DeRosa Traded to Cardinals

Looking a bit outside the Mariners bubble, a significant trade happened yesterday. INF/OF Mark DeRosa, a hot trade commodity for weeks, was acquired by the Cardinals. To get him, St. Louis gave up young reliever Chris Perez and a player to be named later. Indians GM Mark Shapiro says the player to be named later is "significant," so presumably he will be more than a throw-in. DeRosa immediately upgrades the Cardinals offense, and has added value with his defensive versatility. Cleveland gets a young pitcher with great stuff to help their troublesome bullpen. He could be their closer of the future, and the future could be sooner rather than later. Both teams addressed needs, and on the surface it looks a solid deal.

The main reason I wanted to write a few paragraphs about this trade is because DeRosa is in some ways similar to a couple Mariners players that could be traded, if Jack Zduriencik decides to be more of a seller in the trade market. DeRosa is 34 years old and making $5.5 million in the final year of his contract. Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn, Miguel Batista, and Russell Branyan are all in the final years of their contracts as well. In particular, Washburn, Batista, and Branyan are all a little older, like DeRosa. All things considered, none of these Mariners are as valuable in a trade as DeRosa, but the good news is that DeRosa was worth a major league reliever who was also the Cardinals' best relief prospect, and from the looks of it another legitimate prospect.

It may be wise for the Mariners to be sellers at the deadline. It would be a tough decision to make with how close the M's are to the Rangers, and how hard the team has continued to compete despite a ton of injuries. However, with every injury, the Mariners face a bit steeper uphill battle, and on top of that it looks like the trade deadline market will favor sellers this year. The Mariners should not have to shop their players. Teams will come to them, and may come with offers only available in this trade deadline market.