Deadline Deals: 2010 Edition

Not much to add to the title. This is exactly what it says it is. The deals:

• Cardinals acquire RHP Jake Westbrook from Indians, Padres acquire OF Ryan Ludwick from the Cardinals, and Indians acquire RHP Corey Kluber and RHP Nick Greenwood from the Padres - Nice to see a three-way deal at the deadline. Westbrook is what he is, a dependable, pitch-to-contact kind of starter. Hardly flashy, but solid. Maybe Dave Duncan sees something in him, but I don't see much that can be tweaked. As for San Diego, Ludwick instantly becomes the second best bat in their lineup behind Adrian Gonzalez. His addition could propel them to a division title, given how low-powered their offense is. However, the Indians are the real winners in this deal. Greenwood doesn't look like much to me, but Kluber knows how to strike out batters at prodigious rates. His numbers suggest a classic power pitcher, both with the Ks, and lots of fly balls. He might give up more than his fair share of home runs as a big-leaguer, but he will replace Westbrook for a fraction of the price when the Indians are relevant again. Good move for Cleveland, solid for San Diego, and disappointing for St. Louis. They have apparently been impressed by rookie Jon Jay, so Ludwick was expendable, but I think they could have got more for Ryan if that was the case.
• Dodgers acquire LHP Ted Lilly and INF Ryan Theriot from Cubs for INF Blake DeWitt, RHP Kyle Smit, and RHP Brett Wallach - The Dodgers needed to make a move to expect to stay in the NL West race, and this is that move. They needed a starting pitcher, and Lilly upgrades their rotation, though he is only solid at best. Presumably Theriot is insurance in case Rafael Furcal gets hurt, or at least that's the only reason I would acquire him in this trade. I like DeWitt more than Theriot, though Theriot can play shortstop and DeWitt can't really. Smit looks like organizational depth out of the bullpen to me, and Wallach is too far away to say how good he might be, but early returns are promising. The deal looks like a push to me.
  
  

More proof relievers are way overpriced

Lately, it seems like all I write about is how much relief pitchers are overpriced this offseason. I would stop writing about it, but baseball teams keep giving me reasons to type about it. For instance, the Phillies just gave 38-year-old Tom Gordon a 3 year contract worth a total of $18 million to replace Billy Wagner, who signed with the Mets for 4 years and $47 million. As impressive as Gordon's credentials are, is he really going to be worth $6 million a year when he turns 41? Maybe, but I doubt it. Gordon is going to start pitching like an old man some day.

Then, with Tom Gordon having been signed by the Phillies, the Yankees replaced him with Kyle Farnsworth, who owns a career 4.45 ERA, for a mere 3 years and $17 million. What a bargain! To be fair, Farnsworth is much better than his ERA suggests and I think he will do an admirable job of replacing Gordon. Still, the Yankees paid too much for him.

While the Gordon and Farnsworth signings will dominate the headlines, another deal involving a relief pitcher happened yesterday that should be noted. The Boston Red Sox, one of baseball's premier money-making super powers, decided to go cheap and acquire Jermaine Van Buren from the Cubs for cash considerations or a player to be named or later. I find it ironic that the Red Sox decided to go cheap, but it really speaks volumes about the free agent market. Boston may be the first organazation to realize that every relief pitcher in this market has been ridiculously overpaid, so they went and found the best AAA reliever they could find because at the very least he will be reasonable priced. I think the Red Sox stole Van Buren from the Cubs, who recently signed relief pitcher Bob Howry to a 3 year, $12 million contract, and I'm going to laugh if/when he puts up better numbers than Howry. Bullpens used to be underrated, but that certainly is not the case any more.