Ridiculous Trade Theories 2
November 25th, 2009 | by johnhoyos |If at first you don’t succeed with Roy Halladay and Vernon Wells, try, try again. With my old friend Paul Sporer pulling guest duty over at the “igers” blog, Eye of the Tiger, I thought I’d do my best to chide a Central Division rival further and play on the misfortune of his “oothless igers”.
But rather than torture him about last year’s “igers”, I’m going to suggest another potential trade that may sound ridiculous on its surface, but could have some real merit if the Indians are willing to spend a little money.
“igers” trade Magglio Ordonez and Edwin Jackson to the Indians for Asdrubal Cabrera, Carlos Carrasco, David Huff and Trevor Crowe.
The Indians might ask for about $3 million in compensation for Ordonez, but that might be the only stumbling block. The Indians can sign a stopgap shortstop until Carlos Rivero is ready or bring him up now as replacement for Cabrera. Jackson is probably going to make $5-7 million in arbitration. That kind of action would put the Tribe’s payroll around $70-72 million.
Cleveland gets a legitimate starter in Jackson that had a very good first half last year and tired toward the finish line. Ordonez is a gamble because the Indians would need him to produce power, but he’s hit .310 or better the last two seasons and plays adequate defense. Whether Ordonez goes to left or the Tribe choose to shift Choo there is immaterial, but the Indians need a right-handed bat and Ordonez is still very much one of those.
The “igers” would get two legitimate pitching prospects, one with a half-seaon’s worth of Major League experience and a developing outfielder with some speed that might take the place of that Curtis guy in center field, should he ever go elsewhere. They also don’t have to worry about signing a shortstop to replace free agent Adam Everett. Cabrera isn’t arbitration eligible until next year.
From the Indians standpoint, if they’re out of the race by June, they now have two more legitimate trading pieces from which they can recover some of the talent they’re trading away in this deal. One of the reasons the Tribe can afford to do this is because their farm system is nearly an embarassment of riches. All four of these players are replacable and three of them have replacements that are already in the system, if not on the 40-man roster.
Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! We’ll see where this Hot Stove speculation will lead come December 1.
By Bobby Joe on Nov 27, 2009
Embarrassment of riches? How about just plain embarrassment.
They have a plethora of sore armed unproven pitchers and overstock of guys who can only play 1st or DH. Too bad you can only play one of each in your lineup.
By johnhoyos on Nov 29, 2009
I understand what you’re saying. I don’t like all the depth at 1B/DH in the system and I’m not in love with every arm the Tribe has. However, the best thing to do with that disadvantage is to turn it into an advantage. Trade that depth to fill in holes in the system where you’d like to have brighter prospects (if you’ll pardon the pun) or where you can help the big club now.