CLEVELAND -- As he approached his corner of the Cleveland Indians' clubhouse on Friday afternoon, Jason Kipnis found a throng of reporters already surrounding his locker and his belongings mysteriously boxed up.
"I guess they really thought the trade went through," Kipnis said with a laugh.
The Indians' second baseman was only kidding, but in doing so, he made the mistake of pointing out the elephant in the room.
Having inadvertently having offered a starting point for his interview session, Kipnis was soon being peppered with questions about a recent report that the New York Mets had come close to acquiring him in a trade before ultimately pulling out of the deal. Kipnis, to his credit, acknowledged the now-dead deal, before writing it off as business as usual.
"Guys get traded all the time," Kipnis said. "They know I love playing here and I want to stay here, but I understand the business side of it. Stuff like that is usually out of the players' control and our job is to only take care of what we can take care of."
Asked if he believed he'd finish the 2018 campaign in Cleveland, Kipnis said he had no reason to believe he wouldn't. That of course, doesn't mean he will, especially considering the Indians have already attempted to trade the 2-time All-Star once this offseason -- that we know of.
For now, Kipnis is still a member of the Tribe and is hoping to come back from an underwhelming, injury-riddled 2017 season which saw him hit .232 in 90 games and moved to centerfield prior to the team's postseason run. Currently, the plan is to return him from the outfield to second base, although nothing yet is set in stone.
"I'm excited to kind of have a bounce back year," Kipnis said.
Whether or not that will come in Cleveland, however, ultimately remains up in the air.
