Oye Como Va
December 1st, 2009 | by johnhoyos |Oye Como Va – Listen To How It Goes
Today’s trade of Kelly Shoppach to the Rays opens up the catching duties for superstar-in-the-making Carlos Santana. With a good spring training, its possible he could be handed the catching duties out of the gate in 2010 with Lou Marson or Wyatt Toregas backing him up. The loser of the three would start full time in AAA.
Santana came over to the Indians in the deal that sent Casey Blake west to the Dodgers at the 2008 trade deadline. His bat is very close to Major-League-ready, but it will be interesting to see if his defense can keep him at the level. He had a full season at AA Akron, hitting .290/.413/.530 in more than 500 PAs. Carlos also belted 23 HRs, driving in 97 and scoring 91 runs as well.
What’s going to be interesting is the player the Tribe will receive in this exchange. The deal will be completed on or by December 20. This gives the Rays time to talk to Shoppach and his agent and find out how much they’ll have to pay him in arbitration or negotiate a contract. The more favorable the contract to the Rays, the better the player the Indians will get in return. Pretty crazy, huh? Considering the Indians were likely to non-tender Shoppach and get absolutely nothing for him, getting anything in return is a good thing – unless its Dioner Navarro. Trading catchers coming off of disappointing seasons is not what the Indians need right now.
Maybe the Rays will throw the Indians a player they were hoping to lose in the Rule 5 draft and didn’t. We shall see.
