For St. Louis, running Greene out there everyday instead whichever inept utility infielder they were putting out there before represents a pretty nifty upgrade. One might look at Greene's stats and see a guy that shouldn't be playing everyday but when not playing in Petco National Park Greene has posted an acceptable .270/.318/.484 line. The real concern St. Louis fans should have is his how he'll adjust to his new surroundings. Since going to school at Clemson, Greene has had the reputation of having a good glove. Most defensive metrics rate him somewhere in the middle of the pack which is fine if he's hitting, but Busch stadium is nearly as tough on right handed power hitters as Petco so there is a bit of a risk his offense improves minimally.
In Worrell San Diego gets a AAA side-arming relief pitcher with fly ball tendencies. Petco seems to be the perfect place for a guy like this. Due to his side-arm delivery he'll probably always have trouble with lefties, but GM Kevin Towers always seems to pull someone off the scrap pile that works better than imagined so if he puts up a 3.60 ERA in 50 innings I won't be surprised. Basically, though, this trade is a straight out salary dump (probably enabling the team to keep Peavy). But what do they do for SS now?
Verdict: This trade really concerns me. With the John Moore (the owner of the Padres) going through a divorce, the team is up for sale and slashing payroll . When trading your starting shortstop who's making $6.5 million (a real bargain) for a middle reliever and a PTBNL is considered a necessity, that's a problem.
Easy win for St. Louis. Watch Greene hit 20 homers and hit 35 doubles for LaRussa because that's just the way things seem to work for him.
1 comment:
There really is no question of who wins in this deal. It is the Cardinals.
The real question is will ANYBODY go watch the Padres play next year????? Poor Peavy, Poor Brian Giles, Poor San Diego, Poor Petco (which is one of the coolest new stadiums in the league.
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