“We’re bringing three players to our major league team that will impact us and help us in a variety of ways, but also brings some building blocks for the future.”I write about the Indians and Browns for Forbes, and I have a new book out: Mike Hargrove and the Cleveland Indians: A Baseball Life. The Indians had a busy Monday as the MLB Trade Deadline hit, as the team moved starter Mike Clevinger to the Padres along with Greg Allen and a player to be named later for six players. Even without Clevinger, the Indians have plenty of young pitching with ace Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, Plesac and rookie Triston McKenzie, who has looked like a seasoned veteran in two starts. The long-haired right-hander nicknamed “Sunshine” also is contractually controlled through the 2022 season. San Diego acquired veteran catchers Jason Castro and Austin Nola in a pair of deals Sunday, making Hedges expendable. Indians general manager Chris Antonetti said the team had moved past Clevinger breaking the COVID protocols, but felt it had starting pitching depth to make a deal. I don’t think there will be many teams that will get in the way of what we’ve got right now,” said Clevinger, who hopes to join the Padres in time for a series that starts at Anaheim on Wednesday. Even without Clevinger, the Indians have plenty of young pitching with ace Shane Bieber, Aaron Civale, Plesac and rookie Triston McKenzie, who has looked like a seasoned veteran in two starts. 1 starter, Mike Clevinger, in a nine-player trade with the Cleveland Indians, the seventh and most significant player added to a club that’s won 10 of its last 13 games and is a playoff lock in this pandemic-shortened season.Certainly, the Padres are well-suited to compete in 2020’s 16-team playoff tournament, perhaps to even threaten the Los Angeles Dodgers, the prohibitive favorites to make the MLB finals this year.But in acquiring Clevinger, the iconoclastic 29-year-old fireballer who fell out of favor in Cleveland after an ill-timed night out amid a global pandemic, the Padres now have a legitimate ace under club control through the 2022 season.That’s when the Padres’ core of shortstop Fernando Tatis, $300 million third baseman Manny Machado and a cadre of young pitching talent was expected to coalesce.Yet a 21-15 start – including a recent run where the club crushed grand slams in four consecutive games – changed the narrative significantly.So in came reliever Trevor Rosenthal from Kansas City, first baseman/DH Mitch Moreland from Boston, catchers Jason Castro (Los Angeles Angels) and Austin Nola (Seattle) and relievers Dan Altavilla and the injured Austin Adams from the Mariners, too.The coup de grace came just hours before Monday’s trade deadline: Clevinger, who averaged 10.4 strikeouts per nine innings the past two seasons and has a high-octane three-pitch mix worthy of a No. A couple of years ago, as the Giants traded some of their better prospects for Andrew McCutchen and Evan Longoria, executives around the NL West smiled. The 25-year-old right-hander is 2-0 with a 2.60 ERA in 10 appearances this year, nine of them in relief. It’s definitely kind of the place to be right now. I am chairman of the Cleveland chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and a Hall of Fame voter, the Cleveland correspondent for Baseball America, as well as The Sports Xchange, and you can read my columns in the Elyria Chronicle-Telegram at chroniclet.com/jim-ingraham and the Medina Gazette. A feverish three-day run of acquisitions hit its apex Monday morning when the Padres acquired a legitimate No. CLEVELAND, Ohio — Mike Clevinger’s time in Cleveland is over after the Indians traded him to the San Diego Padres in a nine-player trade on Monday.