The Cleveland Indians took the next step in their retooling process, by dealing 1B Ben Broussard to Seattle for outfield prospect Shin-Soo Choo. Choo will be in the line up tomorrow night against his former teammates and presumably will play RF. This was an excellent deal by Mark Shapiro in getting a major league ready prospect for a guy having a career year.
My guess is the cash included by the Indians (I thought they were a cheap organization) pays the remainder of Broussard’s contract for this year. Doing this allows Shapiro to get a better prospect, and that they did. Choo is hitting .323 with 13 HR and 48 RBI with Class AAA Tacoma this season. He also has speed, stealing 26 bases in 30 tries. Frankly, he is what the Tribe hoped Franklin Gutierrez would be by this point.
There is no question that Broussard was having an outstanding season, a year out of character with the rest of his career. He came into the season with a lifetime average of around .260, and he is currently batting well over .300. The Indians would not have paid him the $5-6 million he probably would have received if he went to arbitration during the off-season.
It’s interesting that the Mariners will use the Tribe’s old 1B platoon at DH. That should tell you both Broussard and Eduardo Perez were not contenders for the Gold Glove.
I agree with the folks at Diatribe, that this is not a fire sale. They call it a rummage sale and I totally agree. Shapiro is simply just getting rid of players who would not have been here next year. With a little tweaking here and there, this team can contend for the Central Division title next year.
Also, to those grilling the Tribe GM for the Wickman trade, it appears that Wicky told the Tribe he would only accept a deal to the Brewers or the Braves. With those limitations, getting a good prospect, albeit one at the Class A level, was remarkable.
There will be a few more trades by Monday. I still think the Tribe is shopping Guillermo Mota, Ronnie Belliard, and Todd Hollandsworth. Whether or not they can get anything for Aaron Boone is up for debate. They may have to just bite the bullet and release them. I heard Tom Hamilton on the Wills & Coleman show on WTAM yesterday, and he admitted that the difficulty in releasing Boone was due to Boonie being a class act. I understand that Shapiro is trying to do the right thing, but it is obvious that the former Red can no longer play.
I’m looking forward to seeing Choo in RF this weekend, and maybe, just maybe seeing Andy Marte at 3B before the home stand ends.
KM
Cleveland Sports Perspective 