Sport Chit Chat

The Los Angeles Dodgers traded for Casey Blake by giving up Jonathan Meloan and Carlos Santana (not the musician). Baseball Digest Daily has the best write up.

This trade is a rip-off without even analyzing it in-depth.

Casey Blake isn’t a great player by any means. He doesn’t have that much power, strikes a bit and his only asset is the utility factor, playing 1st base, RF and LF. Other then that, he’s not really a flashy player by any means. The Dodgers also have LaRoche who should be playing at 3rd and with Blake likely stealing time from him, it only makes this trade worse.

Jonathan Meloan is a very good prospect. He was rated #5 by Sickels and many believe he’ll be a future closer (a glaring hole for the Indians). His numbers this season suck but take it with a grain of salt as the Dodgers converted him to starter late in the season and had control problems (the stamina issue is also there). Expect to see him back in the bullpen and contributing in September. Great, great pick up.

Meloan for Blake is just a huge rip-off in itself.

Is Carlos Santana any good? He’s not on the prospect radar as a 22-year old in A-ball. He’s definitely a wild card since his minor league background is more then interesting. Santana was doing fine in High-A but the Dodgers brass decided to switch him to catcher (always a risky move, a lot of prospects have failed due to this switch). He went back a level and struggled and has broke out on ALL levels this season back to high A. He’s showing off GREAT power for a catcher and an elite eye at the plate 66 walks to 59 Ks.

He was showing some of the flashes of his elite eye and some power before but as a catcher that is HUGE. Catching prospects are at a premium and many catchers don’t possess the power anyway. The Indians will probably move him up to AA as he’s bashing High A with 14 home runs. The only thing he needs to work on is being behind the plate but if he can keep up the power and the discipline, positioning won’t matter.

What are the Dodgers thinking? Casey Blake is a below average 3rd basemen and they gave up two very intriguing prospects, Santana could have some great value if he repeats his statistics in AA and Meloan is a very useful major league ready prospect. Andrew’s True Blue LA says to Shoot Him upon hearing about this trade.

In a bad kept secret with the trade yet to be officially announced, the Cleveland Indians have traded Cy Young winner CC Sabathia to the Milwauke Brewers for prospects Matt LaPorta, Zach Jackson, Rob Bryson and potentiallyTaylor Green (source but everyone is reporting it).

Let’s take a look at what the Indians get:
Matt Laporta: Laporta is widely known as the Brewers best prospect. He was ranked #31 coming into this year by Baseball Prospectus. He was drafted as a 1st baseman out of Florida, 7th overall in the 2007 draft. A surprise pick because he apparently sucked with the glove and Prince Fielder occupied 1st base and they were in the wrong league. I remember saying on MinorLeagueBall somewhere “Could this to be a pick that the Brewers plan to trade?” granted that was just in the dark guess but it was a Best Player Available pick regardless of positioning. LaPorta had ab advanced bat and is showing that off by putting up impressive numbers with the stick in AA just one year removed from college. It’s clear he will hit but after being moved to LF by the Brewers it is still unclear whether or not he will remain there. Getting a guy like LaPorta is excellent on the Indians part.

Zach Jackson I don’t really believe in. He was part of the Toronto system after being shipped off in the Overbay deal. After receiving his shot in the majors and not sticking he has a lofty 7.93 ERA this season. He’ll have another shot with the Indians and it’ll be another chance to make the majors. He could always head to the bullpen and try his hand at being a loogy.

Rob Bryson is a 20-year pitcher in A-ball. With very good peripherals, good K rate, low BB rate and doesn’t get hit too much. I know very little about his stuff but he’s called their #9 prospect here. Baseball America projected him to be their closer in 2011. He’s just a reliever so it may say quite a lot with his stuff. The problem with relievers in the minors is they are such wildcards. Not a bad idea for Cleveland to take him though.

Taylor Green is apparently listed as a PTBNL. He’s a 21-year old Canadian in High-A. He was listed as their 6th best prospect by John Sickels. He’s a guy with a great eye and hits for average and has a bit of pop. He may be an average 3rd baseman. I was hearing some rumors the Indians want to see if he can play 2nd (if he could with those numbers…he’ll be an excellent major leaguer).

I’d say an excellent haul for a guy not returning to your team.

For the Brewers:
They get the best player that would be available at the trade deadline. They got him at a “small price”. LaPorta is replaceable by Mat Gamel and the only holes they had was pitching depth with Gollardo out for the season with a knee injury. With Sheets likely to leave at the end of the season as well, the Brewers needed to make a move this season as they likely aren’t going to match this season for the next few years. They still have a great pool of prospects and can get some great picks when CC leaves anyway.

There is no doubt CC is a rental player as there is no way the Brew Crew can sign Sabathia (look for 6 years, 120 mil) . LaPorta may turn out to be a great player but we at least will understand where the Brewers were coming from when we look into the past on the deal.

Other blogs weighing in:
Brewers Bar - Says this trade all but guarantees the playoffs for the first time in 26 years. (I’m not willing to go that far, you never know)
Right Field Bleachers - doesn’t have anything to say…yet (I thought I’d be nice to include a link)