An ambitious 3 team trade, of course unlikely to happen, but hopefully satisfies the needs of each team. Texas Receives: Texas solidifies their shaky bullpen with the addition of Clase. He was not as dominant in 2023, but in my opinion this is from overuse. He is still a high end closer on a team friendly contract. Straw needs a change of scenery and can be useful defensively. Texas has deeper pockets than Cleveland and can more easily overpay for a 4th outfielder. Knack is added for rotation depth with an ETA of 2024. Texas Gives: The Dodgers need an outfielder and with Langford coming very soon this makes Taveras expendable. Foscue is blocked at every turn. Cleveland needs to bolster their pitching at the major and minor league levels, so Bradford and Porter are must haves. Dodgers Receive: The Dodgers lack a good true shortstop (and have no help in the minors). I don’t see Lux as the answer there. He stays at second and Mookie stays in right. Rocchio, Cleveland’s #1 prospect, will solidify the position for years to come. Taveras adds the outfielder they need. Good both offensively and defensively, young and controllable. A Betts, Outman, Taveras outfield is an upgrade from 2023. 2 key positions filled, without adding a lot of $ (which will be helpful after signing Ohtani). Los Angeles Gives: Dodgers give up some surplus starting pitching, but neither Pepiot and Knack are young prospects, so probably more palatable to be dealt than their younger SP talent. De Paula is a lottery ticket. Still very young, but hasn’t shown any power yet in the minors. Cleveland Receives: Why Foscue? Needed right handed bat with some power and great strike zone awareness. Gimenez goes back to SS (where he belongs!), which makes Rocchio expendable (and Brito and all the other 50 MIF’ers as well). The 2024 rotation needs depth. Quality, yes, but with Bibee and Williams at the top (and McKenzie a huge question mark), the back end just needs to be adequate. Pepiot and Bradford can hopefully provide at least this. The minor league SP has thinned out considerably so Porter adds a potential front of the rotation starter upside, ETA of 2025. As mentioned De Paula has potential, is probably overrated, but the huge upside is worth the gamble. Cleveland Gives: Clase is Cleveland’s best trade chip to fix glaring weaknesses. He’s an elite closer but his innings can be replaced by the just acquired Barlow. A bonus is Straw can be moved without sacrificing much in overall trade quality. He’s just not a starter at this point, so addition by subtraction. Gimenez can now go back to his natural position, which makes Rocchio expendable. With the 2B/SS positions now solidified, the excess value of MIF’ers can finally be traded off for other needs.