Birds get their bat: DeRosa lands in St. Louis

June 29, 10:00 AMMLB ExaminerAlex Brown

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AP Photo/Jeff Roberson

The St. Louis Cardinals acquired infielder Mark DeRosa from the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, sending reliever Chris Perez and a PTBNL in exchange.  DeRosa has been coveted by the Cardinals for some time now, and many (including myself) believed that this deal was going to happen, though other teams managed to at least get involved in the discussions.

DeRosa is valuable to the Cardinals in many ways.  Immediately he’ll man third base for the injured slugger Troy Glaus.  If Glaus is able to return to the hot corner, DeRosa will be valued for his versatility – he can play any infield position and both corner outfield positions capably.  While he may invoke memories of former Cardinal super-sub Jose Oquendo in that sense, he’s also got a good bat – he’s already at 13 homers and 50 RBI for the year so far. 

The Indians were aggressive in dealing DeRosa, whom they acquired just a few months ago from the Chicago Cubs.  When their season went south, DeRosa was seen more for his price tag than his versatility, and I think they did well to get a solid relief prospect for him.  Perez throws hard and has good stuff, but will need to figure out his command issues before he can become a successful reliever.  At this stage of his development, he’ll fit right into the current Cleveland bullpen.

I’m going to rate this as a solid trade for both teams – the Cardinals get a player who fits their needs exactly, and the Indians add a young power arm to their organization.  We should see more moves soon, as the Brewers and Reds will try to counter this move and keep up with the Cards.