Greener Grass, Revisionist History and Chris Perez

In 2009, the Cleveland Indians were not good.  You might remember it as the season that Tomo Ohka was allowed to throw 71 sub-replacement level innings.  Or the season that saw Ryan Garko man 28 innings in the outfield.  Or the year that Masa Kobayahsi was actually paid to be on a Major League roster.  These were heady times to be an Indians fan. We’ll likely remember 2009 as the nadir of the organization’s rebuild: the front office was in pure sell-off mode, shipping out everything that wasn’t nailed down for assets aimed to restock the club for another run at contention.  Cliff Lee, Victor Martinez, Carl Pavano, Kelly Shoppach.  Give us your poor, your tired, your Mitch Talbots and Yohan Pinos. But there’s one trade that seems to get overlooked when we think back to these days: moving Mark DeRosa to the St. Louis Cardinals for Chris Perez and Jess Todd. It seems fairly accepted wisdom that the Indians got the better side of the deal.  Even though Todd eventually flamed out (and re...