Yeah, Cleveland has cut salary. They may cut more, they may not. Maybe they are in position now to hold onto Kluber and Bauer in that rotation. But along with cutting costs, they have seriously cut their talent.
Their leaders in bWar were Lindor and Ramirez. After those two it was:
Brantley, Gomes, Encarnacion. Those three accounted for 8.1 WAR that has left the Indians.
Next was Kipnis, then Alonso (1.6). Josh Donaldson was also at .7 for the Indians.
On the pitching side, Miller and Allen only accounted for .2 wins, but I think we can all agree that losing those guys will have a negative impact on the Indians, even if they had seasons that were less than their usual output.
They have, so far, replaced that lost 10.6 WAR with 1.7 from Santana and .6 from Bauers. Granted they still have work to do, but there is no way, even with salary flexibility, trading Bauer or Kluber would improve their team.
Cleveland is on the downswing, now it is still likely they win the division, but there is no doubt their team is worse now as it stands, that it was at the end of last season.