Well, there's goes any chances the Yankees had at landing Mark DeRosa, because yesterday the St. Louis Cardinals landed the versatile 34-year-old for right-handed reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later. DeRosa is making $5.5 million this season and is on the final year of a three-year deal. With the Indians he was hitting .270/.342/.457 with 13 HR and 50 RBI in 71 games. DeRosa can play basically every position on the field and is a very solid hitter, he's a nice pickup for St Louis.
Chris Perez is just 23 years old and is 1-1, with a save and a 4.18 ERA. In 23.2 innings he's allowed 11 earned runs on 17 hits, walked 15 and struck out 30. Baseball America ranked him as the Cardinals' third highest prospect in their 2009 prospect handbook. BA says he can throw 95 mph consistently and hit 97-98. He mixed the fastball with a high-80's "biting" slider. He's looked at as a future closer.
Indians' GM Mark Shapiro also sees the player to be named as a key part of this trade. "It's an important piece for us," Shapiro said. "That's a structure that we've felt has worked well for us in past trades, in times where we've acquired guys like Coco Crisp and Michael Brantley. It's a piece that adds significant value for us."
I really would have liked the Yanks to trade for DeRosa, but they didn't need him so badly that it would have made sense giving up guys like Mark Melancon or Phil Coke (only reason I mention them is because they're two of the Yankees top relief prospects), especially for a three month rental.
Good trade for the Indians.
ReplyDeleteI don't really want to trade for a relief pitcher. Either we get someone who costs us too much, or we get a pitcher no better than what we already have. If we trade for anything at this point, it would be for an OF-er, but I see no need to move on that until mid-July.
Seriously, who will be better than Mo, Bruney or Hughes? No one, unless you want to pay for someone else's closer. Plus we have Coke and Robertson for the 6-7 innings, that's better than almost all other teams right now.
I'm trying not to get too excited about it, but I see the Yankees' pitching staff starting to come together, like last year's did. Think of Wang as the #5 man and it all makes sense. I still say Wang is about to break out, and can you imagine what we'll have when that happens?