Tribe Trade DeRosa to Cards for RHP Chris Perez

Well the move that I've been silently waiting for finally happened.

I've been expecting Mark DeRosa to be traded for a few weeks now. Part of me was hoping it wouldn't happen, another part was okay if it did.

I feel the same way this morning.

I also figured that it would be the Cardinals that he got traded to. With the Cards not having Troy Glaus, DeRosa fits. If Glaus comes back, he can fit somewhere else, like second base, letting Schumaker go back to the outfield.

The trade...

Indians Trade: IF/OF Mark DeRosa
Cardinals Trade: RHP Chris Perez, Player to Be Named Later

Now.. Before we talk about what we are getting, let me say something about Mark DeRosa.

What a professional. I wasn't surprised that the Cubs fans loved him as they did, but I was shocked at HOW MUCH they did when the Tribe came to Wrigley and he was just as celebrated as Kerry Wood was.

The guy really leaves a mark wherever he goes. It's a shame a guy like him has been around to different teams as much as he has. If anything that says how popular he is and how many teams would love to have him. He just does it all and there is no better type of player than a Mark DeRosa.

A guy who's willing to move to any position and not complain, and when you say any position, you really mean any position. If he could pitch or play center field, I'm sure he'd do it.

Not only that, but guys, his numbers this year were awesome.

.270 AVG/.342 OBP, 13 HR, 50 RBI, 47 R

When we got him back in the season, I think everyone was like, okay if he it's around .270 (career average of .278), hits about 15 home runs, knocks in some runs, provides stability at the two hole, we got ourselves a solid third baseman.

He already hit 13 homers, he was definitely going to hit 20 for this team if he's with it all year. He was a little off and on in the beginning but as he said after the trade, he was just starting to get comfortable and settle in and while he wasn't ideal as far as the two hole, he was productive.

And as I said, DeRosa was disappointed because I think he thought what all of us did. This team was going to contend from start to finish, and then even after the rough start, like us all, DeRo thought we'd be able to make a huge run.

"You're disappointed, because you want to hit the rewind button and start over here," DeRosa said. "I was just starting to get comfortable and get to know the guys. That's the toughest part. But I have a chance to play for a division title again and put myself in a great situation with a new team. I'll say my goodbyes and move on."

"I came here with the opportunity to help a ballclub," DeRosa said, "and we weren't able to get it done up to this point. I stress that, because this team went on a huge run in the second half last year."

If you click the link at the top, you can watch Mark Shapiro's reaction as the deal was completed during the game. DeRo didn't start, but that wasn't a clue that he was being dealt. You can watch the reaction of Baseball Tonight and some words from Cards GM John Mozeliak at this link here.

One thing the BBtN guys pointed out was the Indians effectiveness with the Player to Be Named Later. We'll get to that in a second, but let's talk about the guy we know in the deal, Chris Perez.

So far this year, he's pitched in 23.2 innings with a 4.18 ERA, 1/2 SV/SVOPP, 30 K, 15 BB, 3 Holds, and a 1-1 record.

Perez is just 23 years old and the Cardinals really had gotten him through the system rather quickly. He was tabbed as the closer of the future at one point and this spring he battled Jason Motte for the closers job. He's been down to Triple-A at one point this year, but he'll report to the Major League club bullpen on Monday.

Last year in 41 games for the Cardinals, he went 3-3 with a 3.46 ERA and 7 saves. So... coming into the year, he was still considered a prospect and he was rated third overall in the Cardinals organization as far as prospects go.

Obviously he's only 23, so he's young and he's got some room to go. But here is what Baseball-America has to say in a nutshell.

He's got a fastball that sits in the mid-90's and he can get it up to 97ish. His main weapon is his slider and we all know how dangerous a Perez can be with a slider if he's on. He's got that bulldog attitude you want in a closer, so that's where the closer of the future thing comes from. His two downfalls according to BA: inexperience, which is fixable, obviously, and command. Which is troubling considering we can see how a guy like Rafael Perez can fall a part with no command.

Now, what about this player to be named later?

Oh the important PTBNL...

It's netted us Jeff Stevens, Michael Brantley, Coco Crisp, just to name a few in the past few years.

But it's also a term you think of when the prospect isn't that significant, like a Shawn Nottingham.

Not the case here.

"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."

You can't argue that when the trade is for someone of signficiant value as Shapiro put it, he's made it count.

So we're going to assume here that it could be someone within the Cardinals top 30 prospects. Will it be another arm or a bat?

The other question is, how far along is this prospect/player? Perez is obviously major league ready, Brantley was ready for Triple-A, not too far away from the majors.

Right now, we've got nothing from Shapiro or Cards GM John Mozeliak in terms of what the parameters might be for this PTBNL. Last year there was all sorts of rumors involved in how we got Brantley. In the end it was a choice between two players, Taylor Green and Brantley and who got to pick was all up to the fact that the Brewers made the playoffs.

I don't think we'll see something like that, but I'm sure there is a list of players and I'm sure it's rather small if this is for a significant player.

For this deal to be successful though, Perez needs to be a man. Not just this year, but in years to come.

"He has swing-and-miss stuff," Shapiro said. "His fastball is consistently in the 93-95 [mph] range and has reached 98. He has a swing-
and-miss slider. He has the potential to be a core contributor at the back end of our bullpen."

The deal as a whole tells me that Shapiro hasn't given up on the year, considering they got a major league piece and traded someone who was of "expendable value" you could say. You will know when this team has packed it in, trust me. While this is a pre-cursor to that, it isn't the final straw.

Perez will probably take the bullpen spot of..... Mike Gosling maybe? How about Tomo Ohka for the time being? I think we're done with the Ohka train, especially since we are done with the NL now. With Laffey coming back, we can go with an extra pen arm for a few days and then make a move with someone like a Gosling.

For now, Asdrubal Cabrera will take Mark DeRosa's spot on the roster, meaning Josh Barfield is safe and maybe in line for some more playing time for the time being. The lineup will have Peralta, Cabrera, and Valbuena at third, through short, to second in that order. It does create mroe playing time in left for Ben Francisco, but I believe it's only a matter of time before Matt LaPorta gets the call and is the everyday left-fielder, or at least 5 times a week left-fielder.

Grady Sizemore is going to DH today, with Ben Francisco in center. So who's playing left field? Ryan Garko will probably have to do outfield duty today, unless Eric Wedge decides to put Chris Gimenez out there instead.