Guess I didn’t see this one coming. Today the Indians traded Jhonny Peralta along with cash to the Detroit Tigers, for a Single A pitcher Giovanni Soto. Cleveland gives up a good player for an unknown prospect, and within the division?
One of the main reasons this deal probably happened is because the Tigers have lost a ton of players to injury recently and were pretty desperate to make a deal. Detroit has been hit with the injury bug at the wrong time in the season, losing 3rd baseman Justin Inge, Magglio Ordonez, and Carlos Guillen along with several pitchers.
Cleveland had a love-hate relationship with Peralta. Last year he was inconsistent, but this year he had really started playing well. He had a high fielding percentage at 3rd base, and was batting .246 with 23 doubles, and 7 home runs. I can’t say I’m happy to see him go, but at least this will allow our younger players a chance to develop this year.
Even though the Tiger are 4 games out, they still have the possibility of making a run to the playoffs this year.
Jhonny will likely get a chance to see some playing time in the immediate future. I’m still pretty surprised about this move and don’t think we should have traded him, but we do add a pitcher who is a talented prospect.
Soto is a 6 foot 3″ left-hander who has a 6-6 record in Single A but a low ERA and a high strike-out to ball ratio. The Indians are trying to build for the future in this move, with the hope that Soto can work his way through the minors. You don’t trade a player like Peralta unless you think it will help you long-term.
With Carmona, Westrbrook, Masterson, and the emergence of Tomlin, the front office should feel good about our future pitching prospects. Soto could be a piece but he is still largely unproven; Single A is far less competitive than AAA. It remains to be seen if he can pitch against the elite hitters. Tomlin proved that last night.
Getting our young players valuable experience this season will benefit us next season where we can hopefully more competitive than 13.5 games out of 1st place within the division. We’ve proven that we can beat the Twins in a series in Minnesota and the future of this team looks better everyday. Hopefully this transfers to the rest of this series with the Yankees, and we take take the series 3-1. Tomlin proved the Yankee hitters are extremely overrated, and last night wasn’t an abiration. This team is going to be good in the near future, and I’m disappointed Jhonny Peralta won’t be a part of it.
http://ClevelandDeservesBetter.blogspot.com
Benjamin Jackson
Article from articlesbase.com
