Did the Indians get enough for Derosa?
Written by Joe Veno on June 28, 2009 – 2:02 AM -Mark Derosa is not a great player. But he is a solid piece to the puzzle. And the Cardinals needed that “piece” to improve their postseason chances.
Currently, Derosa is hitting .270/.342/.457. More than solid for a middle infielder, decent enough for a 3B, and less than spectacular for a corner outfielder. His ability to simply field multiple positions however, increases his overall value. Derosa is basically a below-average fielder all around the infield. But a positive contributor, defensively, out in the outfield. But still, he is very flexible, and will play anywhere the team asks him to play. And will do that unselfishly. Plus, his fielding skills may be below-average, but he isn’t so horrendous that he shouldn’t be out there at all.
So if the Cardinals do in fact play Derosa in the infield the majority of the time–which seems likely. Then his bat projects well enough to deem him worthy. Meaning that, since the Cardinals needed an infielder, that maybe the Indians could have asked for a little more.
On the other side of the trade…
Chris Perez is a very good strikeout pitcher. A reliever with a K/9 of 11.41. However, Perez walks a ton of batters. 5.70 per nine this season. And at least 4.26 everywhere he’s been (Majors and Minors). So this must be corrected.
Perez has been somewhat homer prone as well, giving up over a home run per nine. Something which will drive a manager–and the fans–crazy. Relievers tend to have their home runs magnified, since they occur in the later innings.
He does throw hard, with an average velocity of 94 MPH this season, 95 last season. And with a slider, thrown roughly 33% of the time, he is known as a two pitch pitcher. Two pitches are sufficient for a reliever, assuming the pitches are effective of course. And he does have a curve too. But he rarely throws that curve, leading me to believe that it isn’t any good.
There seems to be some potential with Perez, especially with that ability to sit batters down. But the walks must be fixed.
I still wonder though if the “player to be named later” will be enough to make this trade worthwhile for the Indians. Because a reliever that needs to be corrected, seems to be less than they could have received had they held out a little longer.
Shapiro corrected a flaw in the team. But personally, I feel like he could have gotten more. Although that unknown player included will give us more of an understanding once he is named.
Note: Via Buster Olney’s blog today:
“The player to be named also is expected to be a solid prospect, which is good return for Cleveland in dealing DeRosa, who has just three months before he becomes a free agent.”
Tags: Chris Perez, Cleveland Indians, Mark Derosa, Mark Shapiro, St Louis CardinalsPosted in Cleveland Indians, St Louis Cardinals, Trade Analysis | 8 Comments »
June 28th, 2009 at 10:32 AM
what indeed was Shapiro’s hurry? listen i don’t know anything much about perez except that he walks guys and of course what you just wrote. would the PLTBNL be on a list of 2 or 3 names? a major leaguer? a prospect? with nady out for the year i would have thought shpiro could have leveraged a deal with cashman.
anyway from what i hear they are getting de rosa in anticipation of moving ludwick and eventually landing holliday. we’ll see.
June 28th, 2009 at 11:02 AM
I had heard they were looking at Holliday as well. Which means they are going for it this year…
June 28th, 2009 at 1:47 PM
and if Carpenter stays healthy they have a decent chance of making it to the NLCS
June 28th, 2009 at 2:01 PM
I added something in bold there too, which would definitely make me like the trade for the Indians more than I previously did.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:04 PM
The prospects they gave up to get DeRosa from the Cubs have been doing well in the minors, so this was something of a salvage trade. DeRosa’s a free agent at the end of the year and they were smart to get value for him when the deal was available. I like Perez’s arm and I think Kerry Wood’s gonna end up back as a starter, if not later this year, then next year. If the prospect they get is any good (and judging Mark Shapiro’s history, there’s no reason to think he won’t be), this could fill some major holes for a player they weren’t going to have beyond this year anyway.
June 28th, 2009 at 4:05 PM
That is a good point, Paul. I just saw that the player to be named should be solid, which makes the trade much better in my eyes. Normally when I hear “player to be named” I think “crappy player”
June 28th, 2009 at 4:07 PM
Paul,
I am surprised that you did not comment on my Papelbon post and told me how crazy I was for even suggesting that they explore trading such a great closer
June 28th, 2009 at 10:03 PM
They’re looking to move Ludwick? Ludwick to Atlanta? Please?