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With the St. Louis Cardinals acquiring the versatile Mark DeRosa from the Cleveland Indians, the impetus is now on the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers to make a move in order to stay even with the Cards, who now should be considered NL Central favorites.
It’s not so much that DeRosa makes the Cards a lock for postseason play – he is hitting .270 with 13 homers and 50 RBI in 71 games – but that both the Cubs and Brewers were thought to be in the running for DeRosa, who will play mostly third base in St. Louis. In fact, one could argue that the Cubs’ struggles this season are in large part because they dealt DeRosa to basically make room for Milton Bradley. Last year, DeRosa set career highs with 21 homers and 87 RBI for the Cubs. He has driven in at least 70 runs and hit .285 or better in each of the past three seasons.
Shockingly, all the Cards had to give up was reliever Chris Perez (4.18 ERA in 23 2/3 innings) and a player to be named later. Seems like the Indians could have done better than that for a guy who can play practically every position on the diamond – DeRosa had started games at third base, left field, right field and first base this year.
Perez has potential and was thought to be the team’s closer of the future but basically had been passed on the depth chart by Jason Motte.
“We felt the time was right to maximize the value Mark had," Cleveland GM Mark Shapiro said to reporters.
So what does this mean for both teams?
Well, the Tribe is clearly in wait ‘til next year mode. DeRosa's name had been in trade rumors for more than a month, but the team held off as it had a small burst of winning, now forgotten. DeRosa’s absence now means that top outfield prospects Matt LaPorta and/or Michael Brantley will likely be called up soon and see plenty of playing time. And don’t think that Cleveland is done dealing, either.
As for the Cards, DeRosa is nice insurance for Troy Glaus, who might not make it back from injury this year. The team has struggled against left-handed pitching this season (ranking second-to-last in the majors in batting average and slugging percentage against lefties), so DeRosa will help in that category as he is hitting .339 against lefties. If Glaus somehow makes it back, DeRosa can shift to second base or the outfield. In fact, he started in left field Sunday in his first game in a Redbirds uniform.
The acquisition of DeRosa likely means that the Khalil Greene experiment at third base is now over. Greene had moved there from shortstop on his return from the disabled list. Brendan Ryan and Tyler Greene have been manning shortstop for the Cards.
This also means that St. Louis probably is out of the Matt Holliday sweepstakes. Look for the A’s outfielder to be the next big name moved before the trade deadline – possibly to the Mets, who also were interested in DeRosa.
But now the stakes have truly been raised for the Cubs and Brewers in the NL Central.
