The Trade Deadline Has Been a Bore

Yeah, the Dodgers got Podsednik. He's a decent player and should help the Dodgers who need a miracle more than an outfielder to make the playoffs. Yeah, the Tigers got Jhonny Peralta who used to have some power and still plays a pretty good third base. But, come on! Those are boring. Derrek Lee to the Angels would have been sort of fun. But he is a 10/5 guy and refused to go. That's his right and this Fan doesn't blame him. But other than that, we have lots of rumors and little else. It's starting to feel that nobody is really going to pull the trigger on any kind of blockbuster deal right now.

We might as well look at the two deals that did go down. Scott Podsednik will help the Dodgers who have lost Manny and Reed Johnson and needed an outfielder. He'll bat .300. He'll get on base at a .350 clip. He'll steal bases (and get thrown out a third of the time). He'll get some triples. He runs the bases well. He's a mediocre outfielder. But he'll due for the Dodgers. He certainly won't hurt them.

What is curious is that the Dodgers traded their best catching prospect to get him. The Dodgers don't have any other decent catchers in their system. Russell Martin hasn't looked good for quite a while now. Why would they do that? Probably because the Royals desperately needed catching help. But at the end of the day, the Dodgers got a useful player who is also very cheap to have. He doesn't make much in the grand scheme of things so he fits in the Dodgers' limited budget. Good for the Royals. Okay for the Dodgers.

The Tigers are desperate to stay in the Central race. They have been leaking badly for two weeks now and losing Brandon Inge didn't help. Though, that's certainly up for debate. Peralta has lost all his power for some reason (hmmm). But he's an okay hitter who won't clog the bases with a high OBP. He makes his share of errors at third, but overall, he has played there pretty well the last two years. Frankly, the Tigers don't figure to catch the leaders in the division, so it all seems like a moot point. The Indians get a low minors prospect that may work out someday a long way from now. They also free up the $4.5 million that Peralta was making. So that makes sense for them. Peralta had seemingly run his course in Cleveland anyway and now the team can go in a different direction.

So those are the day's two big headlines. [[yawn]] At least their names are different. There aren't too many better nicknames in baseball better than The Podfather. And there isn't another Jhonny in baseball. That's the best the Fan can do with this. Maybe tomorrow or this weekend will bring some pizazz. But the Fan's gut is telling him that any further deals will be small ones like these two.