Trade Analysis

Some reactions around the Mariner Blogosphere to the trade that sent Asdrubal Cabrera to the Indians for Eduardo Perez are ahead, but first, the official announcements from both teams involved:

The Mariners release is HERE. The Indians release is HERE.

From the Indians:

Cabrera will report to Triple-A Buffalo, and the Indians, still sorting out their lineup in the wake of injuries to outfielders Jason Michaels and Casey Blake, have called up Buffalo first baseman Ryan Garko to fill out the active roster.

Jeff at Lookout Landing:

Cabrera is a quality prospect - John Sickels gave him a B before the year started, and young middle infielders with offensive potential are hard to come by. His current line in Tacoma isn't very encouraging, but he's still not old enough to get himself plastered (at a bar), so you can forgive him for struggling a little bit while being pushed aggressively through the system. In short, he's a valuable player to have hanging around.

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So they dealt him for immediate help. The middle infield is an organizational strength, so Bavasi traded from depth to shore up a weakness on the big league roster. We've known that Cabrera, like Choo, has been an obvious trade candidate for a while now, so the fact that this went down shouldn't come as that much of a shock. What's more surprising is what they got in return - an old, albeit still productive fraction of a DH. I always assumed that Cabrera would get packaged with some lower-level arms to bring in (say) a #3 starter, a bigger deal that would give the Mariners a reasonably formidable rotation. I didn't see him going straight-up for someone like Perez, a good player who should've come cheaper. In that respect, I'm a little disappointed. Cabrera's better than this.

Dave at U.S.S. Mariner:

This probably sends Mike Morse back to the minors, and Perez will become the DH vs left handed pitchers. The team gets better, but this isn’t a huge upgrade. It’s a minor upgrade that cost them a top prospect.

The team is better, but the price to pay was too high.

J at Mariner Minors:

Reagarding the actual trade, yes, we overpaid. That's what you sometimes do when you're looking for a good commodity and there's limited quantities of it. I think the Indians probably milked that as much as they could, and probably turned down Oswaldo Navarro before this. Perez' platoon splits against lefties are absolutely monstrous, and he makes everyone around him in the lineup better.

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But realistically, we probably weren't going to trade Beltre, ever, and what we had to give up in order to get him out of here would've been a lot worse. Having YuBet, a Carlos Guillen-level potential bat in AsCab, and Lopez taking up spots on the infield would've been nice, but in my opinion, you have to ride out Lopez at second as long as you conceivably can. Why? Because he's a more than premium bat for the position and his production isn't nearly as exciting when moved to a corner. Having Jose at second gives us the opportunity to add that extra kick at third, if it comes to that, and by all accounts, I think he's proven he can handle the position. Getting premium production from a defensive position makes everything else easier for the offense.

John Hickey at The Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

It's a move by general manager Bill Bavasi to shore up the club against left-handed pitching. The Mariners as a team average .253 against lefties (.279 against right-handers) and average one home run every 49 at-bat against left-handers (one every 31 at-bats against right-handers).

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The Mariners like Cabrera, 20, for the future, but Seattle does have a bit of a glut of shortstops, and no one is expected to dethrone the current Mariner shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt any time in the next four years.

Okay. How about from the Cleveland perspective?

Jay at Let's Go Tribe:

The Indians have been painfully bereft of solid middle-infield prospects since Jhonny Peralta and Brandon Phillips ascended to the majors. Acquiring Cabrera addresses this problem but also seems rather pointedly aimed at the Indians' infield defense issues. That said, it seems unlikely the Indians would deem Cabrera a solid contender for a starting job in 2007; he seems unfinished. That said, the Indians face several middle infield problems for 2007 -- including Ron Belliard's likely departure and Peralta's newfound defensive yips -- and Cabrera might reasonably solve any number of them. Cabrera has two option years remaining after 2006 and has yet to appear in the major leagues.