A few relatively minor items to cover with the moves made by a few teams recently. What might they mean in the second half? I’ll try and puzzle this out.
Tony Clark, who experienced a career resurgence the day he put on an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform back in 2005, hs returned to the cozy confines of Chase Field. Petco, where hitting a homer is as hard as hitting the lottery, wasn’t as kind to the aging Clark as Chase has been, so he’ll certainly improve on his 2008 line of .239/.374/.307. His 32:19 K:BB ratio, as well as hs 165-point difference between BA and OBP, will tell you his batting eye is fine, and some power should follow.
This moves Conor Jackson full-time into the outfield, in the absence of Eric Byrnes (who’s likely done for the season) and the possible absence of Justin Upton (who’s struggling and nursing a strained oblique). The switch-hitting Clark should spell Chad Tracy at first base against lefties, with the outside possibility of a full-blown platoon, since Clark’s numbers from the right side aren’t that much better than Tracy’s. Tony will also provide the bench power he brought before, when he always seemed to be the one to deliver the game-changing dinger.
Cleveland recalled Asdrubal Cabrera from AAA Buffalo, where they sent him to work on his batting, which he’s certainly done (.326/.375/.475 in 141 ABs). But he played mostly shortstop for Buffalo, which is interesting, since Jhonny Peralta is allegedly the now and future Indians shortstop.
Earlier in the year, with the Indians still in contention and Peralta flailing at the plate, this might have been more of an issue. He flashed some power in May with a .494 slugging, but at the cost of his batting eye. Through June, he’d racked up 63 strikeouts against 21 walks, a miserable average. Worse, his power seemed absent in any other month, as he slugged .430 in March and April and .440 in June.
But June also seemed to be the month he started to turn it around, and from June 13 through the All-Star Break, he brought his batting average up 35 points, his OBP up 26 points, and his slugging up a whopping 72 points. He finished with a seven-game hitting streak, during which he smacked four homers and four doubles. So what are the Indians thinking?
With their playoff hopes dwindling, they might be looking to move Peralta, but that seems unlikely, since there aren’t any contenders trying to pick up a shortstop, and the Indians would have to return to Jamey Carroll at second until Josh Barfield is healthy again. They might also swap Peralta and Cabrera, except that Peralta’s never played on the right side of the infield.
Or they could shift the entire infield around if Casey Blake is dealt, and that’s the most likely outcome of this situation—other than merely returning Cabrera to second sack. The Dodgers were interested in Blake as part of a Sabathia swap, and the Rays have been rumored to want him, though it’s not clear where he’d fit in. He’s certainly a good corner man in the infield or outfield, and could be a supersub to a contending team that wants to give up a lot for him. If anything might happen from Cabrera’s work at short, this is it, but it may just be a case of using Cabrera where he worked best in Buffalo.
The Cubs are reportedly recalling minor-league stud Micah Hoffpauir, who’s been up with the team once already and shone, with an impressive .400/.432/.571 line. But why bring up a left-handed first baseman when you’re starting Derek Lee and have lefty pinch-hitter Daryl Ward as his backup? Well, Hoffpauir can also play well in the outfield, and Alfonso Soriano is still about a week away from returning, at best, while Kosuke Fukudome is 7-42 in July, and could use a rest now and again.
Hoffpauir undoubtedly has a future with the Cubs, and will certainly be up again when the rosters expand, but this call-up (barring further injuries or a setback to Soriano’s rehab) is likely a brief one, and doesn’t indicate much more than the Cubs’ desire to use Hoffpauir as the first guy they look to call up when filling a need for their outfield bench. With their big swap for Rich Harden already finished, there aren’t any more big trades likely down the pike for Chicago.
The only question is whether too much yo-yoing will do much for the young hitter’s confidence and timing, especially since this time, he’s not expected to start much (last time, he was used as part of a rotating DH during interleague play). He’ll enjoy the big-league treatment, but Cubs fans have to hope that he won’t spend much time collecting splinters in his butt.
That’s all for today’s look at minor moves that may point to major ones. The clock is winding down on the trade deadline, less than two weeks away, so there will be more of this speculation to come.
Let’s get the second half started!
Comments