Wizblog

Tribe Trade

The Indians started filling the holes in their lineup today, trading with the San Diego Padres for second baseman Josh Barfield. Here's the story from the club's home page.

At first glance, I like what I see with this deal. We gave up Kevin Kouzmanoff, a promising young hitter who, no matter what he does in his career, will at least always be the answer to a trivia question. But Kouzmanoff is a corner infielder who is already 25, and has yet to play a full big league season. The Indians are set (we hope) at third with Andy Marte, and crowded at first with Martinez, Hafner, Garko, and Blake all being able to play the position at one level or another. Andrew Brown showed promise since coming over in the Milton Bradley trade, but is out of options, so he was expendable too.

Barfield had an outstanding rookie season playing in 150 games for the Padres, and is said to have excellent defensive skills (3rd in NL in fielding pct.) and range. His offensive numbers (.280, 13 HR, 58 RBI, 151 hits) are not a dropoff from Ronnie Belliard's and his 21 steals would have put him second on the team last year. And he was a 23 year old rookie. Incidentally, the Indians were one of the better hitting teams in baseball last season, but only Sizemore (190) and Martinez (181) had more hits than Barfield's 151.

I know the last thing this team needs, if it hopes to contend now, is another starter under 25. Shapiro tried actively for the last couple years to get older, but that led to disastrous signings like Aaron Boone. If he wants to get older, let him do that now by signing some graybeards for the bullpen...and maybe a corner outfielder. The core of position players (Sizemore, Hafner, Martinez, Garko, Marte, Peralta, and now Barfield) looks solid, and the starting pitchers are the envy of a majority of teams in baseball. Now, about that closer....

Wait a minute...I'm having a déja vu moment here...