Oh, right ...Indians trade
In typical Indians' fashion, they have found a way to fill a need without spending any of Larry Dolan's cash.
Enter second baseman Josh Barfield, who was acquired today from the San Diego Padres for third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff and pitcher Andrew Brown.
On the surface, Barfield reminds me of Brandon Phillips, since both are good defensively (Barfield had a .987 fielding percentage in 2006),have gap-power (13 homers for Barfield in a large park) and a hit for a solid average (Barfield hit .280).
Remember how the Indians traded Phillips last season and got nothing? Now they gave up two solid prospects for a Phillips clone.
Which is not to say I'm against the deal. But I need to be convinced the Indians will spend the money they do have to improve the club.
Barfield is a better option at second than any of the ones being discussed, so I'll rest on that positive and take a wait-and-see approach for the rest of the offseason.
posted by Zach @ 10:12 PM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Yes, but Barfield isn't as much of a head case as Phillips. That has to count for something.
Having said that, as as much as I like the deal from the standpoint of adding a potentially top-notch second baseman to the fray, it still doesn't erase the fact that this deal was made necessary by the botched handling of Phillips.
If the Indians would have handled Phillips better, maybe Kouzmanoff could have been traded for a flame-throwing young closer-to-be.
This is a good trade. But there are still two massive questions that need to be answered by Shapiro:
How is he going to improve the bullpen with very few options available?
Where is the veteran leadership going to come from?
Shapiro has to find substantial answers to both those questions if the Indians are to rebound to playoff-contender status in '07.
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