Cardinals Trade For Rafael Furcal

And all they surrendered was Alex Castellanos and some cash. So not a costly trade, seeing as Castellanos was a 24-year old outfielder still in AA. He was having a good year offensively, but most players do, since the Cardinals' Springfield affiliate's stadium is a real hitters park. Besides, he doesn't walk much, and he strikes out a ton.

So Furcal. Well, I complained that the trade that sent Rasmus to Toronto did nothing to improve the Cardinals' most glaring weakness, the middle infield. This should take care of that, in theory. Furcal hasn't been healthy for much of the year, and hasn't hit well when he has played, but if there's anything of the player he was last year left, he should be a considerable upgrade on Tally Ho. If nothing else, his acquisition - along with the minutes Descalso logged at SS recently - means the team finally recognized Theriot isn't a major league quality SS. It only took them 8 months longer than it took me, but it's isn't as though it's part of their job to evaluate players or anything.

Oh, right.

There is the question of whether Furcal can regain last year's form. Looking over past 4 seasons, he the reverse of Reggie Sanders' odd year, even year thing. In 2007, his OPS+ was 78 (642 PAs). Next year, 168 (164 PAs). In 2009, a 91 (680 PAs). Last year, 128 (428 PAs). So far this year he has a 50 in 152 plate appearances. That's really low, even for Furcal, and he's been hitting better recently (though it'd be hard to hit worse), but there's still the question of how much he can turn it around.

On the positive side, he's only a -0.1 in defensive WAR, compared to Theriot's -1.1, though Furcal's logged only half the innings Theriot has. Still, even a SS who is "slightly below average" defensively is an upgrade over Tally Ho, who's defensive skills would be best described as "staggeringly inept".

In theory, the Cards can now use Theriot as a platoon with Schumaker, since Theriot is somewhat effective against LHP. At least until Punto is actually healthy, at which point I'd dump Theriot entirely, myself. Punto's actually having a good offensive season, and he's a better fielder than either of the other 2. If Punto's truly healthy, then his arm will hold up on the left side of the infield (which is the Cardinals' current concern with him).

If Punto can't handle it, there's still Descalso, who the Cardinals at least trust at SS more than Theriot, or there's always Tyler Greene, who actually is a SS. I'm not sure that would be the best thing for him, as being a sporadically used bench player doesn't seem to lead to the best performances from him. Maybe if Furcal gets injured and the Cards just let Greene be the starter for a few weeks he'd do better. Fat chance of that happening, though.

Furcal isn't a perfect solution, but he's a good one for what the team gave up. Though it is a little funny. The Cardinals gave up on waiting for Rasmus to fulfill his potential, but they're picking up Furcal based on what he can do, if he's healthy, and if he hasn't lost his skills. In other words, they're banking on potential production.

Guess we'll see how it goes.