Casey Blake Traded From Cleveland

With less than a week away from the trade deadline, the Dodgers acquired veteran 3rd baseman Casey Blake from the Cleveland Indians for minor leaguers Jon Meloan and Carlos Santana.

There are some positives and negatives to this trade:

First, if the Dodgers were looking for a big bat (a homerun hitter the likes of Adam Dunn, Mark Teixeira, or Jason Bay), Blake won't be it. Blake did have 28 homeruns in 2004, but has seen his power numbers decline each year since.

Blake, however, does come cheaply enough (more on that below) and will probably fit in nicely with the current line-up. His 11 homeruns this year are tied for the team lead (with Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp), his 58 RBIs put him in the lead, one more than James Loney, and his .289 average puts him in 4th place on the team in between Matt Kemp (.290) and Andre Ethier (.277).

As for what the Dodgers gave up for Blake, it's not too bad. Jon Meloan had some promise, but his role was unsure with the Dodgers. He started as a reliever, and had some success, but was recently converted to a starter and struggled in Triple-A. He might ultimately find success in Cleveland, but the Dodgers have enough quality pitchers that they can afford to see Meloan go. Carlos Santana was an intriguing player. He is a switch hitting catcher in Single-A who was batting .323 with 14 homeruns and 96 RBIs and is, supposedly, pretty good defensively with a strong arm. He might someday be a very good catcher, but the Dodgers currently have a very good catcher (an All-Star to be exact) in Russell Martin. They also have Lucas May, a 23-year old catching prospect playing in Double-A right now. He's a pretty good hitter, and a year closer to the major leagues than Santana was, so Santana became expendable. It is possible that in a few years, Santana could still be as good a player? Yes, but you never know how a prospect will perform in the future, and his value might never have been higher than it was now. How Santana evolves might be the biggest indicator of the success of this trade. That will definitely be something to keep an eye on.

And while Blake isn't the impact bat the Dodgers probably need to go deep into the playoffs, in the weak NL West, Blake might be enough to at least get the Dodgers into the playoffs. Ultimately, though, Blake is a rent-a-player. He will be a free agent at the end of the season, and the Dodgers won't probably make too much effort to resign him.

And that is why I'm also a little worried. Trading for Blake is a move for this season, not for the future, and there has been talk now, that since the Dodgers have Blake, Andy LaRoche might be next to be traded. This would be a big mistake in my opinion. LaRoche, I believe, is our 3rd baseman of the future. Given that Blake is 35, and will most likely move on at the end of the season, he's obviously not a long term solution at 3rd, and if LaRoche is traded, the future of 3rd base becomes a big question mark again. LaRoche has not really been able to get his bat going this year due to injuries and inconsistent playing time, but I feel that given the 3rd base job, he will perform. Also, by many scout's projections, LaRoche is believed to have the best power of any of the current Dodger young players (Loney, Kemp, Martin, etc.). LaRoche will be valuable to us in the future. I feel the best plan would be to send Blake DeWitt down to Triple-A and have him play 2nd base. I feel that is where DeWitt's future is, considing his projection to hit for high average, but low power, plus his good range makes him an ideal candidate for 2nd. He can take that spot over after Jeff Kent most likely retires at the end of this year. As for now, he needs to learn better to adjust to pitching, as his batting average has significantly dropped since the end of May. For now, allow LaRoche to stay with the team, play backup to Blake, play a little 2nd on Kent's off-days, and even give Loney a day off or two at 1st. LaRoche has nothing left to prove at Triple-A, but he still has a lot more to show at the major league level, he just needs to be given the chance.

Currently, the move to acquire Casey Blake seems to be a positive one. Two prospects were lost but the question now is what corresponding moves to the trade will be. I just hope moves aren't made (in desperation) to try and win in the present that will end up hurting us in the future.

Hu Down; LaRoche Up?

So the Dodgers finally made a move today that was a long time coming...

From Dodgers.com:

"...the club [has] optioned rookie shortstop Chin-lung Hu to Triple-A Las Vegas."

I like Chin-lung Hu. He plays good defense and he might very well have some future with the Dodgers, but I think everyone, including Chin-lung himself could see he was just playing way over his head. He had collected just two hits in his last 34 at-bats and looked completely lost against any form of adequate big league pitching.

At the same time, however, Hu does deserve some applause. He was forced into starting for the Dodgers at shortstop due to injuries and he gave it his all every day. He never complained or whined, he just went out and played. Unfortunately, for all of us, it wasn't good enough. Hopefully, he'll get consistent playing time in AAA and fix his stroke. He can hit, he just hasn't been showing it.

Good luck, Chin-lung... Godspeed...

Anyway, on to other things.

Though it wasn't officially announced yet, all indications seem to say Andy LaRoche will be getting the call to replace Hu on the 25-man roster.

This simple roster move has accomplished two good things. We've got Hu back in the minors where he can work his issues out, and we're bringing LaRoche out of the minors, where he has nothing left to prove, so much so that LaRoche took to playing other positions while at Las Vegas to make himself more versatile for the big league team. He already can play 3rd, but in the last few weeks has played several games at both 1st and 2nd, and his hard work should pay off with more playing time.

LaRoche should be able to platoon with DeWitt at third for a couple games a week (though possibly not just against lefties, as DeWitt is hitting surprisingly worse against right handed pitchers than against southpaws: .274 vs. .348) and can also play 2nd on Jeff Kent's weekly day off. He can take over for Loney on his occasional day off, and can also be a good right-handed bat of the bench. Plus, the Dodgers will be in Detroit this Friday where they'll be able to use his bat with the DH rule in effect for three games.

The only thing left now to wonder is if LaRoche can prove he can hit big league pitching. He struggled in his 93 at-bats last year and turned some people off the from the idea that he is our long term solution at third base (though 93 at-bats isn't nearly enough to prove or disprove anything). If he can come up this time and not overly try to impress (like I get the feeling he did last year) he should be able to settle down and show everyone why he's likely to be a Dodger fixture for years to come.

Then again, even if he doesn't impress immediately, he still probably won't be any worse than Chin-lung Hu (parting shot)...