Indians GM: 'There is a lot of interest in a lot of our players'

Should the Cleveland Indians choose to deal prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, their general manager believes there will be no shortage of suitors.

"There is a lot of interest in a lot of our players," GM Chris Antonetti told Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Sitting 5 1/2 games back of the second wild-card position, Antonetti said that he'll try to be opportunistic and open minded leading up to July 31, though he acknowledges that breaking up his group of talented young arms in the rotation (Corey Kluber, Trevor Bauer, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Cody Anderson) is off the table.

"We are not motivated at all to do that," said Antonetti.

Cleveland's offense is in dire need of an improvement, but the team has $29 million tied up in Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn next season. Swisher has been limited to 30 unproductive games due to knee problems while Bourn is hitting .229/.301/.273 with 10 extra-base hits through 82 games. Brandon Moss and Carlos Santana have also been extreme disappointments.

In addition to the rotation, Antonetti does, however, have key offensive contributors Jason Kipnis and Michael Brantley locked up long term to team friendly contracts, leaving the GM optimistic despite their shortcomings.

"I like the group of players that we have and I hope we can play more consistently in the second half than we did in the first half," he said.