, or both, leave via free agency.

“We’ve talked about it at different points in the past, taking a multiyear approach to team-building, and this fits in line with that,” Antonetti said. “We know we have some guys in our bullpen who are approaching the end of their contracts and we are going to have to remake our bullpen in some fashion for 2019. This trade gives us two really good options.”

Mejia, the club’s top prospect and one of the top 20 in baseball by most accounts, is a talented switch hitter. The Indians tried him out in the outfield with the Clippers to create a path for him to the big leagues — Indians catchers Yan Gomes and Roberto Perez are both signed long term — but he hadn’t yet taken to it like the club had hoped.

“We asked a lot of Francisco this year, no doubt about it,” Antonetti said. “He got off to a difficult, tough start to this season, rebounded and had an extraordinary June and played and performed really well while at the same time working to improve his defense at both at catcher and as an outfielder — not a very easy thing to do — and Francisco deserves a lot of credit for doing that.”

With this deal completed, the Indians can now turn their attention toward potentially addressing other spots, such as the outfield.

“One of the things this trade allows us to do is continue to have the flexibility to improve other areas of the team,” Antonetti said. “We remain engaged with teams right now. … Whether or not that leads to something, I have no idea, but we’ll continue to pursue those.”