Cardinals Trades!
Alright, pretty minor overall.
Two trades, First one: Infielder Hector Luna sent to Cleveland for 2nd baseman Ronnie Belliard.
My take on this: Hector Luna is actually probably the better player of the two in many ways. First, far more upside. He has very limited major league playing time in comparison to Belliard. Luna has more range in the field and more speed overall. However, seeing as La Russa had no faith in making Luna the everyday player, Belliard is an upgrade over Aaron Miles. Overall, a fair trade. Belliard is more of a proven player and could be an upgrade at 2nd base
The other trade: A minor leaguer for Atlanta RP/SP Jorge Sosa.
Sosa is an intriguing kind of guy. The bad: He sucks this year(3-10, ERA of 5.46). He's been so bad and has at times pissed off Bobby Cox enough that he has been taken out at odd times and sent down to the minors.
The good: He was 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA two years ago under Mazzone as the pitching coach. Mazzone left, so did his performance. Perhaps Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan will be able to salvage Sosa and make him into what he was in 2005.
Two trades, First one: Infielder Hector Luna sent to Cleveland for 2nd baseman Ronnie Belliard.
My take on this: Hector Luna is actually probably the better player of the two in many ways. First, far more upside. He has very limited major league playing time in comparison to Belliard. Luna has more range in the field and more speed overall. However, seeing as La Russa had no faith in making Luna the everyday player, Belliard is an upgrade over Aaron Miles. Overall, a fair trade. Belliard is more of a proven player and could be an upgrade at 2nd base
The other trade: A minor leaguer for Atlanta RP/SP Jorge Sosa.
Sosa is an intriguing kind of guy. The bad: He sucks this year(3-10, ERA of 5.46). He's been so bad and has at times pissed off Bobby Cox enough that he has been taken out at odd times and sent down to the minors.
The good: He was 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA two years ago under Mazzone as the pitching coach. Mazzone left, so did his performance. Perhaps Cardinals pitching coach Dave Duncan will be able to salvage Sosa and make him into what he was in 2005.
posted by Matt at 6:16 PM
2 Comments:
You think Hector Luna is a better second baseman than the former Rookie of the Year? You're such a homer! Good thing the Cardinals didn't trade for Clemens or you would be moaning about moving him to the Bullpen to keep Suppan in the rotation!
Thanks for the comment.
Here's a short justification: Look at their Batting Averages and OPS, which are very similar. Defensively, the nod goes to Luna according to the Zone Ratings on ESPN.com. Luna is also more versatile as he can handily play SS and OF, whereas Belliard is pretty much limited to 2B. Lastly, and most importantly, age and salary. Luna is 5 years younger, makes less than 10% of what Belliard is making, and is under contract for several more years. Belliard could be(and likely will be) lost after this year.
For the short term, this is a good deal, for the long term, this is not so good.
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